Enigma (FBI Thriller #21)(92)

“They’re gone,” Jack said. “But where?”

Suddenly there was gunfire. They heard a yell from the other side of the house. Someone was hit.

They ran out of the front door, saw Petrov burst into the woods at the side of the house, running all out toward the yacht. Was there an escape route not on the house plans?

Jack heard a SWAT team member on the comm. “Target number two is down. He was carrying a machine gun. We’re clear here.”

Jack took off after Petrov, only vaguely aware of shouting and running footsteps behind him. He saw Petrov again on the wooden dock, unlooping a mooring line from its iron cleat and jumping up onto the deck. Petrov heard Jack running toward him, jerked around and fired off a half-dozen rounds from a handgun. Jack dove to the ground, felt the shock of a bullet slap high into his right arm. He fired back, saw Petrov flinch when a bullet hit his thigh, but he didn’t slow. He limped into the pilot house and the big engine roared to life. The yacht began to pull away from the dock.

Jack ran onto the dock, heard footsteps behind him, but didn’t turn. He dropped his H&K, took a flying leap, and grabbed the deck railing. His arm screamed with pain, and he tried to pull himself up, but he couldn’t, he could hardly hold on. He saw Petrov in the pilot house, steering out, and then he heard Cam yelling, saw her leap up to the yacht railing near the bow.

“Hold on, Jack.” She pulled herself onboard, then braced her feet against a cleat and pulled him up. He fell on his belly on deck. She jerked around, saw Petrov standing in the pilot house doorway, aiming his Beretta at them as he clumsily tried to tie a towel tightly around his bleeding leg.

He stared at her. “You’re as ferocious as Elena.”

“Elena? You mean Elena Orlov? Your bodyguard? Your lover?”

He looked startled.

“You really do look like a vampire in the moonlight,” Cam said. “I could suggest using a tanning bed occasionally, might help keep people from trying to stake you.”

“Shut up. From this distance I could kill you both before either of you could aim your weapons. I won’t if you don’t give me any more trouble. I will set you both off on one of the small islands down the river. But first, drop your Glocks. Now.”

Jack came up onto his knees, pulled his Glock off its waist clip and dropped it on the wooden deck in front of him. Cam followed suit, dropped her Glock beside his.

Petrov said to Jack, “You’re bleeding on my yacht. Wrap up your arm.”

Cam shrugged out of her FBI jacket, pulled the black T-shirt covering her Kevlar vest off over her head, and shrugged back into her jacket. She went down on her knees and tied the shirt tight around Jack’s arm. She whispered against his ear, “It’ll be okay, Jack.”

“Shut up and move away from him.” Petrov waved the Beretta. He looked back to see the SWAT team standing on the boat dock staring after them. He smiled.





59




“We killed your man,” Jack said. “He was too loyal for his own good, staying back to let you escape.”

“Abram was with me since I was a boy and he a young man of twenty.” He pointed his Beretta at Cam’s chest. “I told you to move away from him.”

Cam took two steps back to lean against the railing. From the lights moving along on the shoreline, she could tell they were picking up speed, heading south. She said, “It was one of our agents who spoke to Abram on the burner phone you provided your assassin at Ginger Lake. Keeping him alive helped us find you.” As she spoke, she flicked her comms unit to transmit. Now Ruth and Ollie and the SWAT team would hear everything. She waved her hand toward the pilot house. “You put it on autopilot, heading south.”

“Of course, there’s no need to adjust the course this time of night.”

Jack said, “Did you put the boat under Elena Orlov’s name, that is, Cortina Alvarez’s name?”

Petrov said nothing, grimaced as he tightened the towel around his leg.

Jack’s arm pulsed with pain, but he ignored it. “Listen to me, Petrov. You’re a banker, not a trained KGB agent. You’ve got no more assassins waiting in the wings for your orders. You’ve got to realize there’s no way you’re going to get out of here. The Coast Guard will be along soon.”

“It’s not the KGB, you fool. The KGB no longer exists.”

“Oh yeah, new name, same thugs.”

Petrov moved his Beretta back and forth between Jack and Cam. “You will now tell me how you found me. How you know about Elena and Cortina.”

Cam gave him a wide smile. “We’re special agents for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. We’ve got really good brains, plus you’re on our turf.”

Petrov actually sneered. “You idiot woman, you’re nothing compared to Putin’s GRU and FSB.”

Jack laughed. “I’ve got to admit you did a fine job of freeing Manta Ray on Monday. But look here, Petrov”—he snapped his fingers—“it’s only Wednesday night and we found you already.”

Petrov winced at the pain in his leg, knew it hadn’t stopped bleeding. He touched his hand to the towel, pressed it in. He saw Cam move and immediately straightened. “Don’t you take another step! If you move again, I will kill you. Now, I won’t ask either of you again. How did you find me and Elena?”