Scorpion Winter (18 page)

“She's being very stubborn,” Kulyakov said. “All I want is some information.”

Then a heavily muscled arm put Scorpion in a choke hold from behind. The second man, he thought. His wrist was grabbed and twisted behind him in a painful hammer lock.

“Call off your
sobaka,
” Scorpion gasped. Your dog. “I can help. We want the same thing.”

“What thing is that?” Kulyakov said, motioning to the second man to hold still for a moment.

“Shelayev. We're both looking for him.”

“Are we?”

“Gorobets needs to make sure Shelayev doesn't talk. Only he's disappeared.”

Kulyakov shrugged. “So?”

“So you need to find him. Otherwise you'd have no interest in Alyona or her friends, except for your perverted little fantasies.”

“What is this, a Glock?” Kulyakov said, looking at the pistol in his hand. He smiled, showing bad teeth. “It's light. I like this
pistolet
. You shouldn't tempt someone holding such a light
pistolet
; so easy to shoot,” and he aimed it at Scorpion.

“Don't be stupid. Killing me will make an assassination that everyone assumes I did into an assassination that everyone will assume Gorobets did,” Scorpion said, wondering where the hell Iryna was.

“No,” Kulyakov said. “Killing Cherkesov's assassin will make me a hero.”

Then Scorpion heard a sound from somewhere behind him. Damn, he thought. She needed to be quiet.

Kulyakov said something in Ukrainian that sounded like an order. Scorpion felt the second man let him go and head back toward the other room.

“Don't move,” Kulyakov said, aiming the Glock at Scorpion. “I'm dying to try out this
pistolet
.”

Two shots rang out. At the first shot, knowing the sound would distract Kulyakov for an instant, Scorpion moved. He stepped forward, parrying the Glock aside, the first move in the Krav Maga sequence, followed by taking the gun away from Kulyakov in a twisting wrist move. Scorpion debated killing him as he reversed the gun and pointed it in a shooting stance at Kulyakov. No, he needed to question him. He motioned Kulyakov to his knees. After a moment's hesitation, Kulyakov glaring at him, knelt on his knees.

From the next room, Iryna screamed. Scorpion kicked Kulyakov in the face, whirled and ran back toward the other room, where he saw Iryna struggling with the second man. Sensing Scorpion behind him, the man turned and jumped at him. There was no time to think. Scorpion shot him in the head. The man fell facedown at Scorpion's feet.

“What happened?” he asked Iryna, stepping over the body.

“I shot him in the shoulder,” she said. “He came too fast.”

“Come,” Scorpion grabbed her hand. “Hurry!”

They went into the puppet room.

“Gospadi.”
Iryna gasped at the sight of Alyona and the hanging bodies. Kulyakov was gone. Alyona's naked body was jerking like a fish on the line, her head underwater in the tub again. Before he had fled, Kulyakov lowered her back into the ice water.

Scorpion grabbed Alyona and lifted her up so her head was out of the water. She was coughing, squirming as she fought him. Holding her slippery body up, he tried to kick the tub of water over, but it was too heavy. He moved her body so it hung beside the tub and let her dangle head down while he ran to the other room to grab his backpack. She was still jerking on the line when he came back and used his Leatherman pliers' blades to cut the cable holding her. He cut her bonds and freed her, pulling the tape from her mouth.

When Alyona saw Iryna, she screamed, clutched at her and began to sob. Iryna held her in her arms. The room was in a shambles, the puppets swaying in the shadows. Scorpion looked around. Kulyakov had to have used the metal stairs to the stage to get away.

He ran up the stairs and onto the stage. A door banged in the lobby. He leapt from the stage to the aisle and ran out to the lobby and the theatre doors, scanning the snow-covered walkways and steps. There was no sign of Kulyakov.

He went around to the side of the building, but it was too dark to see. He should've brought his night-vision goggles, he thought as he scanned the slope. There were what looked like fresh footsteps and a bloodstain on the snow. It could have come from Kulyakov's nose when he kicked him. But there was nothing moving on the slope. He realized that Kulyakov must have made it to the trees, his eyes searching the mass of branches in the darkness. He was about to start down the slope when he spotted a
militsiyu
van, moving slowly on the road along the periphery of the park. The van stopped.

