Snow Wolf (72 page)

"Stay here. I'll find out what's
going on."

Lukin ran toward the pileup. Up ahead he
saw that a delivery truck had skidded across the bridge and the traffic toward
October Square was blocked. Tire tracks slashed across the slushy surface and
the scene was chaotic. He swore.

He saw a pedestrian walking past on the
footpath, head down against the freezing cold, and he roared at the man,
"What the hell's wrong up there?"

The man looked back at the tangle of
traffic and shrugged. "A truck's blocking the way. A couple of cars came
too fast over the bridge and the truck had to swerve to avoid them."

Lukin saw no sign of Romulka's Zil. The
bastards must have caused the pileup and driven on. He raced back to the car.
When he climbed in he slammed his fist on the steering wheel in frustration.
Pasha said, "What's up?" Lukin told him. Pasha said, "That's all
we need. We'll never catch up with Romulka now."

Lukin ran his hand over his face and
tried to think. Below the sweep of the bridge lay the entrance to Gorky Park,
its expanse stretching along the bank of the frozen Moscow River. Farther on,
in the hollow below the bridge, he saw the towering shape of the Warsaw Hotel.
There was a narrow road off to the right of the hotel which Lukin knew finally
came out onto Lenin Prospect. It was throwing him off course by minutes but it
was the only way he could escape the pileup.

He said to Pasha, "Hold on to your
hat. This is where it starts to get interesting."

He shifted into gear, pulled out of the
line of traffic and bumped onto the footpath, lights on and horn blaring as he
headed down toward the park.

Massey sat in a chair, the Tokarev
pointed at him.

He looked over at Stanski steadily.
"It's over, Alex, whichever way you look at it. Lebel's been taken by the
KGB and it can't be long before he talks. And that can only mean one thing-the
boys in black are going to pay this place a visit."

"If you think I'm giving up now,
Jake, you're crazy."

"I told you, it's over. Why be a
damned fool?"

There was a slight smile on Stanski's
face but no trace of humor in his voice. "Instinct, if you like. A
lifetime of bad habits. Besides, it would be one hell of a waste of an
opportunity."

Massey shook his head. "You're
throwing away your life and the lives of Anna and Irena."

"Washington didn't send you all this
way just to have a talk. You came here to put a bullet in me, didn't you,
Jake?"

Massey was silent but Stanski saw the
reaction on his face. "Could you do that, Jake? Kill Anna and me?"

If I have to," Massey said flatly.'

"The look in our eyes says
different. You don't want to do it, Jake."

"There's a bigger picture at stake.
It's not just your lives.

Moscow will want you both alive. And once
they have their evidence they'll have enough reason to start a war."

"What you mean is, heads will roll
in Washington if this goes wrong."

Stanski stood. "You didn't come here
alone, did you?" Massey said quietly, "The dacha is covered, front
and back.

There's no way out."

Stanski thought for a moment, then said,
"What proof has Moscow got that I'm here to kill Stalin?"

"They've got proof, I told you. And
they'll use it once they find you,"

"I wouldn't be so sure about that.
Besides, I'd never let them take me alive. You think Moscow would tell the
world that someone got close enough to kill Stalin? That's where you're wrong.
It'd be the biggest loss of face the Kremlin's ever had.

They'd keep their mouths shut and pretend
nothing had happened. And if I succeeded some of them might even be
grateful." Massey started to stand.

Stanski said, "Stay right where you
are."

"Then you mind if I smoke?"

"Go right ahead. But move nice and
slowly. And light one for me while you're at it."

As Massey handed him a cigarette, Stanski
sat down again, "I never thought it would come to this, Jake. You and me.

Like High Noon."

"It doesn't have to be that way. You
give me your word you'll stop this now and I'll take you and the women back
with me. It's against my orders but I'm prepared to take that risk.

Like you guessed, I don't want to see any
of you wind up dead."

"Considerate of you, Jake. But how
do you plan on getting us out now that Lebel's out of the picture?"

"There's a military transport flight
to Vienna tomorrow morning. I can arrange papers for all of us."

"And if I don't agree?"

"You won't get out of here alive.
You, Anna or lrena."

"You'd really kill Anna too?"

When Massey didn't reply, Stanski said,
"How about you just take her and lrena and leave me to finish this?"

Massey shook his head. "No deal,
Alex. It's all of you or nothing. So I guess her life's in your hands. What's
it to be?"

Stanski smiled faintly. "What a
terrible world we live in, Jake. We were friends, and now you're ready to kill
me. Anna too. It makes my heart bleed, but there you have it."

He held up two fingers, tips close.
"I'm that much away from putting a bullet in the head of the biggest
madman the world's ever known and you want me to forget it. You're crazier than
me."

"I told you the reasons. Washington
can't take the risk."

"And you always do what Washington
says?" Massey said impatiently, "Something tells me I'm wasting my
time here."

As he reached over to crush out his
cigarette suddenly his hand came up to grab the silenced pistol. But Stanski
was too quick. He fired once, the pistol spat and the bullet nicked Massey's
wrist. Massey fell back in pain, gripping the wound. "You're getting slow,
Jake. I could have taken your eye out. Maybe I should just kill you and be done
with it."

He took a handkerchief from his pocket
and tossed it over. Blood oozed through Massey's fingers and he put the cloth
on the wound.

"Alex, you're making a big mistake
... listen to me ... for Anna's sake."

There was a sudden hard edge to Stanski's
voice. "What the hell do you care about Anna? Sorry, Massey, I'm past
listening. Get up."

As Massey struggled to move, there was
noise on the stairs and then Anna appeared in the doorway.

