Smoke and Mirrors (25 page)

Rodion nodded at the windscreen. “Look ahead. The traffic’s slowed. Backed up. We’re on one of the main roads out of the city.”

“Roadblock,” Ilya groaned.

Rodion swung the wheel in a violent turn onto the other side of the road and drove back the few yards to the nearest turnoff. The tires screeched as the car all but skidded around the corner, leaving Nell’s stomach well behind.

They faced a wall of vehicles and men with guns.

Rodion slammed his foot on the brake. They gave him no time to back up, and certainly no time for any of them to run. The guns were all trained before more armed men wrenched open the doors and commanded, “Out.”

The men lined up behind the row of cars, with guns aimed, were uniformed police. But it was the others who truly terrified Nell: the ones who pulled them ungently from the car, slammed them against the side of the vehicle, and searched them.

The barrel of a gun pressed into her neck. Rigid with shock, Nell felt an even worse surge of panic as hands she couldn’t even see searched all over her body. Her phone was taken. Then she was spun around, and the same brutal mauling happened all over again from the front. There was nothing sexual in the groping hands; it was simply rough and invasive, but it was enough to set all her nerve endings screaming so loudly she had a hard job to stay conscious.

Beside her, Rodion moved his arm to touch hers as if in understanding and comfort. Touches, she knew now, were as different as the people behind them.

Still held against the side of the car, Nell saw a man in front of them, gazing at an A4-size photograph. He was tall and tough and looked as if he didn’t trouble to take prisoners very often.

He glanced up and smiled at Rodion. “Rodion Andreyevich Kosar. Welcome home.”

Rodion said nothing.

“Put them in the van.”

“
All
of us?” Rodion said as if amused. “
He
‘s only here because I stole his car, and
she
‘s British. You don’t want to piss off the British, do you?”

The secret policeman curled his lip with at least as much amusement as contempt. “Why should the British care about your whore?”

“She’s his whore, not mine.”

The man gave her a second glance. “Your loss,” he allowed. “If it’s true.” He backhanded Rodion almost casually, and Nell couldn’t help her cry of outraged horror. Rodion straightened quickly, a thin trickle of blood beginning to ooze from his cut lip.

“Sure,” the policeman sneered. “His.” He jerked his head, and the three of them were hauled behind the row of cars to where an unmarked black van was parked at the side of the road.

Nell tried desperately to pull herself out of this debilitating sense of nightmare that made everything feel unreal. She couldn’t even speak without being overheard. On either side of her, Rodion and Ilya marched ahead of the guns still trained on them. Rodion’s reputation had travelled before him, and they were taking no chances.

Maybe he could melt a gun or two. But surely not that many…

Rodion said, “Sorry just doesn’t cover it. Pray for the fat lady.”

“What?” said Ilya, just as the back doors of the van were thrown open. Inside sat Boris, a bloody bruise on one cheek and his hands cuffed. On the bench opposite sat Anna with her arms around the two thin, pale children she knew from her dreams.

“Hello,” Rodion said as he was shoved in ahead of Nell. “Told you I wouldn’t be long.”

Chapter Nineteen

“They used the kids to bring you in,” Ilya said as the van lurched into motion. “They need a major capture to slap in the face of the opposition before the election. That’s you—a dissident and criminal in one.”

“But how did they know?” Anna demanded. “Were they watching us all the time?”

“The Bear told them,” Rodion said. “He couldn’t shoot us in public, but
they
could. Only they wanted to see what I was up to first. It would have looked better, a more spectacular coup, if you like, if they could have caught me robbing a bank or denouncing the government. But they’ve no shortage of old charges against me, so what the hell?”

His gaze locked with Anna’s. “Don’t look like that. They’ll let the kids go. And I can walk out of any prison I like.”

“Like the last time?” Anna cried in anguish. The last time, it was the Bear who’d got him out, not Rodion’s own magic.

“The last time, I was scared of anyone knowing what I could do. Now I don’t care.”

