Page 50

CHAPTER 50

“D o not start at the beginning, start with what we need to know now,” I told Dmitri as I untied the Swiss seat.

“Serena Stafford is alive,” Dmitri said.

Marley and I both stopped to look at him.

“ She’s doing all of this?” I said.

“I do not think so,” Dmitri said. “She does what Herc tells her to do. But I do not think she does that so much anymore. There is trouble there between them.”

“There was always trouble there,” I said. “She was a double agent.”

“Yes and no.” Dmitri finally closed the lid on the treasure and focused. “She wasn’t betraying her country. She was authorized to give me classified information and I was authorized to do the same with her. We were cutouts between my boss and Herc.”

I thought about that for a moment. “She was working for Herc when she did that.”

“Yes,” Dmitri said. “There has always been a KGB or FSB version of Herc in Moscow. Running the darkest missions. But the only way someone like that, and Herc, can truly be effective in keeping the balance of power is proper intelligence.”

Surprisingly, Marley figured it out quickly. “ Tertia Optio .”

Dmitri graced him with a smile. “Very good. To give you an idea, when your country started supplying the Mujahideen with Stinger missiles, there were some very, very upset people in Moscow. It was a dangerous move on the part of the United States. After all, you were supplying weapons that were killing our soldiers. Many of your politicians did not understand the gravity of the situation and the potential responses that our military were considering. They wanted to, at the very least, kill some of your people. It could have been another Cuban Missile Crisis but this time ending in disaster. Serena and I were able to pass intelligence back and forth and take actions that reduced the threat and casualties.”

I knew some of the history of those missions and realized what had been the most likely results. “She betrayed the Mujahideen we were supporting.”

Dmitri nodded. “Some of them. It was a delicate balance. Things were kept at an acceptable level of loss for both sides.”

Marley was coiling the ropes and listening. This was an education you didn’t get in school. Real world.

“Okay,” I said. “But Herc threw Serena under the bus and kicked her out of the Agency after Oz and Pike stole?—”

“No,” Dmitri said. “He did not. He expanded his power by letting her move out of the CIA and found the Cauldron. Pure mercenaries. Working for both him and his counterpart in Moscow.”

In retrospect, that was obvious. But retrospect is exactly that. Herc never let an opportunity go to waste.

Dmitri went on. “Herc and Serena were lovers. Off and on over the years. May be lovers now. Maybe not. But they always worked together. Except Herc was the puppet master.”

“Is that why she wanted the microfilm?” I asked. “It implicated not just her, but Herc?”

Dmitri nodded. “There are still people who would be upset about some of the secrets sent back and forth on that microfilm. It is best for all involved if it remains secret.”

Marley tossed the last of the gear into the snowcat.

“So Herc wanted to finish her off,” I said, “to keep the connection secret.”

Dmitri laughed. “You still think she was dead when Herc took her body?”

I closed my eyes, not surprised but feeling stupid. It had not even occurred to me that Herc had been so insistent on claiming the body for a reason other than proof of death. “She’s really alive?”

“Yes,” Dmitri said.

“How do you know?”

“She required medical treatment for a gunshot wound at a secure facility that isn’t as secure as Herc thinks it is. It is not a place that cares about nationalities. An international haven in a safe country for all sorts of people needing medical care. My contact in Moscow has kept me updated. After all, she did work for them, too, with the Cauldron. She was sidelined, and out of the information flow, but she will be back in the game soon.”

I’d heard about a place like that several times in my previous career.

“Do you know where she is right now?” I asked Dmitri. “Still in medical?”

“I don’t know,” he said.

“Does she know about the treasure?”

Dmitri shook his head. “I doubt it. That was a very closely held secret on both sides.”

That made sense. She’d had Oz and Pike airdrop the SCIF to her; mission accomplished as far as she was concerned. It was Pike who’d wanted them to jump close to Rocky Start. With the treasure. Except they’d lost it off the ramp. And then Oz had been forced to use the microfilm to keep Herc away from town.

