I Minus 72 (25 page)

As he stood there thinking about what to do
next, Sam, looking a little dazed, opened the back door and got out
of the taxi. Grant turned to her, took her into his arms and said,
“You okay?”

“Yeah, a little shook up, but not injured,”
she replied.

After holding her close for a couple of
minutes, Grant relaxed his grip a little and started brushing the
glass out of her hair.

“Grant, that was close. Who were those
guys?”

He continued brushing the glass away and
shook his head as he answered. “Don’t know for sure, but my best
guess is that they’re working with Vladimir. Maybe we were wrong
and he’s not acting alone. Or maybe they’re just goons. They
obviously picked us up at the airport and waited for the right
moment to attack. At first, I thought it was just some thugs trying
to rob American tourists. But, why would they open fire? Who knows,
maybe that’s how they work over here. It’s a rough environment
right now. I’ve heard that Moscow can be a dangerous place for
tourists. But, the suspicious side of me is fairly strongly
convinced that Vladimir either has some accomplices we didn’t know
about or he hired some people to make the hit. I’m going to operate
on the latter assumption for now.”

“So what do we do now?” Sam asked.

He had stopped brushing and was holding her
by both shoulders. “Sit tight for at least half an hour and then
see if this car will still run. If it does, we need to find someone
who speaks English and get directions to our hotel. We’ll find a
small street two or three blocks before we get there and ditch the
car. Then I want us to walk separately to the hotel. The bad guys
will be looking for two people together. You go first and check in.
I’ll keep you in sight and follow. Fortunately it gets dark early
here, so it’ll be harder for those guys to spot us.”

Grant then went around to the front
passenger door, opened it and checked for a pulse on the taxi
driver. None – he was dead. He lifted the body out of the car and
laid it on the back seat. He then took off the bloody seat covers
uncovering the tattered, but clean original passenger seat and put
them in the trunk. Sam would sit up front with him.

After forty minutes, Grant opened the garage
door, walked down the alley both ways trying to spot a car with
people in it, and when he didn’t see one he came back and found
that the taxi would, indeed, start. Although it was smoking badly
and was very loud without a muffler, the car seemed to operate
okay. Grant drove on down the alley, crossed two streets and
finally turned right onto the third street he came to. Seven blocks
later, they saw a small restaurant on the corner.

He turned to face her. “Sam, you’re going to
have to go inside, see if anyone there speaks English and, if so,
get directions to the Marriott.”

“What if they don’t speak English?” she
asked.

“Then we’ll just keep looking. We don’t know
where we are and we don’t have a map. I’ve heard that many people
in Russia were taught English during the Soviet era, so I’m sure
we’ll find somebody.”

Sam was back quickly. The lady greeting
customers spoke reasonable English and Sam was able to get good
directions to the hotel. They roared off in the smoking taxi and
saw the hotel in the distance within twenty minutes. Grant turned
left about two blocks before reaching the hotel, then left on a
small street and pulled to the curb. It was dark on the little
street and there was no traffic.

“What now? I’m freezing,” said Sam.

“Let’s get our luggage out of the trunk and
walk to the hotel. If we can avoid going through the front entrance
it would be best. Never know who’s watching. When we’re a block
away, you walk by to see if there’s a side entrance. There probably
is at least one; it’s a big hotel. I’ll watch you all the way and
follow a few minutes later. I just want to see if anyone recognizes
you and follows you into the hotel. If not, I think we’re in the
clear.”

“Got it,” Sam said. She opened the handle on
her roll-aboard and started walking towards the hotel.

The Russians, meanwhile, had parked their
car at the other end of the hotel and were watching the main
entrance. For fifteen minutes they had circled the area where they
lost sight of the taxi and, not seeing anyone, had come straight
here, hoping to get them as they entered the hotel. They were on
the wrong side to see Sam enter the hotel and, even if they had,
they might not have recognized her. As Grant had suggested, they
were looking for the taxi and two people traveling together.

Grant followed Sam by five minutes, giving
her enough time to check in and get the room key. She met him as he
went in through the side door. All went smoothly and they were in
their room a couple of minutes later.

