American Assassin (34 page)

CHAPTER
66

R
APP
found the knife, dug it out of the man’s pants, and crossed the room. He took his gun back from Hurley and stuck it under his armpit while he cut the tape from Hurley’s wrists.

The tape peeled free and Hurley said, “Give me the gun.”

Rapp held out the knife. “Get your own.”

Hurley grumbled and took the knife.

“There are two guys in the hallway.” Rapp started dragging one of the bodies across the room and placed it by the wall with the door. “I’ll open the door, you try to sound like Radih. Yell for them to get in here and I’ll pop ’em.”

When the bodies were piled out of sight, Rapp placed his hand on the door handle. Hurley stood behind him. Rapp nodded and yanked the door open. Hurley muttered something about a mess and ordered the two guards to get in there. Unfortunately, only one appeared. Rapp shot him in the back of the head while pulling the door open farther and swinging his left arm around, searching for the second man. The tip of the suppressor ended up less than a foot from the man’s face. Rapp squeezed the trigger and shot him in the nose, pink mist exploding out into the hallway. Stepping over the body, he looked left and right. The hallway was empty.

Rapp dragged the guard into the room. Hurley was already stripping the first guard of his pants, shirt, and boots. Rapp did the same with the second guard and told Hurley to grab the man’s bandanna. When Rapp found the radio he asked Hurley, “Do you know where we are?”

“No.”

“I think I might. What about Bobby and Cummins?”

“Bobby should be here, but I think they took Cummins to the airport. They’re trying to auction off our asses.”

“We’ll get Bobby in a second, but I need to call Ridley first.” Rapp dialed in the right frequency and hit the transmit button. All he got was static.

“Bad reception down here,” Hurley told him. “We’ll have to get out of the basement.”

“All right…” Rapp looked around the room. “I assume Bobby is naked, too.”

“Yeah … Let’s grab him some clothes.”

Rapp scavenged up a set while Hurley collected two ammo pouches with eight extra AK-47 magazines. When they had everything, they tied the bandannas around their faces and Rapp checked the hallway. It was still empty, so they ducked out, closing the door behind them and locking it. The next door over was padlocked, so Rapp shot the lock off with his Beretta. Hurley opened the door and froze. There, dangling from the hook in the middle of the room, with a rope wrapped around his neck, was Richards.

“Motherfuckers,” was all Hurley could manage to say.

Rapp considered checking for a pulse, but Richards’s skin was chalk white. He’d been dead for hours. “Should we bring him with us?”

“No.” Hurley shook his head.

Rapp closed the door to Richards’s cell and told himself he would process it later. They ran down the back hallway, but when they got near the stairs they heard some voices. Hurley started making hand gestures, but Rapp waved him off, pulling him back away from the stairs.

Whispering in his ear, Rapp said, “I have an idea.” Rapp handed him the two-way radio. “Try Ridley again. Tell him I think we’re at Martyrs’ Square. I’m gonna run down to the front of the building and see if I can start a little something.” Rapp started to move, but Hurley grabbed him.

“What are you talking about?”

“Just wait here. If I’m right, you’re gonna hear a shitload of gunfire in about a half minute. Then we’ll make our break.” Rapp pointed at the radio. “Just try to raise Ridley. I’ll be right back.”

Rapp tore off down the hallway, slowing when he was fifteen feet from the stairs at the front of the building. He stopped and listened for a moment, but heard nothing. Then there was the sound of a foot scraping along the floor and a faint voice. Rapp couldn’t tell if was coming from the first floor or farther up. He considered going back to Hurley. He could use his silenced Beretta to take out whoever was at the back of the building and then try to make a run for it. Fundamentally, though, there was a problem. They were on the wrong side of town and severely outgunned. They needed a diversion to get out of here.

“Full speed ahead,” he muttered to himself as he started up the stairs, his silenced pistol in his left hand and the AK-47 in the right. Midway up the steps he got his first glimpse of a small lobby off to the left, maybe fifteen by fifteen feet. Rapp counted two heads and then three. The main entrance was sandbagged, as were the windows on each side, although they’d left two holes in the sandbags to fire from—exactly what Rapp was looking for.

When he hit the landing he noticed two more men lying on the floor. One was standing, looking out one hole in the sandbags, watching the street, and two more were sitting in folding chairs, playing a board game. Rapp walked straight for the man who was on his feet. He kept his pace casual and started shaking his head as if he was going to tell them just how crappy things were downstairs. One of the men started bitching in Arabic. The best Rapp could figure was that the man was telling him he had another hour before he had to pull a watch in the toilet. Rapp laughed and then raised the suppressed Beretta. He had had eighteen shots to start with and was down to twelve.

