Carpathian (65 page)

“No, not soldiers—the Russian criminal below has learned our secret and will be coming with my granddaughter’s Hebrew Judas.”

“Ben-Nevin has allied himself with Dmitri Zallas?” Niles Compton asked.

“The colonel works for some very ruthless Jewish hard-liners that have infiltrated the Knesset. They are powerful and in their pursuit to prove that the Hebrew nation was the chosen people they are willing to sacrifice everything Israel has fought for nearly the past seventy years. They will once more alienate the Israeli nation over ancient history that never made any sense to begin with. This is not what Moses and Joshua had intended. Israel must be friends with their neighbors or the Exodus will never end. My ancestor the great Kale knew this thousands of years ago. Joshua eventually learned the truth and this is why the Jeddah were damned. Why a magnificent species of animal like the Golia has been relegated to securing the truth of a people long espoused to be the chosen. To hide from mankind and do the bidding of men that haven’t walked the earth for an age.”

Before Anya could finish her explanation there was a loud explosion of barking and growling coming from the interior of the temple. They heard Charlie outside yelling at someone, then Will Mendenhall’s scared voice coming from some distance away.

“Nice doggy,” came the frightened greeting.

“Miss Korvesky, uh, my friend needs a little help,” Charlie yelled as Anya and a very tired and bone-weary Everett went to see what was happening.

“Oh, God,” Anya said as she saw what Everett saw and they both tried to get close to the downed Will Mendenhall, who had at least six or seven young Golia the size of year-old German shepherds bouncing around him and licking him, one even pulling his boot free and running off with it.

“Help, I’m being mugged here,” Will called out as he rolled onto his belly to keep the cold tongues off his face

Anya placed her two small fingers in her mouth and then produced a loud whistle. The Golia pups stopped roughhousing with Mendenhall and their ears perked up. As a group the black-furred babies scrambled up the wall next to the staircase. Will rolled over onto his back and closed his eyes as he tried to get his racing heart under control. Charlie ran to the lieutenant and helped him to his one-booted foot.

“Well, at least they weren’t the size of the dog I saw earlier,” Will said as he brushed at his dusty clothes.

“Uh, those weren’t dogs, Will.”

Mendenhall stopped slapping at his clothes and then looked at Ellenshaw. “I’m not following, they were right there, you saw them, all the big dogs.”

“Not dogs, werewolves.”

Mendenhall smiled and then patted Charlie on the back. “I suppose they were Golia?”

Charlie waited until Will stopped chuckling and then tapped him on the back and pointed upward. Will’s eyes went where Ellenshaw was indicating and his mouth fell open. Mikla had returned and was standing at the top of the gallery and was looking down. It was on two legs and the arms were stretched out at its side as it watched the activity below in the temple. Mendenhall turned and faced Ellenshaw and a look came over his features as he realized he had not been playing with dogs, but baby werewolves. He closed his eyes and swallowed.

Suddenly a boot struck the stone flooring of the temple. Will looked up at Mikla.

“I guess he remembered you from yesterday and wanted to return your shoe,” Charlie said as he laughed and then walked away.

“Great!” Will said as he retrieved his boot and with one last look up at Mikla, who growled and then bounced away again, limped to the enclosure where Anya, Niles, and Carl waited.

“Why are you here, Lieutenant?” Everett asked as he placed his arm around Anya one more time.

“It took me over three hours to find the entrance here. The guys who designed that camouflaged doorway are better than anyone we have.”

“So what made you brave the pass?” Carl insisted.

“We got part of a radio message from the NATO force assisting in the flooding down south.”

Niles and Everett became instantly concerned.

“The storm has turned and is heading north. The local radio station is warning everyone that this has the potential to produce flash flooding all over the southern and central Carpathians.”

Everett voiced what everyone other than Anya was thinking.

“We have to get to Jack and get everyone the hell out of here.”

Before anyone could move several large pieces of stone fell from the ceiling of the immense cavern and smashed to the floor. Dust and dirt settled from high above after what seemed like a solid fifteen seconds of shaking.

“Tell me you get tremors from time to time?” Carl asked Anya as he examined the gallery where all of the Golia young had vanished.

