High Stakes, page 12
She watched until he disappeared inside before she started across the tarmac. “Let’s go.”
Maria fell into step with her. “He was very sure of himself.”
“He should have been. He made sense.”
“And he’s beginning to know you very well.” She looked back at the office. “He’s put all the pieces he has together, but he’s still on the alert for any new ones that might drop into his puzzle.”
“But then we’re getting to know him, too.” Lara grinned as she unlocked the Land Rover. “He doesn’t seem to mind answering my questions, and you’re discovering all his deepest, darkest secrets with your computer.”
“I doubt it. But I might learn enough to feel more comfortable. We’ll have to see.” She got into the backseat and opened her laptop. “You enjoy the scenery. I’d rather see if I can find out more about Tanner by connecting him to this place.”
Lara shrugged as she got into the front passenger seat. “By all means, but I think he’s considering it a game. He doesn’t seem to care.”
“He told me he was a very private person, so he does care. There might come a time when it’s necessary that we do know everything about him.” She started typing. “Like he told me, information can be a weapon, too…”
* * *
Tanner didn’t come out of the office for another thirty minutes. When he did, he was talking on the phone, and his expression…He wasn’t frowning, it was more of an intense absence of expression.
Lara tensed. “I think something’s wrong.” She sat up straight in the seat, her gaze on Tanner’s face. “I don’t like the way—” She opened the door and jumped out of the Land Rover. “I’ve got to find out.” She was moving toward him. “I’ll be right back…”
The next moment she was standing in front of Tanner, glaring up at him. “What’s happened? Why do you look like that? What can I do to help?”
“Maybe nothing.” He hung up the phone. “Why do you think—”
“What’s happened?” she interrupted. “Don’t lie to me. I can see it. Don’t shut me out. I might be able to help.”
He was studying her intense expression. “You’re…different. I’ve never seen you like this. Almost as fierce as you were in Avgar Forest…I don’t know if I’d dare shut you out. Providing there’s any problem to solve.”
“There’s a problem. What is it?”
He was still staring at her with narrowed eyes as he murmured, “Very different.” Then he said with sudden abruptness, “I can’t get in touch with Nash and his crew. I tried to contact him from the cockpit an hour before we landed, but I only got static. I decided to try again using the equipment in Sherman’s office. It’s much more sophisticated, and there shouldn’t have been any trouble.”
“But there was?”
“Same result.”
“Your friend who runs the airport in Stockholm?”
“No answer.”
“Damn,” she whispered. “Not good. What orders did you give Nash?”
“He had a slight engine malfunction. It shouldn’t have taken any more than a few hours to fix. I told him to do the repair and get out of Stockholm ASAP. He was supposed to head back to the base in England.”
“Not back to Russia?”
“I’m not an idiot, Lara.”
“I don’t know what you are,” she said curtly. “I just know that I don’t like this. You said you knew the Gulfstream had not been seen or tracked. What about the helicopter that picked up Maria and brought her here?”
“Nash is very competent. He set down the helicopter in the middle of the woods, miles from Anton’s house, and they hiked to the house. After they secured Maria, they took her back to the helicopter, making sure they weren’t seen.” He added quietly, “He was careful. There shouldn’t have been any slip-ups, Lara.”
“You’re right.” She felt sick. She closed her eyes for a moment as she fought the chill. She could almost see the way it had happened. “There shouldn’t have been, but there were.” Her lids flipped open. “Because the one and only time Maria and I escaped Volkov and my father, he swore it wouldn’t happen again. Even if Nash checked the security in and around the house, they wouldn’t have caught all the cameras scattered around the woods. It might have taken my father a little while to access the right one where he could get the helicopter information and facial IDs, but he’d be able to do it.”
“Son of a bitch.” Tanner was swearing softly and vehemently. “I told Nash to check for security around the trees bordering the woods, but I didn’t tell him to send a search team deep into the woods. Dammit, why didn’t Kaskov tell me? He knew I only had a couple of days to do the recon.”
