The Pandora Key aka The Hostage Room

40

EVERYONE WITH A WEAPON, INCLUDING ME, HAD IT OUT. Everyone had at least one bull’s-eye on him. If it went wrong, most of us would be shot. At least some of us would be dead, and that seemed like a waste.

“Drazen, what are you doing here?”

He looked around the room, seeming remarkably unperturbed by the situation. “Who is Thorne?” he asked.

“That’s me. I called him. Did I forget to mention that?”

I remembered the phone call he had made as we had waited for Kraft. He had apparently been speaking Russian.

“He said he had my money. He said he could tell me who killed Vladi.”

Cyrus said something to Drazen in Russian that made Drazen shift his focus to Hoffmeyer. Then Hoffmeyer joined their discussion. Now I couldn’t understand any of them.

“How about we speak a language we can all understand?”

Hoffmeyer obliged. “I was just telling Mr. Tishchenko that Cy undoubtedly brought him here to kill him.”

“That’s not true. My intention was to take him back to Virginia and kill him. But first I had planned to see what he would tell me about the black market for rogue nuclear weapons.”

Not surprisingly, Drazen seemed confused by Thorne. “You are U.S. government?”

“It doesn’t matter who he is,” I said. “He’s not taking you anywhere, and we’re not talking about who killed your brother. Our deal was if I gave you the money, none of that would ever come up again.” I glanced at the table where the computer had been. It was gone. I took a few steps back so I could include Kraft in my field of vision. He was clutching the machine to his chest. “Give me that.”

“You can’t let him have this.”

“He’s not interested in your story. Give it to me, or I’ll shoot you.”

Reluctantly, he passed it over. I held it up to show Drazen. “Vladi’s laptop. This is the reporter who had it. Here it is. Everything is happening exactly as I told you it would.”

I set the machine back on the table before anyone could notice my hands shaking. I had absolutely no plan. I was going with the flow.

Drazen’s eyes brightened. “The money is there? You have it?”

Hoffmeyer held up the flash drive. “Your money is here.”

Drazen put both hands on his pistol and aimed carefully at Hoffmeyer. “This is a trick. The files were on the computer. They couldn’t be moved.”

“They couldn’t be moved without the key,” I said. “But we found the key.”

“Show me.”

The token was still in its socket. I reached down to pull it out, held it up for him to see, then tossed it at him. He caught it with one hand. He looked at it and clearly recognized it.

“We used that key to copy the files onto that flash drive. We checked some of the balances. The files are good.”

Drazen turned to Anton to show him the key. They talked quietly. Cyrus and Hoffmeyer leaned in to hear. I watched their faces for some secondhand clue to what was being said, which might tell me what would happen next. But they were spies. They looked like the more dour half of Mount Rushmore.

“Do you not wish to know where we found that key?”

Everyone turned toward me, but I hadn’t said anything. They were looking behind me to where the voice had come from. The only person behind me was Harvey. I didn’t want to turn my back on anyone, but I could hear him laboring, and I knew he was trying to push himself out of the corner.

“Harvey, stop. Stay back.”

But he didn’t stop, kept pushing, and eventually made it across to the center of the room. That put him pretty much in everyone’s line of fire. I could hear in his breathing how scared he was. I reached over to touch his arm. “Harvey, what are you doing?” He pushed my hand away.

Drazen seemed as surprised as anyone to see a man in a wheelchair before him. “Who are you, gimpy man?”

Harvey smiled slightly. “I am the gimpy man who killed your brother.”

The room had already been tense, but now I started to feel panicky. I was now convinced that there were people in the room who weren’t getting out alive and that Harvey was volunteering to be one.

Drazen shifted his aim to where he was looking, right at Harvey’s heart. “You?” He laughed. “Who cannot even stand on his own two feet? Vladi would never have allowed himself to be killed by you.”

Harvey fumbled open the flap on his saddlebag. When he reached into it, Anton took notice. He was covering Hoffmeyer, but he watched Harvey closely. Harvey didn’t seem to care. He pulled something from his bag. Trying to look casual, he tossed it toward Drazen but didn’t put enough on the throw, and it ended up on the floor between them. Anton leaned over and picked it up. He gave it a little shake before handing it to Drazen. It was the bag of Vladi’s personal items, the ones I had dug from his grave.

Drazen stared at the bag for a few seconds before telling Anton to open it. Anton did so and offered it to Drazen. Maintaining his bead on Harvey, Drazen pulled out the gold chain I had taken from around Vladi’s neck…spine, actually. He looked down at Harvey. “Where did you get these?”

“Leave now, do not hurt anyone, and I will take you to him.”

I was starting to feel sick at the thought of where this was going. “Harvey, don’t-”

“Quiet.” He turned his head just slightly to deal with me in case I didn’t follow directions. Then he rubbed his eyes. He didn’t have his glasses on. That was probably a good thing. “Please, do not interfere.”

Drazen took a step toward him, which put the barrel of his gun about six inches closer to Harvey’s heart. “How did you get Vladi’s possessions?”

“I told you, I killed him.”

“Vladi was strong. You cannot even stand.”

“Strong, yes, but not bulletproof, and I have not always been in this chair.”

“Why would you kill him?”

“Because he attacked my wife.”

Drazen had to think about that, but then he seemed to know he was talking about Rachel. “She is not your wife. She is no one’s wife.”

“She was once my wife, and to me, she always will be.” Harvey leaned in toward the barrel of the weapon. His voice was getting stronger. “Your brother tried to rape her. I shot him three times in the chest to stop him. I put him in the trunk of his gold Lexus. I drove him out of town. I dug his grave and rolled him into it. I covered him over with dirt, and that is where he lay until I learned about the token. My colleague discovered that he had been carrying the key to a fortune when he died. I went to the place where I buried him, I dug him up, and I found the token you hold in your hand.” He nodded toward Anton. “And those items.”