“No, never. This region, outside of the thermal hot springs produced by a vent of very deep origins, has no seismic activity at all.”

Everett looked from Will Mendenhall to Niles Compton.

“I swear we must be bad luck, because every time we show up, a mission parameter or something else that has stood for thousands of years, is suddenly going to come down around our ears,” Mendenhall said in frustration.

“Well, this is what we do at the Group, young lieutenant,” Niles said as he turned and went back into the small enclosure.

“Next thing they’ll tell us we have to disarm a weapon of some kind,” Will said as he wandered away and then sat hard to replace his boot.

Charlie Ellenshaw knew what Will was thinking.

“I know exactly how these things turn out,” he finally finished.

18

THE EDGE OF THE WORLD HOTEL AND RESORT CASINO, PATINAS, ROMANIA

It was past four in the afternoon and not one of the staff employees had seen Gina Louvinski since late the night before. Janos Vajic steeled himself for the worst as he went searching the hotel and casino grounds. He had heard a rumor that she vanished at the same time the Americans had but thus far he had been unable to find out any information and the hotel’s smooth functioning was starting to wane without her.

He spied Dmitri Zallas in the mud springs and spa area. He was wearing a white terry cloth robe and smoking a cigar as one of the spa employees massaged his small feet. Colonel Ben-Nevin was close by looking irritated as he waited for Zallas to finish his afternoon spa session. His bodyguard as always was nearby and tried to step in between Janos and his partner. The balding Vajic felt the heat of the spa start to penetrate his blue suit as he was escorted to where Zallas sat with mud rubbed on his face and wearing a set of dark sunning glasses. Ben-Nevin looked him over and then just as quickly dismissed the man as no threat to either himself or the Russian, whom he needed for the next twelve hours. After that he didn’t care what happened to the Slavic gangster.

“Janos, why are you not preparing for the festivities at the castle?” Zallas asked, not really caring about his answer.

“Gina is missing. Since last night I have been unable to locate her. The four Americans have also vanished.”

“Perhaps the Americans checked out, and Ms. Louvinski went with them. My men tell me she was rather intimate with that small and very arrogant American with the black hair.”

“Gina would never leave the resort, not with the grand opening tonight. I would think you would be a little bit more concerned since we desperately need her if tonight is to go off with minimal setbacks.”

Zallas finally lowered his cigar and then removed the dark glasses. His eyes went from Janos Vajic to the Israeli and then he smiled as his attention once again focused on his partner.

“Oh, I plan no setbacks for tonight. I expect everything to go off without a hitch as the Americans are fond of saying.”

“And the fifty new men who arrived by car this morning?”

“Nothing gets past you, Janos. Yes, this is why I expect little or no trouble tonight, as I have brought in extra security.”

“You mean more than the hundred men you already had here?”

“Yes, tonight is very important to me…” He looked back at Ben-Nevin, who remained unmoving and unsmiling. Zallas’s eyes never left Janos Vajic. “And many, many other new friends.”

Vajic knew Zallas was up to something and that something was what had changed the demeanor of the Russian in the past twenty-four hours, and the reason for that was the tall skinny man staring at him.

“And the television is saying that the storm that has devastated the south has taken a turn to the north and is coming straight for us. This does not bode well for your grand opening.”

“My guests are not afraid of a little weather, Janos. Now quit being a bitching little Romanian and get things ready.”

“No matter what, I
will
find Gina,” he said as he started to turn away.

“Janos?”

He stopped and without turning fully, waited. Ben-Nevin stepped up to Vajic and placed his hands on the smaller man’s shoulders and turned him to face Dmitri Zallas.

“Our friend would like your full attention,” he said and then stepped back as Janos stared at the man and his audacity.

“Look for the woman, but not to the detriment of my grand opening. You will have to be present around midnight as I have other business to attend to.” The look in the Russian’s eyes was frightening. “Do I make myself clear, Brother Janos?”

“Very,” he said and then with a last look at the Israeli left the spa to the smiles of the two men watching after him.

“It is too dangerous to keep him alive after tonight,” the Israeli said. “He has seen me and we don’t need outside influences muddying up the water.”

