The Longest Winter (16 page)

Chapter Twenty-Seven

K
at was asleep when Kasia, Link and her parents arrived. Letting her continue to sleep was never an option. The moment the kids came into the room she woke up; it was hard not to given the extent of their happiness and the volume of their voices.

“Mommy!”

Kat woke with a start and I noticed a brief look of fear in her eyes until she realized what was happening. She sat upright and spread her arms as the kids jumped onto the hospital bed for the biggest hug they’d ever had. Kris and Agnes walked to either side of Kat’s bed and joined in the reunion.

I took a step back and gave them their space. I had monopolized Kat’s first few hours of freedom and didn’t want to interfere. Tears of joy flowed as everyone talked over each other, Kris and Agnes telling Kat how grateful they were and that they had prayed every day, and the kids filling her in on almost a year of their lives.

I was amazed at how they reacted. It seemed like Kat had just been away, like she’d gone back to Canada for an extended visit. As soon as they saw her face, even as frail as it was, everything was right in their world. They had their mother back. I knew there would be problems, issues that would surface in the future, but for now I was just happy to have my family back together.

I smiled as I watched them. In time we would return to Canada, maybe even convince Kris and Agnes to join us. Life would go on just as it had and eventually even this would be relegated to the back of the mind, a memory rarely called upon.

The sound of footsteps brought my eyes to the door, and a moment later I heard Kat’s screams. I ran to her side to comfort her as the kids and her parents looked on in surprise and fear.

“It’s him, Lincoln,” she said, pointing at the man standing in the doorway.

I held her tight. “It’s a doctor, Kat. It’s just a doctor. Crawford is dead.”

She cried into my shoulder for a moment then looked back at the Chinese doctor standing in the doorway. “He looked just like him, Lincoln. I could’ve sworn, sworn it was him.”

“It’s okay,” I said. “Just your mind playing tricks on you.” She put her head back onto my shoulder and started to cry again. She was shaking hard and her breathing was rapid. I rubbed her back through the hospital gown and held her tight, but I could tell it wasn’t working. Nothing I could do seemed to calm her down. I gestured to the doctor. He nodded, understanding immediately what I was requesting. The sedatives they had given her were wearing off.

He returned a few minutes later, almost silent in his approach this time, and injected a syringe into Kat’s IV.

She must have known exactly what was happening.

“Mommy needs to get some, some more sleep,” she said, looking at the kids. “I’ll see you soon, okay?”

They both nodded and smiled as Agnes and Kris led them out of the room.

“This won’t last forever, right? I don’t want to be like this.”

“You won’t,” I said, taking her hand in mine. “I’ll be right here for you, to help you through all of this.”

She nodded and I could see her eyelids getting heavy. “Just a couple, couple of hours, okay Lincoln. I want to see them again soon.”

“Just a couple of hours. I promise.”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

K
ara slammed her good hand down on the hospital bed.

“You’ve got to be kidding me? He got away?”

Yuri nodded. “Yeah, they called off the pursuit.”

“Why did they do that? This guy is a murderer for fuck’s sake. He’s just going to kill more people.”

“He ran down two pedestrians. They felt that the risk to public safety was too great.”

“Tell that to the boys he has right now, tell that to their families.” Kara was fuming. Her face was bright red and the veins in her neck throbbed with each heightened heartbeat. “You know how these people work. He was almost caught, so he’s panicked now. He’ll probably kill those two boys first chance he gets then grab two more. He’s going to up his game and you know it.”

“I know.” Yuri looked at Kara. “Wait, have you not seen the news?”

Kara shook her head. “The doctors made me turn it off. Apparently seeing newsflashes about Max and the boys made me too agitated.”

Yuri almost cracked a smile before returning to his stoic gaze. “They called off the pursuit but there was another cruiser in the area. They managed to spike his tires. He crashed and took off on foot, pursued by two cops. They rounded the corner in an alleyway and he was standing with a gun to his own head.”

