Morgan Stone - The Russian Factor

I was telling you before about our dear friend Vladimir, who was trying to help me to save you in Kiev. He was able to get these photographs for me so that you see for yourself what your foreign “friend” has done about a year ago in a Kazakhstan village. I tried so hard to meet with you earlier, in Istanbul, but that didn’t happen. I also had to ask for so many favors in order to find you in Odessa, but when I finally did, she moved you away again. It seems like no matter what I do to save you, she moves one step ahead of me.

Anna, isn’t it enough? Have not you seen enough of your parents’ suffering? Have not you yet realized who you are running with? If these photographs will not help you make your mind I don’t know what will! Look at these poor people who are now dead. Look at the dogs. Anna, even dogs. Why did she have to kill them, Anna? She has no heart. And my heart is being torn to pieces when I think what they will do to you after she delivers you to her bosses in the rotten “West".

Dear Anna, I soon will be in Marmaris, I still fight for you. I hope you will want to meet with me. By now you must clearly see that your life is in danger and that you need to escape from that criminal IMMEDIATELY. Anton and Victor are waiting for you on a yacht that we had to rent in Bodrum. I have to spend almost my entire savings in order to do this. If you do not want to wait for me to escape from her, please do not hesitate. Go to Anton and Victor, go with them and they will sail you away from Marmaris and protect you.

I love you, dear Anechka, and I hope to see you soon, my beloved and only daughter. Father is worried sick about you and hopes they have not hurt you too much and you are well. Mashka, your beloved cat needs you, is also waiting for you, at home where you belong.

Please, Anna, don’t show this letter to Jess, destroy it, so that she doesn’t know what you are planning to do.

Your Mama.

I translated and summarized for Tom. Reading the last sentence I asked him, “So, how come I’ve got it?”

“Good question. But if I had to guess, I’d say she’s trying to tell you something.”

“Like what?”

“Like she doesn’t believe you’re the monster that did the stuff in those photos or like the letter instructed, she wouldn’t leave it for you. At least that’s the way I see.”

“She read it to you?”

“No, she left it for you. I don’t know Russian. We were unloading those vans when the gentlemen off the catamaran came by. They started arguing with Anna. Sinem and her friends, the guys with the vans, kept the cousins off Shadow. There was more yelling and they tossed the package on the deck. Then the wholesale guys showed the cousins on their way. I guess Anna went below and tore into it because a few minutes later, looking none too happy, she came storming off Shadow. I was worried she’d done herself harm in the lady’s showers which is where I ended up for fifteen minutes convincing her to come back to my boat and simmer down a bit.” Tom took a deep breath, held out a hand to indicate he wasn’t finished yet. “Then you showed up!”

“Do you think she’s with the cousins? Do you think they’ve got her?”

“I don’t think she went near the cousins. I’m guessing she’s off doing some thinking. Jess, you’re trained to notice things like that catamaran they came on is still there.”

“So what?”

“So, that cat isn’t moving. If all they wanted was Anna, they’d have her and it would be on its way to Bodrum by now.”

“You mean they want me?”

“That’d be my guess. With or without Anna, you have got to get out of here.” Tom put a cup of crude oil like coffee down in front of me. “You’re going to need this. Stay away from the juice ’til you’re out of this mess. I need to check on a few things. Do some sipping and some deep relaxing breathing, or whatever it is you new agey types do, for minute or two.”

Tom slid onto the bench seat opposite me, bent his head to his Blackberry and disappeared in a cross-eyed stare at the device. Eventually, he flashed the screen at me. “Anybody you know?”

“Anna’s mother. Where?”

Tom pulled up another picture. “How about him?”

“Sergei, her partner. Where are they?” I asked. “How did you get those?”

“Bodrum, right where they said. Next town up the coast. There’s a marina I stay at there. Contact of mine got these shots. By the way, they charter out speedboats up that way. Won’t take them long to get here.”

“Whoa, Tom, that’s pretty amazing.” I groped for words. “Who do you really work for anyhow?”

“Oh, pshaw. Work is just another four letter word. Right now, though, we’ve got to put our heads together and figure a way to get you out of here. With or without Anna.”

Nothing had a point without Anna, but I sure as hell couldn’t say that to Tom. Regardless, the last thing I wanted to do was sail away in an overloaded yacht for absolutely no reason. On our way back to Shadow, with Tom panting to keep up, I suggested, “The first guy I see with a speedboat, I’m paying for a fast ride to Rhodes… Greece… the free world. Nothing keeps me out and I don’t need to sail a yacht to the other side of the bloody planet.”

When Tom got me stopped so he could catch his breath, his response was unequivocal. “Stop and think about it a minute. You’re still here, you’re still alive, so is Anna. You’ve got friends, Turkish friends, I know that, for a fact!” He sat hard on a bench. “Not to mention me and I’ve got a few friends.”

“I know that, but without Anna, what’s the point?”

“You don’t think she’s coming back?”

“Frankly, no. You saw those photos, you heard the letter.”

“If she thought you were a bloodthirsty killer, think she’d have left the pictures and letter lying around for you? Think the pricey catamaran would still be tied up, sitting pretty?” Tom checked his pulse, he was wheezing. He didn’t sound good. “Point is, you are safe here, for now. You go flying off, half cocked and that Sergei fellow will be on you like the taxman at harvest time. Finish loading your yacht, we’ll get you out of here. Go to Rhodes for all I care but I’m thinking, with or without Anna, Shadow’s your best shot.”

“Car, taxi, what about that?” I didn’t want to face the yacht we’d plowed months of our lives into without Anna. I didn’t even want to think of it, although I could see it from the bench, maybe 50 meters from us. Turks were loading provisions.

“You don’t see the cousins because they don’t want you to. But I’d bet my bottom dollar they see you, are watching you, might even be in a car with the engine running just waiting for you to hit the open road. Nope, Jess. You’re getting out on that yacht tonight. Don’t think we haven’t got a plan and it’s not already in motion.”

Tom and I hefted the last of the boxes, and I signed the delivery order. I’d taken on more than a ton of provisions.

“Any sign of our friends from Bodrum?” I asked Tom, looking around. The catamaran was still deserted.

“Contact’s keeping an eye on things. Last I heard, maybe an hour back, they split up. That Sergei fellow stayed behind. Way I see it, The Skater’s driving rented wheels to circle round the back, so to speak, and Sergei’s taking a fast boat right up the channel into the bay.”

“How much time do we have?” The tension was already twisting my guts into pretzels and there’d been no sign of Anna. I felt for the phone in my pocket. I didn’t know if she’d taken hers.

“Not much, but first we’ve gotta get you by those cousins.” Tom waved.

Sure enough, the cousins were walking along the seawall, heading for their boat, grinning like idiots. Anna wasn’t with them.