The Man from Leningrad Page 16

“May I help you?” he asked.

  Stanislav was greeted with two bullets, one to the chest and the other to his head. Maddux watched the Russian police officer fall backward, collapsing to the floor in a bloody mess. Still hidden in the shadows just out of full view, Maddux gawked at the scene and wondered if he might be next.

  Seconds later, the shooter marched into the entryway, his guns preceding him.

  Maddux slinked deeper into the shadows by easing back into the adjacent dining room.

  “Come on out, Maddux,” the man said. “I know you’re here.”

  Maddux peered around the corner and sighed once he recognized the face of the man that accompanied the familiar sounding voice.

  “Polanski,” Maddux said. “You won’t believe how glad we are to see you.”

  Polanski grunted. “I bet. I’ve been tracking you for quite some time at the hotel—and you are predictable as they come. And I know exactly what you’re going to do next.”

  “And what’s that?” Maddux asked.

  “Whatever I tell you to. There are a lot of people in Washington who are irate about your rogue activities.”

  Maddux rolled over Stanislav’s body and retrieved the coin from his pocket.

  “They won’t be irate once they see what’s on this microdot,” Maddux said. “Disappointed that I didn’t go along with their orders but certainly not upset with the final result.”

  “The end doesn’t always justify the means,” Polanski said. “In fact, it usually proves that you shouldn’t even be doing what did in the first place.”

  “All I’m trying to do is keep our country safe,” Maddux said. “I doubt anyone is going to truly find fault with my methods if what’s on this microdot was worth John Hambrick taking such a risk. Just remember that he could’ve ignored my request but didn’t. This is obviously an even bigger deal than you or anyone else in Washington imagined.”

  “You might be right,” Polanski said, “but you’re certainly going to hear about it one way or another. Now, we’ve got quite a bit of work to do. We need to dispose of this body and get you to the airport. There’s a plane waiting to take you home tonight.”

  “Now that’s music to my ears,” Rose said, piping up from her bound position in the kitchen.

  “We need to move quickly,” Maddux said as he rushed over to untie Rose. “Stanislav wasn’t working alone. He called someone a few minutes ago.”

  “Who did he call?” Polanski asked.

  “I don’t know,” Maddux said. “But he certainly acted as if someone was coming over to help him.”

  “Get the body to my trunk,” Polanski said as they all wrapped the Russian police officer in a tarp and then hustled to the car.

  Once they ventured outside and were nearing Polanski’s vehicle, a man’s voice from behind startled both of them.

  “What do you have in that tarp?” a man asked.

  Maddux and Polanski spun around to see a beleaguered-looking old man.

  “Just some supplies,” Polanski said without skipping a beat. “And you? What are you doing here?”

  “I came to see my friend,” the man said. “He told me that he had something I needed to see.”

  “Well, I have something you need to see—your friend,” Polanski said, pulling back the tarp and revealing the identity of the body.

  The man scrambled for his gun, but it was too late. Polanski had already pumped a pair of bullets into the man’s chest.

  “Happy trails to you,” Polanski said.

  They all scrambled to get into Polanski’s car. Once the final door was shut, he wasted no time in easing onto the gas and racing to the airport.

  After they arrived at the private airplane hangar, Polanski handed Maddux and Rose a pair of passports, enabling them to be able to get back into Germany.

  “You’re Eric Washington,” Polanski said as he pointed as Maddux. He turned his attention to Rose.

  “What about me?”

  “You’re Collette Simmons. Got it?”

  Both Maddux and Rose nodded.

  “Good luck,” Polanski said. “You’re going to need it to avoid losing your job.”

  “Stop with all the hyperbole,” Maddux said. “I’m not going to lose my job any more than you are.”

  Polanski shook his head. “We’ll see about that. Otherwise, it’s been a rather strange pleasure, Agent Maddux. And you too, Rose. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m putting you in good hands to get home safely. I have some other pressing matter I need to attend to.”