When she saw Massey she opened her mouth
to speak but no words came, a look of utter shock on her face.

Stanski turned to her. "I'll explain
later. Get some water and look after Massey. Then wake Irena. We're getting out
of here."

Five minutes later Lukin had cut onto
Lenin Prospect and was headed toward the Ramenki district.

Pasha had tried to rouse Lebel, slapping
him hard and shouting in his face, but the Frenchman was still unconscious.

The Mongolian said in frustration,
"Damn, it's no good, we've wasted our time bringing him with us."

"Try again!"

He tried again but the Frenchman only
groaned in his sleep.

Lukin swore with frustration. "Leave
him." The traffic out to the country was thin and the roads covered in
hard-packed snow. When they reached the intersection with Lomonossow Prospect
and turned right, Lukin saw the taillights of another vehicle a hundred meters
in front.

When he narrowed the gap he saw that it
was a black Zil and that there was another large car ahead of it.

Pasha said, "I think we're in
luck."

The two cars up ahead were moving fast
over the snow, but Lukin had snowchains and the BMW had a powerful engine. He
put his foot down and pulled out to get a better look. The car in the lead was
definitely also a Zil.

Pasha said, "If it's Romulka and you
overtake him he'll smell a rat."

"What else can I do?"

Pasha grinned. "Nothing, but I'd
like to see the bastard's face when he sees us. Let's do it."

Lukin hit the accelerator. For a split
second there was a dragging sensation as the BMW's tires threaded the packed
snow, then the chains on the tires gripped and the powerful engine roared as
Lukin swung the steering wheel to the left.

He overtook the rear car. There were four
burly plain-clothes men inside and they glanced at the BMW as it roared past.

And then suddenly Lukin was alongside the
lead Zil.

He glanced right just as Pasha did, and
caught a glimpse of the driver, then Romulka sitting in the passenger seat. He
gave another burst of power and the BMW shot forward.

The driver and Romulka glanced over, just
as Lukin overtook them.

For a moment Romulka's face was
illuminated in a wash of street light. There was a look of astonishment when he
saw Lukin's car, Pasha rolled down his window and raised his middle finger at
Romulka. "Sit on that, you asshole," Romulka reacted at the gesture
and then his twisted, angry face was gone from view as the BMW raced ahead.

Moments later, Lukin pulled back into the
lane, but kept the speed up. Pasha laughed. Lukin said, "Do you always
have to be the diplomat?"

"Fuck him. I'll worry about the
consequences afterwards."

"You Mongolians, you're beyond
redemption."

It's in the blood. With Genghis Khan for
an ancestor, what do you expect?"

Lebel groaned in the back, seemed to come
around, then fell silent. Lukin glanced in the rearview mirror.

Already the cars behind were picking up
speed, challenging him. He felt the sweat drip from his brow as he said to
Pasha, "How much farther?"

"I reckon another four kilometers.
Keep up the speed and, with luck, we'li just have time to do our business at
the dacha before that bastard's up our ass."

Stanski blew out the oil lamp and the
room was plunged into darkness.

He flicked on the flashlight and held the
Tokarev in his other hand. He shone the beam into a corner of the room.

Massey was sitting on the floor, his
hands tied behind his back. Anna and Irena sat huddled beside him. They had
dressed and Irena's face was white with fear. Stanski said to Massey, "How
about you let the women go free and I take my chances?"

Massey avoided looking at Anna as he
said, "I told you, I can't do that, Alex."

"You're a bastard, Massey. They're
out of this already. What harm can it do?"

"I was given orders - .."

Massey saw that Anna was staring at him,
hurt on her face. Stanski had told her why Massey had come and he had seen the
disbelief in her reaction.

Massey said suddenly, "Anna, I'm
sorry. This isn't my doing. If Alex goes ahead with this we're all dead. He has
to stop this madness."

There was a look of hopelessness on her
face as she turned away. "I don't think it matters now, does it, Jake?
Nothing matters."

"Tell him to stop because it's the
only way we all walk away from this alive ... You've nowhere left to run
to." Before Anna could reply, Stanski said, "Shut up, Massey. Make
another sound and it'll be your last."

He flicked off the flashlight and moved
to the window. He waited until his eyes became accustomed to the dark, then
pulled back the curtain a crack and peered out. The front garden looked eerily
quiet in the moonlight. He thought he saw a figure move near the gate, and then
it was gone. He let the curtain fall back into place, switched on the torch
again and shone the light on Massey.

"How many people have you got
outside?"

Massey didn't reply. Stanski cocked the
Tokarev and aimed at Massey's head. "You hesitate again and I take your
head off. How many?"

"Two men."

"Who are they?"

, "Agents we dropped months
back."

"Tell me more."

"They're former Ukrainian SS."

"Nice company you're keeping, Jake.
I'm surprised."

"It was either a war crimes trial or
work for us." There was an edge of panic in Massey's voice. "For
God's sake let me talk to them, Alex ..

Stanski shook his head. "You're sure
about the number?

You don't want to reconsider?"

"I told you, two."

"You'd better not be lying to
me." He tossed Massey's weapon to Anna. "He moves, you shoot him. If
you don't he'll kill you," He handed the flashlight to Irena.

"Switch it off. And keep it off until
I get back. Give me the keys to the car."

Irena looked at him wildly. "We'll
never get out of this alive. We're all dead ... Oh my God., The woman was
trembling with fear and Stanski slapped her face and said firmly, "Shut up
and just do as I tell you. That way we may get out of here in one piece. The
keys. Then turn off the damned flashlight."

frena fumbled for the keys, handed them
to Stanski, then flicked off the flashlight. Suddenly the room was plunged into
darkness again.