Scorpion stepped back into the shadows of the theatre entrance. From inside the van, a powerful flashlight was pointed at the theatre. The light moved toward him and he froze against the wall, holding his breath. If they found him, he would be in prison and the war would start. The beam of light almost touched him, then moved past. After what seemed like an hour but was probably less than fifteen seconds, he heard the van move on. He peeked out and saw it was gone, then went back down the stairs to the puppet room.

Iryna had found a canvas tarp to wrap around Alyona. She lit a cigarette and held it for Alyona, whose hand was shaking too much to hold it herself.

“She saw them killed,” Iryna said, indicating the hanging bodies. “She needs to go to a hospital.”

“What about Shelayev?” Scorpion asked.

“Can't it wait?” Iryna said sharply. She put her arms around Alyona. “She's shaking like a leaf.”

“No, it can't,” Scorpion said.

Iryna used her sweater to dry Alyona's wet hair. “We need a doctor. Now.”

“Get someone private. Someone who won't talk. Is there anyone you know?”

“I don't know. My gynecologist. What good is that?” Iryna said. “Look at her!” Alyona was slumped over, her head down, the cuts raw and bleeding, her body still shaking.

“Why the hell do you think they were torturing her? Why do you think they killed the other two?” he asked, grabbing his backpack. He hooked it over his shoulder and went looking for Alyona's clothes.

“I don't know. Shelayev?” Iryna said.

Scorpion nodded grimly. “Whatever help we get her has to be safe or they'll grab her again. Where are her clothes?”

Iryna asked Alyona in Ukrainian and she pointed with a trembling hand at a corner. Scorpion went over and found a pile of clothes. Some were from the dead couple, Ekaterina and Fedir. A pair of jeans, a top, and a jacket looked like they would fit Alyona. They used the dead couple's clothes to dry Alyona off. Iryna helped her dress, while Scorpion went back upstairs to see if anyone was coming.

The park was deserted, the snow pale under the lone streetlight.

“We have to go. They'll be back any second,” he said, coming back down to the puppet room. Iryna had succeeded in getting Alyona dressed. She sat on a bench, her head slumped.

“Can you stand?” Scorpion asked Alyona.

She didn't move. Iryna looked at him.

“Take this,” he said, handing her his backpack. He stood Alyona up and threw her over his shoulder, switching the Glock back to his other hand. He climbed the metal stairs, Alyona a dead weight over his shoulder, and carried her outside, the going difficult on the frozen snow. She was shivering violently, making it hard to carry her. He kept looking around for any sign of Kulyakov as he went forward. For the moment they were hidden from the street. Luckily, they were going downhill, with nothing around but snow and bare trees.

Alyona had protected Shelayev despite the torture, Scorpion thought, and had seen Kulyakov kill her friends. She would protect Shelayev from him as well. He had to figure a way to get her to tell him where Shelayev was hiding. He sensed Iryna just behind him. It was hard going and they had to hurry. Gorobets's men might be back any second.

Scorpion pushed on harder through the snow.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Vyshhorod

Kyiv, Ukraine

S
corpion drove out of the park past a large public building, checking his mirrors. Iryna was in the backseat with Alyona.

“Where are we going?” Iryna asked.

“We need someplace safe.”

“There is no safe. We need a doctor.” She thought for a moment. “There's a Medikom out by Vyshhorod.”

“What's that?”

“A twenty-four-hour private clinic. I took a girlfriend there once. I don't know how safe it would be.”

“Call them,” Scorpion said. “Tell them it's an emergency, but it needs discretion. Tell them you'll give them money.”

Iryna called on her cell phone. He heard her talking softly, urgently. When she finished, she said, “They're waiting. I told them I'd give them each a hundred
hryvnia
extra. They said to come around to the back door.” She gave him directions and soon they were driving on Kostyantynivska past the university. Iryna put her arm around Alyona, who was barely able to sit upright.

“How is she?” Scorpion asked, trying to avoid skidding, the streets icy with frozen slush.