“Can’t you just get us out of it
now
?”

Rodion shook his head. “There are too many of them.”

Anna threw her head back against the side of the van, an unhappy laugh catching at her throat. “I hate it when you don’t have a plan.”

The words chilled Nell. Ever since she’d first met him, Rodion had
always
had a plan. Several plans. Was his great triumph really about to end like this? What the hell would they do to him? Imprison him, certainly. But unsavoury rumours of torture and illegal killings clung to the Zavreki secret police like mud to a wet dog.

And what about Anna, and the children so recently plucked from their own awful prison? Nell gazed at them and found the girl’s stare already on her face. She had the cuddly wolf cub clutched to her cheek, and Nell’s throat closed up, because in the midst of all his planning, Rodion had remembered to take it and give it to her. Sometimes it was the little things that made a man great.

Oh Jesus, how can I love him this much? I can’t lose him…

“You’re Nell,” the girl said with certainty. “You came at night and were kind to us.”

“I—I dreamed of you,” Nell said uncertainly.

A faint smile curved Liza’s lips. “Kindly,” she said. “I’m glad you love Rodya so much.”

Rodion, pressed up beside her on the bench, turned his head and looked at her. She didn’t look back. She couldn’t.

Liza nestled back into her sister’s arm. She closed her eyes as if she was already falling asleep. The boy, white-faced and wide-eyed, was gazing at Rodion.

Rodion said to Boris, “I see you put up a fight.”

Boris, his lip swollen and dried blood caked to his villainous beard, grunted.

“He floored four of them before they got their guns out,” Anna said proudly.

“No wonder they were so over-prepared for us,” Rodion murmured.

The van slowed, then stopped. Nell’s heart lurched. Were they here already? Wherever here was… Some dank secret prison where no one ever heard the screams. Except other prisoners.

She could hear voices, a shout; something thumped against the van. Rodion began to hum, a short, simple tune she’d heard before. A lullaby her mother had sung…
Shit.

The van doors flew open, and Derryn climbed in.

Behind him, Nell glimpsed the policeman who’d hit Rodion. Someone else was pointing a gun at him. The someone else looked suspiciously like the man in the blue T-shirt. And at his feet, she made out a man’s arms, palms down.

“What the…?” she began.

Derryn closed the van door and sat down on the floor. He was wearing a suit under a waterproof jacket. The van began to move again.

Rodion stopped humming. “Ah,” he said in English. “The fat lady, I presume.”

Derryn smiled. He’d never smiled at Nell, and she wasn’t sure she liked the effect. He said, “I’ve never been called that before, but yes, here I am, screeching like a Valkyrie.” He stuck out his hand. “You must be the famous Rodion Kosar. My name is Derryn, and I represent the British government.”

Rodion looked at the hand, then stretched out his own to clasp it briefly. “And where is the British government taking us?”

“Would London be all right? In the short term. We’re happy to look after your family too,” he added hastily. “Immediate medical care for the children. A decent house, a good, safe school. And protection, of course.”

“Of course,” Rodion said blandly. He didn’t take his eyes off Derryn’s face.

“This is just to begin with,” Derryn assured him. “There will be a generous salary.”

“And this all comes at the price of—what?”

“You sound suspicious, Mr. Kosar,” Derryn said comfortably. “Do you imagine we want the cachet of being the ones to finally catch you and—er—bang you up?”

“No. You’re intelligence, not police.”

“Exactly. And it would be a crime against intelligence to imprison such unique talents as your own.”

“Obviously I agree with you there. And what would you do with my
unique talents
?”

Derryn smiled again. “You know.”

“Alarmed buildings, locked rooms, safes,” Rodion said dreamily. “Political and industrial secrets, dirty news, assassinations. You think I can do it all.”

“You can.”

“But do I want to?” Rodion wondered.

Derryn’s gaze didn’t waver. “Do you have a choice?”

