Final Target

CHAPTER 74

G age and Alla returned to the hospital in early afternoon. Ninchenko was in a third floor, private, two-room suite, the best in the hospital, but looking to Gage like a skid-row hotel room. He was propped up in bed and being fed clear broth as they entered. The nurse wiped Ninchenko’s chin, then stepped back. Ninchenko’s guard escorted her from the room.

“How do you feel, amigo?” Gage asked, leaning close. Alla stood next to him. Both looking down at the pale, hollow-eyed face.

Ninchenko worked up a little smile. “Like an elephant is standing on my chest,” he answered in a hoarse whisper, his throat still raw from the anesthetic used during surgery.

“What happened?”

“He came running into the kitchen just as I kicked the door.” Ninchenko’s voice strengthened. “He got off three shots before I caught my balance. He knew he hit me so he stopped firing.”

“Big mistake.”

“He picked the wrong line of work. He didn’t finish me off.”

Gage thought back on the dead man curled up in the kitchen. The man’s heart had stopped before Ninchenko fired his last shot.

Ninchenko licked his lips. Alla poured water from a pitcher into a clear plastic glass and brought it to his lips. He took two sips, then shook his head.

“What about you?” Ninchenko asked.

“Let’s just say Razor lived by the sword.”

Ninchenko offered up another weak smile. “Aristotle was right.”

Alla’s mouth gaped open at Ninchenko. “What? Aristotle? You’re lying in a hospital with two fucking bullet holes and you’re talking Greek philosophy?”

“What he means is that things tend toward their natural end,” Gage said.

Alla shook her head. “It’s still weird.” She set down the glass and looked fondly at Ninchenko. “I thought you were just some ex-State Security thug out to make a buck. I’m sorry. I was wrong.”

She put a hand on his shoulder. “I’m glad your natural end wasn’t to die last night saving me. I’ll never forget what you did.” She leaned over and kissed him on the forehead.

“We were both wrong,” Ninchenko answered. “I hope you’ll come back one day.”

Alla shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know.”

Three hours into their drive back to Kiev, Gage heard the name Gravilov spoken on the car radio. He poked at Alla, waking her up.

“What are they saying?”

Alla rubbed her eyes. The announcer spoke the name again. She listened for a minute, then smiled.

“It sounds like Ninchenko’s people tricked the government into believing that nationalist terrorists attacked Gravilov’s mansion. There was a note stuck to the front door that the police think was left by the paramilitary arm of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, demanding that all Russians leave Ukraine, starting with him.”

Alla listened for another few moments, then laughed. “They’re demanding a ransom for my return. Apparently I’m Gravilov’s girlfriend.”

She looked hard at the radio, then gasped. “The police found Razor in the hyena pen, chewed into pieces.”

Gage now understood what Maks had been doing while Yasha helped Ninchenko to the car.

“What about the woman upstairs?” Gage asked.

“They claim she was raped.”

“That couldn’t be.”

“But it’s the kind of thing the government wants people to think OUN terrorists would do.” Alla pointed ahead toward Kiev. “That way they’ll believe that the president is all that stands between Ukraine and chaos if Bread and Freedom succeeds.”

“Will Gravilov really believe that’s what happened?”

“Maybe for a few days…nobody believes anything in Ukraine for longer than that.”