“I don't know.
Pereproshuyu
,” she said to Alyona. I'm sorry. “We thought you were dead.”

Alyona looked at her as though from far away. “It was Dimitri's idea. Dimitri Shelayev,” she clarified, her voice shaking. “He thought it would protect me.”

“You and Shelayev were lovers?” Scorpion asked, glancing at her in the rearview mirror.

Alyona nodded. She began to cry and pressed her face to Iryna's shoulder.

“Bud'laska, vybachte mene,”
she sobbed. “Forgive me! I did not want to lie to you. I had no choice.”

“What about Pyatov?” Scorpion asked.

“Can't you let her alone?” Iryna said sharply.

“No. Where does Pyatov fit in all this?”

“We told him about us,” Alyona said, her voice shaky, almost dreamy. “Dimitri and me. Pyatov was like crazy man.”

“He was jealous?” Iryna asked.

“He was crazy jealous. I was afraid. I knew he was secretly working with the Cherkesov campaign. At first I thought Dimitri was his contact. But Dimitri told me no.”

“You spied on us,” Iryna said. “You gave information to the SVR.”

“No, not SVR. I wouldn't give to Russians. It was for the SBU,” Alyona said, looking up.

“They false-flagged her,” Scorpion said. “She thought she was spying for the SBU, but it was Gabrilov, the SVR.”

“Why?” Iryna said to her. “Didn't we treat you like one of our own?”

“I loved you,” Alyona said, grabbing Iryna's hand. “You are the hope of our country, especially for women. I didn't want to do it. Please believe me.” She kissed Iryna's hand.

“Why did you do it?” Scorpion asked. He had spotted a
militsiyu
van behind him in the rearview mirror. He drove carefully, keeping them in sight. They couldn't afford to be stopped. Not now! He breathed a sigh of relief when the van turned off toward the university.

“My brother, Stepan,” Alyona said, looking down.

“The one in Pavlovka, the mental hospital?” Iryna said.

“You know?!” Alyona said, her eyes wide.

Iryna nodded. “You were afraid?”

“They said they would release him. My
maty
cannot take care of him. He is very bad. I was afraid . . . And now there is no Dimitri! He is gone.” She looked at them, her eyes wet.

“So we had two assassins: Pyatov and Shelayev,” Scorpion said. “Who was Pyatov supposed to kill?”

“It was a secret,” Alyona said. “Pyatov would kill Davydenko, and Cherkesov would blame it on the Kozhanovskiy campaign.”

“Sure,” Scorpion said. “Cherkesov puts it out that he was the target. He gets a sympathy vote boost, destroys Kozhanovskiy, and he gets rid of a rival, all at the same time. Meanwhile Gorobets schemes to get rid of Cherkesov first. Quite a nest of vipers, Svoboda.”

“Sirhiy was a fool. I tried to tell him. He wouldn't listen.”

“The blood in your apartment. Where did it come from?” Scorpion asked.

“It was Dimitri's idea. I used my own blood. It was my time of the month. It had my DNA. Dimitri said if people thought I was dead it would protect me.”

She was breathing heavily, speaking in spurts. Scorpion knew she could go into shock any second. He had to get her medical help soon. He sped up, despite the chance it might attract the
politsiy
.

“Did Shelayev put the bomb in Cherkesov's car?” he asked. “It would have been easier for him than anyone. He was Gorobets's security man.”

“I didn't know. He told me Cherkesov had to be stopped. He had learned something.”

“What was it?”

“He didn't tell,” Alyona cried, burying her face on Iryna's shoulder.

“Where's Dimitri now?” Scorpion asked. Shelayev had the answer to the riddle. He was also the only evidence, Scorpion thought that would prove that he and Iryna had nothing to do with Cherkesov's assassination and maybe stop the war. Producing him alive was the only chance they had.

“I don't know,” Alyona said. “He wouldn't say. Only that when it was safe, if he was still alive, he would come for me.” She grabbed Iryna's hands. “If he did this, he had a reason.”

“We need to talk to him,” Iryna said. “Everyone thinks we killed Cherkesov,” indicating herself and Scorpion.