“He probably didn’t know. Even Maria didn’t know,” she said shakily. “It was just between my father and me. He took me deep into the woods and beat me with a whip after he showed me the cameras. Then he said if I tried to run again, he’d tie Maria to one of those trees and leave her there for a week and beat her every day. He said he could hardly wait to see the photos. He loved those cameras.” Her lips twisted. “He liked to film her in pain. It was the only way he could make me do what he wanted.”
“My God.” He involuntarily reached out and took her by the shoulders.
She quickly stepped back away from him. “So it wasn’t your fault or Kaskov’s fault. It was my fault. You told me she was safe, and I just accepted it. I should have remembered the cameras. I was just so glad to know she was safe I forgot everything else. It was a mistake. I shouldn’t have done that. Now tell me what harm I’ve caused.”
“Maybe none. I won’t know until I find out what happened to Nash.” He added roughly, “And regardless, it wouldn’t have been your fault. I was in charge. It was my responsibility.”
“Don’t tell me that,” she said fiercely. “I was the one who decided to come with you, didn’t I? I could have said no. That means we’re in this together. What’s bad for you is bad for Maria and me. That means I’m just as much responsible for whatever happens to you or your men as you are for me. Now how do we find out what happened to Nash?”
“Sherman is already trying to do that. He’s reaching out to some of the contacts in Stockholm I’ve used before to go and check out the airport. I should know something soon.”
“Then can we climb in that Land Rover and get out of here?” she asked jerkily. “Can’t Sherman call us while we’re on the road?”
“It may not be an emergency situation, Lara,” he said quietly. “We should have time.”
“What if we don’t? What if they’re on their way? I don’t want to take a chance. We’re free now, I want to stay that way.” Her hands clenched into fists at her side. “I can’t let them get their hands on Maria.”
“I won’t let that happen. I promised I’d take care of both of you.”
“But what if you can’t do it? You don’t know them. I’m the only one who can protect her.” She added through set teeth, “Can we please leave.”
He nodded slowly. “Get in the car. I have to go back into the office and talk to Sherman. We’ll be on the road in five minutes.” He turned on his heel and headed back into the office.
She whirled and strode back to the Land Rover.
“I was about to come and get you. You looked like you were pretty upset,” Maria said as Lara got into the car. “Did Tanner screw something up?”
“No, I did,” Lara said. “I forgot something I should have remembered.”
“You don’t forget anything,” Maria said. “Sometimes I wish you would.”
“I did this time.” She paused. “Tanner can’t get hold of Nash. Maybe something’s gone wrong.”
“Or maybe it hasn’t,” Maria said. “Nash seemed very smart while I was with him.” She glanced at Tanner, who had just left the office and was coming toward them. “But he doesn’t look too happy.”
“Sherman hasn’t been able to contact anyone in Stockholm yet,” Tanner said as he opened the driver’s door and got into the vehicle. “But I’ve set everything in place here, if there proves to be a problem.” He took the leather box he was carrying and handed it to Maria in the backseat. “Still, it’s just as well I had to go back to Sherman. I almost forget this.”
Maria was looking at it, puzzled. “What is it?”
“I hate inefficiency. It was beginning to annoy me to see you using that computer that wasn’t worthy of you. So I called ahead and asked Sherman to make certain he contacted my New York office and had them send down one of mine with all the bells and whistles when we arrived here.” He started the car. “It’s a very special computer that I won from one of Silicon Valley’s geniuses, Herb Cramer. I’ve always thought technology gives an edge in any business, and I set up the stakes deliberately when I heard about the new computer he was developing. He wouldn’t put anything but the prototypes into the pot anyway, but that was all I wanted. Most technology is out of date in a couple of years.”
“What’s so special about it?” Maria asked.
“It’s a laptop equipped with the next-gen CPU that won’t be available to the public for a few years.”
“What will that mean to me?” she asked.
