Near Dark (Scot Harvath #19)(69)

Landsbergis began to object, but as soon as he looked over his shoulder and saw the Sig Sauer in Harvath’s hand, he did as he was told. “What the hell is going on?”

Harvath remained silent as he patted him down. Once confident that he was clean, he nudged him toward the door that led into the house. S?lvi was already waiting for them in the kitchen.

“The trunk was clean,” she said. “I found this in his briefcase. Want to guess the make and model?”

Harvath didn’t need to guess. He recognized the pistol from where he was standing. “Glock 19.”

The Norwegian smiled.

“Who is she?” Landsbergis demanded. “And what are you two doing here?”

Harvath sat him down at the kitchen table and took the chair opposite. As he had with Proctor and Jasinski, he got right to the point. “Carl Pedersen is dead.”

“He is? Oh my God. When?”

“We don’t know. His body was discovered three days ago, but he had already been dead for a while.”

“What happened?”

“He was murdered,” said S?lvi. “Tortured. And then murdered.”

“And you think I had something to do with it?” the VSD man asked. “Is that why you’re here?”

“What did Luk?a tell you?”

“Luk?a? What does he have to do with any of this?”

“When was the last time you spoke with him?”

Landsbergis’s eyes shifted to S?lvi and then back.

“She’s okay,” said Harvath. “You can speak freely in front of her. She worked for Carl.”

“I saw Antanas after he got back from the operation. I paid him the rest of his money, and that was it.”

“You haven’t seen or spoken to him since?”

“No.”

“But of course you heard about the accident?”

“What accident? What happened?”

Harvath studied him for several moments before responding. “He’s fine. Or at least he’s going to be fine.” Looking at S?lvi, he then said, “He doesn’t know anything.”

“Obviously,” the VSD man replied. “Would someone please explain to me what’s going on?”

“Who else did you tell about the operation?” Harvath asked.

“No one.”

“You told me, very specifically, that because the VSD has had a history of being penetrated by the Russians, you were keeping the entire operation to yourself.”

“And I did. I swear.”

Suddenly, there it was—just like the truck driver—a tiny facial tic that gave him away. Landsbergis wasn’t telling the truth.

“You’re lying to me, Filip,” said Harvath, pulling himself in closer. “Believe me, you do not want to do that. Now, who did you tell?”

“No one. I swear.”

Without taking his eyes off Landsbergis he said to S?lvi, “This looks like it’s going to get messy. Will you grab two pairs of restraints out of my bag? And I saw a roll of plastic sheeting in the garage. We’ll need that too.”

“What the hell?” the VSD man argued. “Are you insane?”

“At this point, I really couldn’t tell you. I will say this, though. My guess is that no one is going to miss you until tomorrow morning, at the earliest. That means I have all night with you. I can take my time. Do you know how much time Carl’s killer took in torturing him? At least two days. Two entire days. So, look on the bright side. It could be worse. I guess, in a way, you should consider yourself lucky.”

“You can’t do this.”

Harvath smiled. “You just don’t know me well enough. I appreciate the opportunity to earn your confidence.”

“You are insane.”

“It looks like we’re about to find out.”

S?lvi dropped a couple of pairs of plastic restraints on the table next to Harvath and then went off toward the garage, presumably in search of the plastic sheeting he had asked for.

Landsbergis was visibly shaken by the sight of the restraints. The fact that Harvath had exhibited this level of forethought worried him that the American wasn’t bluffing and would carry out his threat. “You don’t have to do this.”

“Apparently, I do,” replied Harvath. “If you won’t tell me the truth, this is the way it’s going to have to be.”

“There’s something I don’t understand,” Landsbergis interjected, trying to forestall what now appeared inevitable. “What made you go see Luk?a? How did you know he’d had an accident?”

Normally, Harvath didn’t allow his interrogation subjects to ask their own questions, but the VSD man’s query seemed legit. “Over the two days that Carl was tortured, his killer was accessing his devices to compile information on me. The only recent, large-scale operation he and I had done together was the Kaliningrad op with you. As we looked at all the loose ends, Luk?a popped up.

“According to reports, he’d had an accident. His injuries, though, were more consistent with having been beaten or tortured. I wanted to see for myself, so I flew all the way here to see him. And do you know what he confessed to me?”

Landsbergis took a breath before answering. “That he had been tortured?”