The Russian Deception

CHAPTER 44

Nick and the others entered the hospital through a service entrance. If someone stopped them Nick planned to claim they'd gotten lost. It wasn't much of cover.

Nick consulted the floor layout Harker had sent and found the stairs to the fourth floor of Gutenberg's wing.

"This way."

They reached the staircase without incident. They climbed the stairs to the fourth floor and looked out on the hall.

"No one there. So far, so good," Nick said.

They walked a short distance to an L-shaped junction. Ronnie looked around the corner.

"There's a guy sitting in a chair," he said. His voice was quiet. "He doesn't look so hot. He's slumped over and there's blood on his jacket."

"A guard," Selena said. "That has to be Gutenberg's room."

"Someone's been here ahead of us," Lamont said.

"There's a nurse's station farther down the hall," Ronnie said. "Nobody there. I can see a bunch of lights flashing. Must be an emergency somewhere."

Nick's left ear was tingling, the way it always did when things were about to heat up. He reached up and tugged on the lobe, what was left of it. The rest had been torn away by a Chinese bullet on the same day he'd met Selena.

Lamont, Ronnie and Selena looked at each other. They knew what it meant when Nick did that.

"This could go bad pretty quick," he said. "Try to keep it quiet. Lamont, you stay here and make sure no one comes out of those stairs behind us. Ronnie, when we get to the room you stand outside as if nothing's wrong. Pretend you're a guard. Block the view from the nurse's station. Selena and I will go in."

"Copy that."

They moved down the hall. Ronnie looked down at the slumped figure of the guard, then moved to stand on the other side of him.

"Ready?" Nick said.

Selena nodded.

They went into the room and shut the door behind them. The last thing Selena expected to see was her half-sister in the grip of a hulking man who had his arm wrapped around her throat.

"Hans, look out!"

Before the second man could draw his weapon Selena kicked him in his thigh. He stumbled. She moved in and drove her stiffened fingers into his larynx. He fell to the floor making hacking and choking noises.

Hans threw Valentina to the side as easily as tossing a doll. She slammed into the wall and crumpled to the floor. He had a pistol in his right hand. Nick stepped in fast and close and brought his hands together in a quick, scissoring motion that knocked the wrist one way and the hand with the gun the other. The pistol flew across the room. Nick kicked Hans in the groin. A normal man would've fallen to the floor out of the fight but the kick had little effect. Hans grunted and wrapped his arms around Nick in a bear hug. He lifted him into the air and began squeezing.

Nick's arms were pinned to his sides. He couldn't breathe. He knew better than to try and free his arms. He couldn't stomp down with his feet. Nick leaned back and slammed his forehead into Hans's face as hard as he could, breaking the nose. Blood cascaded down over the two of them. The bear grip loosened for an instant but not enough to get free.

Selena kicked Hans in the side of his knee. That was like kicking a brick wall. She punched him in the side of his head and it felt as though she'd punched concrete. A metal tray on a nearby cart contained an array of instruments and gauze. She grabbed a pair of surgical scissors and drove the points deep into the back of the big man's neck.

His arms flew open and Nick stumbled away. Hans fell like a tree and crashed onto the floor. He didn't move.

Nick gasped for breath. "Thanks."

"Are you all right?"

"Yeah. Hurts a little to breathe. King Kong here had a hell of a grip."

He leaned down and placed his fingers alongside the big man's neck. The scissors stuck out above his collar.

"He's dead."

The fight had been quiet. If the sound had gotten out into the hall, Ronnie would have come in.

Selena turned toward her sister.

"Put your hands up," Valentina said. She held the Makarov pointed at them.

"You've got to be kidding," Nick said. "We just saved your ass."

"For which I'm grateful. How do you say in America, reach for the sky?"

"You've been watching too many old Westerns," Selena said.

"I like your Westerns. Especially your Clint Eastwood. Get your hands up. I mean it, I will shoot."

They raised their hands.

"Why are you here?" Valentina asked.

"We wanted to talk to Gutenberg," Selena said.

"Gutenberg? His name is not Kepler?"

"No. He's Johannes Gutenberg."

"Gutenberg?"

Nick and Selena looked at each other.

"Yes," Nick said.

Valentina seemed shocked. She looked more closely at the scarred figure on the bed.

"I see it now," she said. "I didn't recognize him. This explains many things. I, too, wish to talk with him."

"How about a truce?" Nick said. "It looks like we both want the same thing."

"What is it you want from him?"

"Gutenberg has been sending money to Russia. A lot of money," Nick said. "Your president is using it to start a war. Did you know the Federation invaded Latvia today?"

"Der'mo!"

Nick looked at Selena for a translation.

"She just said 'shit'."

"Yeah," Nick said. "And our friend over there on the bed made it possible."

"If we agree not to make any trouble, can we put our hands down?" Selena asked.

"What does your husband think?" Valentina gestured with the Makarov.

"Truce," Nick said. "No trouble, I promise. We want Gutenberg, not you. This man is responsible for hurting two friends of mine and killing their unborn child. It's personal with us."

"Ah, personal. I understand personal." She gestured with the pistol. "Both of you. Go to the other side of the bed, then you may put your hands down. But be careful."

They went to the other side of the bed, across from Valentina. Gutenberg lay between them, asleep.

Nick took out a small digital recorder and held it up. "I want a record of this."

"Wake him up," Valentina said.

"With pleasure," Nick said. He bent over Gutenberg and shook him. He wasn't gentle.