“Nice room,” Sam commented. “I’m
surprised.”

“It should be. How much did you say this was
costing the American taxpayers?” Grant said, looking around.

Sam gave a smiling grimace. “About $450 a
night. Plus, we got upgraded to a junior suite. It’s
beautiful.”

“Right now I would settle for anything as
long as it was warm,” Grant said.

“First dibs on the shower,” Sam said,
lugging her bag into the bedroom.

While Sam showered, applied the minimal
makeup she used and got dressed, Grant called down and ordered
dinner for them both to be delivered to the room in forty
minutes.

After Grant took his turn in the shower and
put on fresh clothes, they split a half bottle of wine they found
in the mini bar. Neither of them recognized the label.

“Wonder what this costs?” Grant asked,
meaning the wine.

“Probably ten times what it’s worth,” Sam
replied, wrinkling her nose after taking a sip. “It’s not very
good.”

“First thing tomorrow morning, I have to get
to the embassy and secure us some weapons. This is way too
dangerous for us not to be able to protect ourselves. If today’s
attack was an isolated mugging, we probably won’t need ‘em, but if
not . . .” Grant let the sentence trail off, the meaning
obvious.

He then said, “Sam we might want to alter
your appearance so you won’t be recognized. It might make you less
of a target.”

“Grant, if you think I’m going to cut my
hair and dye it red or something, you have another think coming. No
way. If it would help, I could wear it down, though. That changes
my appearance some.”

Grant agreed that Sam should wear her hair
down for the rest of the trip. That was the way he liked it best,
anyway.

After a not so bad dinner in their room,
they talked tactics for a while and decided on any early bedtime.
Grant pulled out the sofa bed in the living room and Sam retired to
the bedroom. After he was under the covers, Grant laid there
wondering how Sam would look if she did cut her hair short and dyed
it red. He smiled, deciding that Sam would look great no matter
what her hair looked like. Grant slept soundly that night. He had
no way of knowing that the criminals were aware of where he and Sam
were staying and were watching closely. If he’d known they were
that close, he would never have slept so well.

I minus 21

“Sir, I think I’ve lost them. I spent all of
yesterday in Krakow watching their hotel, but neither of them have
left in the last twenty-four hours. I came back to Warsaw this
morning. Have you heard from them?” Garcia asked the DNI. He had
flown back early this morning and was calling from the Embassy.

“Garcia, if you’re in Warsaw, you’re at
least a day behind. I got an update this morning from General
Wheeler. He says Thurmond is in Moscow looking for Vladimir. You
sure you’re up for this?” Garcia could tell the DNI was pissed and
wisely decided to say nothing. The DNI continued, “Get your ass on
the next plane. They’re staying at the Marriott downtown. I haven’t
heard from them since they arrived, so I presume the plan hasn’t
changed. Moscow’s bad news these days and I don’t want Thurmond
there without backup. Maybe you ought to contact him and let him
know you’re there and available to help.”

“Not sure that’s a good idea, sir. Thurmond
made it pretty clear he doesn’t want my help.” Garcia was
cautious.

“I don’t give a shit what Thurmond wants,
but it’s your call. If you don’t contact him, then don’t let him
out of your sight. If anything happens, I want additional fire
power. Got it?”

“Yes, sir. I’ll be there in a few hours.”
Garcia said, relieved to still be on the case.

Garcia sat for a few minutes after hanging
up, trying to figure out the best way to support Thurmond without
being detected. He didn’t know what Vladimir had planned, but he
knew it wouldn’t be good. He had to make sure Vladimir died before
he made it to the States. He looked around the office. Man, these
embassy types had a cushy job, but sitting at a desk all day would
drive him crazy. Well, time’s a wasting, better get going.

Garcia had come to the Embassy straight from
the airport and was already packed. He spent a few minutes with one
of the Embassy’s administrative assistants and was booked on a
flight to Moscow in two hours. He used a staff driver to get from
the Embassy to the airport and easily made his flight to
Moscow.

