It was okay. Now that she knew with whom she had to contend, she could be on watch. They wouldn’t move on her with this many witnesses. The crowds were proving as helpful to her as she had thought when she had set up the call for this marketplace.
Two twenty-six.
Blast it, at this rate, the market would close before she heard from—
Her cell phone rang.
She grabbed it and punched the button. “You took your time, Rakovac.”
“I don’t like orders. And I have all the time in the world. You, on the other hand, do not. Nor does Luke.”
“I don’t think you have all that much time. You keep telling me that you’re being forced to bring our relationship to a close. Why?”
“That’s none of your concern, Catherine. Though I may tell you before the end what splendors my life is going to hold. It will make your final moments all the more bitter.”
“Cut to the chase. Where do you want me to go? I’m sure that your three goons have told you that neither Duncan nor Quinn are with me here at the market.”
“You’ve spotted them? Of course you have.”
“Short, burly man in a yellow Windbreaker, a tall, thin man, a giant who looked like a weight lifter.”
“That would be Zeller, Sminoff, and the giant is Borzoi. Borzoi may look like he’s got more muscle than brains, but actually he’s the pick of the bunch. I thought you’d spot them. You’re very experienced, and Borzoi’s men aren’t as subtle as I’d hope. But they’re good at the basics, so I tolerate them. Yes, Borzoi reported that Duncan and Quinn have left you to your own devices. So I think we can proceed. I want you to meet me at St. Basil’s Cathedral in two hours, and we’ll start the journey to your Luke.”
“I’ll meet you at St. Basil’s, but I’m not getting in any car with you. I’ll follow you in my own car.”
He chuckled. “Incredible. You’re still hopeful of being able to whisk him away from me.”
“I’m still hopeful, period. What else have I got? But I know that hope will go straight down the tubes, and it will all be over the minute I get in any car with you.”
“True. And I have no objection to stretching out the end a little longer. By all means, follow me.” He paused. “As long as you can slip away from my men. They have orders to capture and bring you to me.” He added with sly malice, “And, as you say, that will be the beginning of the end.” He hung up.
She drew a deep breath and shoved the phone into her pocket. Had NSA managed to trace the call? Rakovac had called so late that it was doubtful that they’d hung around for it. She wanted to call Joe, but that would be a dead giveaway to the three goons, who were monitoring her every move.
Okay, get away from them. Leave the market. She’d call Joe as soon as she lost them. Then she’d have only two hours to find a place to rent a car and get to St. Basil’s.
She started moving in and out of the crowds as she made her way toward the streets bordering the market. The man in the yellow Windbreaker was following, so was the one in the olive green sweatshirt. Zeller and Sminoff, Rakovac had called them. But where was the huge man, Borzoi, who she had spotted ten minutes ago, then lost in the crowd?
His absence made her uneasy. Wrong man? She didn’t think she’d made a mistake about him being one of Rakovac’s men, and Rakovac had recognized the description. Her every instinct had locked in on him as soon as she’d seen him.
But where was he now?
An enemy in view was much safer than one who had fallen from the radar.
Leave the market, let them follow her to a place where she could take them out. She moved quickly through the crowd, dodging between carts and booths.
Yes, they were following.
But she had to get a good distance ahead of them and out of sight.
She was almost running by the time she reached the street bordering the market and started for the far corner.
The gray Mercedes still parked at the curb. Kelsov’s car. No one in it. Dammit, she had told him to go back to the farmhouse.
She ran past the car and down the block. She remembered there was an area of flower shops around the corner. It was much quieter than the market itself and should suit her purpose.
She glanced over her shoulder. They were behind her, running, the man in the yellow Windbreaker Rakovac had called Zeller in the lead, Sminoff following a few yards behind.
She turned the corner. This street was virtually deserted. If there were customers, they must be inside the flower stores. She pressed against the wall beside a flower cart before a shop.
They should be here at the corner in seconds.
Take the first one as he made the turn.
