Monster (64 page)

“They accessed his records or at least paid to have them accessed.”

“Perhaps they just wanted what we discussed before: his whereabouts. That could only mean…”

“Reskova might be the target,” Donaldson finished. “That makes sense but I don’t think the Russians want that kind of heat. They mess with someone as far up the food chain as Diane and they know we’ll…”

“Nonsense,” Rasheed cut him off with a gesture of disgust. “I am tired of hearing about all the things we will do if these criminals do this or that. Why do we not do it before they do?”

“It’s complicated. I’m with you but the only thing that kind of thinking will get you is prison time.”

“Yes, I have noticed everyone but the criminals end up in prison, at least the ones at the top. I still have not found anything tying Diane’s name in with this Romanko gang. They have shown no interest in her. Yet she would be the only other target for which they would need to know Cold’s whereabouts.”

“I think we need time to let a few more pieces fall into place,” Donaldson suggested. “It’s not like we’re giving up on the investigation. Maybe if the Syrians regroup we’ll catch them either talking or meeting up with the Russians again. It won’t be a local law enforcement deal then.”

“It is like having a horse race with the barn doors closed,” Rasheed snapped.

“I think you mean closing the barn door after the horses get out.”

“I have a feeling they already raced out,” Rasheed muttered, staring at his screen.

Chapter 45

Hughes Brothers

Reskova smiled as she rode the elevator up to her apartment floor, remembering McDaniels’ rage when she explained the Russian situation had been given over to police jurisdiction. She had patiently explained they had turned up nothing in regard to Terrorist ties involving the three Russian mobsters captured by Rasheed and Donaldson. During time Reskova thought she could have been giving McDaniels another sendoff he would not forget on disc, she listened to his laundry list of what he called common sense reasons to clamp down tightly on the Russians without letup. Reskova had promised him she would present his concerns to the Director but she doubted Aginson would be moved by McDaniels’ reasoning. Reskova shook her head, trying to physically clear her mind of McDaniels being out of contact again for an indefinite period.

Reskova walked out of the elevator, steeling herself for Dino’s wild cavorting as he tried to hurry her into walking him. She mentally considered buying a wagon with reins and hitching Dino up to it. The walk always took her mind off the day. In spite of her weariness she looked forward to it. Reskova paused. She smelled an unfamiliar odor as she approached her apartment. Looking around, she could not determine the source. Unlocking the apartment door, Reskova missed the numerous telltale signs of foot traffic around the entrance to her apartment. She never glanced down at the broken tape at the bottom of her door. The weird smell was stronger inside her apartment. Dino lay near the door, breathing heavily as if in a deep sleep. As she bent down to put a hand on him, two sets of Taser needles struck her.

Reskova fell painfully to the carpeted floor, her last thought before she lost consciousness was of embarrassment. As she passed out from the shock and pain, Reskova could almost see McDaniels shaking his head in disgust at how stupid she had been. Her last conscious action was to smile.

“Charlie, what the hell do you think the bitch is smilin’ at?” John Hughes asked his brother.

“Maybe she got off on the pain,” Charlie Hughes offered.

“Get her into the trunk you fools,” Mikhail Kojovich ordered angrily. “We must be out of here quickly.”

The two brothers picked Reskova up roughly and threw her into a large open luggage trunk near the entrance. They closed the lid and locked it in place. The trunk incorporated furniture moving class wheels at its base with a heavy duty pull out handle at the top. When the brothers were ready to wheel Reskova’s body out of the apartment, Kojovich repositioned Dino’s body slightly, on the outside chance someone would come into the apartment before the dog regained consciousness. Kojovich stepped outside the apartment and scouted ahead all the way to the stairwell.

