Page 71 of Canyon of Deceit
SEVENTY
BLANE
Binoculars bounced around my neck while I ran to the Waterway Resort.
I craved to see Therese and confirm she and Alina were unharmed.
How had the scenario unfolding in the ship channel hit unexpectedly in a world of instant communication and technology?
Maybe this wasn’t a surprise, and the FBI covered the facts to keep Baranov and his family alive.
Sergio claimed a call to Quantico revealed a last-minute change in plans about the Baranovs’ arrival.
That meant following highly regulated protocol where at least two federal agencies assisted in an operation, and in this case three—the FBI, CBP, and Coast Guard.
No Texas Rangers, but Sergio and I received permission to be on-site, spectators of sorts.
Didn’t suit me but at least we were here, and we were armed.
Intel had leaked to the ROC, but how wasn’t clear.
The FBI would tackle that later. No one on board the cargo ship would have knowledge about the Baranovs’ escape to freedom, unless a crew member had identified them and told the Russians.
Getting the Baranov family to safety where they could request asylum topped the priority list.
Two tugboats—both with armed men from the FBI, CBP, and Coast Guard were to transport the Baranovs inland. The clock clicked down the remaining fifty minutes.
The ROC were here but where? No one on the guest list of the Waterway Resort caught my attention—but no reputable professional assassin used a real name.
Since Therese and Alina had been held inside the hotel, it made sense the killers also occupied rooms. But I’d not check off an attack from the air or water.
At the hotel’s front entrance, FBI Agent Blackburn talked with another agent. He and I had met the night Therese and I faced the ROC at her home. I shook his hand and his partner’s. “We meet again,” I said to Blackburn.
He introduced me to his partner. “The problems will end today.”
I didn’t share the same positive attitude. I explained to Blackburn why I was here, and he received permission to allow me inside the hotel. An ambulance arrived with its sirens blaring around us and flashing lights shoving traffic out of its way.
“Has someone already been injured?”
Blackburn shook his head and jogged to the ambulance. He spoke to the driver and made a call. One more time, I played the role of an outsider. The paramedics opened the ambulance’s back door and rushed a gurney to the hotel door. Blackburn let them in.
“A man has been shot in a room on the fourth floor,” he said to the other agent and me and hurried with them.
I waited until Blackburn and the paramedics reappeared with a man on the gurney. His eyes were sealed shut, and an oxygen tube had been inserted in his mouth. One paramedic held an IV. Blood was everywhere—Jurg Falin.
“Blackburn, he’s one of the ROC involved,” I said. “Who else was with him?”
“No one. I recognized him too. Not a speck of blood anywhere in the room.”
“He’s unconscious?”
“Yep. Vitals are not good.” He gave me a chin dip, which told me he’d been updated about Falin and the security required to keep him alive.
The ambulance left and Blackburn escorted me to a kitchen door where he greeted the people inside.
“Ladies and gentlemen, the lockdown will continue about an hour or more. I understand this is an inconvenience, but your safety is our primary concern.”
Therese rushed to me, her eyes wide and chin quivering. Alina trailed her. A lump formed in my throat. I was up to my eyeballs in love with this woman. She threw her arms around my neck and squeezed gently.
“I’m sorry for taking off,” she said. “I tried to save the world by myself.”
“We’re good. You’re safe and you have Alina.” I released Therese and gazed at the blonde-haired angel. “You’re one brave little girl.”
Therese held out her hand, and the little girl grasped it. “Alina, I’d like you to meet Texas Ranger Blane Gardner. He is my hero.”
“From the cavalry?” she said.
“Without a doubt.” Therese gave me a light kiss. “What can you tell me?”
“Not much in the time left. Sergio requested I stay here. Rangers aren’t involved in this mission.” I shook my head. “What I can tell you is the expected arrival was moved up to today and this location. Please keep our conversation to yourself.”
She mouthed, Rurik .
I whispered, “He left his house and can’t be found.”
“Escaped?” she whispered.
“Yes.”
“Alina believes he’s dead.”
I frowned. “He might be or he’s on the property.”
A text from Sergio stopped me from saying more. Cargo ship in sight. Confirmed passengers. Stay where you are. Situation not neutralized.
—
“Stay here. I’ll be back in a few.” I closed the kitchen door behind me and made my way to the glass wall overlooking the cargo ship. It moved unusually close to the hotel. I studied the area through my binoculars. Two tugboats bounced over waves toward it.
The possible use of the laser weaponry enabled by recovery of the activation chips from Dog Canyon pressed into my concern for innocent people becoming victims. Its use toward volatile cargo had the capacity to destroy the ship, everyone on it, and the two tugboats racing its way.
Cameras were everywhere. How did the ROC think they’d get away with an attack?
I desperately wanted to be where the action brewed in the channel.
I refocused my binoculars and caught a flicker of movement on the cargo ship. A man, a small boy about four, and a slender woman gazed out over the railing. I recognized Edik Baranov from his pics. He lifted the boy into his arms, nodded at the woman, and they jumped.
I held my breath until Baranov surfaced with his son in his arms. His wife bobbed up, and together they swam toward an emerging tugboat filled with armed US Feds.
Thank goodness they hadn’t jumped into the brackish channel behind them.
It had been deemed a sacrifice zone from the years of dumping petrochemical waste without heeding environmental regulations.
I lowered my binoculars and spotted an unmarked boat speeding toward the scene. Zooming back in, I counted at least eight armed men, and none were a part of the federal agencies involved with the transfer of the Baranov family.
Rifle fire broke out over the blue waters.