Chapter 42
“Oh, thank God,” Marty said, panting like he’d just run a marathon. “For a minute there…” He chuckled as if he had a funny story to tell.
“Quiet,” Vladimir barked.
“Right, sorry. Won’t say another word.”
Vladimir glared at him.
“Sorry,” Marty said, then mimed zipping up his lips.
Adam, Grigoriy, and Erik entered the room.
Vladimir pointed to Adam. “Stay by the cars and watch for police.”
Adam nodded and left.
To the other two, Vladimir said in Belarusian, “Check them for weapons.”
Grigoriy and Erik began to frisk Perez and her friend.
“Nothing,” Grigoriy said.
“Same,” Erik said.
“Cuff them,” Vladimir said.
His men pulled out zip ties and bound their captives’ hands. Once that was done, Vladimir lowered his gun and took a moment to think.
Things had gone sideways fast. All of it was Marty’s fault, as far as Vladimir was concerned. Somehow the idiot had tipped off Perez to his intentions. It was the only way to explain why she and her friend had followed him.
Vladimir was tempted to put a bullet into the middle of Marty’s forehead there and then, but unfortunately that wasn’t his call.
“Did you find what you came for?” he asked Marty, in English.
Marty grinned. “Yeah, I did.”
He removed a black box from the cloth bag he was holding.
“That’s it?” Vladimir asked.
“I think so.”
“You think so?”
“I’m almost positive.”
Vladimir stared at him, wondering how someone hadn’t beat the life out of him years ago.
He yanked the box out of Marty’s hand and held it in front of the woman.
“Is this your invention? The one that will make lots of money?”
She glared but said nothing.
“Answer me!”
“It is,” her friend said.
Vladimir turned to him. “What does it do?”
“I don’t know. I’m not an engineer.”
Vladimir repeated the question, this time to Perez.
Her lips remained sealed.
He didn’t have time for an interrogation right now, so he switched back to his native language and said to Grigoriy and Erik, “Put them in the Bronco. I’ll be there in a minute.”
Each man grabbed one of the captives and hustled them out of the room.
“Where are they going?” Marty asked, not having understood what Vladimir had told his men.
“Don’t move, don’t talk,” Vladimir said, then pulled out his phone and called his brother.
“So?” Aleksei asked.
“You were right. Perez was going home.”
“Did Marty get out before they arrived?”
“No.”
“What? Did they catch him?”
“Technically, yes, but…”
“But what?”
Vladimir quickly told him what had happened, including the Audi’s accident.
“But you got Dr. Perez’s invention, yes?”
“We did.”
“Good. The boss will be happy. Where are you now?”
“Just about to leave Perez’s home. We should be at the resort in—”
“You can’t come here. It’s too early. There’s too great a chance of being seen.”
“Then where should we go?”
“Someplace with no people.”
“I don’t know any—” Vladimir stopped himself and glanced at Marty.
“What?” Marty asked.
Ignoring him, Vladimir said into the phone, “Actually, I know a place.” He told his brother his idea.
“Perfect. We’ll meet you there.”
Vladimir hung up, then said in English, “Come on.”
“Where are we going?” Marty asked.
“You will find out when we get there.”
He motioned for Marty to take the lead, then they made their way out of the building.
“Anything?” Vladimir asked Adam.
“All clear.”
Over at the Bronco, Perez and her friend were being loaded into the rear cargo area, while the woman’s dog barked from inside the silver sedan.
“I need to let him out,” Perez shouted. “He can’t stay in there all night!”
“He stays or I shoot him,” Vladimir said. “Which do you want?”
“What? Don’t shoot him!”
“Then he stays.”
Once she and her friend were inside, more zip ties were used to bind their ankles, then strips of duct tape were slapped over their mouths.
“Give Adam your keys,” Vladimir said to Marty. “He will drive your car.”
“Why can’t I drive?”
“Because you will be riding with me.”
—
Aleksei knocked on the massage room door again.
“What now?” Popov barked.
Like before, Aleksei cracked open the door. “There are developments that need your attention.”
“Are you telling me my massage is over?”
“It’s your call, sir.”
Popov said something in a low voice that Aleksei couldn’t hear. A moment later, the masseuse exited the room and Aleksei entered.
“So?” Popov asked. “What is it?”
—
Billy called Mike Freeman the moment he was on the road headed to Thousand Palms.
“Hello, Billy. What can I—”
“I think something just happened to the team you sent to work with me.”
He told Mike about hearing the crash and subsequently not being able to reach them. He then gave him Emma’s address.
“The accident was close to that location.”
“Have you called nine-one-one?”
“I was hoping you could deal with that.”
“Do you know who did this?”
“I’m pretty sure I do.”
“You deal with them. I’ll deal with the police. If you need help, let me know.”
“Thanks, Mike.”
Billy’s next call was to Vesna.
“What?” she answered, yawning.
“What’s happening at the bungalow?”
“Nothing. They went to the spa about an hour ago. The place has been empty since.”
“Any unusual chatter when they were there?”
“Lots of juicy talk about an American senator and several representatives, but nothing that seemed urgent to your situation. Oh, there was also mention of a woman. Hold on…Katy Lane. Is this name familiar?”
“Very much. What did they say about her?”
“Not much, but I had the impression Popov seemed happy with her or what had been done to her. I’m not…wait, Popov and the one called Aleksei just came back…Interesting.”
“What is it?”
“They appear to be in a hurry. Each has gone into their own room.” Another pause. “Something is definitely up. Aleksei has just armed himself. Beretta in a shoulder holster, left side. He’s putting extra clips in his pocket and a silencer.”
“And Popov?”
“He just changed his shirt. Which, by the way, gross. I should be paid extra for having to watch that…He’s out of his room now.”
“No weapons?”
“None that I saw…Aleksei just joined him, and…now they’re leaving.”
“Okay. Thanks, Vesna.”
“Do you have any idea what’s going on?”
“Nothing good, I think. Call me if they return.”
“I will.”
He disconnected the call, then briefly considered going to Popov’s hotel, but there was little chance he’d get there before Popov had driven off.
His only hope was that Emma and Ronan would still be at Emma’s place.