The Romanov Ransom

47

Sam recognized the man on the left from the alley in Marrakesh. The other, a stranger, leered at him. “I was hoping to run into you again,” the stranger said, his accent reminding Sam of Gustaw’s. “Too bad I missed you on the train.”

“The feeling’s mutual,” Sam said, stepping between the men and Remi. No way could he get to his gun before either man threw their knives at him. He angled his body, allowing his backpack to slip from his shoulders, catching the strap with his right hand. “What is it you want?”

“The key,” he said. “Hand it over.”

“And you think I have it?” Sam replied, eyeing the man’s knife.

“The Russian woman told us.”

Sam swung the heavy pack against the robber’s arm. The knife flew from his grasp, striking the door of a parked car, then falling into the gutter.

The second man jumped forward. Sam blocked that strike with his pack, using the weight to push him back.

The first man scrambled to the curb, reaching in the gutter for his knife, as Sam slammed his partner’s head into the vehicle’s hood. The metal dented, and Sam grabbed his collar, pulling him back, swinging him down on top of his partner.

As the two stunned men lay there, Sam took Remi’s hand, leading her down the street. He glanced back, seeing both men trying to pull themselves from the ground.

“What went wrong?” Remi asked as she and Sam reached their car.

“If I had to guess, Felix and Nika’s presence at the restaurant.”

“That doesn’t make sense. How would Rolfe or his Wolf Guard even know who they are?”

Exactly what Sam was wondering. One possibility came to mind. “The Guardsman must have been in Kaliningrad. He could’ve seen them at the museum. Maybe he was one of the men who shot at us at the castle.”

“Poor Tatiana.”

“She got the key to Viktor,” he said, checking the rearview mirror as they took off. So far, their assailants weren’t following. “Like he said, a bargaining chip. It worked to get back Zakaria.”

“You think it’ll work a second time?”

“Definitely be harder. They’ll know what to expect, which means we’ll have to stay one step ahead of them. Before we do anything, I want to look in on Viktor. Let him know we found the phone.”

“I better check in with Selma before she starts worrying.” The call went to voice mail, and Remi left a message.

They were just pulling into the hospital parking lot when Selma called back. “Mr. and Mrs. Fargo. Glad to hear you’re okay. I take it the theft was successful?”

“Not exactly,” Remi said. “You tell her, Sam.”

He related the night’s events, finishing with, “We’re hoping you have something on your end that’ll help. Any luck breaking the code to those letters?”

“I better let Lazlo tell you.”

Lazlo cleared his throat. “Quite the difficult beast, don’t you know. As mentioned before, I’m not even certain it is in code. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to what it all means.”

“But,” Remi said, “wasn’t that the very reason you thought it was in code?”

“Originally, yes. Now, however, I’m starting to wonder if it’s something else entirely. It’s almost as if someone went to the trouble to include the letters to throw anyone off, should they discover them.”

“What about the typewriter ribbon tins?” Sam asked him.

“Without having them in our possession, it’s difficult to tell. But, from the photos, they seem like ordinary ribbon tins that were manufactured in Berlin and used during the war. Common, in fact. I don’t suppose you had a decent look at the ribbon?”

“Enough to know it was just a ribbon,” Sam said. “That, and the ink was dry.”

“No messages hidden in the spool?”

“After Tatiana told us about her conversation with Rolfe, we looked. There was nothing.”

“Unfortunate, that,” Lazlo said, giving a glum sigh. “Of course, it wouldn’t be unusual to find one in any location where a typewriter might have been even if said typewriter is no longer there.”

A logical assumption, Sam thought. Except that Rolfe and his Wolfmen were willing to kill to get them. “What about this furniture restorer that antique dealer mentioned? Any luck finding him?”

“Unfortunately,” Selma said, “his name is quite common. We’ve called everyone listed in the public directories, leaving messages where we could. We’re waiting to hear back.”

“Let us know when you find out anything.”

“Will do. Take care.”

Remi disconnected. “What do we do in the meantime?”

Sam pulled Tatiana’s phone from his pocket. “Get this thing to Viktor and find out what she’s been up to.”

Nika and Felix were waiting in the lobby of the hospital when Sam and Remi walked in. “Any word?” Sam asked.

“Lucky for Viktor,” Felix said, “the shot went clean through and missed the bones. We should be allowed to see him soon.”

“Good. Any chance you can get us in? We have a few questions.”

“What sort of questions?” Nika said. “We’d be glad to help.”

“I’m sure you can. But I’d rather wait, just to keep him in the loop.”

He and Remi took a seat as someone wheeled a patient past them down the hall. After about fifteen minutes, a nurse approached, asking for Felix by name. He stood.

Her first attempt to inform him of Viktor’s progress was in Polish. After a few exchanged words, determining that he didn’t speak Polish and she didn’t speak Russian, she said in stilted English, “He does well. He asks to see you. This way.”

They all started to follow. She shook her head. “Only two.”

Felix glanced back at them, his gaze landing on Sam. “You come.” Then he said something in Russian to Nika. She sat down, looking upset that she wasn’t included.

He followed Felix into the room. Viktor was hooked up to a monitor that beeped quietly in the background. There was a tube coming from the upper left side of his chest, snaking down to a white plastic box hanging from the side of the hospital bed. His eyes were closed until he heard them enter. “…Good… You’re here…”

“Of course we are,” Felix said. “How are you?”

“Collapsed lung… Procedure to insert the tube is like getting shot all over again… They’re insisting on keeping me here…”

“So listen, for once.”

Viktor glanced at Sam. “Not quite how we expected this to turn out, is it?”

“At least you’re alive.”

“Tatiana, though…”

“I found her phone. If we can get in it, we might have a chance of finding her.”

Viktor seemed to perk up at that.

“Contact Rolfe… Tell him we have the key…”

“And you know what it’s for?”

“Not yet. But I have someone working on it now.”

“Good.” He closed his eyes a few seconds, then looked at them. “We should have anticipated… I should have…”

“No,” Felix said. “We did the best we could. Now we try to find her.”

Sam moved closer. “Do you have the code to get into her phone?”

He nodded, then recited the numbers.

Sam typed it in. “That works. Now, about Tatiana… We’d like to help. We can call friends. Government agents, even.”

“No… No outside help,” Viktor said. “We handle our own.”

Sam was surprised by his refusal. “I don’t understand…”

Viktor glanced at Felix, then turned to Sam, his expression troubled. “There’s something about this that I haven’t told you… Or Felix.” He took a ragged breath. “Something… important…”