Absolute treason, p.12
Absolute Treason, page 12
“Wonderful. So she keeps getting hurt.”
“Jake, what do you want me to say?” Jess snapped irritably. “This is the life you chose.”
“It’s not the life Sheila chose. It’s the life Bryan chose for her.”
“My point is that there’s nothing we can do to eliminate risk. We can mitigate it, but risk still exists, and this time, the bad thing happened before we could stop it. I’m sorry, Jake. I really am. But being pissed off and heartbroken and desperate and… and out of control like you are now isn’t helping. This is the first time I’ve seen you this broken. It scares me.”
"Well, I can't just snap my fingers and be happy-go-lucky again."
“Then be a Marine again. Forget about being a Secret Service agent. If she was in combat with you and she lost your finger, would you freak out and talk about how shitty it is that she got hurt and you couldn’t stop it? Or would you keep fighting until the source of that shot was dead so that the next bullet didn’t end up in her head instead of her hand? Look, I can shout at you all day long, but the bottom line is you know what you need to do. It’s up to you to actually do it.”
Jess’s phone buzzed. “Hey, Dawson. Understood.” She looked at Jake. “Yeah, he’s with me. He’s… maintaining.” Her shoulders tensed a little. “No, no news. We have contacts looking, but there’s nothing concrete yet. All right. We’re ready whenever you are. He’s going to come back to the hotel with us for now, but if we get a real lead, he’ll be out following it. How did the summit go? Well, that’s good news, at least. You can give us a full update later. Let’s get the President back home. No, same hotel. Lightning shouldn’t strike the same place twice, especially since the place is crawling with cops and security. All right. Let me know when you’re in your vehicle.”
She hung up and said, “Summit’s over for the day. Dawson says good news, and the President is a little more relaxed. Still terrified, but he has confidence that everything will be okay.” She met Jake’s eyes. “You should too.”
The convoy headed back for the hotel. Jess took over randomizing the route, taking them on a twisting journey through Moscow’s crowded government district. At several points along the journey, Jake noticed FSB agents watching them. Kaspov had clearly beefed up his agency’s presence in the area in response to the increased threat. That should have comforted Jake, but seeing their stony faces, he felt like a bug under a microscope.
It's not about you. It’s about the President. He’s your primary responsibility. You’re winning as long as he’s alive and safe.
But the sacrifice he would have to make… the sacrifice the President would have to make.
They reached the hotel, and Jake joined the others as they quickly led the President through the heavily guarded lobby and up the equally heavily guarded stairwell. When they reached the President’s suite, they waited outside for ten minutes while Dawson and another agent searched it thoroughly. When they let the President inside, Jake saw that Carrie was sitting on the couch in the living room. He stopped a minute, unsure if he should let Bryan inside.
But when Carrie saw her husband, she showed no anger. Her lower lip trembled, and she burst into tears. Bryan was instantly at her side, his arm around her. He held her while she wept, saying nothing, only comforting her as they both mourned their missing daughter.
Jake wanted to tell them that everything was okay. He wanted to reassure them that he would find Carrie and bring her back to them unharmed.
But he couldn’t. She was already harmed.
He left the two of them in their suite and headed to Jess’s office. When the door closed, Jess said, “I made a map of the known military installations around Moscow and organized them into five tiers of likelihood. There are a lot of them, but I figure this will help Kaspov and Moscow Police adequately distribute their resources.”
Jake felt a spark of hope. “Thank you, Jess. This is good. Get them this information.”
“Already did.” She smiled at him. “See? There’s more of us than there are of him. He’s going to lose, and we will get Sheila back. You can count on it.”
Jake wasn’t sure if he could, but he knew he could count on Jess to do everything in her power, and that was quite a lot. “Thank you again. And I’m sorry. I know I wasn’t what I needed to be today.”
“You don’t have to apologize. I get it. I was only hard on you because, well…” she shrugged.
“I get it. I need you to be hard on me when I’m out of line like this. I can’t let my fear overcome my common sense.”
“Bold of you to assume you had common sense in the first place.”
He chuckled, and just that brief amount of laughter was enough to lift his spirits. He didn’t feel guilty for laughing. On the contrary, if he could laugh, then it meant he hadn’t given up. He still had hope, and if he had hope, then he could succeed.
His phone buzzed, and he recognized the number as the one Mikhail had given him. He answered quickly, heart beginning to pound once more. “Mercer.”
“American! Well played. I would have cautioned against involving the local police, but your gambit has worked! You have flushed your rabbit out of his hole! Or rather, her hole. I doubt the jackrabbit is with her.”
“Are you saying you found Sheila?”
“I am staring at her right now. My instincts were spot on. Nikolai is doing exactly what I suspected he would do.”
Jake’s heart leapt. “Where is she?”
“She is on the river. Or rather, she is right by the river, but she soon will be in the river.”
“Can you get to her?”
“I assume you don’t mean me personally, since I am likely to kill myself simply descending this hill. Unfortunately, I cannot send someone for her either. She is under heavy guard. She appears to be drugged unconscious. She is being carried from the bunker to a boat. It seems Nikolai has caught wind of your plan to infiltrate each possible military location, and he’s moving her to avoid being caught with his pants down. Pardon the phrase, I don’t mean that literally.
