Chris Kuzneski - The Hunters

Jasmine wasn’t satisfied quite yet. ‘Couldn’t they simply be hoarding it in secret?’

‘To what end?’ Cobb replied. ‘The only reason to keep it secret would be to privately negotiate its return with the Romanian government. But you already told us that they refuse to negotiate. So unless you can look me in the eye and honestly tell me that you think every Russian prime minister of the last century chose to perpetuate a ruse against Romania rather than bolster his crumbling economy, they simply don’t have the gold.’

The room was silent again as everyone considered Cobb’s statement. Papineau was contemplative too, but mostly about Cobb. He wondered how he had figured it out so quickly.

‘So — we’re not going to Russia?’ McNutt said. ‘I’m confused.’

Cobb ignored McNutt and turned toward Jasmine. ‘Things were far from stable in Russia during World War One, right?’

‘Yes. By any standard, it was basically chaos,’ she replied. ‘During the time when the Romanian treasure shipments were sent and secured, Tsar Nicholas the Second and his family were murdered, the Romanov dynasty ended, and the revolutionary Bolsheviks took power. Furthermore, the Red Army and the White Army factions were tearing each other apart, and there were military disasters plaguing the Russian Army at the German front. Between the violent uprising of the new regime and the soldiers everywhere dying and deserting, it was a complete disaster.’

‘Anything else?’ Cobb asked.

‘Let’s see …’ Jasmine thought. ‘In October 1916, with the Germans a mere two hundred miles from Moscow, the rail workers went on strike. Soldiers from the front were sent to force them back to work. Instead, the soldiers joined the railway workers.’

‘So the lines of defense are disintegrating, the enemy is at the gate, and the capital is in ruins. Time that out with the shipment.’

‘Two months after the second Romanian shipment arrived “safely” in Moscow’ — she emphasized the irony of the word safely with air quotes — ‘Nicholas the Second abdicated. The provisional government which preceded Lenin and the Communists was ineffective, to say the least.’

‘What was the mood in Moscow?’ Cobb asked.

‘Confused. Unhappy. Desperate. They had to burn furniture to keep from freezing. They were starving. Finally, in December 1917, there was an armistice with Germany.’

‘Who did or did not know about the Romanian treasure?’

‘I’m sure the Germans knew there were treasures,’ Jasmine surmised. ‘If not from their extensive spy network, then from the Romanovs or the Communists who were pawing at power and infiltrating government offices one after the other. Even after the armistice, the Germans kept coming in a classic nineteenth-century-style land grab. They marched into the Ukraine unopposed. The Russians ceded that territory and other contested or coveted regions to protect themselves, to give themselves a geographical buffer.’

‘Where?’ Cobb wanted to know.

‘The Baltic Provinces. Finland, parts of Poland-’

‘Which the Russians could never have held,’ Papineau reminded her. ‘Even absent the Germans, the war had not left them with the necessary manpower.’

‘Very true,’ Jasmine said. ‘That’s when the Allies invaded Russia, just to stop Germany from getting their hands on Russian resources.’

‘Okay,’ Cobb concluded. ‘So let’s say you’re Russia. You’ve got Germany in your face and France, Britain, and America breathing down your neck. What would you do with — let’s round it off to a nice, round number — a hundred tons of gold?’

He watched the group ponder the question.

Even Garcia was still. His fingers had nothing to check.

‘I’ll make it simple,’ Cobb said. ‘Would you keep the gold where it was?’

‘No,’ Sarah decided.

‘Neither would I. So the question is: where did they move it?’

Papineau smiled. That was the billion-dollar question.

‘Indeed, Mr Cobb,’ Papineau said. ‘That is exactly what I would like you to determine.’ He paused, letting it sink in. ‘I want you to find it, secure it, and transport it to a safe location of my choosing. The gold and any other valuables you find along the way.’

‘Ohhhhh,’ McNutt drawled. ‘Is that all?’

Sarah leaned forward in her seat. ‘And what if we fail?’

‘If you fail, I’ll pay you for your time, but you won’t get the five-million-dollar bonus,’ Papineau said flatly. ‘Your bonus comes from the treasure, not my pockets.’

Sarah nodded her acceptance. That seemed fair to her.

Intrigued by the mission, Cobb turned to face the group. ‘All right, everyone, listen to me. If I’m going to lead this team, here is what I require. First, what I say goes. I’ll accept short discussions on anything and everything except in times of danger. Agreed?’

He looked to each team member for an answer. McNutt and Jasmine nodded. Sarah didn’t object. Garcia shrugged in submission. Cobb turned to the Frenchman. ‘You’re responsible for all of our expenses. You’ll pay for everything we need.’

‘That is a given,’ Papineau said.

‘I don’t think you understand,’ Cobb replied. ‘Your bank account is now my bank account. You’re going to trust me not to take anything more than we require. If I say we need something, we need something. You can ask me why, and if I have time, I’ll tell you. But if you decide against it, even once, I’m out.’ He let that sink in for a second. ‘Are we in agreement?’

Papineau nodded.

‘Okay, Sarah,’ Cobb said, ‘let’s start with you. Jean-Marc, will you bring up the map of the area?’ With a click of the remote control, the wall became a modern map of Eastern Europe. ‘I want you to study the transportation routes and modes throughout the areas we’ve discussed — then blow it out, mile by mile, until you find a viable location for the cache.’

‘Sure, but do you have any suggestion on where I should start?’

‘I do,’ Cobb said, ‘but I want you to tell me what you think. That will vet my own findings. If we reach different conclusions, we’ll have to talk. Just put yourself in the position of a Russian politician when the tsar was the rock and Lenin was the hard place. Where would you put a hundred tons of gold?’

‘Damn good question,’ she said.

‘A gold filling for every Russian peasant!’ McNutt suggested. ‘Then have them spit ‘em out after the war.’

‘That’s just stupid,’ Garcia said.

‘Welcome to me,’ McNutt replied.

‘Where can she work?’ Cobb asked Papineau, ignoring the exchange.

‘Right here, if she likes,’ he said. ‘Mr Garcia can set her up with a laptop.’

‘Fine,’ Cobb said. He turned to McNutt. ‘While Sarah does that, and assuming you’re through joking-’

‘For the moment,’ McNutt said.

‘-make a list of the transport and armory requirements you think we’ll need once we’re on the ground in that region. We should be okay in the cities. It’s the rocky or watery countryside that we need to worry about.’

‘Artillery? Heavy as well as light?’

‘Whatever you think, as long as you remember that we’ll need to transport it once we’re there. Give me a wish list.’

‘I’ll do that on the terrace,’ McNutt said. ‘I think better in the open.’

‘That’s good to know,’ Cobb remarked.

McNutt shrugged. ‘It’s where I’ve done most of my heavy mental lifting, though usually with people looking to kill me.’

‘I’m sure that can be arranged,’ Cobb said with an accusing glance at Papineau. He turned next to Garcia. ‘Hector, I want to know a couple of things. When Sarah and I have our target, you’ll have to become familiar with the police and military of every force in every village we might find ourselves up against. In the meantime, I want the specifications of all the communication systems we might require in terms of both hardware in-country and satellite access above. Finally, you’ll need to make all the security systems of all the companies in that region an open book for Sarah.’