Siberian Treasure

39

Desperation fueled her kinetic energy, yet Marina could only pace the room. Gabe was going to be executed within hours and she had no way to stop them.

She didn’t have any way to summon anyone to her, to plead for his life, even. She was stuck in the room with no way to communicate.

To just wait.

And to Marina, death was almost preferable to waiting.

That was why she hadn’t left Dennis Strand in the mine, even when the water was rushing in. She’d rather be doing something, anything, than sitting while things spun out of control.

Yet, here she sat. For all she knew, Gabe could be dead already.

Bored, frightened, frustrated … she wandered the room, flipped through the menu options on the computer screen, and finally found herself at the small food cupboard.

She opened the tiny cooler, looked inside, and saw that it had been restocked. Water, juice, more meat, and cheese this time. She slammed the door shut and opened the cabinet next to it. Perhaps there’d be an apple.

Her heart stopped. Then started again as she gaped into the cupboard.

There was an apple. And a pear and some bananas and a small silver wristwatch that looked exactly like the one Varden had showed her.

Marina snatched it out of the cupboard and stared at it; pushed a button. What a joke it would be if it didn’t work. What a gift if it did!

But who? And how?

She’d been in the room the whole time. She’d never left, except when Lev took her the night before … but she’d looked in there since then and the wristband hadn’t been there.

Perhaps ….She’d taken a shower. Could someone have come in then? Restocked the food and left her the watch? Or maybe the cabinet opened on the other side.

Marina slipped it on her wrist, fastening it so that it fit closely, and turned toward the door. She had no idea what buttons to push, but damned if she wasn’t going to try all of them.

But first … she stopped. Plan. Make a plan; don’t just hare out like a maniac.

She grabbed food and water and stuffed them into the generous pockets of her pants. The water bottles were heavy and made her trousers sag; so she limited it to two. She needed freedom of movement. And the meat and cheese — they fit into the pockets of her tunic. Gabe would need protein. Probably first aid, too, but she would figure that out later.

That was it. She turned back to face the door, pulled her sleeve back from over her wrist, and aimed the radio-controlled key at the door. She pushed a button and waited, hoping there wasn’t some kind of alarm that would screech through the area.

Nothing happened; silence reigned.

She pushed another button, the one in the middle, and to her amazement the door began to move.

Marina was out in the hall before the door fully opened, her head swiveling from side to side like a kindergartener checking both ways before crossing the street. The hall was empty. Turning back to face the open door, she pushed two buttons before finding the right one to close it.

Now. Which way to go.

The hall stretched in both directions without break; doors studded the passage and Marina assumed that Gabe was behind one of them. But which one?

And how long before she came upon someone else?

Tightening her lips in determination, Marina started along the hall. She had no choice but to take the chance of being discovered. Gabe had no chance if she didn’t take one.

And then there was the added question: would the radio controlled wristband work for the other doors?

It had to. Varden hadn’t been wearing more than one; hopefully, it worked like a radio. Tune in the right frequency, and push the button.

Finding the right frequency was another issue; but then, again, her door had opened with no problem. She’d figure it out.

Marina did not try the first few doors along the hall; something told her she and Gabe would not be kept near each other. In fact, she suspected that he would be kept in a less accommodating area, since he was dispensable.

She had walked about five yards down the hall when she heard voices from up ahead. Now or never.

She stopped in front of a door, pointed her wristwatch, and watched in amazement as the digital numbers scrambled, racing through some calculations, then stopped. The door opened and Marina shot in, pushing the button to close it behind her.

At first she thought the room was empty, but as the door closed behind her, she saw a form sleeping on a sofa that was quite like hers.

It wasn’t Gabe … it wasn’t big enough. But she approached, cautiously, curiously. Were there other prisoners here?

It was her father.

At last, a chance.

She reached for his thin shoulder and shook it gently. The stench of alcohol told her he was sleeping a chemically-induced sleep; so she shook him again. Harder.

He rolled over, his grey-white face gaunt and stubbled with silver. His deep-sunken eyes fluttered, then opened, looking up at her vacantly. “Dad!” she urged in a voice not much louder than a whisper. “Wake up!”

At last it seemed to penetrate. He blinked several times, then opened his eyes to look at her. “Marina?”

“Dad! Wake up! I need your help!” She was pulling him upright, and grateful to see that he was dressed in a t-shirt and boxer shorts. Seeing him naked was one thing she didn’t want to have to deal with.