“Shit. Let me guess, he told them not to draw or he’d shoot himself?”

Yuri nodded. “Said they’d never find the boys if he was dead. They radioed it in and then right after he shot both of them, killing one. She was a young constable, not even thirty years old. Caught what seems to be a stray round to the head. The other officer is going to be fine. Three rounds to the armour and one to the shoulder.”

The look of anger on Kara’s face changed to one of sorrow and remorse. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”

“I’m pissed as well. They should have shot him. Best case, they would have wounded him and we would have been able to interrogate him. Worst case, they would have killed him and we would have his body for clues. Either way the officer would still be alive.”

“How did he get away?”

“They found a stolen truck dumped about five kilometres away from the scene of the shooting. They’re pretty sure it was him. It had been parked close by at the time.”

“What about his car?”

“They are still looking into it. The car and plates aren’t in his name.”

“Whose are they?”

“The owner lives in the area where Max has been spotted. She has no idea who Max is and had never seen him before his face hit the news. She is elderly, lives alone, goes to bed early at night and sleeps like a rock. She also has a bad habit of not locking her door.”

“So he just walked to her house, waltzed in, took the keys and borrowed the car when he needed it?”

“That is the best guess we have right now. There was no damage to the car he was driving consistent with it being stolen and the keys were still in the ignition after the crash.”

“He’s smart, but he’s brazen.”

“But not brazen enough to get caught yet.”

Kara stopped and thought for a moment. “Have they searched the area where they found the truck?”

“There is nothing around there. He must have left the truck and walked to wherever he was going.”

“Can they get anything off of the truck?”

Yuri shrugged. “Not sure. Last I heard they were still trying. They only found it a couple of hours ago.”

“What about the dogs?”

“Nope. They tried but could not get much of a track. They kept losing it.”

There wasn’t much left to go on. “We need to find him fast,” Kara said as she pulled herself out of bed. She winced as she stood, feeling the pain in her chest.

“No. You need to rest.”

“Yuri, don’t get in my way. I’m another set of eyes at least. I can shoot left just as well as right. You just do the driving.”

“You are not going to get approval.”

Kara smirked. “Watch me.” She picked up her phone and dialed their commanding officer. It didn’t take more than a minute before she’d been given the green light to return to active duty – albeit, there were some restrictions.

Yuri looked dumbfounded as Kara hung up her phone. “How did you…”

“Coming here wasn’t exactly my choice. I wanted to stay in Lyon. He told me that I was needed and that if I ever needed anything from him I just had to ask. This probably wasn’t what he was expecting, but a deal is a deal.”

“What was it about coming to work on this case?”

“It pulled me away from finding Kat.” Kara’s eyes lit up when she remembered she hadn’t talked to Yuri. “You must have seen that on the news as well?”

“Actually, I have not had the news on. I got all the information on Max from the briefings. Why? What happened?”

“Link found her. She’s alive.”

“Really? Where was she?”

“In some old bunker, probably from the war. It was buried where he said we’d find her, back when we found that other body and he escaped from us. We just hadn’t looked deep enough. The entrance was covered and the air intake vented further from the main area.”

The colour drained from Yuri’s face and his eyes dulled.

“What’s wrong,” Kara said, reaching her hand out toward him. He took a step back and shook his head.

“Nothing. It is fine. How long was she in there? Almost a year, right?”

“Yeah.” Kara tried to look into Yuri’s eyes but he turned away. “You sure you’re okay? You look really pale.”

“I’m okay. It is just…” he paused and took a deep breath then rubbed his right hand on his left pec. “Please don’t worry. Just feeling a little off, and the thought of someone caged like that for so long makes me feel sick.”

“I understand. It’s awful to think about.”

Yuri nodded but didn’t say anything further. “I will be outside, you can get dressed and then we can go get your gun and head out looking for Max.”

“Sure. Give me a few minutes. I need to finish signing myself out of here as well. They were in the process of sending me home anyway.”

Yuri was out the door before Kara could finish speaking; his secrets and mysteries went with him.

