The Romanov Ransom Read online

  Remi stepped off the curb, racing across, as the man fired again, pulling Tatiana into the car. The vehicle sped off, tires screeching. A smell of burnt rubber assaulted her as she searched for Sam, heart clenching when she found him on the ground, hunched over Viktor. “Sam!”

  He didn’t move.

  Remi’s heart constricted as she ran toward him, praying he was okay. “Sam!”

  He looked up at her, his hands covered with blood. “Remi . . .”

  “Are you—”

  “I’m fine. It’s Viktor.”

  “Leopold . . .” Viktor said, “. . . shot me.” Viktor was bleeding from his left shoulder, and Sam was putting pressure on the wound.

  “We’re so sorry,” Sam told him. “We didn’t see them until too late.”

  “Not your fault . . . At least she gave us a bargaining chip.”

  “A what?” Nika asked, coming up behind Remi.

  Viktor opened his hand, revealing the key. “She threw it at me as they sped off.”

  “What does it belong to?” Nika asked.

  “We’ll figure that out later,” Sam said. “First, we need to get Viktor some medical attention.”

  “I’m fine.”

  “Sure you are,” Sam said as he and Felix helped him to his feet. “Let’s keep you that way.”

  “Tatiana’s phone,” Viktor said as he slid his own phone from his pocket. “If she still has it, we can follow her.” His hand shook as he opened the app that would locate the device. They watched as the screen lit up with a map, a small icon indicating her phone was not too far from where they were. It wasn’t moving. He and Sam both glanced that direction. Clearly, Rolfe and Leopold must have anticipated they’d be followed so they tossed it from the window. “I need to find it. There are numbers on there . . .” He winced in pain when he tried to move.

  “Easy, there,” Sam said.

  Remi heard sirens. “The police are coming.”

  Viktor looked around at the gathering crowd. “Take the key,” he told Sam.

  “No,” Nika said, grabbing it before Sam could. “We should keep it.”

  “Nika,” Viktor said. When she failed to turn it over, he spoke to her in Russian.

  Sam couldn’t understand a word, but he definitely understood the terse tone. She glanced down at the key in her hand, then closed her fingers around it, saying, “Tatiana’s our concern, not theirs.”

  “Give it to him. I trust him to do the right thing.”

  It was a moment before she opened her hand, allowing Sam to take it.

  The sirens grew closer. “You and your wife should go,” Viktor told Sam. “We can direct the investigation to keep you out of it. Better for you to find answers to help Tatiana than spend hours being questioned.”

  Sam took another look around, searching for Guardsmen lurking nearby. No one seemed out of place, the expressions he saw on the faces of bystanders a mix of curiosity and concern. “You’re sure you’re okay?”

  Viktor, looking paler by the second, nodded, as Felix supported him. “I’ll be in touch. Find that phone,” he said as the first patrol car pulled up. “Get out of here.”

  Sam wiped his bloody hand on his pants, took his backpack from Remi, then casually stepped with her into the crowd of onlookers. The two weaved their way through, people parting around them, then pressing together again, unaware they were even involved. As the police were stepping out of the car, they were nearly a half block away, melting into the pedestrians who either weren’t aware what was going on, or had lost interest.

  When they reached the corner, Sam stopped. “Tatiana’s phone was sending out a signal from around here.”

  “Aren’t those things notoriously inaccurate?”

  “It gives the general vicinity. It’s a start. You take this side of the street, I’ll take the other. But keep an eye on what’s going on over there. If anyone looks like they’re coming this way, we’re out of here.”

  Sam crossed over as Remi glanced back toward the crowd, grateful that no one seemed to be watching them. When she turned back, Sam was already on the other side, walking along the curb, checking the street and the sidewalk. She did the same, hoping that if they did find it, it hadn’t been run over too many times. After several minutes of searching, she was about to suggest that they call, hoping they might hear it ring. When she looked over, Sam was bending down behind a parked car, picking it up.

