36 |
36 |Outside Ostafyevo International Business Airport Moscow, Russia
Kane rested his elbows on the roof of the car, watching the unfolding scene through binoculars, an unexpected arrival rushing toward the handover of Natasha Ivashin. “This can’t be good.”
Zorkin nodded. “I told you I didn’t trust them.”
Kane stole a glance at the old man. “But you arranged it.”
“I made the agreement with the Russian government. I wouldn’t trust them to stick with any deal, but I don’t think that’s what’s going on here. Watch.”
Kane pressed his eyes back against the binoculars as gunfire erupted, the new arrivals slaughtering the team waiting for the coffin, then he smiled slightly as they emptied their magazines into the coffin. “You called it.”
“We made a deal with the Russian government, but it’s so corrupt, you can be sure that someone will always let the secrets slip for the right price.”
Kane watched one of them with a portable circular saw rounding the coffin, making quick work of the hardware holding the lid in place, then the reaction to what they found inside. Something was tossed in the coffin by a frustrated assassin.
Kane squinted. “What was that?”
Zorkin leaned slightly closer with his binoculars. “I can’t tell. A photo?”
“That’s what I thought.” He pursed his lips as the attackers raced off. They had only minutes before the authorities would be crawling all over the scene. Kane jumped in their vehicle. “I’ll be right back.”
Zorkin stepped away, shaking his head. “You’re gonna get caught!”
But Kane ignored him. He hammered on the gas and raced down the road that lined the airfield, then blasted through the back gate left open by the assault team. He reached the isolated area of the airport reserved for the special Aeroflot flight, and brought the vehicle to a halt. He leaped out and sprinted over to the coffin, peering inside.
And smiled.
It was a photo of Natasha, from perhaps a few years ago, obviously provided to identify the target.
A target made up of 120 pounds of weights, with one 8½x11 piece of paper with a happy face drawn on it, no doubt by a cheeky Alex West.
Thank God for Zorkin’s suspicious nature.
He hurried back to the car and climbed in, holding up the photo to his backseat passenger. “Recognize yourself?”
Natasha glared at him, ignoring it. “You should have let me die. I won’t tell you anything.”
Kane tossed the photo on the passenger seat and turned them around, heading back to the gate, the sleepy airport security finally sending a lone vehicle out to investigate what had just happened. Within minutes, Zorkin was occupying the passenger seat, examining the photo.
His eyes narrowed. “An interesting photo choice, don’t you think?” He held it up for Kane to see.
Kane eyed it for a moment. He hadn’t really noticed earlier in the rush of collecting it, but it wasn’t a frame capture from a surveillance camera, but instead a photo of her standing in front of a home with a slight yet forced smile, her arm around a short, old woman with a beaming smile. “Not exactly a mugshot, is it?” He pursed his lips. “Show her.”
Zorkin turned in his seat, holding up the photo for Natasha, the woman delivered in the same manner as described, but two hours earlier, the “body” picked up by her grieving brother and grandfather. “Recognize this photo? That’s you and your mother, isn’t it?”
Natasha glared ahead, saying nothing as Kane watched her reaction in the rearview mirror.
Then her eyes darted toward the photo, then her entire head turned as her mouth opened slightly.
“It is, isn’t it?”
She nodded slowly. “Wh-where did you get this?”
Kane replied. “You saw me get it yourself. Those men who pumped a couple of pounds of lead into your coffin left it. It was supposed to be used to identify your body when they were done.”
She slowly shook her head. “But that’s impossible.”
Kane tensed with anticipation as he suspected a revelation was about to be heard. “Why?”
She tore her eyes away from the photo. “Because that photo is on my uncle’s desk, and there’s only one copy.” Her jaw dropped. “Did Uncle Cheslav just try to kill me?”
Kane took a deep breath as he guided them away from the scene, everything from the past three weeks being rewritten.