The Kremlin Phoenix (22 page)

“He told us to go back, or he’d
kill us,” Corman replied in a low tone.

“He’s right,” Rogers said as he produced
his own weapon.

“There’s one left,” Corman said.
“He ran into the tunnel.”

“I saw him from the top of the
stairs,” Harriman said. “He’s the hit man I saw in New York!”

Corman produced his backup gun
and offered it to Harriman. “Then you’re going to need this.”

“I’m not authorized to carry a
weapon here.”

“You think I am?” Corman pushed
the gun into Harriman’s hand.

Harriman took the gun, expertly
checked the load, then the three men jumped down onto the tracks and ran into
the train tunnel.

* * * *

Valentina reached the foot of the
stairs, shocked to see the two dead Spetsnaz troopers lying in pools of their
own blood on the platform.

“How’d Balard get a gun?” Karmanov
wondered, thinking Craig had killed both men.

“He must be in the tunnel,”
Fenenko said, certain they would have seen Craig if he’d tried to escape up the
stairs.

 “Check that side,” Karmanov
waved Valentina towards the tunnel on the left as he ran to the tunnel on the
right.

Fenenko waited while Valentina
and Karmanov moved into the tunnels, then searched the pockets of the nearest Spetsnaz
trooper. He found no identification, but took the man’s radio and slipped the
speaker into his ear.

“. . . He’s heading north,”
Nogorev said over a weakening signal. “Cover the platform in case Balard
doubles back.”

“On our way,” came a voice on a
much stronger signal.

“The helo will take us to the
next station up the line,” another voice said. “We’ll trap him in the tunnel.”

Fenenko looked towards the
tracks, ensuring both Karmanov and Valentina had moved into the tunnels. He activated
the microphone. “Identify yourself.”

There was a pause, then Nogorev’s
voice sounded through crackling interference. “This is Emergency Committee
business. Who are you?”

“Federal Security Service,”
Fenenko said cautiously.

“What are you doing here?”
Nogorev demanded as he fired at Craig’s distant silhouette.

Fenenko hesitated. If the
Emergency Committee really were in control of the country, then they would also
now control the Federal Security Service, the FSB, the organization responsible
for internal security. If so, this man might very well represent the new power
in Russia. “Investigating illegal SK activities.”

“What’s your name?” Nogorev
asked.

“I can’t give you that over this
radio. Two of your men on the platform are dead. I have one of their
transmitters.”

Valentina reappeared at the
tunnel entrance turned and yelled. “Over here. I saw a muzzle flash!”

A moment later, Karmanov jogged
out of the other tunnel. Fenenko quickly pocketed the ear piece and
transmitter, then jumped down onto the tracks as Karmanov passed him. Before they
could catch Valentina, she vanished into the tunnel’s darkness.

Karmanov cursed silently, and
raced after her. “Valentina, wait!”

* * * *

Craig ran alongside the gently curving
subway wall. Several times, he’d heard gun shots echo through the tunnel, and a
bullet strike the rock face close behind him. He could hear boots crunching on
the crushed stone ballast lying between the tracks as Nogorev raced to close
the distance between them. He knew the weak lights set far apart on the walls
gave off just enough light to silhouette him, which would soon make him an easy
target.

He glanced back, checking that the
curve of the tunnel hid him from Nogorev, then slipped into a narrow passage running
across to the southbound tunnel. Once in the other tunnel, he hid behind the
wall and waited as Nogorev’s heavy footsteps passed the narrow passage. When the
crunching of crushed stones had faded, he crept back towards the station,
hoping to throw off his pursuer by doubling back.

When he reached the next passage
back to the other tunnel, he listened for signs of pursuit. Multiple footsteps
grew louder, then Corman and Rogers ran past after Nogorev’s fleeting form. Craig
prepared to run back to the station when he noticed a man watching him,
silhouetted by the tunnel lights.

“Don’t move,” Harriman ordered,
ensuring Craig saw the gun in his hand, then he spoke into a small radio. “Corman,
I’ve got him. He’s in the other tunnel.”

“On my way!”

A mechanical squeal filled the
tunnel from a train braking as it entered the long curve leading into the
station. The tunnel walls began to glow with a ghostly illumination cast by the
train’s large head light.

“Harriman?” Craig said, confused,
recognizing the detective from the night McCormack had been killed. “What are
you doing here?”

“Looking for you,” Harriman
replied over the roar of the approaching train. A single gunshot rang out, and
the detective’s left leg buckled under him. He fell onto the tracks, stunned to
discover a bullet had passed clean through his leg. He lifted the radio and
wheezed, “Officer down!”

Craig spun around to see Nogorev
walking quickly toward him, starkly silhouetted by the approaching train behind
him.
He missed me!
he thought, then realized Nogorev had hit the target
he’d been aiming for, and that he still wanted him alive.

Craig ran to Harriman. “Can you
walk?”

“No, but I can bleed good!”

The radio hissed with Corman’s
voice. “Shoot him, Harriman. That’s an order!”

Craig looked at the radio in
Harriman’s hand and the gun in the other.

“You hear me Harriman?” Corman
yelled. “Do it now, while you can! This station will be crawling with their
people any minute.”

The train came rumbling up behind
Nogorev, forcing him to dart into a side access tunnel. Harriman turned towards
the train anxiously, realizing he was about to be run down.

Craig kicked the gun out of his
hand and dragged him to the tunnel wall. “I never killed anyone!” he yelled
over the noise of the approaching train.

“I know,” Harriman said, pressing
his hand against the wound.

“If you’re alive,” the radio
squealed, “shoot him!”