It should startle the second one and give her a few seconds.
She’d need those seconds.
A flash of yellow Windbreaker, and Zeller came around the corner.
She leaped forward and gave him a karate chop to the jugular. As he dropped, she sprang forward.
Sminoff had hesitated as she’d thought he would, but not long enough. He was reaching for his knife.
Her own knife stabbed deep into his hand, piercing it to the bone.
He screamed.
She lifted her knee between his legs, and he bent forward in agony. She struck him in the nose with the ball of her hand, breaking his bones and sending them into his brain.
She didn’t wait for him to drop to the ground. It might be only a few minutes before someone came out of that flower shop, and she didn’t want to have to answer questions.
She ran back onto the main street, then walked quickly toward the Tulskaya Metro Station.
Two thirty-five.
Why didn’t Joe call her? Eve thought in frustration. He’d promised to get back to her as soon as possible after the NSA trace. Catherine was supposed to take the call at two.
Be patient. Sometimes things didn’t go as planned.
With Rakovac things seldom went as they wanted them to.
Two thirty-six.
“You keep looking at the clock.” Kelly nodded. “You’re worried about Catherine. So am I. You should have told me that she was leaving. It wasn’t right for her to just run out on us. Is she supposed to call you?”
“No.” Catherine had asked her not to tell Kelsov about the NSA trace, and Eve had opted to tell no one. Natalie was joined at the hip with Kelsov, and Kelly would immediately try to take over any operation and make it her own. That had been her modus operandi from the instant Eve had met her.
“You’re not telling the truth.” Natalie’s gaze was fixed on Eve from across the room. “Why did Kelsov go with Catherine?”
“I told you that she needed a ride to the city. Don’t worry. He won’t be staying with her, Natalie.” It was difficult to tell only half-truths and still make them comforting. She had never been good at deception. “I’m sure he’ll be back in an hour or so.”
“I don’t want him with Catherine,” Natalie said with sudden fierceness. “She doesn’t care if he’s hurt or not. All she cares about is finding her son.”
“And all he cares about is killing Rakovac,” Eve said quietly. “And that’s all you care about, too, Natalie. So how can you blame Catherine?”
“That’s not all I care about,” Natalie said. “I don’t know if anyone will ever kill Rakovac. Some people are so evil that they kill everything they touch, and no one can stop it.” She was shivering, and she folded her arms over her chest to control it. “I want him dead. For a while I thought that was all I wanted. But that’s not true. I want Kelsov to stay alive. That’s more important. Catherine is going to get him killed.”
“And I’m not worried about Kelsov, I’m worried about Catherine,” Kelly said. “And I have something important to tell her. So tell me where I can—”
“Stop.” Eve held up her hand to stem the flow. “I hope she’ll contact us, but you know Catherine can be obstinate. She didn’t want any of us to be hurt. I couldn’t talk her out of going off on her own.”
At least that was the truth. “But the best thing that we can do is to keep working on finding Luke and maybe we can phone her and convince her to let us help.”
“Bull.” Kelly was frowning. “You’re patting me on the head and telling me to go back to work. That’s not the best thing. The best thing is for us to go after Catherine and try to keep her alive.”
“I am telling you to go back to work,” Eve said. “Because that’s our only option to solve the problem.”
Kelly suddenly smiled. “Then I may have it licked.” She flipped down the lid of her computer and gestured to her yellow note pad. “Maybe. It’s less grounded than I usually pull together, but I believe I’ve found it.”
“Licked?” Eve was staring at her incredulously as she stiffened in the chair. “You’ve found your pattern?”
“I’ve found a pattern. Rakovac is complicated, but it was easier when I realized that he has no code or ethic he lives by. His loyalty is to no one, and that was the key.” She tapped the yellow sheet. “So I built a history of the phone calls Catherine could remember and cross-referenced them to the meetings Rakovac arranged around that period.”
Eve jumped up from her chair and was across the room in seconds. She gazed down at the yellow pad. “Show me.”