“That CPU is capable of millions of more calculations per second than anything else out there. That, combined with the state-of-the-art decryption software package also provided, will give you the ability to crack into private files and business records of almost anyone you choose. It will give you power you would never have had otherwise.” He grinned. “And it will offer you at least a shot at discovering all my deepest mysteries. My only request is that you reserve it for personal use only and not let anyone else have access to it. I promised Cramer that when I won it from him.”
Maria gazed blankly at him. “Why would you give me this? You’re defeating your purpose.”
“Because he’d think it wasn’t fair,” Lara said suddenly. “It wouldn’t be fun for him.”
Tanner smiled at her. “Along with a few other obscure reasons. I believe we may be getting to know each other, Lara.” He glanced back at Maria. “And it’s an extremely complicated piece of technology. It will give you something to do putting it together and discovering all the search engines and such.” He was pulling out onto the road and gestured at Mallory, who was waiting at the side of the road at the wheel of a Toyota truck. “Lara will just have to be bored. She’s had her treat for the day. I’m not going to have Mallory set up her keyboard. We’d be crowded for space.”
“Whatever,” Maria said absently. She was already digging into the box and pulling out leaflets.
Lara’s gaze was on Mallory. “He’s going with us?”
He nodded. “I decided I might want to have Mallory and a few other men to patrol the woods near the house.”
“How many men?”
“Four.” He looked at her inquiringly. “I hope that’s okay?”
“Don’t make fun of me. I just want to know what to expect. I’ve learned that surprises usually aren’t pleasant.”
“I’m sure you have. I wasn’t making fun of you.” He thought about it. “Or maybe I was. You’re being very solemn. I might even be hoping to make you smile.”
She shook her head. “I made a mistake. There’s nothing funny about that. Were you thinking about bringing Mallory with us before you knew about Nash?”
“No. I was going to send him to check out the next stop on our itinerary. I wasn’t planning on staying at the house for more than a couple of days.”
“But you changed your mind. So you must have thought that there was reason to.”
“I often err on the side of caution.”
“I don’t think you do. I believe you study the situation and then go over all the possible implications and ramifications before you make your moves. There’s probably instinct involved, too, but like Mallory said, you’re usually a step ahead.” Her gaze was narrowed on his face. “And that step led you to bring Mallory and those other men along.”
He snapped his fingers. “My, my, you have me all figured out. We’ll have to tell Maria she doesn’t need to bother with any more research. Would you like to continue? I’m fascinated.”
“No, you’re not. You’re probably angry or at least on guard. You’re very wary about anyone invading your space. That’s too bad. It’s not as if I wanted to do it. I’ve been trying to keep you at a distance because you scared me. But you can’t keep me out now. It’s too dangerous for us.”
He didn’t speak for a moment. “I’m not angry or on guard. You got that wrong, though you were close on the rest. I am curious about how long you’ve been concentrating on doing that rather interesting psychoanalysis on me?”
“Concentrating?” She shook her head. “That’s something you’d do. I just let it come to me. Like a piece of difficult music that I had to learn. Then I went a little bit farther and threw in what I’d do if I were you in the same situation.”
“Pure instinct. Intriguing,” he murmured. “I suppose the skill was forced on you to survive those life-or-death Trials.” He tilted his head. “At least you judged me to be difficult instead of simple. It’s a pity you’re so averse to gambling. I’d really like to see you in a poker game.”
“You never will.” She moistened her lips. “Though it was probably rude of me to—” She stopped.
“Invade my space,” he finished. “The experience was worth the intrusion. But I doubt if you were really scared of me. I’ve never seen any signs of it.”
“Of course I was scared. You’ve been the most important person in my world since I woke up on that plane. I had to be careful not to make stupid choices and do the wrong thing.” She made an impatient gesture. “But I can’t sit back and let you make stupid choices, either. I have to know what you’re doing so I can help you. When should you be receiving a call from this Sherman about Stockholm?”
“Very soon. It depends on how quickly he can get someone out to that airport to ask questions. I’d say within the hour.”
