Absolute Treason, page 11
“Everything we have so far.”
“Good. Then I am up to speed. Now let me return the favor.
“Nikolai Ivanovich is a brilliant man. I hate him, but even I can admit that he is brilliant. He is a chess master in both the literal and the figurative sense. Do you know what the point of chess is, Mr. American?”
“To take the king.”
“No! That is the end of the game, but it is not the point of the game. The point of chess is to control the board. You see, the way to win is to limit the options your opponent has while maximizing the options you have. People who are new to chess play like you—to win. People who are masters play to control. Their goal is not to take the king but to take away their opponents’ options. By hemming them in and forcing them to make only the moves you want them to make, you can determine the outcome of the game. You can decide not only if you’ll win, but how you’ll win and how soon.
“Nikolai is, at this moment, impressed by you, angry with you and afraid of you.”
Jake frowned. “Of me? Why?”
“Because you’ve taken his options away. He tried to have your President shot, and rather than move him somewhere vulnerable, you moved him out of harms’ way. He tried to poison your president, but you saw through the gambit and took his queen. He tried to have your President stabbed at great risk to his rook, but you moved your king out of harms’ way once more, and he has had to satisfy himself with threatening your queen.”
“But I didn’t move the President. He just moved out of the way.”
“Nikolai doesn’t know this. He thinks you’ve simply outsmarted him every step of the way. But now he believes he’s outsmarted you. He’s threatened your queen and put you in a position where you feel you must put your king in jeopardy to rescue her.”
The portly old agent leaned forward, his smile vanished. “You must not offer up your king! Not even as bait! If you do, he will take him, and you will lose the game. Stall him. Force him to stay in check so his attention must be on defense, not offense. The moment you acquiesce to his demands, even as a ruse, you have lost. Keep him on his back foot and find a way to free your queen. You are in a race against time right now, American. Your best bet is not to win this race but to create more time.”
Jake frowned. Up until that very second, his plan had been to use the President as bait. Not really, since he would be surrounded by agents, but he did plan to lure Nikolai in. Now Mikhail was warning against that very strategy.
“I will reach out to my contacts to see if I can locate your queen,” Mikhail said, “but I can promise nothing. Nikolai is sly as a fox and venomous as an adder. He may outsmart me one more time. But”—he grinned again—“if he doesn’t, then I would welcome the opportunity to turn the tables on him.”
“Why are you doing this?” Jake asked. “Not to sound ungrateful for the help, but why do you hate him so much?”
“Because. He thinks he is smarter than me.”
Jake stared at Mikhail in disbelief, laced with mild contempt. The old agent grinned, revealing rotting yellow teeth, and laughed at Jake's expression. "I wouldn't expect you to understand, agent. Only to accept my help regardless of my motives."
Jake had no choice after all. “I will. Thank you.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Kaspov was uncharacteristically silent on the drive back to the Kremlin. He scowled, his lips pushed forward pensively as the driver smoothly navigated the crowded city streets.
Jake didn’t feel much of an urge to strike up conversation either. He played back the conversation with Mikhail in his mind, but no matter how many times he repeated it in his head, he didn’t feel good about it.
Both Mikhail and Kaspov had advised him not to give ground to Nikolai. Topaz had confirmed this advice before even going to see Mikhail.
Jake understood that advice. From the perspective of a Secret Service agent, it was not only sound advice but the only option. The United States did not negotiate with terrorists. Full stop. Period. No matter what.
It didn’t matter that Sheila was in the clutches of a mad genius bent on overthrowing the United States. It didn’t matter that the only way to save her was to give up the President, or at least act like he was giving up the President so he could convince Nikolai to stick his neck out. He couldn’t give Nikolai even the slightest chance to get what he wanted.
Except it did matter. Because that was the woman he loved. That was Sheila. That wasn’t just anyone. It was the woman he was supposed to spend his life with, the woman he was supposed to have children with.
Three years. Three goddamned years. God, that’s all he wanted.