“Where on the river?”
“I’ll send you the coordinates. I would advise you not to come alone, but Americans will be cowboys! Good luck, American. And if you do see Nikolai, please kill him for me.”
“You have my word on that.”
He hung up and turned to Jess. Before he could speak, she said, “Already on it. I’ll track you on this map, and just for good measure, I’ll get Kaspov on the line too. Maybe he can send some backup since I imagine you’ll be too impatient to wait.”
“Got that right.”
Jake’s phone buzzed. He quickly fed Mikhail’s coordinates into Jess’s laptop. Then he rushed from the room.
Hold on, Sheila. I’m coming.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“She has not yet left,” Kaspov said in Jake’s earpiece. “They are loading one more boat with supplies and ammunition. Wherever they are taking her, they intend to keep her there for a long time. That should encourage you, no? He clearly does not plan to kill her yet.”
“If things go well, he won’t be able to kill her,” Jake replied.
Jess had put Kaspov onto the line with Jake so he could talk to the Russian Agent via his earpiece. The bunker Mikhail had identified was along the Moskva river and was ten minutes from the hotel. Jess had given Jake’s license plate to the Moscow police, so he was able to ignore traffic laws and reach it in seven.
The moment he reached the bank opposite the bunker, he saw the boats. There were three of them. The one in the front had a machine gun mounted on a tripod. The one in the rear had a gun as well and also carried several pallets of cargo.
The boat in the middle was larger than both of the other two combined. Jake counted two machine gun emplacements along with armor and a radar warning receiver. Nikolai’s security firm afforded him some impressive toys.
He gunned the motor of the vehicle and sped toward the dock. “Which boat is Sheila on?” he asked.
“The middle one,” Kaspov confirmed. “She was taken belowdecks. Be careful. She will be under heavy guard.”
“I will.”
That became the least of Jake’s worries a moment later when the boats saw him coming. They sped off, the last terrorist sprinting toward the water and doing a flying leap onto the rear boat.
“Dammit!”
“Look for a dock marked with an official logo. It should have a gray launch with an outboard motor. River police use it as a chase vehicle.”
Jake slammed the brakes, and the vehicle skidded to a stop just before the docks. He looked around and quickly saw the boat Kaspov was referring to.
He jumped out of the vehicle and sprinted toward the launch. Already, Nikolai’s men were well ahead of him.
He jumped into the boat and quickly began untying it from the dock. The cord was knotted well, and it took Jake a minute to get it undone. When he looked up, he could see the rear boat only as a distant speck. He estimated they were already three miles ahead of him.
He pulled the cord on the outboard motor. It sputtered.
“Dammit! Not now!”
“Press the red button on top of the motor,” Kaspov said. “That will prime it with fuel.”
Jake found the button and pressed it. This time, when he pulled the cord, the engine roared to life. Jake quickly braced himself and pulled the throttle lever. The front of the boat lifted sickeningly, but the vessel steadied and quickly accelerated out of the dock. Jake narrowly missed three other boats as he pulled into open water, but finally, he got the boat heading in the right direction.
As soon as he was headed toward the now barely visible terrorists, he opened the throttle all the way. The boat shot forward, bouncing along the water.
“Slide forward a few feet,” Kaspov said. “You must balance yourself.”
“How can you see me?”
“I can tell the boat is not moving as fast as it should because of the red dot on your partner’s screen.”
“You’re in the hotel with her?”
“She has shared her screen with me. Do you want to ask about me, or do you want to focus on what you are doing?”
“Right.”
Jake inched forward until the bow of the boat lowered, and the craft moved steadily. Jake felt his speed increase, and slowly but surely, the specks of the distant boats grew closer and closer.
The light was fading fast, though. If he couldn’t see them, then he would lose them. The boat had a spotlight on the front, but Jake couldn’t reach it without letting go of the throttle.
Thinking quickly, he removed his belt with his free hand and tied it around the throttle lever. He held the other end and inched forward until he could switch the spotlight on. The beam cut a wide arc into the night ahead, and Jake returned to the throttle.
His pants were sagging, but he managed to put his belt back on as the distance between him and the terrorists slowly waned.
He closed to about a quarter mile when the lookout on the rear boat noticed him. He pointed at Jake, then ran to the machine gun.
Shit.
Jake yanked the rudder to the left just before the gun opened fire. The boat lifted high on its right side and nearly capsized before it righted and sent Jake flying for the bank. He quickly threw it the other way, and the nose spun around. The craft slowed, stopped, then bounced over its own wake, narrowly avoiding another barrage of machine gun fire as it sped back to the middle of the river.
“What are you doing?” Kaspov shouted. “I thought you were a Marine!”
“I was! We don’t sail in the Marines.”
“What?”
“We ride boats. We don’t drive them.”
Kaspov sighed. "How is it that you won the Cold War? Be gentle with the rudder. You will tear the boat apart, yanking it like that!"