  “Found it!” he called out. He waited for a car to pass, then crossed back over. The screen lit up when he tried to gain access. It was locked. He glanced down the street toward the hotel, seeing someone pointing their direction. “Time to get out of here,” he told Remi, leading her around the corner, stopping as they came face-to-face with two men, both armed with knives.

  47

  Sam recognized the man on the left from the alley in Marrakesh. The other, a stranger, leered at him. “I was hoping to run into you again,” the stranger said, his accent reminding Sam of Gustaw’s. “Too bad I missed you on the train.”

  “The feeling’s mutual,” Sam said, stepping between the men and Remi. No way could he get to his gun before either man threw their knives at him. He angled his body, allowing his backpack to slip from his shoulders, catching the strap with his right hand. “What is it you want?”

  “The key,” he said. “Hand it over.”

  “And you think I have it?” Sam replied, eyeing the man’s knife.

  “The Russian woman told us.”

  Sam swung the heavy pack against the robber’s arm. The knife flew from his grasp, striking the door of a parked car, then falling into the gutter.

  The second man jumped forward. Sam blocked that strike with his pack, using the weight to push him back.

  The first man scrambled to the curb, reaching in the gutter for his knife, as Sam slammed his partner’s head into the vehicle’s hood. The metal dented, and Sam grabbed his collar, pulling him back, swinging him down on top of his partner.

  As the two stunned men lay there, Sam took Remi’s hand, leading her down the street. He glanced back, seeing both men trying to pull themselves from the ground.

  —

  “WHAT WENT WRONG?” Remi asked as she and Sam reached their car.

  “If I had to guess, Felix and Nika’s presence at the restaurant.”

  “That doesn’t make sense. How would Rolfe or his Wolf Guard even know who they are?”

  Exactly what Sam was wondering. One possibility came to mind. “The Guardsman must have been in Kaliningrad. He could’ve seen them at the museum. Maybe he was one of the men who shot at us at the castle.”

  “Poor Tatiana.”

  “She got the key to Viktor,” he said, checking the rearview mirror as they took off. So far, their assailants weren’t following. “Like he said, a bargaining chip. It worked to get back Zakaria.”

  “You think it’ll work a second time?”

  “Definitely be harder. They’ll know what to expect, which means we’ll have to stay one step ahead of them. Before we do anything, I want to look in on Viktor. Let him know we found the phone.”

  “I better check in with Selma before she starts worrying.” The call went to voice mail, and Remi left a message.

  They were just pulling into the hospital parking lot when Selma called back. “Mr. and Mrs. Fargo. Glad to hear you’re okay. I take it the theft was successful?”

  “Not exactly,” Remi said. “You tell her, Sam.”

  He related the night’s events, finishing with, “We’re hoping you have something on your end that’ll help. Any luck breaking the code to those letters?”

  “I better let Lazlo tell you.”

  Lazlo cleared his throat. “Quite the difficult beast, don’t you know. As mentioned before, I’m not even certain it is in code. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to what it all means.”
/>   “But,” Remi said, “wasn’t that the very reason you thought it was in code?”

  “Originally, yes. Now, however, I’m starting to wonder if it’s something else entirely. It’s almost as if someone went to the trouble to include the letters to throw anyone off, should they discover them.”

  “What about the typewriter ribbon tins?” Sam asked him.

  “Without having them in our possession, it’s difficult to tell. But, from the photos, they seem like ordinary ribbon tins that were manufactured in Berlin and used during the war. Common, in fact. I don’t suppose you had a decent look at the ribbon?”

  “Enough to know it was just a ribbon,” Sam said. “That, and the ink was dry.”

  “No messages hidden in the spool?”

  “After Tatiana told us about her conversation with Rolfe, we looked. There was nothing.”

  “Unfortunate, that,” Lazlo said, giving a glum sigh. “Of course, it wouldn’t be unusual to find one in any location where a typewriter might have been even if said typewriter is no longer there.”