Rodion’s lips curved slightly. “There’s always a choice, Mr. Derryn.” His foot began to tap rapidly, vibrating the floor. “How are we getting to London?”

Derryn’s shoulders relaxed. “We have what you might call an unofficial airfield just outside the city. A helicopter will take us across the border, and we’ll be picked up from there by a cargo plane. It will be more comfortable than this.” He glanced at the children and added persuasively, “I’ve arranged for there to be a doctor on board.”

Rodion nodded thoughtfully. As if he was accepting. And yet Nell knew whatever was being forced on him, he didn’t accept it. He couldn’t bear the children being used again, however benignly, to compel him to act in matters over which he had no control and less choice. Rodion craved freedom, and despite all his constant, mammoth efforts, all he ever seemed to get was clipped wings.

She’d never even considered this. That Derryn would finally get him in the end. At least she’d kept the bastard away until Rodion had got the children away from the Bear. But somehow, despite this improvement in their fortunes, it wasn’t enough. It wasn’t nearly enough.

She gazed blindly at the van ceiling and tried to think, while beside her, Rodion’s leg vibrated against hers.

The van turned off the relatively smooth road and bounced over much more uneven ground. About a hundred yards on, it stopped. The driver’s door slammed, and a moment later, the back door opened and light flooded in. Derryn sprang down with surprising spryness and turned to help Rodion, then Anna and the children, Ilya, and Boris, still handcuffed.

Jumping down last, and without Derryn’s help, Nell looked around her. Two men had come with the van. A third was walking over from the helicopter.

So sure of him…

Of course, except for the approaching helicopter pilot, they all held handguns casually but quite definitely in their right hands. That helped.

Rodion said, “Mr. Derryn, I have to thank you for removing the inconvenient secret police from our path. But I’m afraid this is where we part company. I can’t accept your kind offer.”

Nell let out a sigh. She didn’t know if it was relief because he was standing firm for his own freedom or fury because he was going to make it all difficult and get himself shot. Without changing anything.

“I’m afraid you never really had a choice in that,” Derryn said, levelling his gun at Rodion and then shifting it right to point to Anna, who still stood between the bemused children. “Even I balk at killing kids, but trust me, I’ll happily shoot your friends and your older sister until you agree. I can do that quite slowly and efficiently. Miss Black, get the children out the way and into the helicopter. I think they’ve suffered enough.”

Nell had no problem with that. But, as the eyes of the others all swung on her in shock, she realised, almost with surprise, that her cover was finally blown. Derryn had commanded her with too much confidence, too much familiarity.

She didn’t mean to look at Rodion, but her eyes seemed to travel on their own. His were opaque, and yet his lips curved. “Oh, Nell,” he said softly. “Yelena… Have you really out-lied and out-deceived
me
?”

She couldn’t speak. She could barely tear her eyes free in order to take the hands of the children from Anna.

Anna stared at her with pure hatred, and she’d never imagined that would be so hard to take either.

“Fucking bitch,” Anna mouthed quite clearly over Vadim’s head. But she let them go, because the one thing they all agreed on was that the children had suffered enough.

At least they came without fuss. Nell made sure to keep her own body shielding theirs. The others stood in two facing, if uneven, rows: Derryn and his two armed henchmen opposite Rodion, Anna, Ilya, and Boris.

“So what’s it to be, Mr. Kosar? Cooperation? Or do I begin by kneecapping your sister?”

“No,” Rodion said quickly. “Begin with—Boris. Straight ahead.”

As if it were a command, Boris’s arm swung—quite unhampered by the cuffs which fell to the ground as he punched Derryn’s henchman full in the face. A the same time, the second man dropped his gun with an involuntary shriek of pain; and as Derryn’s mouth fell open in shock, Rodion hit him, and he fell like a stone.

“Guns don’t work against us,” Rodion said contemptuously. “I melt them. Liza. Vadim.”

The kids pulled free of her numb hands. Boris kicked the man in front of him who was trying to get up and fight.

