The Russian Deception

CHAPTER 2

The sun was setting on the island of Kauai. Radiant streams of orange and gold lit towering dark cumulus clouds on the far horizon. Two people sat on the veranda of the hotel they'd picked for their honeymoon, watching the ocean and sipping piña coladas.

The man was muscular, in shape. He had black hair cropped short and gray eyes that seemed to take in everything around him. His body was marked by ripples and puckers of scar tissue, the aftermath of wounds he'd taken in foreign and hostile places.

The woman was almost stunning. Selena Connor wore a skimpy bikini in a lavender color that picked up the violet of her eyes and revealed the taut musculature hiding under the outward curves that usually caught people's attention.

"This is the life," Nick Carter said. "We have to do this more often."

"We could buy a condo and come out whenever we wanted."

"But then we'd have to make these ourselves. I'd rather have someone do it for us. Speaking of which…"

He held up two fingers toward the waiter. Two more.

Selena took a bottle of lotion from her beach bag and began applying it to her arms and face.

"I got a little too much sun today."

"It looks good on you. Brings out the red in your hair."

"You like redheads?"

"That sounds like a trick question," Nick said. "Only on you."

"Good answer."

The drinks came. Nick took a slice of pineapple off the edge of the glass and bit into it.

"One thing I love about the islands. The fruit is always fresh and the booze is good."

"We've been here four days and I'm just beginning to relax," Selena said.

"We've got another ten days before we're due back. I can't remember when I had this much time off."

"Don't say that. You'll jinx it."

"Superstitious?"

"I don't like to tempt the fates."

"You think there's such a thing as fate?"

"I don't know, maybe. If there is, it must have something in store for us or we would've been sitting in that car when it blew up."

Selena was talking about the white Rolls-Royce that was supposed to whisk them away from the church after the ceremony. It had vanished in an explosion that turned the gleaming limousine into scrap metal, filled the oak doors of the church with shrapnel and blew out the stained-glass windows. Nick's intuition had saved them.

"I'd like to get my hands on whoever did it," she said. Her voice betrayed her anger.

Nick took a long sip of his drink. "So far there isn't anything we can use to identify the bomber. Forensics is still working on it."

"There was that note on the package."

Nick nodded. "All I could make out was two words. 'For my…' The rest was hidden under the bow."

"For my what? Someone wanted us to read it."

"Sure, right before they blew us up. We'll never know what it said unless we discover who sent that package."

Nick's secure phone was lying on the glass tabletop. It vibrated, short steady bursts that walked the phone across the glass. He picked it up and looked at it.

"It's Harker."

"Don't answer."

"You know I have to."

The phone vibrated again.

"I told you you'd jinx it.

Nick activated the call. "Director."

Six thousand miles away in Virginia, Elizabeth Harker sat in her office at Project Headquarters watching a CNN special on the state funeral for the late leader of the Russian Federation.

"Nick, I hate to do this. I need you and Selena to come back."

"We still have ten days here. Unless somebody's about to start World War III I'm not in any hurry to leave. What's so urgent?"

"Have you been paying attention to the news?"

"Not at all. That's kind of the point of taking a vacation. Besides, it's our honeymoon. I've got better things to do."

He winked at Selena. She smothered a laugh.

"Gorovsky is dead."

"The Russian president? Good riddance. He caused a lot of trouble. Maybe now the Russians will wise up."

"There's no chance of that," Harker said. "His death puts Vladimir Orlov in the president's chair."

"So?"

Elizabeth sighed. "The official account coming out of Moscow is that Gorovsky died of heart failure. Langley has a deep cover source at a high level in Russia's military. He tells a different story."

"I think I know where you're going," Nick said. "You're going to tell me his death wasn't natural."

"It's true that he died of heart failure," Elizabeth said. "Three or four bullets in the chest will do that for you."

"You're saying there's been a coup."

"Yes. You don't know this, but Gorovsky had initiated a back channel negotiation to calm things down in the Ukraine in return for relief from the sanctions imposed by the West."

"And somebody over there didn't like the idea?"

"The hawks want the return of the Soviet empire," Elizabeth said. "Detente with the West is not on their agenda. The new era won't be communist, but Stalin would approve of the goals. Orlov is an ultra nationalist and he's ruthless. He has the backing of the power factions, the oligarchy and the military."

"I still don't see why you need us back so soon. It's going to take time for Orlov to grasp the reins and get everybody lined up for whatever it is he's planning."

"President Rice has called a meeting for tomorrow morning to discuss the implications of what's happened over there. I need to be able to tell him we're ready to respond at a moment's notice if needed. I can't do that if you're lying on a beach somewhere in Hawaii."

"Maybe not a moment's notice but we're only a redeye away," Nick said. "Planes leave here all the time. It won't be any trouble to get a flight back if we have to. We need this time, Director. You want us up to speed, you have to give us time to recharge. We've earned it."

Nick looked over at Selena and held up his hand with crossed fingers.

"Three more days," Elizabeth said. "Then you get your butt back here. And if I need you before, you get on a plane ASAP. Understood?"

"Director…"

"Three days, Nick." She ended the call.

"What did she say?"

"She gave us three more days. It's better than nothing. She wanted us back right away."

Selena finished her drink.

"Should we order another?"

Nick looked at his new bride and wondered how he'd managed to shut down his feelings for her for so long. He'd never thought he'd let anybody in again, not after Megan died. But Selena had worked her way into his heart.

"Why don't we go see if the maid left any chocolates on the pillow?" Nick said.