Polar Shift (32 page)

Petrov's somber expression remained the same, but his eyes crinkled in amusement. "That is one of the many reasons I like you, Austin. You are the embodiment of gallantry.
A knight in shining armor."

"Thanks for the compliment, but we don't have much time, Petrov."

"I agree. Do you have any questions?"

"Yeah," Zavala said. "Does Veronika have a phone number?"

"You can ask her yourself," Petrov said.

He downed the shot of vodka, screwed the cap back on the bottle and tucked it under his arm, then led the way from the room and through the exit. A car and driver were waiting for them.

"We had some special luggage," Austin said. He pointed to two oversize bags. "Please give them special attention."

"Everything has been transferred."

They got in the car, which drove them to the water side of the airport and onto a wide, sagging dock. A boat about sixty feet long was tied up at the end of the dock. Several men were waiting at the gangway.

Austin got out of the car and asked about the words painted in Cyrillic on the white hull.

"Arctic Tours. It's a real tourist company that takes wealthy Americans into godforsaken places for obscene sums of money. I have chartered the boat for a few days. If anyone asks, we are taking some Boy Scouts on a nature tour."

As Petrov escorted the two men up the gangway, Austin was glad to see that their luggage had appeared magically on the deck. They were traveling light, with one duffel bag apiece, and the two bags that Austin asked be given special attention.

Petrov led them into the main cabin. Austin had only to take a quick glance around to see that this was no tourist boat. Most of the built-in furniture had been removed, leaving a stationary table in the center and padded benches along the perimeter. Dimitri and Veronika sat on the bench with four men in camouflage uniforms. They were busy cleaning an impressive array of automatic weapons.

"I see your Boy Scouts are preparing for their merit badges in marksmanship. What do you think, Joe?"

"I'm more interested in the Girl Scout," Zavala said. He went over and struck up a conversation with the young Russian woman.

Austin gave Petrov a questioning look.

"I know you said that a quiet approach was necessary," Petrov said. "I am in complete agreement. These people are only here in reserve. Look, there are only six of them. Not a whole army."

"They're packing more firepower than both sides at the battle of Gettysburg," Austin observed.

"We may need it," Petrov said. "Come to my cabin and I'll bring you up to date on the situation."

Petrov led the way to a compact stateroom and picked up a large envelope on the bunk. He extracted a number of photographs from the envelope and handed them to Austin, who held them close to the light streaming in through the porthole. The photos showed various views of a long, grayish island with a doughnut-shaped mountain in the center of the landmass.

"Ivory Island?" he said.

"The views were taken by satellite over the last several days." Petrov produced a small magnifying glass from his pocket. He pointed to an indentation in the south side of the island. "This is the natural, deepwater harbor that the icebreaker, which supplies and transports the expedition, uses in coming and going. The ship dropped Karla Janos off here two days ago to join an expedition already in progress."

"What's the nature of this expedition?"

"Science fiction.
Some crazy Russians and Japanese hope to find DNA from a woolly mammoth that can be cloned into a live crea
ture.
Look, here on the other side of the island, where the permafrost had been eroded, there are natural inlets."

Austin saw an elongated shape lying in a cove.
"A boat?"

"Whoever owns it didn't want to be seen or they would have come into the main harbor. I think the assassins have arrived."

"How soon can we get there?"

"Ten hours. The boat will do forty knots, but the distances here are vast, and we may be slowed by ice."

"We don't have that long."

"I agree. That's why I have made contingency plans." He glanced at his watch. "In forty-five minutes, a seaplane will arrive here from the mainland. After it refuels, it will take you and Zavala to a rendezvous with the icebreaker
Kotelny,
which is between Wrangel Island and the polar ice.
A trip of about three hours by air.
The icebreaker will transport you to Ivory Island."

"What about you and your friends?"

"We will leave as soon as you do, and, with any luck, we'll arrive sometime tomorrow."

Austin reached out and gripped Petrov's hand. "I can't thank you enough, Ivan."

"I should be the one thanking
you.
Yesterday, I was rotting in my Moscow office. Today, I am rushing to save a damsel in distress."

"I may have a problem prying Zavala away," Austin said.

His fears were unfounded, as it turned out. When he returned to the main cabin, Zavala was chatting with one of Petrov's men about his weapon. Veronika and Dimitri were sitting off by themselves engaged in animated conversation.

"Sorry to take you away from your budding romance," Austin said.

"Don't be. Petrov failed to tell me that Veronika and Dimitri are married.
To each other.
Where are we going?"

Austin explained Petrov's plans, and they went out on the dock to wait. The seaplane was fifteen minutes early. It taxied up to the fuel pump at the end of the pier. Austin supervised the handling of his luggage while the plane was being refueled
,
then he and Zavala boarded the plane. Within minutes, it skimmed across the bay, lifted its nose and climbed at a sharp angle over the jagged peaks of the gray mountains that flanked the bay,
then
headed north into the unknown.

25

Karla's eyelids fluttered open.
She saw only blackness, but senses that had been temporarily put on hold stirred to life. She had a coppery taste of old blood in her mouth. Her back felt as if it were resting on a bed of nails. Then she heard a rustling noise close by. She remembered the yellow-toothed attacker. Still only half conscious, she put her arms up and flailed away in the dark, defending herself against an unseen assailant.

"No!" she called out in fear and defiance.

