Chapter 44
Emma stretched her mouth as far open as she could one more time. Finally, the bottom half of the duct tape covering it came loose.
“Are you okay?” she whispered to Ronan.
He nodded.
“Move your mouth like this and the tape will come off.” She demonstrated, and he followed suit.
They’d been placed inside tower A3 and instructed to sit on the floor. More zip ties were then used to secure the ones around their wrists to one of the lower rungs of the ladder that ran all the way to the top. Their captors had then left, closing the door most of the way as they went out.
While Ronan worked at getting his duct tape loose, Emma studied the tie holding her hands to the rung. It didn’t take long to work through the physics needed to break free.
She twisted her hands and jerked them toward her chest, and just like that the tie between the ladder rung and the zip tie around her wrists snapped.
She assessed the binding around her wrists next and found that it, too, was a solvable problem.
Using her teeth, she moved the square locking end of the tie so that it lay in the gap between her wrists. She then raised her hands high and brought them down fast, pushing her palms outward as she did. The lock portion broke and the tie fell away.
“Where did you learn to do that?” Ronan asked, baffled, his mouth tape loose now. “YouTube?”
She removed the tape from her upper lip and said, “In my head.”
“Of course you did.”
Emma scooted as quietly as she could over to a small cabinet where several tools were kept. There was no knife, but there was a screwdriver. She used it to twist the tie around her ankles until it popped.
She shot a look at the door, worried the sound had been too loud. When no one came to check, she returned to Ronan and freed him.
He stretched his ankles and winced.
“Are you hurt?” she asked.
“They put the tie on too tight. I just need a minute to get the feeling—”
From outside came the crunch of tires on dirt.
Emma assumed the boss the other guy had been talking about had arrived.
She crept to the door and peeked outside. A pair of the men who’d kidnapped them were only a few yards away. Much too close to try to make a run for it.
She glanced back at Ronan and noticed the cloth bag with the fake field calibrator sitting on one of the equipment cabinets.
She then moved her gaze to the ladder.
“How are your feet feeling?” she whispered.
“A little better,” Ronan said. His eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Why?”
“I’m about to show you the best view in the valley.”
—
Vladimir was waiting nearby when Popov and Aleksei climbed out of the Bronco.
“Vladimir,” Popov said, his voice unnaturally calm. “I don’t recall this being in our plans for this evening.”
“My apologies, Mr. Popov,” Vladimir said. “I wish it hadn’t been necessary, but Lundstrom—”
“Yes,” Popov snapped. “I have heard. Where is he?”
Vladimir turned to the others. “Erik, bring him.”
Erik escorted Marty over.
“Hi, Mr. Popov,” Marty said nervously. “Good to see you again.”
“Are you sure about that?” Popov asked.
“Um, yes?”
“You do realize the mess you’ve made, forcing us to deal with your boss and her friend.”
“Ronan,” Marty said.
“What?”
“His name is Ronan.”
“I don’t care.”
“Oh, right. Neither do I. I just—”
“Explain to me how they knew you would be at Perez’s home?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Then I will ask them. Their answer will determine how I deal with you.” To Vladimir, Popov said, “Where are they?”
“Wait,” Marty said. “I got everything you wanted.” He pulled something small out of his pocket. “And early, too!”
Popov glanced at Aleksei and nodded at Marty’s hand.
“Give it to me,” Aleksei said.
“Sure. Here you go.”
He passed it over, and Aleksei examined it. “It’s a thumb drive,” he told Popov in Belarusian.
“It’s a thumb drive,” Marty said.
“And what is on it?” Popov asked.
“The RRE stuff you wanted. Financials, internal memos, the works. I’m sure what you’re looking for will be in there.”
“Hmm.” Popov frowned.
“Trust me. You’re going to love it.”
“Even if you are right, this is not everything I want.”
“I know. Emma’s project. I got that, too.”
“So, show me.”
Marty pointed at Vladimir. “I gave it to him.”
Popov looked at Vladimir.
“I had Erik stow it so that it wouldn’t get damaged,” Vladimir said. “Erik?”
“It’s in the tower.”
Vladimir raised an eyebrow. “Then go get it.”
Erik jogged to the tower and up the short set of steps to the door, then disappeared inside. He was only there for a second or two before he rushed back out.
“They’re all gone!” he said.
“What’s gone?” Popov asked. “The device? Was there more than one?”
“The device and the woman and her friend.”
Vladimir sprinted to the tower and looked in. The only signs that the two prisoners had been there were six broken zip ties on the floor.
“Where was the device?” he asked Erik.
Erik pointed at a metal cabinet. “I put it on top of that.”
Popov pushed past Grigoriy and Adam so he could look into the tower. “What happened?”
“The, um, captives seem to have escaped,” Vladimir said. “And taken the device with them.”
“None of you saw them leave?” Popov asked, incredulous.
Vladimir looked first at Erik, then Grigoriy, and finally Adam. All three men shook their heads.
“No, sir,” Vladimir said.
Popov clenched his fist, his face growing red. “Then you had better find them, don’t you think?”
Vladimir nodded and exited the tower.
Aleksei stepped over to him and whispered, “Not your best work, little brother.”
“Thanks for the support,” Vladimir hissed back. He turned to the others. “Erik, go north. Grigoriy south. Adam west. I’ll go east.”
“What’s happening?” Marty asked. He’d been unable to see into the tower from where he was standing and hadn’t understood any of the conversation. “Wait. Are Emma and Ronan gone?”
Vladimir answered him with a glare.
Marty said, “Have you checked—”
Vladimir put his face right in front of Marty’s. “Did anyone ask you a question?”
“N-n-no.”
“Then shut up.”
“Sorry,” Marty whispered.
Vladimir shoved him to the side, then headed east into the desert.