“How did you get in here?” The putrid, stale odor of his breath made her reel.

“Dad, I have to know where Gabe is. They’re going to kill him. Where is he?”

He blinked, sat on the edge of the sofa, and scratched his balls. Marina’s stomach turned when she looked at his spindly legs, still thick with dark hair, his trembling hand, and the way his shirt clung to a sunken chest. When had he become so pathetic? Such a non-entity?

“They have him in the Confining Area in the Family Segment.”

“Where is it? The Family Segment?”

He seemed to be regaining his wits. “The area reserved for the family Aleksandrov; your grandfather and his family live there. It’s private, and no one can enter or exit unless they are Aleksandrovs.”

“You have to take me there. I have to get him out of here.”

He was shaking his head. “Marina, no … I can’t be of any help.”

She pulled him to his feet. “You have to! For once in your goddamn life, you have to do something for someone else! I can’t do this without your help.”

He sank back onto the cushion. “Marina, you can’t save him. Roman is determined; he’s about to destroy half the city of Detroit. One more life isn’t going to matter—”

“Isn’t going to matter? One more life does matter, you drunken sot! I can’t believe I’m hearing you say this! Dad, you have to help me. Now.” At that moment, Marina wished she had Gabe’s gun. She would have used it. She would have jammed it in his face and forced him to get off his ass and help her.

Tears of frustration stung her eyes. “If you don’t help me, it’ll live with you for the rest of your pitiful life.” She stuck her face right into his and it struck her that this was the closest she’d been to her father physically in decades.

He looked away. “I’m not leaving this room. The last time I interfered — I will tell you how to get to where they are keeping him … but that is all.”

Marina took a deep breath. Giving in to frustration and fear would only slow her down, make her sloppy, and lose whatever chance she had to save Gabe. She organized her thoughts and listened as he told her how to get to the Segment, and where to find Gabe.

“When are they going to kill him? And where?”

“Only an hour or two from now. And I don’t know how.”

Marina pulled to her feet and started toward the door. “I’ll never forgive you for this.”

“Marina, there’s so much you haven’t forgiven me for … this one more thing matters little.”

She stopped. Turned. “Dad.” And then … she couldn’t say anything. He was right. She had never forgiven him for not being a father in any way that mattered.

“You never hurt me physically, or even mentally. You just were a non-entity in my life. You were so wrapped up in yourself and your vodka that I meant nothing to you — or could mean nothing to you. I came to that realization long ago. But this … this is different, Dad. You could do this. You could put yourself out and help me save a life. And that would mean so much more than not coming to my softball games, or my college graduation.”

She waited, hoping, begging ….

He closed his eyes and turned away. “I can’t,” he said, as he lay down and curled into a ball, rolling away.

Marina left her anger and frustration behind with him as she hurried along the hall. She knew where Gabe was now; at least her father had given her that much, but had no idea how she was going to get to him.

And then, as she was moving along, she remembered something that made her stop dead in her tracks.

Something Roman had said; something that could help her.

“We don’t use guns,” he’d said when she mentioned the break-in at her house.

Gabe’s gun.

If she had that ….

Marina ducked into an alcove and tried to think. He’d hidden it where they’d left their clothes.

Did she take the chance of trying to find their clothes; hoping they were still where they’d been left … or try to go find Gabe?

Her breaths were coming fast and hard and she willed herself to concentrate, slow, think. Pretend she was flying and something had gone wrong with the plane. No panic; just thought. Options, objectives, scenarios.

And she decided. So far her instincts had been right on. She was going to trust them again.

Because of Dad, she had a better sense of the layout of the entire complex. Although he hadn’t drawn a map or given her a complete overview, she was able to put together a mental picture of where she and Gabe had entered, and how they’d been moved.

Hoping she was on the right path, Marina hurried along the corridors. When she heard someone approaching, she ducked into a room and waited.

All along, her nerves were tensed, expecting an alarm to be sounded or the tramp of running feet to be chasing her.

But luck was with her. She made her way back to the area she and Gabe had first explored without being seen or heard. It took two tries, though, before she found the office where they’d left their clothes.

She was conscious of a deep thudding in her middle, reverberating through her whole body, as she opened the cabinet where they’d stashed their belongings.

They were there. The clothes were there in a dark huddle in the middle of the shelf. She reached in, pulling them out, feeling for something hard and solid and heavy. Something clattered to the floor, and she jerked back, fearing it was the gun.

