Dmitryi let the phone ring twice before he answered it. It was a habit left over from the Cold War. Never pick up until the third ring his instructors had drilled into him at the KGB. The caller ID identified it as the burner phone he had given to Stephen Kesl’s chief of security.
“Yes, Mr. McBride?”
“I still can’t believe it. They’re supposedly humanlike just as you said. We’re actually going to take one from the casino to somewhere in the Hiawatha National Forest. I’ll text you the coordinates when I get there.”
“Yes, do that.” Dmitryi paused. “I want it understood, Stephen is not to be hurt.”
“You don’t have to worry about that. He’s not coming along.”
“Excellent. He’s staying at the casino, I take it.”
“Yes. What about the teams hunting the Bigfoot. They’re going to want to kill this one.”
“Don’t worry about them. They won’t be hunting tonight.”
Dmitryi hung up. It won’t be long now. Just one more loose end to tie off and the secret of the Yeti and their technology will be mine.
* * *
The door to the cabin opened and Dmitryi’s hand automatically slipped around the weapon he carried in the secret pocket of his coat. After a pair of heartbeats, Echohawk stepped in. The Russian’s heart beat fast but he controlled his surprise. Feigning an air of nonchalance, he said, “I’ve been expecting you.”
The Native American’s eyes quickly scanned the room. He smiled. “I saw your welcoming committee. A couple of them are going to need medical attention after I leave.”
Dmitryi frowned. “That wasn’t necessary. They had orders not to hurt you.”
Echohawk shrugged. He went over to the table by the fireplace. He appeared to be looking for something. Dmitryi held out his hand with the PA. “I believe this is what you are looking for.”
Echohawk scowled. Knowing he had regained the upper hand for the moment, Dmitryi hid his smile and tossed the PA to Echohawk. He watched as the man affixed the device behind the left ear. He had never negotiated with an American Indian before. But men are men and a man who thinks he wants something can always be persuaded to take the next best offer. His hand caressed the air pistol in his pocket that shot a lethal dart, which would kill a person instantly. Echohawk settled into the chair opposite the Russian. “I propose an exchange of information,” he said.
“That is not the arrangement agreed upon by the brothers.”
“The arrangement has changed.” A smile flitted across the Native American’s face and Dmitryi wondered what game the man was playing. “The brothers may be brilliant, but like all conspiracy theorists, they are easily manipulated by men like you.” The smile vanished. “I’m not that easy,” Echohawk said forcefully.
“Indeed. What happened?”
“I spoke with one of the creatures. It was different than I thought it would be.”
“Of course. I have spoken with one of the creatures many times,” Dmitryi said, keeping his voice calm as if debriefing an operative from the cold war years. “It can be unsettling. Tell me about it.”
Echohawk shook his head. “You first. How did this all get started?”
Dmitryi saw the inflexibility in the lines around the Native American’s mouth but was not worried. If need be he could neutralize Echohawk, if the man proved to be a liability. “All right. Four months ago the harbor master at Provideniya, a seaport in Russia’s Autonomous Okrug region, intercepted a Yupik fishing vessel transporting a Yeti to Alaska and captured the creature. Instead of calling his superiors, he called me. Over the course of the next couple of months I interviewed the creature as well as his caretakers, the Yupik, a Siberian tribe who have known the Yeti for thousands of years. I learned that the present day Yeti descended from a line of extraterrestrial bio-synthetic organisms which were placed on Earth ten to fifteen thousand years ago to learn and evolve. I also uncovered that the time for a major transformation is about to happen, and that the Yeti which the harbormaster captured, was traveling to the original place where it all started. It’s a place of enormous alien technological potential, somewhere in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. I also learned that the Yeti we intercepted was one of many.”
“Why so many?” asked Echohawk.
“These are machines, biosynthetic machines, but machines all the same, that have proceeded along many evolutionary pathways. They make many improved versions of themselves. It’s their evolutionary process. They’re not conscious of course.”
Echohawk interrupted. “I know when you’re lying.”
Dmitryi thought of responding to Ecohawk’s assertion but let it go as unnecessary. “In order to find the home portal, I placed a tracking device on the captured Yeti and allowed the caretakers to deliver it to the other side.”
“Moscow must have loved that,” said Echohawk sarcastically.
“Moscow knows nothing of this.”
“You’re arrangement with the brothers is completely on your own?” asked Echohawk, the disbelief in his voice discernible.
“As you said, they are fools. They are incapable of seeing the bigger picture here, which is why I need your help.”
Echohawk laughed harshly. “Go on.”
“The Yeti I placed a tracker on died. All was lost until I found the Ang brothers. I used their irrational fear of an alien invasion to find the other Yeti coming to North America through their low orbit stationary satellites system, which you know very well. They began picking up the occasional movement of other Yeti and Bigfoot. I convinced them that the only way to stop the alien takeover of the world was to kill the Bigfoot quietly and carefully in the Upper Peninsula, before they can contact their home planet. Then I brought in special teams of mercenaries to keep the Ang brothers happy and engaged until I was in a position to control the alien technology. At first I just wanted the alien technology but now I’ve learned from my protégé Kesl these Yeti are biosynthetic alien learning devices containing unimaginable knowledge about the planet. Whomever controls this information will control the world.” Dmitryi stopped. “Your turn.”
“There’s truth in much of what you say. The legend has it that my clan have been caretakers of the Bigfoot in the region for thousands of years. My Auntie Ayasha is our clan’s leader. She told me when I was a teenager that someday something big was going to happen on our ancestral land. Something that would change the world for the better.”
“She was right but not for the better unless we stop this next step in their evolution.”
“You’re afraid it will lead to an alien invasion?” Echohawk sneered.
“Not an alien invasion. I believe the Bigfoot want to become our masters. The event tonight will produce a singularity where the Bigfoot become superior to us in every way. Unstoppable. The brothers told me when you knew the truth you would be with us to put an end to their plans and reap the benefit of the alien technology for all of us.”
Ecohawk leaned forward. “What do you want me to do?”
Dmitryi kept his hand on his weapon and his expression bland. He tried to read the Native American for any clues as to his allegiance but the face was as neutral as his own. Fish or cut bait, that is the American proverb. He decided. I am the fisherman here.
“I just got word that a number of Bigfoot from around the planet are meeting at the mother portal tonight. I want you to know the most important Bigfoot is with your aunt right now at your tribe’s casino. I need you there. Help us stop this singularity. And keep your aunt safe. Are you with me?”
Echohawk smiled at Dmitryi and stuck out his hand. “I want to be on the winning side.” He stood and strode across the room. “I can be at the casino in a couple of hours.” With that Echohawk was out the door. Before Dmitryi’s could alert his men, he had disappeared into the forest.
For the first time Dmitryi felt a twinge of uncertainty. Knowing clearly that Kesl was involved in moving the Bigfoot plan forward was an unexpected twist. Then he relaxed and thought, I’ve always been able to handle Stephen.