Lone Wolf (11 page)

He suddenly motioned for something to write with, and Sarah quickly produced a pen and notepad. Pendergrast clamped the phone between his ear and his shoulder, while he scribbled notes on the paper. “Okay, yeah, I've got it. I'll get on the next flight out to Moscow. You're sure that's where I'll find her, right? Okay, good enough.”

He hit the end button on the phone and handed it back to Neil, who confirmed with a glance that the call was ended. Pendergrast looked at Noah.

“They're in a small town called Kubinka, about thirty-five miles southwest of Moscow. I've got to fly out as soon as possible, and he'll have someone meet me at the airport in Moscow to take me to them. You can follow me, but you got to figure out how you're going to cover me. If you're going to go in and take the girl, I don't want anyone thinking I led you to them. Can you manage that?”

Noah grinned. “That won't be a problem,” he said. “We'll make sure no one suspects you. For right now, though, we need to get you back to your place so you can get cleaned up and ready to go. Ready for another ride?”

Pendergrast shrugged. “Sure, I guess so.”

Noah looked at Sarah. “Can you rig up a blindfold for him? I don't want him to know how to get back here.”

She grinned. “Sure, no problem.”

F
ollowing Pendergrast's lead, Noah, Moose and Sarah had booked tickets on the same flight to Moscow, scheduled to depart early the next morning. They had driven the man back to his apartment and stayed with him while he reserved his own ticket, planting some of the nearly invisible, high-tech bugs that Neil had provided to them. The computer geek would be able to listen to everything that went on in the apartment, and had already rigged a tap on Pendergrast's cell phone.

“Why aren't we all going?” Neil asked that evening, as they had dinner.

“Well, you're not going because I don't want you away from your computer for any length of time,” Noah said. “You're my intelligence division, remember? If anything is going on, you'll spot it before anyone else, and I need you to be where you can get word to me quickly. Decker is going to stay here with you, just in case Mister Pendergrast decides to pull a double cross and has any idea of this location.”

“So what's your plan in Russia?” Decker asked him. “You won't be able to carry weapons on a commercial flight, you know that, right?”

“That's why I called the boss lady a while ago,” Noah said. “Turns out our outfit has people in every major city, even though some of them don't know what we really do. Our station chief in Moscow will be waiting with a vehicle when we get off the plane, and everything we need will be inside. Depending on what we run into, it may be a simple snatch job or could boil down to a small-scale invasion. Whatever we have to do, he'll make sure we got the equipment for it.”

Neil tossed a napkin onto the table angrily. “Doggone it,” he said, “I get left out of all the fun! Why don't I ever get to play cops and robbers with you guys?”

“Because you have the worst firing range scores of anybody the organization has ever seen,” Moose answered him. “You'd be more likely to shoot one of us than the enemy!”

The tall, skinny kid rolled his eyes. “Now that's not fair, not all of us can be Wyatt Earp. Some of us have to have real brains, y'know?”

“Hey, just relax, Neil,” Noah said. “Maybe one of these days on a mission, the rest of us will get killed off and you'll have to go complete it yourself.”

Decker started laughing, but Neil, Moose and Sarah just stared at Noah. “Holy crap,” Neil said, “boss man, did you just make a joke?”

Noah looked at each of them in turn. “Well, I tried,” he said. “Wasn't it funny?”

Sarah shivered. “Out of anyone else, it might have been, but out of you? Noah, that was downright terrifying.”

Decker stopped laughing and looked at them all. “Well, I thought it was funny.”

Moose shook his head. “That's only because you're not used to working with the human computer,” he said. “If you'd been around him as long as we have, it would've scared you, too.”

They finished eating, and retired to the living room to watch some television, but all of them went to their bedrooms before nine. Decker would get up with Noah, Moose and Sarah in the morning, to drive them to Heathrow, and they had to be through security and at the gate before eight AM.

Sarah followed Noah into the room they were sharing, and stepped out of her clothes as he did the same. “I wish we knew more about what's going to happen when we get to Russia,” she said. “I hate to think this could be our last night together.”