Kojovich looked over the two brothers with part apprehension and part ridicule. They had arrived at the meeting place he had arranged dressed like two rubes from Hoboken. John Hughes bore a startling resemblance to his dead brother Stanton - lean, hard-muscled, and a meanness to his eyes no smile would ever hide. At six feet tall, John was almost dwarfed by his younger brother Charlie, who stood six and a half feet tall in his stocking feet. Charlie Hughes carried an extra twenty or thirty pounds around his belly. He handled the Reskova laden trunk as if it weighed next to nothing. Both men had been sporting dark beards, long unkempt hair past their necks, dirty jeans, boots, and threadbare coats and shirts. Kojovich controlled his inward rage at the sight of them. He spent the next four hours getting the two brothers haircuts, shaves, and complete new outfits. They now looked as non-descript as anyone else on the streets of Washington D.C.

“You pull the trunk, John,” Kojovich directed. “Once we get down the stairs to street level, Charles and I will go get the van. Start walking down the street in the opposite direction of the van. We will drive up next to you. Charles will help you load the body. You are less noteworthy, John, which is why I want you to walk out with the trunk.”

“It’s dark out,” John replied. “Hell, nobody will…”

“Shut up and do as I say,” Kojovich cut him off. “You do not wish to be seen or caught. I certainly do not wish for you to be caught. Let us do this as we planned. Soon, you will be heading back to Texas with the woman.”

Although John Hughes did not normally take verbal guff from anyone, he had glimpsed some of the men working within the Russian’s sphere of influence. They had been the type of men who killed or maimed without mercy. He took the handle of the trunk from his brother without further comment.

When the two brothers and the trunk with Reskova’s body were in the van, Kojovich drove away, mentally going over every step they had taken. They had all worn hats and gloves. The dog had been gassed where it stood barking at the door to the apartment. Kojovich had picked the locks on the door with professional expertise. It had only been a matter of giving the dog a shot to render it unconscious safely. He kept the brothers from wandering around or touching anything with constant angry reminders. Kojovich pulled over when they were nearly ten miles away. He went into the rear of the van, unlocked the trunk, and opened it. After stuffing in a blanket around Reskova, he checked her pulse and then gave her a sedative intravenously.

“Do either of you have any questions?” Kojovich asked after assuming the driving duties once again.

“Why didn’t we kill the dog?” Charlie Hughes asked.

“For the same reason I took her car keys and will go back to get her car.” Kojovich sighed in frustration, having answered the question in detail numerous times. “We want her co-workers or friends to find the dog alive and well, barking at the door. When they find her car gone, it should keep them wondering for a while.”

“You really going to give us this van? When can we play with her?”

“Not until we get McDaniels, John. We’ve been over all that. You and Charles will be holding her until McDaniels is either killed in Iraq or they get word to him about Reskova’s disappearance. We’ll get rid of that old truck you drove up in. That way, even if someone saw you arrive in the city with it, you won’t be driving it to Texas. The papers are in the glove compartment. Transfer it from the dummy corporation we have it registered to into your own names.”

“You ain’t plannin’ on sending McDaniels our way, are you?” John Hughes persisted. “Ain’t no one could take our brother Stanton in the woods. McDaniels did and took his head to boot.”

“I thought you and Charles wanted McDaniels dead.”

“You approached us,” John Hughes replied. “We said we wanted the woman who had hounded Stanton. You said we could have her.”

“Yes, and you were to allow us to draw this McDaniels out where he can be killed, using the woman.”

“I’m willin’,” John Hughes said. “I don’t want you double crossin’ us. Charlie and me will cut the woman loose and help her nail your whole gang if ya do.”

“We want Reskova and McDaniels dead, John,” Kojovich stated quietly, his fists tensing on the steering wheel. “We will not double cross you. This McDaniels will probably never return from Iraq. He is not a policeman. You may be assured he is doing something dangerous for the Americans. In any case, you may do anything you like to the woman once we know McDaniels is dead.”

* * *

“How did it go, Mikhail?” Romanko exhaled a cloud of smoke from his Cuban cigar.

“We took Reskova without incident. You were right to have me watch over those two idiots,” Kojovich answered. “Is that why you gave up on keeping them in the dark about us?”