It wasn’t, but it was Gabe’s sat phone. She jammed it into her pocket, thinking it might come in handy if she could figure out how to turn it on, then she returned to scrabbling through the clothes. Nothing but her little squeeze-light. She stuffed the light in her pocket. The gun wasn’t there.

A heavy feeling settled in her stomach, and Marina stood, ready to dash out of the room and try to make up the time she’d lost. Then, something made her look back in that cabinet. She pulled the light from her pocket and shone it in there, back into the depths.

Something glinted dark.

Marina couldn’t grab it fast enough; she pulled that heavy metal comfort from the very rear of the cupboard and looked down at it. Now she had a chance.

Not that she knew how to use it; but that had never stopped her before.

The first problem she encountered was getting through the security screen that had stopped them before.

Marina paused at the doorway and considered. There appeared no way to get the weapon through without going through the sensitive screen. Was there a way to deactivate it?

She could always shoot the damn thing.

What more did she have to lose? If she didn’t move quickly, and boldly, she was going to lose Gabe anyway.

Marina looked over the gun gingerly. Was there a safety? Would she recognize it if she saw it? Did she have to cock it?

What the hell.

Taking a deep breath, she pointed it at the side of the security screen, aimed, and pulled tentatively on the trigger.

The trigger resisted at first, and she almost stopped; but then suddenly, it snapped back and the shot kicked the gun in her hands.

The screen sizzled, blackened, and Marina, her heart in her throat, ran through. If someone had heard the noise, they’d be there in record time.

More worried about haste than secrecy, she hurried back through the corridors with more speed and less care than she had the first time.

It didn’t take more than twenty minutes to get back to where she and Dad had been staying; now that she knew how to navigate the shiny white corridors and open the silent doors. It occurred to her at that point to wonder why he didn’t want to leave his room. After all, he seemed to be in the same kind of prison that she had been.

But she wasn’t going to take the time now. He’d made his choice; she’d make hers.

Hurrying past his doorway, she continued along the hall and was just approaching hers when she heard the sound of voices. Male voices.

She had to hide.

Without conscious thought, she turned and jammed on the wristband and the door of the suite she’d been imprisoned in opened.

Dashing in, she closed the door none too soon, for just as she turned, the door began to open again.

The gun was in her hands. She looked down at it; instantly knew it wasn’t the time to use it. She threw herself on to the sofa-bed and jammed it under a cushion just as the door was wide enough for her visitor to step in.

It was Varden.

“What do you want?” she snapped, hoping to hide her too-fast, too-deep breaths.

“I just came to be certain that you were still comfortable. And to let you know,” he added, stepping closer, his green eyes scoring her as if trying to read what was going on in her mind, “that your friend is about to meet his end. So if you pray, you might send a few thoughts to your deity in his honor. Because nothing can save him now.”

Marina wanted that gun in her hand. At that moment, she would have been capable of blowing the skin off his face, annihilating him for his arrogance and slyness. Instead, oh, it was difficult; but she resisted. She didn’t move; she forced the fingers that itched to grab that heavy lethal piece of metal to stay still, calm; to make not the slightest twitch.

And willed the bastard to leave so she could get out of there.

“Will you cry for him?” Varden asked, his face closer to hers. She felt overwhelmed by him; his person that emanated a power she hadn’t felt even from Roman … a strength, a tension, and attraction.

That realization almost made her reach for the gun.

Thankfully, he pulled back, looking down at her with an odd expression on his face.

She looked up at him, mustering every iota of hatred she could. “Get out of here.” She had to work to get the words from between her teeth.

He turned abruptly and turned toward the door; it opened smoothly, without him having to wait for it and interrupt his stride. And then he was gone.

Marina shook.

She dragged in five — count’em, five — deep breaths, each one slower and longer than the last. The tingling in her stomach raced to the tips of her fingers; she knew she was losing time. But she had to get her emotions under control before charging out of there.

She knew where she had to go, and how to get there. But getting through the security would not be an easy feat.

And she wanted to make sure Varden was out of sight.

He was. The halls were empty again, and Marina wondered just how many Skaladeskas there were. Either there weren’t more than twenty or thirty; which she found hard to imagine, based on the expansiveness of their compound; or she just happened to be in an area that was available to limited personnel.