“Well, their fifties might tear the boat apart before I get a chance.”
Jake ducked under another barrage and heard the rounds bore into the water behind him.
“Hold on,” Kaspov said. “I may have an asset in the area that can help with the guns.”
“I’ll take all the help I can—”
Jake twisted the rudder to the left again, only just remembering not to pull it all the way. Still, the boat came up high on the right for a second before righting.
The zigzagging caused Jake to lose ground. The terrorists were now a half mile away. He wouldn’t catch them as long as those guns were active.”
“Kaspov? I could really use a solution for those weapons.”
“On its way. Fall back to a mile and a half away.”
“Fall back?”
“Unless you want to get shot by an anti-materiel rifle, yes. You can’t sail, so I’d rather you not rip your boat apart trying.”
“All right,” Jake said. “I’m doing my best.”
“Fuck your best. Fall back!”
“I am!”
Jake turned the rudder to the right, stopping at forty-five degrees. The boat didn’t come up as high this time, and it actually accelerated faster, easily avoiding the burst of machine gun fire.
“I’m doing better on the turning.”
“Good for you! I’ll leave a sticker on your homework. Have you fallen back?”
Jake pushed the throttle lever back until he saw the distance between himself and the terrorists increasing. “Okay. I’m about a mile back now.”
Kaspov sighed. “Add a half mile to that, then hold that distance.”
He spoke in the tone an exasperated parent might use talking to an unruly child. Jake would be offended, but he was too busy trying not to die.
Another burst of machine gun fire went his way, but at this distance, at high speed on the water, the machine gun was losing its accuracy. Jake found that by continuing to zigzag and altering the speed of his turns, he was able to easily avoid the gunman.
“Kaspov! How—”
A streak of fire flew across the water from somewhere on the right bank. Jake watched in shock as the boat at the rear of the convoy exploded in a burst of yellow fame. The hull flew into the air and fell upside down in three pieces onto the water.
“Long,” Jake finished.
“Stay where you are,” Kaspov warned. “The boat in front will turn around to take the rear boat’s place. They will think that you do not have another rocket launcher. I do, a mile ahead.”
Jake watched as the boat did indeed turn around and head his way.
And keep heading his way.
Shit.
“Kaspov, we have a problem. They’re not holding an escort position. They’re attacking me.”
“Shit. Okay, try to evade. I will send the rocket launcher your way.”
The boat closed to within a mile, and the fifty-cal opened fire. Jake swore and turned the rudder to the right, but three shells tore into the boat, and when the launch righted, water began bubbling up into the hull.
“I’m hit!”
“You or the boat?”
“It’s a fucking M2, Kaspov! If I was hit, I’d be in pieces!”
“Oh, screw you! Two more minutes!”
Another burst of machine gun fire—much closer this time—tore the prow of Jake’s boat off. The bow dipped toward the water, and Jake gunned the motor to lift the nose again. It lifted—too much. He pulled the throttle back, and it dipped again, holding just above the water.
Jake looked ahead and saw the terrorist boat nearly in front of him. He could see the bared teeth of the machine gunner as he aimed the rifle at Jake. Jake ducked just in time. He felt the heat of the rounds passing overhead as his boat passed the escort boat.
“Hey, your guys know to shoot the boat with the machine gun, right?” Jake said. “Because I just passed the baddy.”
“They know. Your best bet is speed right now. Give it everything you have left. Try not to capsize.”
Jake pulled the throttle. He was able to get about ninety percent without losing control, but the boat was taking on water fast. He wasn’t sure how long he would be able to go on like this.
Dammit, he should have taken someone else with him. If he had someone to bail water while he drove, they could keep going. As it was, if he didn’t reach Sheila’s boat soon, he would lose her.
“Incoming, Jake!” Kaspov cried.
Another streak of fire headed from shore to the terrorist boat. Jake heard a cry and turned around to see the boat crew jump into the water just before their boat exploded. He saw the barrel of the M2 windmilling in the air. It gained impressive height before falling back to the water and landing with a wet thud.
Jake turned ahead and saw that he had gained considerable ground. He was now only a few hundred yards from Sheila’s boat.
He gunned the motor again. The boat picked up speed, but the water was now four inches deep. Jake estimated that he had taken on almost forty gallons. The extra four hundred pounds of weight proved too much for the motor. Jake heard a grinding, then a thud as the drive gear shattered. The boat rapidly slowed, then settled.
“No!” Jake cried. “Dammit!”
He stood where he was for a long moment, watching helplessly as his boat sank. He finally jumped off the side and surfaced to watch helplessly as Sheila disappeared down the river.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
“He couldn’t have gone too far,” Kaspov said. He reached down and hauled Jake from the water onto the inflatable boat. “There is a coast guard vessel steaming our way. It is not fast, but it is heavily armed and has radar and sonar.”
“We need air and ground support,” Jake said. “He could dock the boat at any point along the river.”
“Two rivers.”
“What?”
“There are two nearby tributaries of the Moskva headed upriver. One is frozen and impassable for his vessel, but the other, the Istra, is navigable. It is twenty kilometers upriver.”