“Janos came to me after his investment group heard we were forming this limited partnership, he can be trusted. Anyway, as you can see, the man is terrified of me.”

Ben-Nevin watched the retreating back of the man he thought was familiar to him but he didn’t think the Romanian was not someone he had met before. Still, the man had something in his brown eyes that Ben-Nevin didn’t like at all. It was a look of silent confidence.

“Terrified is a word that I have not come across much in my business, and that man is hiding something.”

*   *   *

Janos Vajic knew it was time. The extra men Zallas had sent for coupled with the fact that the man who was now spending an inordinate amount of time with him was none other than Colonel Avi Ben-Nevin, a man he recognized after some raking of his memory. He had thought for a moment that Ben-Nevin had also recognized him, but he had relaxed when the suspicion in the Israeli’s eyes vanished. Now Vajic had no choice. Gina was gone and it was time for him to slip away as well. With a last look into the hotel lobby he stepped into the reception area in the back and made for Zallas’s office.

Janos glanced through the small partition and saw the two desk clerks looking bored as most of the guests were either getting an early dinner or playing craps before the time was right to get into the cable cars and make their way to Zallas’s precious grand opening. Once he saw their attention was elsewhere he used his special key that Zallas did not know he had and opened the door to the office. He froze in horror when he saw what was waiting.

“Gina!” he said, knowing he had spoken too loud.

Gina Louvinski was sitting in a chair. Her head was slumped forward on her chest and there was blood pooling around her feet. Janos swallowed when he saw that her wrists were cut. He closed his eyes as he slowly stepped into the office and then closed the door behind him. He lowered his head and then went to his partner. He gently lifted a wrist and checked the woman’s pulse. There was none. He saw that most of her fingers and expertly manicured nails had been broken. She had been held down as someone sliced her wrists.

Vajic slowly lowered her arm to the armrest and then he closed his eyes and said a silent prayer for his partner of the past five years. He was about to turn away when he heard a key sliding into the lock. He turned and silently and deftly stepped to the wall and waited.

One of Dmitri’s larger bodyguards opened the door and stuck his head inside. That was when Janos Vajic moved. He used both hands and took the man by the head and pulled him inside the office until his foot caught on a Persian rug and the man went sprawling only inches from the seated body of Gina Louvinski. Vajic very slowly closed the door and then threw the locking mechanism. He unbuttoned his suit jacket and pulled the garment from his body. He placed it on Zallas’s desk and then before the man on the floor could recover he kicked out viciously and caught the man in his stomach, which doubled him over into a tight fetal position. Vajic reached down and pulled the man’s weapon from his now exposed shoulder holster. He made sure the weapon was charged and then shoved the gun into his pants as he kicked out at the man once more.

“That’s to get your attention,” Janos said as he knelt beside the man, who was struggling to get air into his body. “You had a hand in this, yes?”

The bodyguard moaned and continued to roll back and forth in pain. The man could not believe the small Romanian nerd had crippled him like that.

Janos took a deep breath and then reached out and took the man’s right thumb and quickly snapped it in two. “Again, you had a hand in this woman’s death, yes?”

“No … I mean … we were following orders!” the man cried out in hopes that would be enough for the man kneeling over him.

“Ah, following orders,” Janos said with a sad smile. “Haven’t we all heard that one before?” He looked back down at the man and made a quick decision. “We no longer tolerate men and women who do things blindly and who just follow orders. This is no longer tolerable.” Janos reached out and took the man’s jaw and turned his head until could see into his brown eyes. “The men who arrived today, what does Zallas have planned for them? They are not added security. These men are too heavily armed.”

“I … don’t know … it has something to do with the mountain pass, that’s all I know. The regular bodyguards weren’t in on the meeting. I do know … it’s supposed to happen at midnight.”

“I want you to know that you have murdered the kindest and most professional agent I have ever had the honor to work with, and for her to die like this—for this nonsense? Well, I am a thousand miles from home and no one is here to give me a countermanding order, so…” Janos reached out and took the moaning bodyguard’s head and snapped his neck. He stood and with one last look at Gina went to the office of the Russian mobster.