“Then don't think it,” Noah said. “Believe me, I have every intention of coming out of this alive, and bringing Moose and that girl with me. I plan to spend a lot more nights making music on that beautiful body of yours.”

She smirked at him as she slid under the covers. “I thought you didn't know beauty when you saw it?”

“Not really, but I know it when I touch it. Shut up and come here.”

Noah's alarm went off at five AM, and he had to extricate himself from Sarah's arms and legs. Doing so woke her up, and she mumbled something about getting the first shower as she stumbled out of the bed. Noah watched her walk into the bathroom, then followed her and climbed into the shower with her.

“Hey,” Sarah said, “I thought you were gonna let me go first?”

“This'll be faster. We don't have a lot of time this morning, so every minute we can save is a good thing.”

Twenty minutes later, they walked into the kitchen to find Moose and Decker sitting at the table nursing cups of coffee, and there was a fresh pot on the counter. They each grabbed a cup and sat down with the two men.

“Drink fast,” Decker said. “We need to be on the way in about ten minutes. Grab your bags, and as soon as you're ready we can hit the road.”

“I'm ready,” Noah said as he guzzled his coffee down. He got up and rinsed his cup, leaving it in the sink while Sarah finished hers in a couple of gulps.

“I'm good, let's go,” she said. “We might as well get on with it.” The four of them walked out the door and got into the Range Rover.

The drive to Heathrow took slightly less than an hour, and was made mostly in silence. Decker was concentrating on his driving, while the other three were trying to mentally prepare themselves for the mission they were going into.

Decker dropped them off at the terminal entrance and they checked in at one of the self-service kiosks, then started through security. Because each of them only had a small carry-on bag, the process went more quickly than it normally does in the US, but since their flight was leaving from the B satellite, they had a long trek ahead of them just to get to their gate.

It was while they were making that journey that Sarah suddenly grabbed hold of Noah's arm and pulled him down so she could whisper in his ear. “Look at your eight o'clock,” she said. “It's Pendergrast. He's seen us, but he's pretending not to.” She made a little giggle, so that onlookers would think she was whispering something romantic.

Noah didn't even look back at the man. “He's doing exactly what he's supposed to do,” he whispered back. “And we're supposed to do the same, not notice him. Remember, there's no connection between us.”

“I know that,” Sarah whispered. “Just thought you'd like to know he showed up.”

Noah caught a slight disappointment in her manner, and suddenly realized that she had been trying to please him. He quickly kissed her cheek and whispered, “And you were right. Thanks, babe.”

Sarah smiled up at him, and continued to hold onto his arm as they walked the rest of the way to their gate. Moose, staying in character, walked slightly separate from them. He got to the gate about a minute before they did, and took a seat by himself. Noah and Sarah found a pair of seats together, and continued to keep up the act of a happy little couple.

Pendergrast arrived a moment later, and also took a seat. He had a magazine tucked under his arm that he opened and seemed to be reading while he waited for the flight to be called.

Boarding commenced about fifteen minutes later, and Sarah and Noah were among the first to board. Their seats were toward the back of the plane, and they found them with no trouble. Moose took his own seat, four rows ahead of them, and then they watched for Pendergrast. He was one of the last to board, with a seat near the very front of the aircraft.

The flight to Moscow's Sheremetyevo International Airport took only four hours, most of which was spent sleeping by the team members. They were all awake for the landing, of course, and were up and ready to disembark as soon as the plane stopped taxiing at its terminal.

Getting off the plane was quicker and easier than getting on it, since it wasn't done by section. Everyone simply got to their feet and into the aisle as quickly as they could, and there was a fair amount of pushing and shoving. Sarah stayed close to Noah, who stopped to let Moose step into the aisle in front of him. They walked right past Pendergrast, who caught Noah's eye for a split second and gave him a barely discernible nod.

Once they were off the plane and in the terminal, the three of them slowed to wait for Pendergrast to come back into view. It took only a couple of moments, and then all four merged into the line that formed up at the customs desk. Customs in Russia was fairly relaxed, and since none of them had any items to declare, they queued up in what was called the “green corridor.” Bored customs inspectors accepted their declaration forms, which indicated that they were not carrying any restricted or taxable items, and simply waved them through, not bothering to open their bags and check. Moments later, they joined the crowd that was headed for the street outside.