Drazen looked as if he were struggling with the idea but at the same time wanting to believe it. “No. You are too weak to do this thing.” He looked at me. “She did it.”

Harvey gave me no opening to respond. “For one billion dollars, a man can find the strength he needs. I did not want to share the money. I told no one. If it is vengeance you came for, take me.”

Drazen seemed unsure. “Who are these men?”

“It is not important who they are. Their business is with each other. Your business is with me.”

“He’s lying,” Cyrus said. “It wasn’t-”

“Shut up, Cy.” Hoffmeyer had produced a second piece, which he now held flush against Thorne’s skull.

“Again,” Harvey said, “leave now, and I will take you to Vladi’s grave.”

Drazen stepped back to have another quiet chat with Anton. They both nodded, seemingly in agreement.

“I accept your offer,” Drazen said. “I will take you and my money.”

“No.” I stepped in next to Harvey. “That is not the deal. Here’s the deal. This man”-I nodded to Hoffmeyer-“has the money on that flash drive. If he wanted to walk out of here with it and leave you in a pool of blood, he could, and I would have no problem with him doing it.” I tried to keep my breathing level and to make the words slide out and not tumble. “But I promised you a copy of your files. He has two. Here’s what I propose. Hoffmeyer, you give him one copy and keep one, and whoever gets to the money first wins. More than likely, you’ll each get some, and there’s plenty to go around.”

“No.” Thorne tried to get up, but Hoffmeyer stepped on his thigh. “You can’t give money to that terrorist. You can’t do it. Kill him now. He’s a cancer. He’s evil. He will sell weapons to our enemies. It’s treason if you don’t kill him or at least take him prisoner. It’s aiding and abetting, it’s-”

“Shut up,” I said. “You don’t have a weapon, which makes you not part of this discussion.” I looked at Drazen. “Honor and commitment. I made you a promise, and I’m keeping it. In return, you must forgive all debts. No matter who killed your brother, no one in this room owes you anything, and we will never see you again. That’s the best deal you’re getting today, and if you kill Harvey, you’ll have to kill all of us. Bloodshed means police. Much bloodshed means more police, more coverage in the news, more pressure to find the killers. Others know of our dealings with you. An FBI agent, for one.”

Drazen chewed at the corner of his bottom lip. When he looked at Hoffmeyer, he seemed to be sizing him up. Hoffmeyer looked right back, and when he spoke to me, his eyes never left Drazen. “Whatever I get to first, I keep? That’s the deal?”

“That’s the deal.”

He shrugged. “Okay.”

It was Drazen’s move. “I want one more thing.” He twisted his brother’s chain around his fist and held it up. “Tell me where to find Vladislav.”

“And then you’re in?”

“Yes.”

Harvey still had the pad and pen he had used to write down Hoffmeyer’s accounts. He was already writing.

“All right. I’m not walking into anyone’s line of fire, so everyone lower your weapons.” No one moved. “Me first.”

I set the Glock down on the coffee table next to the laptop. Then I waited. I happened to catch Kraft out of the corner of my eye. Even he had a small revolver. He must have picked it up from Tatiana or Red. “Kraft, put that down.”

He hesitated, and it pissed me off. We didn’t have trouble enough? “Now.” He set it next to mine. Hoffmeyer set down the weapon he’d had on Thorne, but he kept a bead on Drazen, who was still aiming at Harvey. Hoffmeyer said something again in Russian. It must have been about Anton, because Drazen nodded, and Anton holstered his cannon. Then Hoffmeyer and Drazen watched each other lower his, and we had a room with no weapons pointed at anyone. Amazing.

Very slowly, I stepped around Harvey and went to Hoffmeyer. “I’m sorry,” I said to him, “but I need the files.”

He looked at the flash drive. “Grass huts on the beach don’t cost that much.” He put the drive in my hand. I looped around Harvey again and offered it to Drazen.

He looked at it. “I have your word these are my brother’s files.”

I looked back at Hoffmeyer. He could have handed me a decoy drive, and I wouldn’t have known, but he nodded, and I believed him. “You have my word.”

I carefully made my way around to stand next to Harvey. It was so quiet I could almost hear his pen gliding across the page. When he was finished, he tore the page out and handed it to me. It was filled with his careful script, a little more shaky than normal. I handed it to Drazen. He looked it over, then passed it back to Anton.

“We’re finished now,” I said. “Leave.”

He did. No goodbye. No thanks a billion. No nothing.

“You’ll regret that,” Thorne said. “It was a big mistake.”

Kraft collapsed onto the couch. Hoffmeyer put down his bag and pulled out his own laptop, no doubt looking to get a head start in the race for the billion dollars. I followed the exit of our most recent guests to make sure they’d left. I was reaching to lock the front door when it popped opened and almost cracked me in the head. I stepped back, drew the Glock once again, and took aim. I was so fried and so close to the edge, I almost fired. If I had, I would have killed Rachel.

The door opened wide, and Rachel backed in, dragging one of her many bags with both hands. “Can someone help me here? Can someone-hey!” She’d turned, spotted me, and nearly tumbled over backward. “What the hell are you doing pointing that thing at me?”

“Sorry. I-”

“Rachel?” It was Harvey, calling from the other room. “Is that you?”

“I’m here, baby. I came back.” She looked at me over her shoulder. “Would you get my bags?”

I closed the door, pushing her bag outside to do it, and locked it. I followed her into the front room, where she was on her way into Harvey’s arms. She took two steps toward him and pitched forward, tripped up by Cyrus’s outstretched legs. Almost before she was down, he had her. His arms were free. He scooped her up with them, pulled her in close to his body, and held a knife to her throat.

“Now I have a weapon.”