He went straight from the airport to the
Embassy. He needed a weapon. As he was coming out of the cultural
attaché’s office, he literally bumped into Thurmond.

Surprised, Thurmond stepped back and seeing
who he had bumped into his expression went dark. “Garcia, what the
hell are you doing in Moscow?”

“Ah, just here to follow up on a few things.
What’re you doing here?” Garcia responded too casually.

Thurmond studied Garcia for a moment. “Let’s
find a conference room or an office where we can talk,” Thurmond
suggested.

“Good idea,” Garcia said, wondering if
Thurmond was finally going to bring him in to the operation.

They each got a cup of coffee and settled
into nice, high-backed leather chairs in a secure conference room.
Thurmond thought it too coincidental that Garcia just happened to
be in Moscow the same time as he and Sam, but he knew Garcia would
never bring him in on a CIA operation. Instead of asking, he opened
the conversation with, “Look Garcia, you know what I’m working on.
Some things have happened and, well, if you’re going to be in the
area for a few days, as much as I hate to say this, I might need
your help.”

Caught off guard, Garcia nodded. “I’ll be
here for a couple of days. Where are you with this? You know where
to find him?”

“Not exactly. According to
his original employment records, he used to live here. It’s a
needle in a haystack situation. I’m here; he
may
be here. If he is here, I have
no idea where he is. However, there may be complications. It may
not be just one person we’re looking for.” With that, Thurmond
explained about the attack yesterday.

“Man, you know it could be just bad luck,
but I wouldn’t take any chances. How about I join your team and we
work together to find this guy?”

“No thanks. I think I can do this alone, but
I want to be able to call on you if I need help. Okay?” Grant
said.

“Always the cowboy, right Thurmond? Alright,
I’ll stay out of it, but don’t blame me if you get your ass
slammed. You really need backup.”

“I’ve got backup. Sam’s here.” Grant leaned
back and crossed his legs.

Garcia barked out a dry laugh. “Sam’s not
trained for this shit. You know that.”

“She’s been in combat, Garcia. She knows how
to handle herself.” Although Grant sounded confident, he wasn’t
sure Sam could handle backup. That’s why he wanted Garcia on
call.

“Being in combat with other soldiers around
you isn’t anywhere close to the kind of one-on-one work we do.”

“Said like someone who’s never been in
combat. Look, man, she’ll be fine.”

Garcia leaned forward to give added emphasis
to what he was about to say. “Thurmond, you can’t trust your back
to someone with that level of experience,” he said. “You’re not
just risking just your life, you’re risking hers as well. Don’t do
this, man.”

“We’ll be fine,” Thurmond said with equal
emphasis.

They stared at each other for a moment,
saying nothing.

“It’s on your head, man,” Garcia finally
said disgustedly. “But take down my phone number in case you need
me, cause I’m sure you will. Just hope it’s not too late.”

They stood, exchanged numbers and then left
the Embassy in separate cars. Garcia knew Thurmond wouldn’t call
him and would be looking to see if he was followed, so he asked the
driver to take him to any downtown hotel that wasn’t the
Marriott.

I minus 21

After Grant left the hotel, Sam had called
down for a room service breakfast. After calling, she took a quick
shower, got dressed, and was just finishing applying makeup when
she heard a knock on the door. She went to the door and said,
“Yes?”

“Room service.” A cheery voice called out in
broken English.

Sam unlatched then unlocked and opened the
door wide without thinking to look through the peephole. Before the
door was even fully opened, two huge men slammed back the door,
pushing Sam into the room and onto the floor. While one of them
closed the door, the other was on her before she could make a
sound, placing his large hand over her mouth.

She could barely breathe, but never one to
give up, she fought as best as she could. She got in a few
scratches to the guy’s face before he was able to tie her hands
down. But, even with her using all her strength to resist, it took
them less than a minute to tie her up. They told her that if she
screamed, they would kill her instantly and, given what had
happened yesterday, Sam believed them. One of the men picked her up
and sat her down roughly in a chair. The other was already checking
out the rest of the suite. When he returned to the main room, he
said something in Russian to the guy who was now standing if front
of her.