"Wake up, you bastard."

Gutenberg mumbled something. His eyes stayed closed.

Valentina drew her blade and stabbed Gutenberg in the back of his hand. He yelled and opened his eyes.

"Now he is awake," she said.

"That wasn't necessary," Selena said.

Valentina shrugged. "But effective, no?"

Gutenberg looked at the hard faces surrounding him. He zeroed in on Nick. "I remember you." His eyes moved to Selena. "And you." Then he looked at Valentina.

"Valentina. I never expected to see you again. Your hair is different."

"After today you never will see me again," she said.

"Why are you here?"

"We have a few questions for you," Nick said.

"Why should I answer them?"

"Because if you don't I am going to start peeling the skin away from your body," Valentina said. "Or perhaps I will just start taking little pieces." She held up the bloody dagger.

Gutenberg laughed, a weak chortle that ended in a coughing fit.

"You could, perhaps, but the Americans have no stomach for these things. It's an empty threat."

"I don't think I'd count on that if I were you," Nick said. "If Valentina wants to hurt you I can't stop her. She's the one with the gun."

"I'm dying. Let me die in peace."

"You don't deserve peace," Nick said.

"You should listen to him." Valentina pricked Gutenberg with the sharp point of the blade. He winced.

"All right. Ask your questions. What do you want to know?" His voice was weak, tired.

"Why did you send that money to Golovkin?"

"You know about that?"

Nick looked at Valentina. "This is taking too much time."

Valentina leaned over Gutenberg. Her voice was quiet, filled with menace. "Why did you send the money?"

He looked at her and smiled, an open wound in the ruined landscape of his face. "Because Golovkin thinks Russia can defeat the West and because he can influence Orlov. Orlov used the money to speed up production of his new weapons."

"So he gets his toys a little quicker. So what?" Nick said.

"You Americans understand nothing," Gutenberg said. "The weapons were necessary for Orlov to feel safe in beginning a new war. I convinced Golovkin that the events in the Balkans would keep NATO busy and that they would not get involved in the Baltics. I convinced him Russia could start reclaiming the territory she controlled before."

"How did you do that?"

Gutenberg coughed. Spittle drooled from the side of his mouth. "I allowed him to discover classified minutes of secret meetings of the NATO high command. The documents proved they would not intervene."

"How did you come by such documents?" Valentina asked.

Gutenberg laughed. "It was easy. I made them up."

Selena said, "What do you hope to gain? You'll never get all that money back."

Gutenberg laughed again. It ended in another coughing fit. "You still don't understand. The invasion of Latvia has begun. NATO will respond. There will be a confrontation between America and Russia, casualties on both sides. It's certain to escalate and go nuclear. When it does, your two countries will destroy each other. You will both be annihilated."

"All this was to start a war between Russia and America?" Valentina said. "But why?"

Gutenberg's voice was weak but the anger came through. "You and these Americans destroyed centuries of work, a vision for a world led by those who had earned the right to rule. You destroyed my home and left me like this."

He raised his hand and let it drop on the bed. He laughed again, a brittle, cackling sound.

"None of you will survive a nuclear war. I will have my revenge when you are all dead. As soon you shall be."

"Not as soon as you," Valentina said. She bent down and whispered in his ear. "You were lousy in bed."

She plunged her dagger into his abdomen, above his groin. She twisted the blade.

"Aahhhh!"

He writhed on the bed and tried to sit up, grasping at the knife. His hand swept out to the side and knocked over the stand with the IV, ripping the needle out of his arm. Valentina pulled out the dagger and drove it up under Gutenberg's ribs. Blood spewed from his mouth. He fell back onto the pillow. A frothy, rasping gargle came out of his throat.

An alarm began beeping on the monitor by his bed.

"Did you have to do that?" Selena said.

"You disapprove, sister?"

"He might have told us more."

"What else do we need to know? Give me the recording," Valentina said. She pointed the Makarov at Nick.

"Wait a minute."

"Gutenberg lied to Golovkin and it has led us into a war we cannot win. This recording proves it. I will give it to General Vysotsky. He doesn't like or trust Golovkin. He'll make sure Orlov learns that he has been deceived. Give me the recording."

Selena put her hand on Nick's arm. "Nick, give it to her. She can get it to Orlov. It may be the only chance to stop this."

Nick put the recorder on the bed. Valentina picked it up and put it in the pocket of her nurse's uniform.

"We have to get out of here," Nick said.

"After you," Valentina said.

In the corridor two male nurses in blue scrubs and a supervisor in a white uniform hurried toward Gutenberg's room.

"Ronnie, come on," Nick said.

Nick, Ronnie and Selena walked with quick steps toward the hall that led to the stairs. Lamont waited for them. His eyes opened wide at the sight of Valentina coming out of the room behind them.

She called out to the oncoming nurses. "Quick! He's in cardiac arrest."

"Who are you?" the supervisor said.

Valentina turned and ran after the others. They pounded down the stairs, Nick in the lead and Valentina bringing up the rear. At the ground floor they ran to the service entrance, ignoring the startled looks of a cleaning crew in the hall. Outside, a freezing rain fell. The night was black, impenetrable, shrouded in thick fog.

"Do not try to follow me," Valentina said. The Makarov was back in her hand.

"Wait. We need to talk. How can I contact you?" Selena asked.

"Don't worry about it, sister. If I want to talk to you, I'll call."

She turned and melted into the fog.

"Hell of a family you've got," Lamont said.