It hurt more because he had seemingly defeated Trident. Until Bard, Drew, and Dalton were in prison, he wouldn't consider them truly defeated, but he had beaten them badly enough that they now lay dormant. He had thought before that if he defeated Trident, there would be no one left who could truly threaten the President.
Instead, his worst fear had come true. By Nikolai’s own admission, Trident’s actions had emboldened him. How many more waited in line to try their luck after him?
Jake sighed and ran his hands through his hair. God, he hated this.
Kaspov guessed correctly at the root of Jake’s worry. “You must stay strong, Special Agent. I promise you, Nikolai will not hurt Sheila. Not unless he is truly convinced he cannot use her. Do not let your fear rule you. Play smart.”
Easy for you to say. “You don’t think I should bait him like we originally talked about?”
“Not after talking to Mikhail. He is right, Nikolai is too clever. We cannot let him get close. We cannot count on another stroke of luck like the one we had earlier this morning. We must play hardball with him. Tell him we need assurances. Tell him we don’t trust him, and we won’t play his game. Perhaps you can say that your superiors refuse to cooperate so he thinks your hands are tied. But Mikhail is right. He must never know where the President is.
“I’ll do my best.”
“That’s not good enough, Jake.”
The use of his first name surprised Jake. He looked up to see Kaspov smiling at him. The FSB agent looked old and tired for the first time in Jake’s memory. “Ours is not a job you can fail at. Believe me when I tell you, you don’t want a failure like that on your conscience. You will succeed. You will not try, you will not do your best. You will succeed. You must.”
Jake nodded. “All right.”
The car pulled in front of the Kremlin. Jake got out, and the car sped off. He made his way to Jess, who sat in the Secret Service vehicle, watching him intently.
“Did you get anything useful?” she asked.
He shook his head. “Another ally. An old enemy of Nikolai’s who wants in on the manhunt. Other than that, just a repeat of what we already know and more advice not to give in.”
“That sounds like good advice.”
“It is.”
“So we’ll follow it. Right?”
“Right. Yes, Jess. I won’t betray my country. Just give me a break if I’m a little pissed off at the situation.”
“I have given you a break,” she said gently, “but you still need to be able to handle this.”
Jake sighed. “I know. I will.”
She put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed softly. “She’ll be okay, Jake. We’ve always won before.”
“Even Muhammad Ali lost eventually.”
“But Rocky Marciano didn’t. You know why? Because he never stopped. He ran ten miles a day, every day, even on Christmas and his birthday. He never drank or smoked, and he trained for hours every morning and every afternoon. He dedicated every aspect of his life to boxing, and because he did, he was able to beat people he shouldn’t have had a chance with. He won forty-nine professional fights, and most of them weren’t close. That’s because he never stopped. So you don’t stop. You can take a beating just like he could. You can keep going when other people give up. Hell, you were dying of a virus, a stab wound, a beating and a gunshot, and you still beat St. Clair and rescued Sheila the first time she was captured. You can do this, but only if you believe you can and only if you don’t stop. Okay?”
Kaspov, Topaz and Mikhail had all tried to encourage Jake, but only Jess’s words had an effect. Jake didn’t know who Rocky Marciano was but knowing that someone else out there had managed to spend an entire career never slowing down even for a minute inspired him.
He could do it. One more fight. One more battle.
His phone rang. A private number. Jake had a feeling he knew who it was.
“Mercer.”
“Time’s up, Agent. What do you have for me?”
Jake took a deep breath. He was about to make a huge gamble. If it didn’t pay off, then he could be putting Sheila’s life at risk. “I’m afraid my hands are tied, Nikolai. I’ve spoken to my superiors. They will not agree to give the President’s location to you.”
A pause. “Why would you tell your superiors of this? The deal was between us. Of course they would not sacrifice the President. Were you planning to bait me?”
“Yes.”
This was it. The risk. The gambit. Nikolai’s reaction now would tell Jake whether it was worth it.
