protected the main gate.
Ninchenko zoomed in, then swept the walls of the building until slowing to track two uniformed guards and their German shepherd. He then focused on each tower and the guardhouse at the main gate, hesitating at each until he confirmed that it was occupied.
“There’s no way we’re getting in there,” Ninchenko said.
Gage thought for a moment, then punched a string of numbers into his new cell phone.
“Professor Blanchard, this is-”
“Mr. Green, I presume?”
“I’m back to Mr. Gage.”
“What going on?”
“The video amplifiers are about to be installed in Hellfire-type missiles.”
Blanchard’s breath caught. “No…”
“I need you to be close to your phone for the next forty-eight hours.”
“For what?”
“I’m not sure. Maybe just advice. There are too many parts in motion and I’m not yet sure where to aim.”
CHAPTER 69
L ow clouds hanging over Dnepropetrovsk muted the daylight that met Gage and Ninchenko as they walked from the hotel to the van where Kolya was waiting. Smoke from industrial stacks towering above the auto, steel, and missile plants in the distance rose until it encountered the denser atmosphere above, then curled downward, filling the air with a leadish haze and a sour and acidic odor.
Ten minutes later, Kolya pulled to a curb southeast of the city along the route from the airport. Matson and Alla would have to pass them whether they drove first to their hotel or to the Electro-Dnepr Company. Ninchenko stationed one surveillance team a half mile from the plant and another a half mile from the hotel.
At 10:25 Ninchenko’s phone rang. He answered it, listened, then covered the receiver.
“It’s Alla. She’s calling from the Dnepropetrovsk Airport bathroom.”
“Let me talk to her.”
Ninchenko handed the phone to Gage.
“Are you okay?”
“A little nervous,” Alla whispered, her voice brittle and edgy. “I’ve had too much time to think-hold on…It’s okay. Just someone passing by outside.”
“I need to know the car you’ll be in.”
“Gravilov’s driver brought the G55 from Kiev overnight. Gravilov will meet us at the hotel, then we’ll go to the plant. What about you?”
“We’ll be close by, but it’s better if you don’t know the vehicle we’re in.” Gage didn’t want her inadvertently drawing attention to them. “Any talk about price?”
“That’s close to being settled.” Alla’s tone firmed, as if strengthened by her accomplishment in finding out. “Stuart is still telling them that he has to fly back to London to get the code-and they’re not happy. I’m pretty sure he’ll break down and tell them he’s got it with him, just to get this over with. But he’s afraid they’ll try to force him to return the money after they get it. The result is that he’s starting to flail around.”
“Just tell him you know how Ukrainians think and you’ll guide him through it.”
“I will?” She laughed softly. “I don’t remember a class in arms trafficking at my college.”
“It was an elective.” Gage gave Ninchenko a thumbs-up, as if to say that Alla had recovered the confidence they’d originally seen. “Don’t worry, I’ll tell you what to do when the time comes.” He glanced at Ninchenko. “What’s the area around the hotel like?”
“It’s on a large lot, facing a wide street,” Ninchenko said. “The back borders a large park. Lots of trees and benches. There are always people out there, lovers and drunks, even in winter.”
Gage spoke into the phone. “Ask for a lower floor room facing the park. That’ll be the easiest route if we need to get you out of there.”
He confirmed that his new number was saved in her phone’s memory, then disconnected.
“Matson is getting a little spooked,” Gage told Ninchenko.
“So you’ll need to tell him how to commit the crime?”
“Looks like it.”
Ninchenko raised his eyebrows, a little grin on his face. “You know any Yiddish?”
“A few words.”
“You know shmegegi?”
“No.”
“It’s like putz.”
Gage laughed. “You use that one over here, too?”
“We’re a lot closer to the source than Brooklyn.”
Twenty minutes later, Ninchenko and Gage were parked in the van a half block away from the Grand Domus with a view of the driveway and entrance. The white building, set back about fifteen yards from the street on a half-acre lot, looked more like a small townhouse complex than a hotel. Tall brown-brick apartment buildings flanked it.
Kolya joined them in the back. He curled up in the corner and fell asleep.
A few minutes later, a blue four-door Opel sped past, then pulled to the curb between them and the hotel, but neither of the two men inside got out. They slid down in their seats. Gage watched their heads swiveling, attentive to their surroundings. There were no other vehicles near them on the street.
“What do you think?” Gage asked.
“They’re not mine,” Ninchenko answered.
Gage thought for a moment. “Maybe it’s somebody who wants to keep an eye on Gravilov.”
“Hadeon Alexandervich?”
“Could be.”
“How about Alla? You think they got to her somehow?”
“She asked me what vehicle we were in, but I didn’t tell her.” Gage glanced at the monitor. “If these guys knew someone was out here, they’d have parked behind us or on the other side of the hotel with a view back this way. That way they could watch everything on the street.”
Gage and Ninchenko watched on the monitor as one of the men leaned over and kissed the other on the lips, then got out of the car. The driver sped away.
“Not everything is a conspiracy,” Gage said.
“Or at least not our conspiracy,” Ninchenko said, raising his teacup. “To love.”
“ L’chayim.”
Ninchenko pointed at the monitor. “She’s pulling up.”
“Turn on the recorder,” Gage said. “I want to put together a little piece on how Scoob Matson spent his winter vacation.”
Ninchenko reached over and activated it.
The wrought-iron gate slid open to permit Gravilov’s G55 to enter the hotel grounds. Ninchenko tracked it until it stopped at the entrance, then drew back for a wide view of the vehicle, the hotel entrance, and the sidewalk in between. A driver and a bodyguard stepped down and immediately reached to open the two passenger doors. Alla got out of the one closest to the entrance and glanced back toward the street. Her eyes scanned the cars and trucks along the curbs, but didn’t come to rest on the van.
The driver reached for Matson’s briefcase as he came around the back of the SUV, but Matson pulled it away. The bodyguard retrieved the luggage and followed Matson and Alla up the stairs and inside.
Ten minutes later an enormous silver Mercedes sedan approached the hotel. It hesitated until the gate slid open, then drove onto the grounds. Gravilov got out, then walked around the left side of the building, out of Gage’s