The guy who was standing got it first, a nice little shot from ten feet right in the left eye. The two guys playing the board game—one got it in the back of the head and the other in his open mouth. Rapp never stopped moving. It was another nice thing Hurley had taught him. When you have the advantage, close with the enemy. He was no more than eight feet away when he shot the two nappers. The first one was clean, but with the second guy, he was off a bit on the first shot, so he had to fire one more to put him out of his misery.

Six shots left. Rapp glanced to his left. The hallway had been barricaded with scraps of broken office furniture. The stairs going up were empty. He walked over to the little one-by-one-foot hole in the sandbags and looked across the street. Sure enough, about two hundred feet away was a similar building. This had to be Martyrs’ Square. Rapp slung his AK-47 over his right shoulder, stuffed the Beretta in his waistband, and picked up the dead lookout’s AK-47. He gripped the rifle firmly, flipped the selector switch to full automatic, and sighted at the building across the street. He didn’t want to kill anyone over there, but he did want to make sure he got their attention, so he chose a position on the second floor and let it rip. The bullets shredded the afternoon calm, thudding into the sandbags across the street and then the building itself as it climbed. Rapp emptied the entire magazine and dropped the weapon.

Without hesitating, he moved to the peephole on the other side of the front door and took aim with the other AK-47. This time he sprayed the entire building down, firing in controlled bursts. Twenty or so rounds into the magazine the building across the street erupted in gunfire. Rapp hauled ass down the stairs as he heard bullets smacking into the building and gunfire being returned.

Hurley was standing at the other end, waiting for him. “What in hell did you just do?”

“I gave the big FU to Washington and got us a little diversion.” Rapp looked up the stairs. The men were gone. “Come on. Let’s get the hell out of here.”

They climbed up the stairs, and when they reached the landing a heavyset guy in green fatigues came running down from the floor above and started ordering them to the upper floors to return fire. Hurley pointed out the back door with his rifle, and when the man looked in that direction, he deftly stuck a knife through his carotid artery. Blood came cascading out, pulsating through his fingers.

Hurley followed Rapp out the back door just as a sedan skidded to a stop between two piles of rubble. The two men in the front seat jumped out of the car, yelling and asking what was going on. Rapp couldn’t hear them over the gunfire, and since they weren’t pointing a gun at him he wasn’t in any rush to kill them. All he wanted was their car. Two more men exited the rear of the car, one Caucasian and the other Middle Eastern. Both looked vaguely familiar, which made Rapp think he’d seen them in some of the photos Ridley had shown him.

Hurley said, “Merry fucking Christmas,” and then shot the two men in front.

Rapp raised the Beretta and took aim at the fair-skinned guy on the left.

Hurley yelled, “Don’t kill the little Commie. Crack him over the head and stuff him in the trunk. I’ve got the other one.”

Rapp and Hurley rushed the two men, their weapons leveled.

Hurley swung the butt end of his rifle and cracked Sayyed across the temple. As the Syrian dropped to his knees, Hurley said, “Sayyed, old buddy. I can’t wait to play Twenty Questions with you.”

EPILOGUE
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND, FOUR DAYS LATER

T
HOMAS
Stansfield sat on the park bench and looked up at the Rietberg Museum. He loved Zurich—the lake, the unique pace, the beauty of the mountains, but most important the safety it afforded a man of his profession. This city, and the small country it was part of, had managed to stay out of World War II, even with war raging just beyond its borders in every direction. And in the years after that, it had continued to offer respite for Cold Warriors like himself and the man he was about to meet, a place where they could lower their guard, not completely, but enough to enjoy life a little, and occasionally meet face-to-face to discuss mutually beneficial opportunities, or in this instance, conclude vital transactions.

Stansfield saw the two black sedans enter the park and glanced at his watch. The meeting would start on time, which was a nice surprise. The man he was meeting was notoriously late. Stansfield watched the sedans stop thirty feet behind the two vehicles in his entourage. Every detail had been agreed to in advance so as to not make either party unduly skittish. Two men in dark overcoats and sunglasses exited the first car. They looked like Eastern European versions of the two men who were standing a respectful thirty feet behind the CIA’s deputy director of operations.

A man with unusually large ears and puffy eyes exited the second car and buttoned his blue, double-breasted suit coat. One of the men approached with a wool overcoat, but the older man waved him off, which brought the hint of a smile to Stansfield’s face. He had spent six years in Moscow. To a Russian, forty degrees in Zurich this time of year would feel like summer. Yevgeny Primakov motioned for his men to stay by the car and walked over to the bench.

Stansfield did not stand and Primakov did not expect him to. Neither were handshakes offered. These were two men whose entire jobs revolved around seeing through other people’s deceptions.

“Did you bring my man?” Stansfield asked.

“Yes. Did you bring mine?”