Kelly tapped the first peak on the graph. “This is the first call from Rakovac to Catherine. He was still at his apartment in Moscow. It’s not really important because he evidently hadn’t arranged any permanent stash for Luke.” She pointed to another peak. “This call was particularly cruel and came shortly afterward.” She pointed to the name underneath it. “Surveillance showed an appointment with Mikhal Czadas on the day before the call at the town of Sergriev. Rakovac had an arms deal with him.” She pointed at another peak. “The next meeting was with Ivan Rithski at Krasnos. Arms deal, again. The same day as the phone call.” She pointed to another peak. “A year later. Rakovac met with James Nordell at Vichaga. Nordell was using him to bribe Russian politicians. A call to Catherine the next day.” She tapped the other names on the peaks of the graph. “It’s the same every time.”
“What are you getting at, Kelly? These are all separate individuals. Are you saying they all had something to do with Luke’s kidnapping?”
Kelly shook her head. “I’ve checked into every one of Rakovac’s customers on these surveillance reports. I investigated them in depth. They were all power houses in their own right. Rakovac wouldn’t have been able to manipulate them, he only used them.” She paused. “Except one.” She pointed to the second peak in the graph. “Mikhal Czadas, a man who was born in the Republic of Georgia and became caught up in all the ethnic madness and guerilla fighting there. He’s a fighter who’s been involved in a dying cause since he was a boy. He hated the Ossetians and the Russians. He never gave up. Therefore, he would always need money. I can see that he might be persuaded to hide Luke away. And he wouldn’t be under suspicion. Rakovac had betrayed Czadas’s cause and gone over to the Russians. It would be assumed that he and Rakovac would only have a guarded relationship.” She shook her head. “But if you study Rakovac’s pattern, that isn’t necessarily true. He has no loyalty and will work with anyone if it benefits him. If he could use Czadas, he’d find a way to overcome any obstacle. He’s a master manipulator.”
“But he only met with him once?”
“As far as the surveillance report shows. It would have been too great a risk. That first visit to Czadas was probably to set up the situation. Rakovac wouldn’t be stupid enough to show frequent visits to anyone. But he’d still want to keep in contact with Czadas and the boy. And he wouldn’t be able to resist calling Catherine afterward to taunt her. That’s part of his basic makeup.”
“Oh, yes,” Eve said bitterly. “That goes without saying. How would he do it?”
“All of these cities are where he met with his other clients.” She pointed to Krasnos, Vichaga, and the other Russian cities down the line of the graph. Then she put Sergriev in the middle of them. “They’re all within an hour-and-a-half drive to Sergriev. The meetings with all his clients on these particular days were at hotels, not their own offices, or on their own turf. Rakovac must have arranged them. He could conduct business, then slip away and go to meet with Mikhal Czadas at Sergriev.” She looked at Eve. “Connect the dots, Eve.”
Eve gave a low whistle. “Kelly, you may just be as brilliant as they say you are.”
“Of course I am.”
“Czadas,” Eve repeated. “You think Luke’s being held by Mikhal Czadas?”
“It’s only an educated guess.” Kelly’s grin widened. “I’m lying. And being modest. That pattern is pretty clear. I’d bet that Rakovac arranged with Czadas to keep Luke.”
“Rakovac boasted of making Luke kill.” Eve was thinking, trying to put the pieces together. “If Czadas is still active in the Georgian resistance movement, that would mesh with what he said. There would be an opportunity.”
“Call Catherine.” Kelly closed her computer and set it on top of her yellow note pad. “Tell her to come back.”
“I will.” Eve dropped down in her chair and took out her phone. “But first I’ll call Joe.” She started to dial. “He may be able to find out more information before—”
“No,” Natalie said. “Don’t call him.”
“Natalie, I know you’re concerned about Kelsov, but this will only—”
“No,” Natalie said sharply. “Hang up.”