  Maddux glanced down at his passport once more and boarded the plane. Upon reaching the main cabin, he stopped to speak with the pilot milling around as he went through their new pre-flight checklist. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, just routine checking.

  A half hour later, the pilots fired up the engines and instructed everyone to have a seat and buckle up. Several minutes later, they were rolling down the tarmac at top speed before lurching skyward. Maddux told Rose he needed to get some rest before he quickly fell asleep.

  * * *

  WHEN MADDUX AWOKE, he wasn’t sure where he was or how long he’d been out. He glanced over at Rose, who was asleep, her mouth hanging open.

  “Everyone remain buckled in your seat,” the captain said over the loudspeaker. “I’ll have you on the ground in about five minutes.”

  Maddux looked out his window and furrowed his brow. The scenery certainly seemed familiar, but it didn’t match any place he’d lived as he continued to stare down bewildered. Ignoring the captain’s commands, Maddux got out of his seat and walked toward the cockpit. He knocked on the door, and finally the co-pilot answered.

  “Where are we?” Maddux asked.

  “Sir, you need to go take a seat,” the pilot said. “There’s been a change of plans.”

  Chapter XXX

  MADDUX GLANCED AT ROSE who shrugged, indicating that she unaware of what was happening as well. He hustled back to his seat and buckled the belt across his lap. The plane descended through the clouds as the city came into full view and Maddux recognized enough of the landscape below to figure out where they were—Leningrad.

  “Did you know about this?” Maddux asked.

  “Know about what?”

  “That we weren’t going back to Bonn first and instead were going to Leningrad?”

  She shook her head. “This is just as much news to me as it is to you.”

  “I better get some answers fast,” Maddux said, clenching his fists.

  A few minutes later, the plane was on the ground, taxiing to the hangar. Once the aircraft came to a complete stop, the pilot shut off the engine and announced that everyone could unbuckle and get off out.

  Maddux followed the instructions but waited on the pilots to also deplane. After the pilot reached the ground, Maddux wasted no time in finding out about the sudden shift in their itinerary.

  “I need some answers—and fast,” Maddux said.

  “Don’t worry, Agent Maddux,” the pilot said. “Everything is fine.”

  “Being told you’re going back home but then winding up in another city behind the Iron Curtain isn’t exactly how I would define the word fine.”

  The pilot held a manila envelope in his hand.

  “I was told to give this to you once we landed,” the pilot said, forking over the documents. “Everything will be explained in there. I’ll give you some privacy to read it.”

  Rose sauntered up next to Maddux, looking over his shoulder as he read.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  He scanned the pages quickly before answering her question.“Someone in Washington decided that if we were going to go all in on this mission, we needed to complete it.”

  “What does that mean?”

  Maddux nodded at a car in the corner of the hanger.

  “Is that one of yours?” he asked.

  “How did that get here?” the pilot asked.

  “I’ll take that as a yes.”

  “Yeah, but I haven’t
even tested it in the field yet.”

  Maddux shrugged. “Apparently someone thinks it’s good enough to give it a go.”

  “But that back compartment, it’s very tight. I was still planning on trying to make it more comfortable.”

  “I doubt the people riding in the back will care.”

  Rose’s eyes widened. “We’re smuggling someone out?”

  “Alexsandr Zhirkov and his sister Darya. Washington has determined Zhirkov to be an even more valuable asset than initially believed, and the powers that be want to extract him and his sister in hopes of getting more information out him.”

  “Do they know he’s in prison?” she asked.

  “Not any more, according to this report. He and his sister are staying at a safe house on the outskirts of the city after some of our agents broke him out. All we have to do is pick them up and get them across the border to Finland. They’ll be flown home from there.”

  “Why didn’t the agency just fly them out from this airport?”

  “Apparently they considered that option, but it was too risky for the agents here—and protecting them is a high priority.”