Moose stopped pretending to be separate, and walked along with Noah and Sarah as they approached the entrance. They watched Pendergrast as he was greeted by a portly gentleman, and then Noah spotted the young man holding the sign he was looking for. He veered off toward the fellow with Moose and Sarah in tow.

“I'm Colson,” he said to the man.

The fellow broke into a big smile. “Good to meet you,” he said in perfect American English. “I'm Larry Carson. Can I help with your luggage? Come on, the car's right outside.” He reached out and took Sarah's bag from her, then turned and led the way through the milling crowd to an exit. “I got you a Land Rover, I hope that's okay. It's a brand-new one we had on hand, because everybody else is driving Russian-made vehicles. We got the Land Rover a couple of months ago, but the ambassador felt that if we use it too much, it might send the wrong message.”

“I'm sure it'll be fine, Larry,” Noah said. “So, you're with the embassy here?”

“Yes, I'm a data analyst. That's my official job, and it keeps me out of the spotlight so that I'm here when you need me.” He placed Sarah's bag into the back of the Land Rover, and stood back as Noah and Moose added their own. “Incidentally, I've got a couple of helpers watching your subject, so that we'll know what car he gets into, and I got everything on the Christmas list that was sent to me, as well. It's all in the storage space under the back seat.”

Noah nodded. The “Christmas list” referred to the list of weapons Noah had requested. Since he anticipated a hostile environment, they would be a necessity. “What about extraction? Is it set up yet?”

“It is,” Larry said. “I've arranged a Gulfstream five, chartered as a diplomatic flight. It's sitting out on the tarmac right now, waiting for delivery of some important files. In reality, of course, it's waiting for you and whoever you're bringing with you. When you get back to Moscow, you just call me—here's my card, by the way—and I'll meet you here to make sure you get onto the plane okay.” He suddenly reached up and touched his left ear, where Noah could see an ear bud in place. “I just got word, your pigeon just got into a Mercedes limousine. It should be passing us in about a minute, so here are the keys, and she's all yours.”

Sarah snatched the keys out of his hand, causing his face to register surprise as she jumped behind the wheel. Noah slid into the passenger seat in front, while Moose got into the back seat. Larry stepped back up onto the sidewalk as the Mercedes limo slid past, and Sarah let the clutch out. They were the second vehicle behind the Mercedes as it made its way toward the M2, the loop highway around Moscow.

“I'm gonna let one or two more cars get between us,” Sarah said, as they merged onto the A130 toward Kubinka. “We don't want the driver to pay too much attention to us.”

Noah nodded. “Sounds like a good idea,” he said. “Just don't lose them. We know where Kubinka is, but we don't have an exact address.”

“I won't,” Sarah said with a smile. She slowed a bit to let a couple of vehicles come around her, then resumed her speed. The limousine was still in plain sight, and the intervening vehicles were keeping up with it.

In the back seat, Moose slid to his knees on the floorboard and lifted the seat up to look underneath. He gave a low whistle. “Man, we got some toys here. Three Glock 45s, four Uzis, and enough ammunition for a small war. There's a sniper rifle, too, looks like a .30-06, but I only see two magazines. They all have sound suppressors on them.”

“That's everything I asked for, and it ought to be good enough,” Noah said. “We want to hit them hard and fast, don't want to give them a chance to see what's coming before it's on them. I want to get them while Pendergrast is still inside, and we've got to leave him injured, but not seriously. That means we need a couple of the others to survive, as well, so that it doesn't look fishy that he's still alive.”

“You think we're gonna find that many of them there?” Moose asked.

“Even if the girl really did run away on her own, she's being used as a pawn in a major international political game. Russia is going to have some kind of security on her, you can bet on it. I'm guessing there will be at least two bodyguards inside, plus two or more watching the grounds, and then there's the boyfriend. She met him at the Russian embassy, so it's quite possible that he's a Russian agent. Wooing this girl might have been his entire assignment, but that doesn't mean he hasn't been trained in combat. We'll need to watch him, and if possible, leave him alive.”