The girl looked desperate, Eve thought. Why couldn’t she see that this might be a way to solve their problem? She had to convince her. She was getting Joe’s voice mail anyway, so she hung up. “Look, Natalie, Czadas may be the answer. We can rescue the little boy, and Kelsov will get what he wants, too.”
“It’s too late for the little boy. Rakovac will never let him go.” Natalie was moistening her lips as she reached into the cooktop drawer. “He told me so.”
Eve straightened, her eyes widening. “Told you—”
Natalie was pointing a .38 caliber pistol at them.
Eve froze. “What are you doing, Natalie?” Eve asked quietly. “Put that gun down.”
“You can’t tell anyone about the boy. Rakovac wouldn’t like it.”
“It doesn’t matter what he’d like. You’re confused. You told me you hate him, Natalie.”
“Oh, I do,” she whispered. “But that doesn’t matter. He’ll hurt me. He always hurts me. I tried to run away, but he found me and hurt me again. When Kelsov took me out of that…place, I knew he’d find me again.” Her grasp was shaking on the gun. “And he did.”
“Rakovac found you after Kelsov and Catherine freed you from that house?” Eve asked. “When?”
“Six months, seven…I don’t know.”
“I said, put that gun down, Natalie.”
“I can’t. You’ll call Joe Quinn and tell him about Czadas and the boy. You can’t do that. Rakovac told me if you got close, I had to stop you.”
“Wait.” Kelly was gazing at Natalie. “You’re saying that Rakovac knew where Kelsov was staying all this time? He knew about this place?”
Natalie nodded.
“And he knew that Kelsov was trying to hunt him down? Why didn’t he come after him and kill him?”
“Kelsov was helping Catherine. Rakovac knew that he only had to reach out to grab Catherine if she was with Kelsov. That was all he cared about. He knew she would come back. He thought it was funny that she thought she was safe here.”
Eve could see how Rakovac would get a malicious pleasure from having that power to scoop up an unknowing Catherine at any time. It would be a part of his damn cat-and-mouse game with her. “But she wasn’t safe from you, was she, Natalie? She helped Kelsov free you from that house. Didn’t that mean anything to you?”
“I didn’t want to hurt her,” Natalie said. “I don’t want to hurt anyone. But I have to do what Rakovac tells me. He was angry with me when I didn’t tell him that you’d gone to the marsh. I was so afraid he would hurt Kelsov.” She
added eagerly, “But he says he won’t bother Kelsov if I do everything else he wants.”
“And you believe him?”
“I don’t know. I guess I have to believe him.”
“You don’t want to do this, Natalie.” Eve slowly stood up. If she could get close enough, she could dive for that gun. Though that might be just as dangerous as trying to get her to lay the weapon down. The woman was shaking as if she had a fever. No, not a woman, a child who had been so brutalized she might never emerge from that terrible cocoon where Rakovac had imprisoned her.
But Eve mustn’t let pity sway her now. Natalie was dangerous to Kelly and to her. Perhaps to all of them. Thank God, she hadn’t told Natalie or Kelsov about the possibility that the NSA phone trace might hold for them. Just move toward her and keep Natalie talking and her attention occupied. “What do you know about Czadas, Natalie?”
“Not much. Rakovac took me to his place once before I ran away from him. Savrin House. It’s on a lake somewhere in the north. Czadas is like Rakovac. He likes to hurt people.”
Eve took a step nearer. “Luke?”
She nodded jerkily. “And me. Rakovac gave me to him for a few nights. That’s when I knew I had to run away. The boy helped me. He heard me screaming, and he hit Czadas on the head with a wine bottle. Then he showed me a way out through the back door that led out of the house. He took me to the woods, then left me to go back to the house.”
She took another step. “Why didn’t he go with you?”
“He said I had a chance, but they’d never stop looking for him. He’d tried it before. He had to wait until he could steal enough money from Czadas to help him hide from them.” She moistened her lips. “He lied. I didn’t have a chance. He shouldn’t have told me to go. They found me four days later.”