Chapter 43
The SUV finally stopped moving, and the engine cut off.
The interior light came on briefly as the driver exited, then Emma and Ronan were plunged into darkness again.
Emma had tried to track their route, based on the turns and rate of speed, but it soon became impossible.
She was sure, however, that the last part of their drive had been on a dirt road. Even though the vehicle had slowed significantly, it rocked and bounced over the surface in a way it would never do on a paved surface.
From outside came voices speaking in the same language as before. She thought it sounded like Russian or something similar.
Then one of the foreigners asked in English, “No one comes out here at night, yes?”
The next voice she heard was one she knew well.
“Yes,” Marty said. “I mean, no…I-I mean no one comes out here at night.”
“Good. What is inside?”
“Uh, nothing much. Just some equipment.”
“Same for all of the towers?”
“Yes.”
“We can get in?”
“You want to go inside?”
“I ask the questions, not you.”
“Sorry. Yeah, you can go in. I have a master key.”
“Show me one.”
Emma heard them walk away. In the relative quiet that followed she heard a sound she knew well, the slow, rhythmic whooshes created by the giant blades of wind turbines.
She tried to tell Ronan where they were, but the tape over her mouth made her unintelligible.
After a few minutes, several pairs of steps approached the SUV. Then the back popped open, revealing the three men who’d kidnapped them.
They manhandled Emma and Ronan out of the vehicle.
Emma saw they were parked near the base of a turbine tower. On either side stretched more towers, for a total of six in this group—which she immediately identified as RRE group A.
“Come,” one of the men ordered.
Ronan said something through the tape.
The man looked back at him. “What?”
Ronan repeated what he said and motioned to his feet.
The man stomped back over and pulled the tape from Ronan’s mouth.
“What is it?”
“How are we supposed to follow you?” Ronan asked.
“Are you an idiot? Walk.”
“How? We can’t move our feet.”
The man looked down, then muttered something that had to be a curse. He pulled out a knife, cut Ronan’s ankle ties, then did the same to Emma’s.
After slapping the tape back over Ronan’s mouth, he said, “Now come,” and marched off.
Emma and Ronan followed, with the other two right behind them.
—
Vladimir looked around the inside of the tower. It was more cramped with equipment than he’d expected.
“How often does someone come out here?” he asked Marty.
“Maybe once a week, more if there’s a problem.”
“You were here this morning. So, no one will come for another week?”
“I don’t know about a week, but there definitely shouldn’t be anyone here until Monday at the earliest.”
Vladimir scanned the space again. It wasn’t ideal, but it would do.
He exited and said to his men, “Bring them.”
A minute later, they returned with Dr. Perez and her companion.
“I am going to give you a little advice. If you cooperate, things will go well,” Vladimir said. “If not? Well, I would not want to be you. You understand?”
Emma mumbled something through the tape.
“Save your questions for my boss. He will be here soon.” Vladimir switched languages and said to his men, “Take them inside and tie them to something.”
—
Fifteen minutes earlier, Teddy had turned onto the road where Emma lived and saw a half dozen flashing emergency lights, hundred yards past her place.
Teddy’s phone rang with a call from Mike Freeman.
“Emergency services are at the crash site,” Teddy said.
“Yes. I’ve been in contact with them.”
“Your men?”
“Alive, but not in great shape. A helicopter should be landing there at any minute to rush them to the hospital.”
As if on cue, Teddy spotted the lights of the aircraft descending toward the road.
“It’s landing now,” he said.
“Thank God. Any news on Perez?”
“Not yet. I’m almost to her house.”
“Then I’ll leave you to it.”
They hung up.
As Teddy turned onto Emma’s driveway, he spotted Ronan’s sedan by the house and had a glimmer of hope that they were still around.
It only lasted until he parked and spotted Ari inside the other vehicle, looking desperate to get out.
Teddy jumped out of his car and tried to open one of the sedan’s doors, but it was locked.
Ari whined from the other side of the window.
“I’ll get you out. Don’t worry. Just let me check the house first.”
Unlike Ronan’s car, Emma’s front door was unlocked.
Teddy moved inside without making a sound. Since he wasn’t armed, he grabbed a couple of knives from the kitchen before proceeding toward the back of the building.
Less than a minute later, he confirmed that no one else was present.
All was not completely lost, however. There was a way of finding out exactly when they’d left.
He woke up Emma’s computer. As expected, it was password protected. He contemplated trying to hack it himself, but he knew someone who’d be able to do it a lot faster.
His call was answered on the third ring. “Hello?”
“Kevin, I need your help.”
Kevin Cushman, also known as Warplord924, was a computer genius who Teddy had made the acquaintance of several years earlier, and whose services Teddy had used on important occasions.
“Now? I’m in the middle of a campaign.”
When Kevin wasn’t making money from his tech skills, he was either sleeping or playing video games.
“Right now. Life or death.”
“What do you need?” Kevin said, all traces of slacker gone from his voice.
“I’m sitting at a computer I need to get into, and I don’t have the password.”
“Got it. Turn on your phone’s hotspot.”
Teddy did so.
A minute later, the passcode entry screen on Emma’s computer went away and her desktop appeared.
“Good work,” Teddy said.
“That was a lot harder than I expected,” Kevin said. “Whoever set that up knows what they’re doing.”
“I don’t doubt that for a second. I’ll send you a little something for your trouble.”
“Not too little, I hope.”
“It will be with that attitude.”
“Please forget I said anything.” Kevin blurted out, “Bye,” and then hung up.
On Emma’s computer, Teddy opened the security camera system.
He scrolled through the footage until he found what he was looking for.
Emma and Ronan had indeed tried to catch Marty in the act of breaking and entering. Unfortunately for them, Popov’s men had come to Marty’s rescue.
Teddy listened for any hint as to where they were going, but most of the talking had been done in Belarusian.
He called Vesna and played those parts for her.
“Ah,” she said, after the man who seemed to be in charge finished a phone call—the same guy Teddy had seen leave Popov’s suite with Marty the day before. “They are going to some…windmills? You know, for making electricity, I think.”
“Wind turbines.”
“Wind turbines. Yes, this.”
“There are a lot of turbines here.”
“Lucky for you, he gave the person he was talking to directions.”
“I’ll have to send him a thank-you note.”