Her thrashing arms struck soft flesh. A big hand with fingers like steel clamped down over her mouth. A light flashed on. Its beam illuminated a disembodied face floating in the darkness.

She stopped fighting. The long-jawed face had aged dramatically since the last time she had seen it. There were more wrinkles, and a general droopiness to skin that was once as taut as a drumhead. The watchful eyes were framed by crow's-feet, pouches and white brows, but the irises were the same piercing blue she remembered. He removed his hand from her mouth.

She smiled. "Uncle Karl."

The ends of the thin lips curved up slightly. "Technically speaking, I am your godfather. But, yes, it is me.
Your uncle Karl.
How do you feel?"

"I'll be all right." She forced herself to sit up, even though the effort made her dizzy. As she ran her tongue across her swollen lips, the memory of the attack came flooding back.

"There were four other scientists. They took them away, and then I heard shots."

A pained look came to the pale eyes. "I'm afraid they were all killed."

"Killed.
But
why?"

"The men who killed them didn't want witnesses."

"Witnesses to
what?"

"Your murder.
Or abduction.
I'm not sure what they had in mind, only that it was no good."

"This doesn't make sense. I just arrived here two days ago. I'm a stranger in this country. I'm simply a bone scientist like the others. What reason would anyone have to murder me?"

Schroeder turned his head slightly as if he were listening for something, then he switched the light off. His mellow voice was cool and soothing in the darkness. "They think your grandfather had a secret of great importance. They think he passed it on to you, and they want to make sure no one else learns about it."

"Grandpa!"
Karla almost laughed through her pain. "That's ridiculous. I don't know any secret."

"Nonetheless, they think so, and that's what's important."

"Then the deaths of those scientists are
my
fault."

"Not at all.
The men who pulled the trigger are responsible."

He pressed the flashlight into her palm to restore a measure of control to her damaged psyche. She flashed the light around so that the beam illuminated the black rock ceilings and walls.

"Where are we?" she said.

"In a cave.
I carried you here. It was sheer luck that I found a low place to climb out of the gorge and immediately came to a natural wall of stone. It was split in many places, and I thought we could hide in a narrow gap in the rocks. I saw an opening at the end of a narrow fissure. I cut some bushes and put them around the mouth of the cave."

She reached out in the darkness and grabbed onto his big hand. "Thank you, Uncle Karl. You're like some guardian angel."

"I promised your grandfather that I would look after you."

Karla sat in the dark, thinking back to the first time she remembered meeting Schroeder. She was a young girl, living at her grandfather's house after her parents died. He appeared one day, bearing an armful of gifts. He seemed enormously tall and strong, more like a walking tree than a man. Despite the strength that he projected, he seemed almost shy, but her child's eye had detected a kindliness in his manner, and she quickly warmed up to him.

The last time she had seen him was at her grandfather's funeral. He never forgot her birthday, and sent her a card with money in it every year until she graduated from college. She didn't know the details of the bond between Schroeder and her family, but she knew from hearing the story many times that when she was born her grandfather had persuaded her parents to name her after the mysterious uncle.

"I don't know how you found me in this remote spot," Karla said.

"It wasn't hard. The university told me where you were. Getting here was the difficult part. I hired a fishing boat to bring me in.

When I didn't see anyone at your camp, I followed your trail. The next time you go off on an expedition, please make it closer. I'm getting too old for this kind of thing." He cocked his ear.
"Hush."

They sat in the silent darkness, listening. They heard muffled voices, and the scrape of boots against rocks and gravel at the mouth of the cave. Then the darkness was leavened by a yellowish light as the bushes blocking the entrance were moved aside.

"Hey in there," a man's voice called in Russian.

Schroeder squeezed Karla's hand in a signal to be silent. It was an unnecessary gesture, because she was nearly frozen with fear.

"We know you're in there," the voice said. "We can see where someone cut the bushes. It's not polite not to answer when people are talking to you."

Schroeder crawled forward a few yards, where he had a view of the cave's mouth.

"It's not polite to kill innocent people, either."

"You killed my man. My friend was innocent."

"Your friend was
stupid
and deserved to die," Schroeder said.

Hoarse male laughter greeted his answer.

"Hey, tough guy, my name is Grisha. Who the hell are you?"

"I'm your worst nightmare come true."

"I heard someone say that in an American movie," the voice said. "You're an old man. What do you want with a young girl? I'll make a deal. I'll let you go if you give us the girl."

"I heard someone say that in a movie too," Schroeder said. "Do you think I'm stupid? Let's talk some more. Tell me why you want to kill the girl."

"We don't want to kill her. She's worth a lot of money to us."

"Then you won't harm her?"

"No, no. Like I said, she's worth more as a hostage."

Schroeder paused as if he were seriously considering the offer.

"I have lots of money too. I can give it to you right away and you won't have to wait. How does a million dollars American sound?"

There was a whispered discussion,
then
the Russian came back. "My men say
it's
okay, but they want to see the money first."

"All right.
Come closer to the cave and I'll throw it out to you."

The conversation had been in Russian and Karla had understood only part of it. Schroeder whispered to Karla to move deeper into the cave and to cover her ears. He reached into his pack and pulled out an object that looked like a small metal pineapple. He knew that his offer would draw the attackers in like jackals, and, with any luck, he could take out all of them. He stood up. Shards of pain shot up his right leg. The run and climb while carrying the young woman had aggravated the ankle injury.