“I owe you,” Rodion said to the crumpled Derryn. “So I’ll let you get to your helicopter. If you hurry. If you don’t, I might melt you too. Or Boris and I could just beat the shit out of you. Which would be more fun?”

Derryn, who had, after all, seriously overestimated the draw of a good school and a salary and failed to appreciate the true extent of the gifts he so wanted to make use of, crawled and stumbled to his feet.

A movement at the corner of Nell’s eye attracted her attention, but then Derryn commanded, “Helicopter. Now.” They were one step ahead of the pursuing Zavreki secret police, presumably. There was no time to hang around and negotiate.

They were going to do it. Rodion would be free at last. With his family.

I helped, she thought proudly. I helped do that. So why was her heart in tatters?

Because he was free without her.

“Miss Black, the helicopter,” Derryn said sharply.

Distracted again, she looked toward the movement on her left and saw the helicopter pilot behind a tree, his rifle aiming, waiting for a clear shot.

“No,” Rodion said. “Nell’s with us.”

Stunned, she turned to stare at him, but Derryn and the others were in the way, blocking her view. The British hobbled past, toward the helicopter, and her sudden hope vanished in a jolt of fear and understanding.

The pilot was a soldier, not one of Derryn’s spooks. No one had told him not to kill Rodion.

She whipped back to see him taking clear aim, and she leapt forward into his path, yelling some meaningless jumble of warning words that seemed to consist largely of Rodion’s name. Something slammed into her shoulder with unimaginable force, spinning her around.

There was pain, huge and burning. And the sky. She was looking up at the sky. The pale northern sun winked between the clouds. She could hear shouting and the whirring of helicopter blades. And then the sky was blocked by the fair head and the beloved face she really would die for.

“Nell’s with us.”
She tried to smile. “With you,” she whispered. “You.”

His head came nearer, and the sun shimmered against his fiery aura, turning it a bright, sparking gold. And then everything went black.

****

There were a lot of auras. Like halos. Which made her think at first that she was in heaven. Or whatever the afterlife was. But surely heaven wouldn’t bump and vibrate like this?

It was dark outside—nighttime. And she was in a car, a large family car with three rows of seats—they must have abandoned the secret police van and stolen another car—and her head lay on something warm and soft. Whatever it was, it belonged to Rodion, whose face swam above her and came gradually into focus.

“Rodion,” she whispered. “I’m not dead.”

“Not your fault.” His words were caustic, and yet his hand was tender, stroking her hair. “Idiot.”

“Be gentle with her,” came Anna’s dry voice. Her face loomed over the back of the seat in front. “She saved your worthless life.”

Nell made another discovery. “You don’t hate me,” she said to Rodion.

“You saved his worthless life,” Anna repeated.

Nell frowned. “No, he didn’t hate me
before
that. You said, ‘Nell’s with us.’”

“Well, you are, aren’t you?”

Weak tears started to her eyes. “How can you know that? Derryn sent me to get information out of you from the beginning, before I even entered the police station. I sat in that bloody café
waiting
for you. When I followed you to Zavrekestan, my mission was to get you to work for Derryn.”

“I know. Mostly.”

“Fuck, my shoulder hurts.”

“Give her this,” Anna said, passing something over the seat.

Obediently, Nell opened her mouth, and Rodion dropped a pill into it. He raised her up in his arms and helped her to drink from a bottle of water. “You were lucky,” he said. “The bullet seems to have gone right through without hitting anything vital. Nikolai’ll repair the damage when we get to the village.”

“Are the children…?”

“Asleep beside me,” Anna said and disappeared from view.

Rodion eased her back onto the pillowed sweatshirt he’d rolled up between her head and his thigh.

“How did you know?” she asked.

“You tried too hard to find me. Risked too much. And the first night I met you was the only time you wore makeup. Even on your night out at the Cat’s Eye. Plus, your ally in the blue T-shirt clearly knew all about you.”