* * *

Two hours later Kara was sitting in the passenger seat as Yuri drove them through the streets of Hespérange. Their focus was two-fold: find Max and find the boys. Either could come first, it didn’t matter. With one, the other would be easy. Patrols had been stepped up with numerous officers being called in to work overtime. They patrolled the streets, knocked on doors, and searched abandoned buildings.

It would only be a matter of time. Max’s face was on every news channel and every paper in the country, as well as through much of France, Belgium and even east into Germany. Someone would see him again and when they did, Kara could only hope they didn’t try to approach him. He had killed two boys, abducted three, run down two pedestrians and shot two cops, killing one. He wasn’t going to go peacefully, that much she knew.

They drove until the sun set, checking buildings as they went. There was no sign of Max anywhere and no reliable sightings had been reported. Wherever he was, he was lying low.

“He has to come out sometime,” Yuri said.

“Yeah, and we’ll be ready for him.”

Yuri noticed that Kara’s breathing was becoming laboured. The pain was getting to her.

“Why don’t we break for today? We’ll get a fresh start in the morning.”

“Sure,” Kara said. She knew he had already noticed, but she did her best to regulate her breathing.

“I can drive you home,” he said. It wasn’t like Kara to concede so easily and Yuri took it as a sign that she had already passed her limit for the day.

“Thanks. I still need to rent a car.”

“Don’t worry about it. I can pick you up the next couple of days. You are on the way out of town anyway.”

“Thanks,” Kara said. “Look, about earlier… at the hospital… I didn’t mean to pry.”

“It’s okay,” Yuri said, focusing on the road. “I have seen some things I would rather not talk about, things I wish I could forget. If you and I are going to be working together then you have a right to know at least the basics. Just… not now, okay?”

Kara nodded and put her hand on his shoulder.

“Whenever you’re ready. I’m not going anywhere, so take your time.”

Yuri’s eyes stayed fixed on the vehicles ahead.

“Thanks. That means a lot. I have never really been one to make friends. I appreciate it, Kara.”

“You’re welcome.”

Kara and Yuri sat in silence for the remainder of the ride. Neither knew what to say or how to dance around the things left unsaid. Silence was safe, even if it wasn’t easy.

Fifteen minutes later they arrived outside of Kara’s apartment building.

“So, tomorrow? What time?”

Yuri continued to avoid eye contact. “Pick you up at seven?”

Kara nodded. “That works. Have a good night, Yuri.” Kara stepped out of the vehicle and went to shut the door but caught it at the last second. She opened it again and leaned her head into the car. “I’ve been wrapped up in a lot of my own mess lately and I’m sorry for that. I just want to say that I’m here for you. If you need anything, just call, okay?”

“Thanks,” Yuri said, still staring straight ahead. “I will be fine, but I am going to keep that in mind.”

Kara was worried; she hadn’t seen him like that before. He had shut down completely in the hospital. It reminded her of shellshock, like he had flashed back to some horrible moment in his past. She had seen people in shock before, seen them turn pale at a moment’s notice, but it was the dullness of his eyes that had struck her the most.

As he put the car into gear and drove away Kara thought for a moment she could see his eyes again in the reflection of the rear view mirror. She saw it again, the dullness; it was as if not only the colour had drained from his face but his very life had drained from his eyes. Whatever happened to him must have been brutal.

Kara knew very little of his past, only that he had worked for INTERPOL for many years and had dealt with international missing persons cases. A lot of Yuri’s file, which she had tried to access when she started working for him, was privatized with only the last few years being open. There were records for his first few years then a gap where everything in a six-year period was hidden away from prying eyes. She had assumed his work had been highly confidential. Now she was sure that there had to be more to it.

She wanted to know what he had been through, and even more, she wanted to know what it had to do with Kat.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

D
avid’s stomach growled, loud enough to rouse Jacques from his broken slumbers.

“I’m starving,” David said, noticing Jacques had opened his eyes.