“Not before that?”
He shook his head. “I doubt it.” He smiled crookedly. “I promise you’ll be the first to know.”
“Okay.” She leaned back in the seat. “I guess I can’t do better than that. Unless you can call Sherman back and make him—”
“Aren’t we done, Lara?” Maria asked dryly from the backseat. “I’ve been sitting here listening to you gnaw at the problem, and I’d like to get back to setting up this computer to work. I agree Nash might be trouble, but you don’t know anything yet. Let Tanner worry about him. You said we could use him. Now don’t get in his way. He signed on with Kaskov to get the job done. Let him do it.”
“You heard your mother,” Tanner said. “Let me worry about it…”
* * *
The call came from Sherman thirty-five minutes later. Tanner put the call on speaker. “Answers?”
“You’re not going to like it.” Sherman’s voice had a twang, but his words were clipped. “Oliver Radkork, the manager of the airport, is in the hospital with injuries.” He paused. “All three of Nash’s men are dead. Shot with automatic weapons. Nash himself may die eventually. He was still alive when he was found, but he’s in bad shape. He was tortured for a long time and was almost cut to pieces.” He paused before he added hoarsely, “He said to tell you he was sorry. That must mean he told them what they wanted to know. Radkork said there was a lot of screaming.”
“Bastards.” Tanner’s lips tightened. “Tell them to get him the best care possible and let me know if he makes it. What else do you know? Who did it?”
“Radkork said several hours after you left a Boeing Chinook helicopter landed and fifteen or twenty thugs poured out of it. Nash was still working on his copter in the hangar, but they were all over the airport in seconds. They knew what they were doing, and Nash and his guys didn’t have a chance.”
“IDs?”
“The one who was giving the orders was Balkon. The son of a bitch was laughing when he was interrogating Nash.”
Lara inhaled sharply.
Tanner reached out and covered her hand with his own. “What else? Did they get back on the Chinook or take another aircraft?”
“They got back on the Chinook.”
“Good. It’s not as fast as some other aircraft. That will buy us time, though probably not much. Tell Les to get the Gulfstream the hell out of there and take it to Toronto. You and your crew take care of moving the helicopters. Then call your friend Abner Clark, in the sheriff’s office and tell them to be on the lookout for some neo-Nazis who have been making threats against the airport.”
“That might be entertaining. The only people Abner hates worse than neo-Nazis are the Ku Klux Klan. Maybe I’ll stay around and help him round them up.”
“No, you get out of there now. I want that airport deserted in the next thirty minutes. Do you hear me?”
“I hear you.” He sighed. “Les is almost ready to go. I had him gas up when you told me to do it before you left.”
“Then get him out of there. I don’t want a repeat of Stockholm.”
“There won’t be. I’ll be in touch.” He cut the connection.
“Neo-Nazis?” Maria asked.
“I knew it would make Sherman’s friend move faster. The townspeople up here like their peace and order and can’t stand vigilantes of any sort. I wanted them to be prepared for any violence they ran into, but I didn’t have time for explanations.” He glanced at Lara, who was sitting frozen beside him. “You’re too quiet. Are you okay?”
“No,” she whispered. “A lot of people died or were terribly hurt and they didn’t have to be.”
“And you’re blaming yourself,” he said roughly. “Stop it. It’s my job, and I’m responsible for every single thing that happened, bad or good. So stop whining and tell me why Volkov wasn’t in Stockholm with your father. Do I have to worry about an attack from a different quarter?”
Whining? She felt a ripple of anger. Then she realized he’d probably said it deliberately to jar her out of the shock she was experiencing. She shook her head to clear it. “Probably not. It’s not unusual for Volkov to send Anton to run errands for him. I can see him ordering my father to find me and bring me back. Volkov was always the stronger. He held all the power. If he wasn’t in Stockholm, then that’s probably what happened.” She moistened her lips. “My father would only call on Volkov for help if there was no other way. He wouldn’t want him to know he failed.”