  Rose sighed. “So I guess that means they think we’re expendable.”

  “Or maybe they just know we’re the best team the CIA has in all of Europe.”

  “That interpretation is just a little bit too much of the glass half full for me to believe.”

  “Suit yourself,” Maddux said. “Either way we have a job to do, and I’m sure we’ll get it done. Don’t you?”

  “I don’t know. I just hope you’re right.”

  Maddux strode back over to the pilot and handed him the coin containing the microdot.

  “Please see that Pritchett gets this as soon as possible,” Maddux said.

  “Of course,” the pilot said. “I’ll stop by first thing after I go into the station office this afternoon.”

  “Guard this with your life,” Maddux said. “It nearly cost mine and several others just to get it.”

  “Of course,” the pilot said before patting Maddux on the back. “Good luck.”

  Maddux spun and hustled across the hangar to Rose, who was admiring the black sports coupe.

  “Is that a Corvette?” Maddux asked.

  “It’s a prototype of the new version that will be released in a couple of years,” she said. “They’re calling it the Manta Ray for now. Isn’t she a beauty?”

  Maddux nodded mindlessly as he gazed as the contours on the car.

  “You need to drive it,” she said. “I hate driving in big cities.”

  “Is that why you walk everywhere?”

  “If I can do it, why not? Cars are just a hassle and everyone seems to have one. In fifty years, the world will probably have more cars than people—and everyone will be complaining about how bad the traffic’s gotten.”

  “So, you’re saying nothing’s going to change?”

  She smiled. “Exactly. Now, let me show you what this machine can do.”

  They walked up close to the vehicle. Maddux ran his hand along the side of the door.

  “She can get up over a hundred and twenty miles per hour, and go zero to sixty in under eight seconds.”

  “Whoa,” Maddux said. “That’s fast.”

  “Yeah, and we’re going to need every bit of it if we run into any trouble. But that’s not why we have it.”She walked around to the back and popped the trunk.“I installed these mirrors so that at first glance the space appears much larger than it really is. Then if you pull this panel out—space for two people to cram in here.”

  “Why did you pick this particular car?”

  She chuckled. “I happen to know some people who work for a General Motors subsidiary called Opel. Ever heard of it?”

  “I might know a little bit about that company,” Maddux said with a faint smile.

  “Ultimately, the agency wanted something fast to aid with our efforts to extract agents and other assets if the situation arose. I’ve been working on this project for a few months but had no idea we’d be field testing it like this.”

  “Well, let’s stop talking about it and take her out for a spin.”

  Maddux and Rose climbed in. He found the keys already in the ignition and then fired up the engine. The initial low roar throttled back to a smooth hum.

  “Can you navigate for me?” Maddux asked as he handed Rose the document.

  “Whatever you need,” she said. “Just don’t push that button right there.”

  “What does it do?”

  “Just don’t push it, okay?”

  Maddux nodded before easing onto the accelerator.

  * * *

  UPON ARRIVING AT the safe house just after 4:00 a.m., Maddux and Rose found Zhirkov and Darya still asleep. The two agents inside ushered the newcomers to their rooms to rest for what was the remainder of the night.

  At 8:00 a.m., the smell of coffee wafting through the house awoke Maddux. He put on some pants and stumbled into the living room.

  “You look like you could use a cup of this,” Zhirkov said.

  “I could use an entire pot of it,” Maddux quipped.

  They began discussing their plan of escape. Rose eventually entered the living room as well and proceeded to offer a warning about Zhirkov and Darya’s accommodations in the Manta Ray.

  “Fortunately, you two are related and won’t mind being smack up against each other for the duration of the trip. But it’s going to be tight until we cross the border. After that, we’ll connect with our contacts there and get you into a more comfortable vehicle. How does that sound?”

  “As long as we make it out alive, I don’t care,” Zhirkov said.

  Darya nodded. “I will endure anything to get out of this place.”