Either way, she considered it a blessing that she hadn’t been accosted yet by any errant Skaladeskas.

Hurrying along the corridor, she found herself in a glassed-in walkway that actually appeared to let the natural light in. The first time she’d experienced natural illumination since she and Gabe had first arrived. This must be the connector between the Segment and the rest of the compound; her father had mentioned it but gave it no further description. It was a tunnel, glassed in; and pale, golden-blue light filtered in from somewhere. She couldn’t see anything outside; to be sure, it could have been nothing.

At last she reached the door to the Segment. This was where her real problem began.

In order to get through, the little tongue-tab she’d seen the guards use had to be fed into a slot and “read.”

Marina considered as the seconds ticked away. She could wait and hope they would bring Gabe through here; and she could apprehend the group then, with the help of the gun.

But if they didn’t bring him through … if they were going to execute him back in the private family area ….she couldn’t take that chance.

She opened the panel next to the door where the little tabs were and thumbed one out. She hesitated. It was possible it would work for her … after all, she did have some of the Aleksandrov DNA. But if it didn’t, what would happen? Would an alarm sound? Would the trespass attempt be somehow reported? Would she waste precious time?

She wouldn’t take that chance. Holding the tab firmly between her thumb and forefinger, she turned and ran back down the hall. There was one person who certainly had the right code.

When she burst into her father’s room, he was sitting on the edge of the sofa, where she’d left him. He looked up as she ran over to him, grabbed his arm.

“You’re coming with me. I can’t get into the Segment without your help.”

He pulled away from her with surprising force. “I’m not leaving this room, Marina. I do not have the will or the energy to interfere with anything ever again. I’ve paid my dues for my mistakes, and continue to pay.”

Half-expecting that reaction, Marina jabbed the tongue-tab in his face. “Then spit on this, and give me your DNA one fucking last time.”

He hesitated and she pulled out the gun. “Now, or I’ll get it myself.” Her hands were shaking and her stomach rolling, and she prayed he would cooperate. Because she knew she wouldn’t pull the trigger. Dammit.

He did. He gathered the spittle in his mouth and let it drop onto the tab. Fighting back nausea, Marina turned and bulleted from the room, through the door she’d boldly left open, and clutched the dripping tab in her hand.

She ran back down the corridors, and was just coming around the corner when she heard it.

Voices. Lots of them. Coming from the Segment doorway.

Slamming herself against the wall, trying to fit inside a narrow indentation at an intersection of two halls, she waited. The gun, held pointing upward, her bent arm flush against the wall; the other hand gripping the tab.

This was it. She had to act.

Either they had Gabe or they were going to get him.

Or the deed was already done.

Please, no.

Deep breath. The voices and people coming closer. The tab in her hand, her key to entry; the gun growing heavy in her raised arm.

As they came closer, she made her decision, tucking the tab safely into her pocket. At just the right moment, she stepped out into the hallway, grabbing the first and closest person in the group.

Roman.

“Don’t move. Not a muscle.” Marina felt a wave of satisfaction as she jammed the barrel of Gabe’s gun into Roman’s neck.

She felt him swallow, and the gun actually shifted with the wave of his terror.

The others froze, and she took that moment to let her fired gaze blast over them.

Gabe!

He was there, hanging, quite literally hanging, from the arms of two men who propped him. As Marina stared, he managed to raise his head and look up.

His mouth moved; it could have been “fucking incredible” or “get the hell out of here” … she wasn’t sure which. Either way, it didn’t matter: he was alive, and at least somewhat coherent.

“Release him.” She didn’t need to specify whom; they knew. Gabe stumbled toward her, holding onto the wall, and she saw the bruises on his face; cuts and other wounds she didn’t care to define.

Varden and Nora were among the small group, Lev was not. There were three others, including the guards who’d carried Gabe. They all gaped at her, none daring to move as Roman trembled next to her.

The man was actually trembling. It amazed her.

By this time, Gabe had reached her side and she gave him a better once-over. He wrapped a weak arm around her waist, and tightened it briefly in the form of a hug of gratitude. She was focused on Roman, and the rest of the group.

“Everyone raise your arms and remove your wristbands,” she said sharply when she saw Varden shift near the back. She should have commanded that immediately, but she was new at holding people at gun-point and hadn’t thought of it in her relief at seeing Gabe in one piece. So to speak. “Toss them up here,” she gestured to the floor.