“They have nothing. They cannot implicate us in the Reskova taking. Once McDaniels is dead we will take care of the brothers. They will be found with the body of Reskova. All will be dead. The trail will end there.”

“Alexi mentioned killing this McDaniels from a mile away.”

“The Bulgarian, Strasser, was the best sniper we had in our organization. Any idea where he is now? In any case, we must draw McDaniels somewhere we can make him disappear like his girlfriend.”

“A car bomb would make it look like the Arabs did it.”

“And our agreement to keep them out of this, Mikhail?”

“Not everything can be done the way they like it.”

“I will consider it,” Romanko agreed. “It is not good to take too many chances. Do the dunce brothers know to keep their hands off Reskova until we get McDaniels?”

“Yes, Serge, but they suspect we are setting them up.”

“Let them suspect what they want. They have Reskova, not us.”

* * *

“I don’t like this young Pete,” Rasheed whispered. Reskova had not reported to work or called off. Barrington immediately sent Rasheed and Donaldson over to her apartment when she could not be reached. Both men surveyed the dried grouping of footprints around Reskova’s apartment entrance. “How often do they vacuum these hallways?”

 “I don’t know, Kay.” Donaldson drew his weapon.

Just then, Dino whined before issuing a short plaintive bark. Rasheed relaxed. Donaldson holstered his weapon. Rasheed rang the doorbell. The only answer was more short barks from Dino. He looked at Donaldson and nodded. Donaldson took out the key they had picked up from the apartment manager before going up to Reskova’s apartment. The two men stayed on each side of the door. Donaldson pushed the door open while they stayed tensely to each side of the entrance. Dino bounded out, sniffing and poking at the two men. Rasheed pointed at the floor.

“Look, Pete.”

“I see them.”

The footprints extended into the entranceway of Reskova’s apartment. They were not from a woman’s shoes. They were different sizes and shapes.

“I count three distinct sets, Kay. What do you want to do?”

“I will call it in. We will stay right where we are until Tom and Jen get here. I do not know how anything could happen to Reskova without first killing Dino but we will find out.”

Rasheed called Barrington. “Boss, we have three sets of footprints in the hallway outside Diane’s apartment continuing into her entranceway. We…”

“Is her dog dead?” Barrington broke in.

“No, Sir. He leaped into the hallway when we opened the door. Pete and I are standing with Dino now.”

“You did right. Stay there. Shut down the hall. Have Pete check where the footprints go. Shut those areas down too. Jen and I will be right over. We’ll CSI the scene ourselves.”

Barrington hung up. Rasheed knelt down to pet Dino. The dog whined and tried to climb up on Rasheed. Rasheed’s mouth drew into a tight grimace.

“We must find Diane right away. Tom wants you to trace the footprints and see how far you can track them. Do you have your digital?”

“I have it. We’ll find her, Kay. If they wanted her dead, she’d be laying in her apartment dead.” Donaldson began taking pictures first of the grouping of footprints inside the apartment and then out through the entranceway.

“If
Shaun of the Dead
hears of this, no place in the Western Hemisphere will be safe. I fear many innocents will die.”

Donaldson stopped abruptly, remembering the look on McDaniels’ face when Mero said he would deal with Reskova in the restaurant. “C’mon Kay, the Colonel wouldn’t start executing anyone he gets his hands on.”

“Keep thinking those happy thoughts.” Rasheed stroked Dino’s head.

“The Colonel will be out of touch for at least a month. We can wait until he gets back to base before even mentioning this. By then we’ll have Reskova back.”

“We will immediately call his Marine friends and begin signaling his satellite phone in case he has it on,” Rasheed countered. “If he returned to base and found we had not done everything we could to contact…”

“You’re right, Kay.” Donaldson imagined McDaniels’ rage if he found out they had kept Reskova’s disappearance from him. “I’ll get on it the second we get in the office.”