“Me too.” They had managed to help each other out of their gags a few hours prior. It had been a risk, but they couldn’t bear them anymore.

“Has he ever taken this long to bring you food?”

Jacques shook his head. They had been through an entire day without seeing Max and without a speck of food or a drop of water. “There was only one time where we didn’t get three meals a day.”

“So where is he?”

Jacques looked away. He had his theories, but he didn’t want to worry David. In Jacques’s mind, Max was dead. It was the only thing that would keep him away from his most prized possessions. He flirted with the idea of Max having been arrested, but as time went by without police kicking down the door and rescuing them he began to put more and more weight on the ‘dead’ option.

“I… I don’t know,” Jacques said.

“You think he’s dead too, don’t you?”

Jacques nodded.

“Maybe the police got him alive.”

“Then why aren’t they here yet?”

David shrugged. “They have to get him to talk first.”

“Maybe. I hope so. I’m getting really hungry and thirsty.”

Jacques pulled at the ropes that bound them. His hands and ankles were bound separately and then a third rope wrapped them both together. There was no standing up unless he stayed hunched over, his hands close to his feet. And then there was the problem of yet another rope binding the two boys together that ran under a steel hoop bolted to the floor.

Jacques had looked at it over and over but saw no way of escaping. The bolts were too thick and they had nothing to use to loosen them. The bindings had been tightened since Claude had escaped, tight enough that they were cutting into his skin whether he pushed against them or not.

“We need to figure out a way to get out of here,” Jacques said. His eyes were focused on the rope that held his ankles to his wrists.

“How? We can’t get these loose. We tried. And it hurts a lot.”

“I know,” he said, feeling the soreness in his wrists and ankles. “What if we rock back and forth and drag the rope against that metal loop? Do you think it could fray the rope?”

David shook his head. “I don’t think so. It’s so smooth. Can we make it rougher?”

“With what?” Jacques snapped at the younger boy, his frustrations building.

David looked upset. He only wanted to help but he knew he wasn’t as smart or as strong as Jacques. In the short time he’d been there, he’d come to look up to the older boy, come to respect him as a brother. It was for that reason that his sharpness cut David to the bone.

“Sorry. There has to be something we can do.”

Jacques turned away. “It’s okay… I’m sorry to get mad. We have to figure something out. If he doesn’t come back…”

“We’re going to die, aren’t we?”

Jacques shook his head. “Only if no one finds us for a long time. We’ll be okay.”

“Who’s going to find us? We tried screaming and nothing happened. Do you even know where we are?”

“No. Just… we have to keep thinking good stuff, okay? Someone will find us. The police will find us.”

David nodded. “Okay. I’m going to try.”

Jacques shuffled across the floor and put his arm around David. “You’re a tough kid. Just like Claude. And look at him, he got away.”

David smiled and leaned against Jacques. “I’m glad I’m not alone.”

“Me too,” Jacques said. “Me too.”

Jacques rested his head on David’s. He hated feeling happy that someone else had met the same fate he had, but he didn’t think he would’ve been able to get through it all alone. The days after Claude’s escape terrified him more than anything. When Max brought David into the room, Jacques had felt a sense of relief that racked him with guilt. There was nothing he could do though, nothing he could’ve done to prevent David’s abduction. He tried to convince himself it was okay to feel comfort in having David there, that it wasn’t his fault and so it was fine to feel that way, but it never sat well with him.

Jacques looked around the room at the door with its three deadbolts and the windows with their bars and saw no hope for escape. They would have to wait it out and hope that someone found them or, as much as he never wanted to see his face again, hope that Max came back.

If I could just get to the window.

Jacques shook his head. It wouldn’t matter. The rope that held the boys together was too short, and even if they could find a way to get free of that binding, there was no way he could break the window with his feet and hands bound to the point of almost touching.

If I could break the window, someone would hear us screaming.

Jacques knew he had to think of something. They had been a day without water. He knew enough to know they couldn’t go much more than three.