“Can you walk at all?” she asked out of the corner of her mouth. He nodded against her, weakly, but his blue eyes showed determination.

As the wristbands thumped to the floor next to her, she counted, and double counted. Even Roman complied when she jabbed him with the gun.

There was one for each person. But Marina wasn’t satisfied. “Roll up your sleeves. Both arms. Everyone.”

She found three more bands that way; one each on Roman, Varden, and Nora. That just confirmed for her who had the power and who didn’t.

Kicking the bands into a small pile, she used her own to open a door and shove them inside with her foot, all the while keeping Roman under her scope. When the door swished closed, she gave her uncle a shove toward his group.

He stumbled, fell against the wall, and stood there, chest heaving, face nearly as grey as her father’s had been.

Marina started to back away, down the hall, one arm around Gabe, who was helping as much as he could, and the other holding the gun aimed at the group of people she left behind. Then she had an idea.

Stopping in front of a different door, she opened it and gestured for the group to move inside. “See how you like it,” she muttered loud enough for Varden to hear as he walked by.

As soon as they were all in the room and she shut the door, she turned to Gabe.

He looked dead on his feet, but his eyes glowed with admiration. “Very well done.”

“I didn’t even have to fire the damn thing, except to get through the security screen,” she said with a grin, which faded almost immediately. “I don’t know how long we’ll have until they get out of there, so let’s get you the hell out of here.”

Moving quickly down the hall, Gabe limping along and half-leaning on Marina, they made good time navigating through the hallways.

But suddenly, no more than ten minutes later, their luck came to a screeching halt.

A blast of an alarm blared through the halls, and suddenly, the lights went out.

Apparently, there was another way to get out of those rooms than a radio-controlled key.

In pitch dark, in fairly unfamiliar territory and a walking wounded on her arm, Marina was decidedly at a disadvantage.

She pulled out her tiny squeeze-light, grateful once again for the little gadget, and continued trundling Gabe along with her. But she knew it would only be a matter of time before they were found.

Hobble, hobble, hobble … pause, turn left … hobble some more. Marina was panting and gasping with Gabe’s weight, and it felt as though he was sagging more as they went further.

Finally, she veered into a room that was near the end of one of the halls. She wasn’t sure where it was; she’d lost her sense of direction during the last few minutes of mad rush. But perhaps a little food, and some doctoring would help Gabe.

Inside the room, she propelled him toward a sofa — a real sofa, not like the one in hers and Dad’s rooms. He protested weakly, but went.

She dug the water from her pocket and opened it, then shoved it at him and watched as he drank. “No food, no water,” he managed to gasp between swallows.

Marina pulled out the meat and cheese and offered that as well. While he ate, she scouted the room. This one didn’t have an attached bathroom, but she did find some cloths that appeared to be laundry of some sort. Using some of the second bottle of water, she tried to wash away some of the sweat and blood that mottled his face. But when she tried to check the leg he favored, and the wound on his head, he pushed her hand away with surprising strength.

“No time for that now. We have to get out of here. I’m feeling better now that I have food and drink.” He didn’t look better, but the determination in his face told Marina it was senseless to argue. “We have to stop them.”

“What are they doing? Something about Detroit?”

“Earthquakes, I think. Like the ones in Allentown. I don’t know the details, but we have to find a way to stop them.”

How could they stop them if they didn’t know the details? And if the entire complex was looking for them?

Then Marina knew the answer. Dad. By God, she’d force him to tell her what he knew. “I’ll be back. Gabe, you need to stay here and rest—”

“Absolutely not. I’m going with you. I’m feeling better now, and you’ve put yourself in enough danger. At least I know how to use that.” He forced a feeble grin as he gestured to the gun. “It’s a Smith & Wesson, in case you were wondering.”

Marina hesitated only a moment; but two heads were better than one. And if Gabe were found, alone and weak, he’d be back in the same position she’d just rescued him from. “All right. We’re going back in there to find my dad.”

“Victor? He’s here?”

“Oh yes, he’s here.” Marina took the time to tell him about Roman and Gabe, Nora, Varden, and Lev because she figured a few more minutes wouldn’t hurt their cause and might help him regain a little more strength. She gave him the details of her confinement, and told him about everything except for Ivan the Terrible’s secret library. She wanted to hold that to herself.

When she finished, Gabe spoke. “Marina … if you made it as far as my gun, you were almost out of here. You didn’t have to come back for me.”