Gage shook his head in disgust. “At least he’s got his priorities in order.” He looked back at Alla. “How much extra for a private room?”
“It’s included.”
“Why? Is he having a sale today?”
Alla’s tone was even more sarcastic than Gage’s. “I think it must be what you Americans call an early-bird special.”
Maks arrived, and she passed on the doctor’s instructions.
“We can leave,” she told Gage, as he walked away. “Kolya’s waiting outside. Ninchenko’s men will stand guard.”
“What about Gravilov? Has he found out yet?”
“I don’t know. Maybe not. Maks says that he’s still in his apartment.”
As Kolya drove them through the gray-dawn streets toward the Astoria Hotel, Alla wedged herself into the corner of the backseat and rested her head against the window. Gage watched her drift into a confused, chaotic state in which sleep is imperative, but not possible. She shifted her position and her eyes moved under her lids as if watching a replay of the night. He wondered whether she had slept at all during the last few days.
Gage escorted her to the dining room and turned on the radio. He poured her a cup of coffee and inspected her face as she sipped. Her eyes were dark and her cheeks seemed to sag. The adrenaline surge that had carried her through the morning had subsided like an outgoing tide, leaving her vulnerable and exposed.
“I need you to do something,” Gage finally said. “Call Matson. Tell him that you’ve escaped and how grateful you are that he was trying to rescue you.”
Alla blinked away the glaze that clouded her eyes. “And I’m supposed to do that without laughing?”
“It has to be done. I don’t want him wondering whether you sold him out and cut a deal with Gravilov.” Gage thought for a moment. “And tell him that you’ll be hiding out with relatives in the mountains for a few weeks.”
“Then what?”
“That’s up to you. You have money?”
“Stuart set up an account in my name at Barclays in London. There’s about a hundred thousand pounds in it. But now that I know where he got it…”
“You earned it, and more. And I’ll make sure no one ever gives you trouble about it.” He sipped his coffee. “But what will you do after that’s gone?”
“I’m eligible for the Skilled Migrant Program in the UK. I’ll stay if I can find a job.”
“What about Gravilov?”
She paused, then shrugged. “That’s a bridge I’m not sure how I’ll cross.”
“How about coming to the States for a while?”
She shook her head. “I can’t get a visa.”
“What if I could get you in?”
She forced a smile. “You have some magical powers you’ve been hiding from me?”
“I can get you what’s called an S visa. It’s for witnesses who may be willing to testify about a criminal organization.”
Her smile died. “I know you want to help your friend, but there’s no way I can do that. Gravilov and his people would never forget. Never. They’d hunt me down. Even your Witness Protection Program wouldn’t be safe. There’s no escape.”
Gage reached over and squeezed her hand. “I know. The key word is ‘may.’ You’ll just change your mind once you get to the States.”
“Would I get in trouble? I mean, here if you-”
“No. The head of the Criminal Division of the Justice Department will feel pretty bad he didn’t help me out a few weeks ago, so he’ll let me handle this the way I want to.”
Alla looked away and shook her head slowly. Gage knew she was imagining the carnage at the dacha. She finally looked back. “How long would it take?”
Gage walked Alla to his room, where he let her shower and nap in his bed. He then sent an e-mail to Washington, D.C., constructed to extort a visa, but without disclosing too much of what he knew.
When he leaned back in his desk chair, he felt for the first time the bite of the slashes and stitches in his back. He realized that he had another e-mail to send. He and Faith trusted each other too much for him to conceal from her that he’d been injured. He wrote her what he always did when his middle-aged body got battered around: “I’ll need a little chicken soup.”
CHAPTER 74
G age and Alla returned to the hospital in early afternoon. Ninchenko was in a third floor, private, two-room suite, the best in the hospital, but looking to Gage like a skid-row hotel room. He was propped up in bed and being fed clear broth as they entered. The nurse wiped Ninchenko’s chin, then stepped back. Ninchenko’s guard escorted her from the room.
“How do you feel, amigo?” Gage asked, leaning close. Alla stood next to him. Both looking down at the pale, hollow-eyed face.
Ninchenko worked up a little smile. “Like an elephant is standing on my chest,” he answered in a hoarse whisper, his throat still raw from the anesthetic used during surgery.
“What happened?”
“He came running into the kitchen just as I kicked the door.” Ninchenko’s voice strengthened. “He got off three shots before I caught my balance. He knew he hit me so he stopped firing.”
“Big mistake.”
“He picked the wrong line of work. He didn’t finish me off.”
Gage thought back on the dead man curled up in the kitchen. The man’s heart had stopped before Ninchenko fired his last shot.
Ninchenko licked his lips. Alla poured water from a pitcher into a clear plastic glass and brought it to his lips. He took two sips, then shook his head.
“What about you?” Ninchenko asked.
“Let’s just say Razor lived by the sword.”
Ninchenko offered up another weak smile. “Aristotle was right.”
Alla’s mouth gaped open at Ninchenko. “What? Aristotle? You’re lying in a hospital with two fucking bullet holes and you’re talking Greek philosophy?”
“What he means is that things tend toward their natural end,” Gage said.
Alla shook her head. “It’s still weird.” She set down the glass and looked fondly at Ninchenko. “I thought you were just some ex-State Security thug out to make a buck. I’m sorry. I was wrong.”
She put a hand on his shoulder. “I’m glad your natural end wasn’t to die last night saving me. I’ll never forget what you did.” She leaned over and kissed him on the forehead.
“We were both wrong,” Ninchenko answered. “I hope you’ll come back one day.”
Alla shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know.”
Three hours into their drive back to Kiev, Gage heard the name Gravilov spoken on the car radio. He poked at Alla, waking her up.
“What are they saying?”
Alla rubbed her eyes. The announcer spoke the name again. She listened for a minute, then smiled.
“It sounds like Ninchenko’s people tricked the government into believing that nationalist terrorists attacked Gravilov’s mansion. There was a note stuck to the front door that the police think was left by the paramilitary arm of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, demanding that all Russians leave Ukraine, starting with him.”
Alla listened for another few moments, then laughed. “They’re demanding a ransom for my return. Apparently I’m Gravilov’s girlfriend.”
She looked hard at the radio, then gasped. “The police found Razor in the hyena pen, chewed into pieces.”