“I don't know where he is. He was protecting me,” Alyona said. She took out a cigarette, but her hands were shaking so much that once again Iryna had to light and hold it for her. Alyona inhaled and spoke with a shaky voice. She was breathing heavily, almost panting. Scorpion thought she might pass out any minute. “He said . . . he going . . . where no one . . . find him. I wanted . . . go . . . but my
maty
 . . .”

“Your
maty
,” Iryna said. “She's gone. I'm sorry.”

Alyona whimpered. Her eyes were shiny, but she didn't cry. Scorpion guessed she had been through so much she was numb. Iryna gave him directions.

They went across a bridge over a frozen inlet of the Dnieper. The clinic was on the northern outskirts of the city; fields of snow stretched into the distance. To the right, he saw the clinic standing by itself, a yellow ambulance parked by the entrance. He drove into the parking lot and parked at the back of the building.

They helped Alyona out of the car. She couldn't walk. Scorpion picked her up and carried her. They knocked at the back door until a nurse let them in. Iryna spoke to her, gave her money, and the nurse led them to a private examining room. Scorpion laid Alyona down on the examining table.

A minute later the nurse came back with a doctor, a middle-aged man with a jowly neck. His badge read:
DR. YAKOVENKO.
He took one look at Alyona, then at Iryna and Scorpion.

“
Ya znayu, chto vy
,” he said to Iryna in Russian. I know you. “You're wanted by the
militsiyu
.” He started toward the door. Scorpion stood in his way, showed him the Glock.

“You're a doctor. She needs help. I'll give you five hundred if you keep quiet about this,” he said in Russian.

“Otvali,”
Dr. Yakovenko muttered. Go to hell. But he went over to examine Alyona. His expression changed when he saw the cuts and bruises. He turned on Scorpion.

“Did you do this?”

Scorpion shook his head no.

Iryna touched the doctor's arm. “Someone else. He saved her,” she said, indicating Scorpion.

Frowning, Dr. Yakovenko went back to examining Alyona. He pressed her abdomen and she cried out in pain. He shook his head and after a moment sent the nurse out, telling her to get the operating room ready and start an antibiotic drip.

“We have to operate,” he told them. “She's bleeding internally. If we don't act immediately, she'll go into shock. Who did this to her?” he snapped.

“Black Armbands,” Iryna said. “An aide to Oleksandr Gorobets.”

“I don't believe you.” He looked at Iryna and Scorpion. “By law, I should notify the
politsiy
.”

“If you do, they'll kill her,” Scorpion said. “Probably you too. They don't want witnesses.”

“So you say,” the doctor replied, examining Alyona's external wounds. “These are less serious. If you didn't do anything, why are the
politsiy
after you?”

“If you know who I am,” Iryna said, “you know there are people who would do anything to stop me. Anything. Ask her. She knows it wasn't us who killed Cherkesov.”

“Is this true?” he asked Alyona.

She looked at him as if from a far distance, but finally nodded.

“Here's a thousand,” Scorpion said, handing him money. “Be a doctor. We'll keep you and your staff out of this. If we're in danger, so are you.”

“You really think—” Dr. Yakovenko started. “
Hivno
, shit,” he said, rushing to Alyona, whose eyes were turning up.
“Medsestra!”
he shouted. Nurse! “She's going into shock.”

The first nurse rushed into the room, followed by two more nurses with a gurney. In seconds they had moved Alyona onto the gurney and were rushing her to the operating room.

Scorpion and Iryna settled down to wait in a small waiting room by the nurses' station. The TV was on. It showed movements of soldiers and tanks, then cut to a conference room and a reporter outside a government building. The reporter was talking rapidly and there was a news crawl at the bottom.

“What's it say?” Scorpion asked.

“ ‘NATO warns Russia not to violate Ukrainian sovereignty. Ukraine mobilizes for war. American forces in Europe are on full alert,' ” she read. “What are we going to do?”

“We're at a dead end,” Scorpion said. “She says she doesn't know where Shelayev is. If he didn't tell her, he didn't tell anyone. Without him, we have nothing.”

“Actually, she did tell us,” Iryna said, lighting a cigarette. “I think I know where Shelayev is.”