Chapter 45
Teddy had an advantage over Popov’s people, of which he wasn’t even aware.
He stopped fifty feet in and climbed onto the SUV’s roof.
While there were more than thirty turbines in the vicinity, he had no problem picking out the one where the others had gone.
This was thanks to a slice of light that came from the base of one of the towers, creating silhouettes of an SUV, two sedans, and what Teddy was sure was a motorcycle.
He hopped down and set off across the desert on foot.
A hundred feet from the tower, he stopped behind the cover of a large sagebrush.
He counted five men standing in the area between the cars and the tower. There was enough light to see most of their faces, and he recognized them all.
Four were Popov’s men, and the other was Marty.
Headlights flashed across the ground, drawing Teddy’s attention. A second Bronco was coming down the dirt road and heading toward the towers.
When it arrived, Popov and the older version of the motorcyclist got out.
There was a conversation, then one of the underlings jogged to the tower. A moment later he was back outside, shouting something.
The others ran to him and looked inside.
From their agitation, Teddy guessed that something had gone wrong.
More words were shared, and for a second, it looked like the younger clone was going to punch Marty in the face. Then he and the three others took off in different directions, clearly searching for something.
Keeping low, Teddy moved through the desert until he was almost in the path of one of the searchers.
He let the man walk past before creeping up behind him. Using skills he’d honed years ago, he wrapped an arm around the guy’s neck and put his other hand over the man’s mouth, then pulled him to the ground as he cut off the searcher’s oxygen.
Once he was sure the man had passed out, Teddy let go. A quick search of the man turned up a silenced pistol and several zip ties. He hog-tied the man with the ties, in a way that made it almost impossible to break free.
He then circled toward one of the others, and soon the search team was down two men.
Then three.
—
Vladimir sensed something was wrong.
He’d found no signs of anyone heading east. But that wasn’t the issue. What was bothering him was the idea of Perez and Ronan sneaking out of the tower without being seen.
The more he considered it, the less likely it seemed. Surely, he or one of the others would have heard something.
He thought about the broken zip ties on the floor, and then it hit him.
He raced back to the tower.
Popov and his brother were still standing in front of the tower door, deep in discussion. Nearby Marty sat propped against the tower, looking defeated.
“Why are you back?” Popov asked. “You should be out there until you find them.”
“I don’t think they ran away,” Vladimir said.
“What do you mean?” Aleksei asked.
“I mean, they’re still here.”
Popov looked around. “Where? I don’t see them.”
“Up there,” Vladimir said, pointing at the top of the tower. “There’s a ladder inside.”
Popov glanced up, then snorted a derisive laugh. “Marty,” he said in English. “Does the ladder inside go all the way up?”
“The what? Oh, yeah. It does. There’s a hatch at the top. That’s what I was trying to tell you earlier. That’s probably where they went.”
“Get the others back here,” Popov said to Vladimir.
Vladimir called Erik. The imbecile must have put his phone on silent because the line rang and rang until he was sent to voicemail.
Vladimir tried Adam next. Oddly, the exact same thing occurred.
He called Grigoriy, then grimaced when he also didn’t answer.
“What’s wrong?” Popov asked.
“None of them are picking up.”
Aleksei marched over to the nearest Bronco and honked the horn several times.
Vladimir watched for movement, but there was none.
His brother honked again. Still nothing.
Aleksei ran back and asked, “No one followed you here?”
“No,” Vladimir said. “I checked multiple times.”
“I don’t like this.”
“I’ll go see if I can find them.”
“No,” Popov said. “You go get Perez and the device, and then we get out of here.”
“And her friend?”
“Kill him. He’s of no use to me.”
“You go,” Aleksei said to his brother. “I’ll wait here with the boss.”
—
Teddy had been close enough to hear Marty when he said, “That’s probably where they went.” The they had to be Emma and Ronan, and from the motorcyclist’s gesture, the where had to be up the tower.
After that, phone calls were made and a horn was honked, undoubtedly to bring the other searchers back.
When Aleksei returned to the others, Teddy crept to the Bronco the man had been using to honk.
There was a short conversation, then the motorcyclist pulled out a gun and went into the tower.
Teddy moved carefully down the side of the SUV to the front fender, then quietly rose to his feet, his gun pointed at Aleksei, the only one Teddy knew for sure was armed.
Both Aleksei and Popov were looking toward the tower so they didn’t see him. Marty, however, was facing him. He froze, his eyes locking on Teddy.
Aleksei was the first to notice his reaction and quickly turned to follow his gaze.
He immediately stepped between Teddy and Popov and began to swing his gun around, while Popov turned to see what all the commotion was.
“Drop it!” Teddy said.
When Aleksei ignored him, Teddy pulled his trigger.
Aleksei shouted in pain as the bullet pierced his hand and sent the pistol flying out of his grasp.
“You!” Popov said. “What are you doing here?”
“Hello, Victor,” Teddy said. “How’s the golf game?”
“Who the fuck are you?”
“On the ground. All three of you.”
Instead of complying, Aleksei charged at him.
Teddy let him get halfway, then dropped him with a bullet to the head.
—
Popov knew an opportunity when he saw it. As Aleksei ran toward the man, Popov sprinted up the steps and into the tower. He turned to pull the door closed, but Marty was right behind him.
“Shut it!” Popov ordered.
Marty did so, then dashed past Popov and started up the ladder first.
Popov swore at him and followed.