A longer pause. “You are being honest with me. That is interesting. I assume you have a reason for being so forthcoming. Or do you simply not care if I murder your woman?”
"I'm being forthcoming because I want to have a frank conversation with you. Here's the problem with your plan, Nikolai. You assume that because I'm the Chief of Security ,I can make decisions regarding the President's movements. I can't. He goes where he wants to go, and I arrange protection. If I want to suggest that he go somewhere else, he has to approve it. He didn’t approve it, and I reached out to my superiors and explained the situation. My thought was that they would agree to lure you out and offer the President as bait. Then, as soon as we had Sheila in custody, you would be arrested or killed. Or, if there was no way to accomplish that, then I would sabotage the mission, give you the President, and take Sheila. I would suffer grave consequences for that, but at least she would be safe.
“They didn’t go for it. No changes. Not only that, but they know that I’m in love with Sheila, so I’ve been replaced.”
“You’ve been replaced?”
“Yes. I’m no longer making active decisions regarding the President’s security.”
This pause was long enough that Jake thought he had lost Nikolai, When the terrorist came back, he was calm once more.
“You are lying to me, Jake. Very clumsily. I know more about you than you think I do. Your superiors allow you full discretion when you work, and they’ve allowed you to exercise that discretion to shocking degrees in the past. If you told them that you needed to use the President as bait to save his life, they would believe you. You are trying to trick me to give yourself more time to find me and attempt a rescue without giving me what I want. No doubt you have taken some advice from people more experienced than you in this game.
“You are a bad liar, but you have called my bluff. You are right, or rather, your friends, whoever they might be, are right. I will not kill Sheila.”
Jake felt an automatic flood of relief, but he knew better than to trust it. “What will you do?”
“I will hurt her.”
Jake’s blood froze. “If you touch her, I’ll—”
“What? Kill me? Hurt me? I’ve already told you I don’t care about myself. Tell your partner to answer my call.”
The laptop beeped to indicate an incoming call. Jake reached for it, but Jess caught his hand and shook her head no. Jake slowly pulled his hand back, but when he heard Sheila’s voice over his own phone, he reached forward and accepted the call.
Sheila was crying, “No! No, please!” as the masked man from earlier approached her with a meat cleaver.
“Nikolai!” Jake cried. “Listen! I can give you what you want! I just need more time!”
“You have it.”
“Please don’t hurt her! I’m doing my best!”
“You are. But not to help me.”
“Nikolai! This is the President of the United States! It’s not that simple!”
“It must become simple.”
The masked man brought the cleaver down, severing the rope around Sheila’s wrists. Sheila began beating on him with her fists, weeping and writhing in her chair.
The masked man shrugged off the blows and deftly caught one of her wrists. She shrieked and scratched at him. When her fingers drew blood, the masked man casually lifted his hand and backhanded her across the face. Her head whipped around, and she gasped and slumped forward, nearly knocked unconscious by the blow.
The masked man grabbed her wrist and pulled her hand forward again. Sheila began to fight once more, but the blow had rendered her weak, and the masked man had no trouble pressing her fist to the table in front of her and spreading her fingers so the ring finger was extended.
“Nikolai!” Jake screamed. “Stop it!”
“This time, she only loses a finger. Next time, she will lose something else. I’m not sure what yet, but it will be more painful than a finger.”
The masked man lifted his cleaver. Sheila shrieked and lifted her other hand to block the knife, but she was a slender, petite woman, and the masked man was massive and thickly muscled.
“I’ll kill you!” Jake screamed. “I’ll kill you slowly! You hear me? I’ll make it last, you bastard!”
The cleaver fell. Sheila screamed, and Jake’s mind tore in two. The masked man released Sheila’s arm. Gasping, retching and shrieking, she cradled it to her chest, then stared in horror when she realized what had just happened. She screamed again, then her eyes rolled back in her head, and she fainted.
The masked man picked up the finger and lifted it to the camera. Jess retched and whispered a choked, “Oh God.”