“That was not part of the agreement.”

“It should have been,” Primakov said gruffly.

“There would have been a slight problem there, Yevgeny.”

“What?”

Stansfield turned so he could face him. “My man wants to come back to America. Your man.” Stansfield shook his head. “He doesn’t want to go back to Russia. What does that tell you?”

“How can I know that? You have not allowed me to talk to him.”

Stansfield pulled a manila envelope from inside his jacket. “I gave you the highlights on the phone. His boss, one of your deputies, has stolen more than twenty million dollars from Mother Russia and her fine citizens. That money is currently sitting in various accounts around the world. How do you think Deputy Shvets would be treated if I were to hand him over to you?”

Primakov did not answer the question.

“Yevgeny, you do realize I could have given this to the White House? They would have shared it with your president when the time was right, and you would have been put under suspicion along with that thug Ivanov.”

Primakov couldn’t bring himself to say thank you, so he asked, “Why the courtesy?”

“Because I don’t like my people being kidnapped and treated like a science experiment. You did bring Mr. Cummins?”

“Yes.” Primakov stuck out his hand for the envelope.

“Not until I see my man.”

Primakov motioned to his men, and they opened the back door of the first car. The bodyguard had to help Cummins out of the sedan. He was incredibly thin, but it was him. Stansfield looked over his shoulder and snapped his fingers. One of his bodyguards took off at a trot to help with the transfer.

“The package.”

Stansfield handed it to Primakov, who immediately tore it open. He flipped through the twenty-odd pages and asked, “And how do I know this isn’t all made up?”

“Check it yourself. The access codes are all there. The money is still in the accounts, although trust me, I thought about using it for a few of our more creative programs.”

Primakov considered that for a moment. He finally managed to say, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Stansfield said as he stood. “Just do me a favor, Yevgeny. Let’s stick to the old rules. You stay away from my guys, and I’ll stay away from yours.”

Stansfield walked away with his other bodyguard close behind. He stopped at the first sedan to check on the Schnoz, and then got into the backseat of the second car. The bodyguard closed the door and then went around the other side and climbed in the backseat. As soon as they were out of the park the bodyguard took off his sunglasses and asked, “Did he buy it, sir?”

Stansfield looked at over at Mitch Rapp and said, “One hundred percent.”

Rapp looked out the window, thinking that Hurley had truly lived up to his reputation as the biggest SOB on the block. It had been pure evil genius to pay Ivanov’s money back into his accounts and have Shvets inform on him. “So what’s going to happen to Ivanov?”

Stansfield looked down and straightened his tie. “I think Mikhail Ivanov is going to spend the next few months being thoroughly interrogated by the SVR’s goon squad.”

“And then what?”

“He won’t be able to deny the money, will he?”

“No.”

Stansfield nodded. “You’re a smart kid. Fill in the blanks.”

“Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.” Rapp shrugged as if he didn’t care. “What about Sayyed?”

“Some questions are better off not asked.”

Rapp frowned. He didn’t like not knowing.

“Listen,” Stansfield said, “I can’t release a guy like Sayyed. He’ll just go back and torture more of our people.” Stansfield shook his head. “The man will get what he deserves.”

“Sir, I hope you know I don’t give a crap what happens to him.”

“Good.”

“What about Shvets?”

“Shvets will be fine as long as he continues to cooperate. In a few years we’ll cut him loose and let him start a life of his own.”

They drove in silence for a while, and then Rapp finally asked, “Sir, why did you want me to come along for this? Being your bodyguard is not exactly my area of expertise.”

Stansfield had been wondering when the rookie was going to get around to asking the question. He grinned to himself and asked Rapp, “You think Stan Hurley is a son of a bitch?”

“The biggest one I’ve ever met, sir.”

Stansfield laughed. “Now you know he’s not big on compliments?”

Rapp nodded.

“Well, he had some pretty amazing things to say about you when you got back from Beirut. Ridley as well. Irene has been telling me for close to two years that she thought you might have the goods, and I guess you proved to all of us last week that you most certainly do.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“So I guess I wanted to have a closer look at you … and show you that despite what you may have thought in Beirut, I will go to great lengths to get my people back.”

Rapp nodded. He supposed Ridley had passed on his blistering critique. “I know that now, sir.”

“Good. Now I think you should take a week off. You’ve earned it. I don’t care where you go as long as it’s west of here. Seven days from now report to Stan. I’ve got something else I want you two to work on.”

Rapp was tempted to ask, but decided he didn’t want it weighing on him while he was trying to recharge.

“Any idea where you’re going to go?” Stansfield asked. “In case we need to get hold of you?”

Rapp looked at the snow-capped mountains and thought of Greta. With a smile on his face he said, “I think I’m going to stay right here in Zurich.”