  A logical assumption, Sam thought. Except that Rolfe and his Wolfmen were willing to kill to get them. “What about this furniture restorer that antique dealer mentioned? Any luck finding him?”

  “Unfortunately,” Selma said, “his name is quite common. We’ve called everyone listed in the public directories, leaving messages where we could. We’re waiting to hear back.”

  “Let us know when you find out anything.”

  “Will do. Take care.”

  Remi disconnected. “What do we do in the meantime?”

  Sam pulled Tatiana’s phone from his pocket. “Get this thing to Viktor and find out what she’s been up to.”

  Nika and Felix were waiting in the lobby of the hospital when Sam and Remi walked in. “Any word?” Sam asked.

  “Lucky for Viktor,” Felix said, “the shot went clean through and missed the bones. We should be allowed to see him soon.”

  “Good. Any chance you can get us in? We have a few questions.”

  “What sort of questions?” Nika said. “We’d be glad to help.”

  “I’m sure you can. But I’d rather wait, just to keep him in the loop.”

  He and Remi took a seat as someone wheeled a patient past them down the hall. After about fifteen minutes, a nurse approached, asking for Felix by name. He stood.

  Her first attempt to inform him of Viktor’s progress was in Polish. After a few exchanged words, determining that he didn’t speak Polish and she didn’t speak Russian, she said in stilted English, “He does well. He asks to see you. This way.”

  They all started to follow. She shook her head. “Only two.”

  Felix glanced back at them, his gaze landing on Sam. “You come.” Then he said something in Russian to Nika. She sat down, looking upset that she wasn’t included.

  He followed Felix into the room. Viktor was hooked up to a monitor that beeped quietly in the background. There was a tube coming from the upper left side of his chest, snaking down to a white plastic box hanging from the side of the hospital bed. His eyes were closed until he heard them enter. “. . . Good . . . You’re here . . .”

  “Of course we are,” Felix said. “How are you?”

  “Collapsed lung . . . Procedure to insert the tube is like getting shot all over again . . . They’re insisting on keeping me here . . .”

  “So listen, for once.”

  Viktor glanced at Sam. “Not quite how we expected this to turn out, is it?”

  “At least you’re alive.”

  “Tatiana, though . . .”

  “I found her phone. If we can get in it, we might have a chance of finding her.”

  Viktor seemed to perk up at that.

  “Contact Rolfe . . . Tell him we have the key . . .”

  “And you know what it’s for?”

  “Not yet. But I have someone working on it now.”

  “Good.” He closed his eyes a few seconds, then looked at them. “We should have anticipated . . . I should have . . .”

  “No,” Felix said. “We did the best we could. Now we try to find her.”

  Sam moved closer. “Do you have the code to get into her phone?”

  He nodded, then recited the numbers.

  Sam typed it in. “That works. Now, about Tatiana . . . We’d like to help. We can call friends. Government agents, even.”

  “No . . . No outside help,” Viktor said. “We handle our own.”

  Sam was surprised by his refusal. “I don’t understand . . .”

  Viktor glanced at Felix, then turned to Sam, his expression troubled. “There’s something about this that I haven’t told you . . . Or Felix.” He took a ragged breath. “Something . . . important . . .”

  48

  The monitor beside Viktor’s hospital bed beeped steadily as Sam waited.

  “Felix,” Viktor said. “Close the door . . . please . . . I’d rather not have anyone overhear.”

  Once it was closed, Felix taking a position in front of it, Viktor turned his attention to Sam. “Because you’re Donovan’s friend, I know I can trust you . . . And I want Felix to also hear . . . Tatiana isn’t the only Russian involved with Rolfe Wernher. She’s merely the latest. It’s how we knew to cultivate Durin . . . And now that we’ve verified that the Wolf Guard is still operating in Europe, the stakes are even higher. They are, no doubt, how Rolfe has managed to eliminate witnesses in every case brought against him . . .” He closed his eyes, the sound of the monitor beeping as they waited. Finally, he opened them again, saying, “Until the shooting in Königsberg castle, we weren’t even aware they’d infiltrated Russia. Now . . .”