Jake pressed his palms to his temples, his eyes refusing to accept what he had seen but unable to look away.
“This was your doing, Agent. You had a chance to save her. You didn’t take it.”
“You fuck! I’ll—”
He heard a click as Nikolai hung up. Screaming with rage, he threw his cell phone against the car’s windshield. The bullet proof glass didn’t so much as crack, but his phone shattered. Jake knew that was a problem, but it was one he would deal with later.
Right now, he could only scream.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“We can’t tell the President,” Jess said.
“No,” Jake agreed. “We can’t.”
The two of them were back in front of the Kremlin. Both held half-full coffee cups. Jess's sandwich was half-eaten. Jake had eaten his in five minutes, mostly to keep his hands busy.
He had failed. He had promised to protect Sheila, and he had failed. She had gotten hurt because of that asshole Nikolai, and he hadn’t stopped her.
He should have followed his own plan. He should have tried to bait Nikolai. He could have rescued Sheila, and he could have stopped the terrorist. He should never have listened to Kaspov.
“He wouldn’t have brought Sheila,” Jess said, guessing Jake’s thoughts. “He would have lied to you, and when he found out you lied to him, we’d be in the same place right now.”
“I could have given myself more time,” Jake said. “I could have earned an extra day to find her if I had told him that I was giving him the President tomorrow.”
Jess didn’t reply to that. After a moment, she reached into her pocket and handed him a burner phone. “I activated it with the same number as your old one. Just in case.”
Jake took a deep breath and put the phone in his pocket. “Thank you.”
God, the way she screamed.
“It’s not the end of the world, Jake. We know now that he won’t kill her.”
“But we know he will torture her.”
“I know. But she’ll survive this. Losing a finger is hard, but it’s not nearly as hard as it could be.”
“That was the ring finger on her left hand. She’ll spend the rest of her life knowing it’s gone. When I have to put the ring on the wrong finger when I propose, she’ll know. She’ll always know, and she’ll always know that it was me who caused her to lose it.”
“Enough of that,” Jess said sternly. “We’re not doing this. It was a terrorist who did this, not you.”
“Yes, but—”
“No buts. Time to man up, Marine. Sorry to be this harsh, but we don’t get to feel sorry for ourselves. He’s clearly desperate, and he just as clearly is dependent on you to give him another opportunity to get to the President. He’s playing on your emotions because that’s all he has right now. Remember that.”
“So what? We keep resisting him until he kills her out of spite because he can’t get to the President?”
Jess pursed her lips. “I wish I could tell you something to make this better. I really can’t.”
Jake sighed and buried his face in his hands. He forgot about the coffee cup, and it burst open, spilling the hot liquid on his hand and thigh.
“Goddammit!” he cried. “Fuck!”
The pain wasn’t bad at all. It was the emotional strain that caused him to cry out.
“Get a hold of yourself, Jake,” Jess barked. “I can’t do this without you.”
“Fuck.” He ran his hands through his hair. “All right. You’re right. I know. Sorry.”
“Listen, you have people looking for him, okay? Odds are, they’ll find him. And at some point, Nikolai will have to make a move other than trying to bully you into making the move for him. I may not be a grandmaster, but I know that you can’t win a chess game with defense only.”
“The problem is that he might kill Sheila out of spite before he makes his move. If he really doesn’t care what happens to him, then he won’t care that I’ve threatened to kill him. He’ll just kill Sheila, and then move on the President while I’m an emotional wreck.”
“Don’t take this the wrong way, Jake, but you’re far more of an emotional wreck now than you would be if Sheila died. Right now, you still have something to lose. If you lose that something to lose, you’ll be a being of pure rage.” Jake met her eyes, and she said, “Yeah, I know it sounds silly, but it’s true. You’ll be angry and heartbroken, but you’ll be focused again. Right now, you’re not focused, and that’s exactly where Nikolai wants you. He’ll string this out as long as he can.”