Harriman glanced at his gun lying
a few meters away, unconcerned that it was out of reach. Craig realized the
detective would not have shot him, then he darted across the tracks as the
train rumbled toward them. For a moment, their eyes met, Harriman grateful he’d
been saved, Craig desperate to escape, then the train flashed between them. The
carriages rumbled past, slowing as they approached the station, then suddenly
the train had passed, revealing the far side of the tracks were now empty.

“Harriman,” Corman’s voice yelled
from the radio. “Did you get Balard?”

Harriman lifted the radio to his
lips, “No. He’s gone,” he said weakly as his head began to spin.

* * * *

Fenenko allowed Karmanov to pull
ahead, then fitted the ear piece again, hearing Nogorev say, “He’s on the south
bound train, heading back towards the station.”

Valentina stood listening to
distant footsteps and the approaching train on the other track as Karmanov
caught her.

“They could have changed tunnels,”
she said. “You keep going, I’ll check the other side.” Without waiting for him
to agree, she darted into an access passage.

“I don’t want us splitting up in
here!” Karmanov yelled as she disappeared into the darkness.

Fenenko pocketed the radio and
jogged towards the side passage. “I’ll go with her,” he called to Karmanov,
then slipped into the side tunnel before the Chief Investigator could object.  

Once in the side passage, Fenenko
whispered into the Spetsnaz radio, “One SK officer is in the south bound tunnel,
the other is in the north bound.” He stepped cautiously into the south bound
tunnel as the passenger train slowed to a crawl for its entry into the metro
station. “I see the train.”

“You’re under my orders now,”
Nogorev said. “Get on that train.”

Fenenko suppressed his irritation
at this unknown operative giving him orders, but suspected he was dealing with
someone who had the authority to command him. “Understood.”

He saw Valentina stand against
the tunnel wall as the train reached her, then he readied himself as it
approached him. He let it pass, then ran out after it. It was moving barely
more than walking speed, allowing him to catch it easily. Valentina heard Fenenko’s
footsteps, and turned to see him jump up onto the rear carriage and enter the
train. Thinking he’d seen Craig, she immediately raced after the train.

Inside the rear carriage, Fenenko
held the microphone to his lips. “I’m on board.”

“I want Balard alive,” Nogorev’s
fading transmission came back. “Under no circumstances kill him.”

The rear door opened and
Valentina entered the carriage. Fenenko slid the radio into his pocket, ensuring
she never saw it.

“Did you see him?” she asked.

“No, I’m just being careful.”

“Good idea,” she said, pushing
past him, eager to search the train before Craig had a chance to get off. The
train pulled into the station, now deserted except for the two dead Spetsnaz
lying on the platform. Already hours late, the train stopped for barely a
minute before moving off.

Together, Valentina and Fenenko
pushed through the overcrowded carriages. Valentina flashed her ID to
passengers, ordering them aside so they could get through. They moved through
three carriages, then Valentina turned to Fenenko and nodded to a man peering
nervously through a window, hiding his face. “That’s him.”

Valentina pocketed her ID and quietly
squeezed between the passengers to where Craig stood with his back to her. When
she was behind him, she saw his face reflecting in the glass window. “You’re a
difficult man to find, Mr Balard.”

Craig froze momentarily, looking
for an escape, but when he saw Fenenko’s reflection, he knew he was trapped. “What
now?”

“You know what,” Valentina said
meaningfully.

“They know I’m on this train.”

“We’ll protect you, for a price.”

“Why should I trust you?”

“I’m not going to kill you after
you give me the money. They will.” Valentina motioned for him to follow,
leading him through several cars to the guard’s compartment. She stepped inside
and silenced the guard’s protest with her SK Identity Card. “Where is this
train going?”

“Moscow Central,” the guard
replied.

“We need your compartment.” She
turned to Craig. “Sit down. Pavlya, keep an eye on the corridor.” She motioned
to the guard. “You go with him. Don’t let anyone in here.”

“I have to get authorization from
my superiors,” the guard objected.

“There’s no time for that. I’m
sure you know Sledkom has the authority to issue instructions to other
government departments. This is one of those instructions.”

The guard’s complexion reddened,
then he sullenly followed Fenenko out into the narrow passageway. Fenenko pointed
at the carriage door. “Stand there,” he said before moving out of earshot.

The guard began furtively sipping
from a flask of vodka hidden in his coat while Fenenko placed the speaker in
his ear and listened while the train entered the next station. This station’s
platform thronged with angry commuters, most of whom had no chance of squeezing
into the already overcrowded carriages. When the train pulled into the subway
tunnel, a new voice sounded from the tiny speaker.

“We’re on the train. We know
where you are. Stay with Balard at all times. The mission commander has decided
not to arrest him. Balard has information we want, which he may surrender
voluntarily.”

“I understand,” Fenenko said, glancing
down the corridor towards passengers squeezed in like sardines, wondering who
among them was his contact. When he couldn’t spot anyone watching him, he hid
the radio and slipped into the compartment.

“The guard is just outside,
getting drunk,” he said, locking the door. “No security people got on at the
last station.”

“Thanks Pavlya.” Valentina said,
turning back to Craig. “We both know you gave me false information in England.”

“You didn’t hold up your end of
the bargain,” he said with no attempt at pretence. “And I didn’t give you
anything. You took it.”

“Do you still have the master
list?”

“No. I have the money. All of
it.”

“Where is it?”

“It’s in a safe place.”

“I assume you have no intention
of keeping it for yourself?”

“All I want is the truth about my
father,” Craig said. “The whole file, and you can have your stinking money.”

“Out of the question. Your father
is dead. He has to be, but I cannot prove it to you. Especially not now!” She
knew the coup had made any chance of a deal impossible. Fear and suspicion
would drive any informant away now.