But now Herc had the film and was coming here. I looked at the treasure chest, which Dmitri noted.

“Herc wants the treasure,” Dmitri said. “Especially now.”

“Why?”

“He’s done,” Dmitri said. “He’s old and the sands of power have shifted. He is beset on all sides and his time is over. He has to get out before his enemies—and they are numerous—take him out.”

“So he really wants to retire here?”

Dmitri shrugged. “He prepared the place, did he not? As a sanctuary? A bolt-hole? Nobody comes here? Everybody here watches everybody else? Where else would he be safe?”

I thought of the Ferrells’ SCIF, the players he’d sent here. He’d built himself a landing pad in Rocky Start. Except he was Herc and no one really trusted or liked him, which wouldn’t matter to him. Until he realized that people trusting him would be important to his survival.

I didn’t know if he was capable of realizing that.

“What would he do with the treasure?” I asked.

“I’m sure he can make some sort of secret arrangement,” Dmitri said. “There are oligarchs who would pay well over a billion dollars to add the treasure to their private collection. There is a very rich subculture dedicated to stolen art. This kind of money can buy him a shield.” He tapped the chest. Then he looked me in the eyes. “Did he mention me?”

I nodded. “Yes.”

“And?” Dmitri prodded.

“He said to let you find the treasure, take it from you, then kill you.”

Dmitri nodded, not surprised. “And that is why Oz could not bring the treasure back to town and had to hide it out here. And try to block access to it. He knew Herc would stop at nothing to get it.”

I looked up. The drone was up there somewhere. And now Herc knew we had the treasure. He was coming to Rocky Start. Serena was alive. It was all much worse than I had imagined.

At least Rose had run Barry off.

“We need to get back to town,” I said.

“Wait.” Marley opened the lid to the treasure box and took out something small. “I want this.”

Dmitri looked at him and then held out his hand.

Marley dropped a small ring into it, beat-up gold, no stone or gem. “Please.”

“Just this?” Dmitri said. “It is only a signet. There must be something better. With perhaps a diamond?”

“No,” Marley said. “That one.”

Dmitri handed it back. “Thank you for your assistance, my friend.”

Marley nodded and put the ring in his pocket.

I thought about asking him what his intentions were and decided my day had been weird enough. If that was for Poppy, she could handle it and let us know.

“And now, yes, we do have to get back to Rocky Start,” Dmitri said. “We are exposed out here.”

Which reminded me. “Is Serena back in charge of the Cauldron?”

Dmitri shook his head. “Not while she was recovering. Until she gets back in country, she is ignorant of what is going on. That is the way Herc operates. Compartmentalize information.”

So Junior had taken the reins. Badly. “She put Junior in charge?”

“I do not believe she would do that knowing his limitations,” Dmitri said. “But Herc would. A blunt instrument to sow confusion. Everyone is disposable in his view.”

That is exactly what Herc would do. Put an idiot in charge to deflect attention in the wrong direction.

We loaded the chest in the back of the snowcat and made our way to the trailer and pickup truck. Dmitri drove us back to town and let Marley and me off in front of Oddities and then headed out of town to spend the night at Betty’s.

With the treasure. I had no desire to sit on top of something Herc wanted. Of course, it appeared Herc wanted Rocky Start.

As soon as Dmitri was out of sight, my satellite phone vibrated in my pocket, which was not a surprise given the drone. “Go ahead inside,” I told Marley.

I pulled the phone out and answered.

“Yeah?”

“Max, Max, Max,” Herc said. “What the fuck?”

“Good evening to you, too,” I said.

“I told you to take that chest from Dmitri and then kill him. You did neither.”

“I’m not your dog, Herc.”

“Time to make a decision, Max. Take out Dmitri and get me the treasure or get me as your enemy.”

“No.”

“Too bad.”

“Are you actually retiring here?”

“I’m coming for a visit, Max. And I’m coming in heavy. Either be ready to give me the treasure or face the consequences.”

The phone went dead.

Just great.