  Sam glanced over at Felix, then back at Viktor. “You can’t mean to leave her there?”

  “Of course not,” he said. “But in the past, every time we made a move, they found out . . . We have to be careful who we include. I hate to believe that anyone we have inside Rolfe’s circle is giving information . . . Or, worse yet, that the few of us who know on the outside are . . .” His voice grew softer, his eyelids starting to fall. But he roused himself, looking at them again. “The possibility exists . . . So you see my dilemma? There are many more lives involved than just Tatiana’s . . . She knows the risks . . . knows our hands are tied. But . . . she knows . . . someway, somehow . . . I’ll get to her . . . Have to do it below the radar . . . Without help . . .”

  “From a hospital bed?”

  “A flesh wound . . . They’ll be releasing me in the morning . . . I hope . . .”

  “And if they don’t?”

  “Perhaps . . .” He looked at Sam. “We saw how you went after your friend, Zakaria. I thought that you . . .”

  Felix took a step forward. “You can’t mean send an American?”

  Sam, hoping to cut through the tension in the room, said, “I’d be glad to help in any way I can.”

  “No,” Felix replied. “It’s as Nika said. Tatiana is our concern. Not the Americans’.”

  “You’re right,” Viktor said, his breathing more shallow. “Except that the Fargos are . . . in a unique position to help . . . without raising suspicion. They did it once . . . Not too out of the realm of their nature to do so again . . . without exposing anyone on the inside.” He looked at Sam, trying to keep his eyes open. “I have no idea if this key is important . . .”

  “We’re hoping to find out,” Sam said. “Even if we don’t, we’ll make them believe it’s important.”

  Viktor nodded. “Thank you.” He closed his eyes a moment. “I think whatever they’ve given me . . . for the pain . . . is starting to work . . .”

  “We’ll let you rest,” Sam said.

  “Felix . . .” It took some effort for Viktor to open his eyes. “Help the Fargos . . .”

  “Yes, sir.”

  When it was clear he could
n’t fight the pain medication anymore, they left, Felix following Sam down the hall.

  Remi stood when they walked into the lobby. “How is he?” she asked Sam.

  “Fine. Sleeping now.”

  “Thank goodness.”

  Felix looked around for Nika. “Where is she?”

  Remi nodded toward the doors. “She went for a walk. I’m sure she’ll be back soon. She was very upset.”

  About two minutes later, Nika walked in the lobby doors. “Well?” she asked Felix. “What did he say?”

  “He’s asking that the Fargos help.”

  “Is that wise? We’re wasting time as it is. Tatiana could be hurt.”

  Felix glanced down the hall toward Viktor’s room, then back at Nika. “It’s what he ordered.”

  She crossed her arms. “Is there some grand plan?”

  “I have none,” he said.

  She turned her gaze to Sam. “And you?”

  “To start? Call to let him know we have this key. And that we’ll exchange it for Tatiana.”

  Nika opened her mouth to speak but then clamped it shut. Instead, she started pacing.

  “Call,” Felix said.

  Sam took out Tatiana’s phone, found Rolfe’s number, and called.

  It went to voice mail. Sam waited for the recording, then said, “Sam Fargo. Call if you want the key. In exchange for Tatiana, unhurt.”

  He disconnected.

  Remi exchanged glances with him, her expression worried. “I hope she’s okay.”

  “She’s smart,” Sam said. “She threw that key for a reason.”

  Nika continued her pacing until the phone rang a few minutes later. She and the others gathered around Sam as he answered. “Fargo . . .”

  “Apparently, you have something I want.”

  “Who’s this?”

  “Leopold.”

  “Leopold? Where’s Tatiana?”

  “Sitting across from me as we speak.”

  “She’s not hurt?”

  “The gag might be a little tight, but no. She made it clear that we’d be hearing from you about this key that you found.”