  She sneezed and then rubbed her eyes.

  “Are you sick?” Rose asked.

  “No, just some allergies. I’ll be fine.”

  “Because if you are, we can wait a day.”

  “No,” Darya said, waving dismissively. “Let’s get going.”

  “We’re going to leave this afternoon,” Maddux said, tempering her excitement. “We’d much rather be inspected at night than during the day.”

  * * *

  THE RIDE TO THE BORDER took about three hours as they arrived just before 7:00 p.m. The line of vehicles leading into Finland were comprised primarily of commercial trucks, transporting goods back and forth using special permits. Entry into Finland required a special visa and permission from the Soviets. All the necessary documents were in the packet Rose held.

  “We’re still a few minutes away from getting inspected, but you might want to get all our paperwork in order,” Maddux said.

  Rose arranged everything and sighed.

  “You nervous?” Maddux asked, reaching over and placing his hand on top of hers.

  “Should I be?” she asked.

  “Probably, but you shouldn’t let it show. We’ll make it out of here, one way or another.”

  “The way I prefer is that we drive across like civilized people living in a civilized world.”

  “We’re behind the Iron Curtain,” Maddux said. “Civility doesn’t necessarily apply to us here.”

  For the next ten minutes, they crept along, watching some of the trucks granted access while others were denied. Eventually a Soviet guard approached their car, shining a flashlight toward them. He motioned for Maddux to roll down his window.

  “Papers, please?” the guard asked.

  Maddux handed them over. After inspecting the documents for a few moments, he asked Maddux and Rose to step out of the car. They readily complied.

  “This is highly unusual,” he said. “Most people of your stature fly. Why did you drive?”

  Maddux smiled. “I just got this new car and wanted to take it out for a long drive. Plus, we have business in Helsinki.”

  “And what kind of business is that?”

  “We’re in the automotive industry,” Maddux said. “I help sell cars.”<
br />
  The guard grunted and then returned to his inspection.

  “I’ve never seen a car like this,” he said as he paced around the Manta Ray.

  “It’s a new design,” Maddux said.

  The guard motioned for Maddux to open the trunk. Peering inside, the guard glanced at the empty space and then returned his attention to Maddux.

  “How long were you in Leningrad?” he asked.

  “Three days,” Maddux said.

  “And where is your luggage?”

  Maddux reached behind the driver’s seat and pulled out a small suitcase.

  “I don’t need that many clothes when I travel.”

  The guard scowled as he sifted through the clothes. Satisfied, he handed everything back to Maddux.

  “But what about her?” the guard asked as he pointed at Rose.

  “She has a small suitcase as well behind her seat.”

  “I need to see it,” the guard said.

  Rose showed her bag to him, which he inspected thoroughly.

  “Everything appears to be in order,” the guard said. “Give these to the guard at the gate, and he will stamp them for you.”

  Just as Maddux and Rose were preparing to get back in the car, there was a muffled high-pitched sound that came from the back of the Manta Ray. Maddux hoped the guard didn’t hear it—but he did.

  “What was that noise?” he demanded.

  “What noise?” Rose said. “I didn’t hear anything.”

  “Neither did I,” Maddux said.

  “I’m not stupid. I heard a high-pitched noise.”

  “Well, I sneezed,” Rose said, simulating a sniffle to sell the story.

  Then he heard the noise again.

  “You didn’t sneeze that time,” the guard said.

  He raced around to the back of the car.

  “Open this trunk again,” he ordered.

  Maddux complied and said a quick prayer underneath his breath that the Soviet guard wouldn’t find anything. The petition wasn’t answered in the way Maddux would’ve preferred.

  The guard wrapped his fingers around the panels and ripped them out, revealing Zhirkov and Darya.

  “I knew it,” the guard declared, directing Zhirkov and Darya out of the trunk with his gun. “This was all too suspicious and strange. You’re all coming with me.”