“His code name is White Knight. He has worked with me for years”
“Which makes him a Russian patriot”
“He’s a traitor “
“And you’re going to hand him over to me. You’re going to kill him.
It’ll be his reward for long years of service”
“He betrayed you” Baranov argued. “If we all die here he will go on.
Someone will take my place. Others will fall … innocent people … he is very good. You can’t believe ” McGarvey raised his pistol so that it was pointing directly at Baranov’s head. “No” the Russian cried.
“Believe in me! I will kill her” Lorraine’s eyes were still closed. She was shivering even more. “There is no time” Baranov screeched.
“McGarvey”
“Then go” McGarvey said, stepping away from the doorway. He did not lower his gun. Hope flickered across Baranov’s eyes. “Put your gun down”
“Go” McGarvey growled. “While you still have the chance”
Baranov’s gaze shifted to Lorraine, whose shivering was steadily increasing. “I want your word, McGarvey. I don’t want to be shot in the back”
“You have it. Now get out of here”
“What about White Knight? He is “
“Go while you can” McGarvey roared. Baranov quickly edged his way across the room while keeping his gun trained on the bed. At the open door he looked into Mcgarvey’s eyes. “You’re not so different” he said. He spun on his heel and disappeared out into the corridor.
Without hesitation, McGarvey stepped out the doorway after him and fired two shots in rapid succession, striking Baranov high in the back and in the base of his skull, driving him forward.
“I lied” McGarvey said softly. Baranov tried to rise up, blood streaming from his wounds. McGarvey took a few steps closer and fired a third time at Point-blank range into the back of the Russian’s head, slamming him back down.
He fired again. And again, the bullets pumping into Baranov’s inert form. And still he pulled the trigger until the ejector slide stopped.
The director of the KGB was dead. Long live the KGB. McGarvey let the empty pistol fall from his hand. Outside, several cars raced up the driveway and screeched to a halt in front of the house.
He turned and went back into the bedroom. Lorraine, her eyes wide, was looking at him.
“It’s finished, my darling” he said, approaching the bed.
She had stopped shivering, but she was blinking her eyes frantically.
“He’s dead” McGarvey said. Someone entered the stairhall and started up the stairs. There were a lot of them. He could hear them shouting back and forth, and could hear the squawk of their walkie-talkies.
“Nothing will happen to you now” McGarvey told her. He reached down for the tape across her mouth. “I promise you. I I Her nostrils were flared, and a low moan formed at the back of her throat. “It’s all right They were in the corridor, and someone came to the open doorway. He shouted something in Russian. “We’re Americans” McGarvey said in English. He had hold of the edge of the tape. Lorraine moaned again, her eyes nearly bulging out of their sockets. “Put your hands over your head immediately, or I will open fire” the man in the doorway shouted in English. She was trying to tell him something. With her eyes. What?
“Now” the Russian shouted. McGarvey let his eyes go down to the C4 taped obscenely to her thighs. Wires led from the plastique to a small package, which he figured contained the battery and firing mechanism. A second pair of wires ran beneath her left leg and disappeared. “God in heaven” McGarvey breathed, his body going rigid. “Put your hands up.” the Russian ordered. “Listen to me” McGarvey called out, his eyes locked into Lorraine’s. “There are explosives taped to this woman’s body. I think they’re wired to some sort of a pressure switch. The Russian at the doorway said nothing. “Do you understand me” McGarvey called, not daring to raise his voice. “Yes, I do. Now step away from the bed very carefully. McGarvey hesitated. “Do as I say, Mr. McGarvey, I have a demolitions expert with me. Please step away from the bed”
“It’ll be all right” McGarvey whispered to her. “Believe me” Slowly he moved away from the side of the bed and turned to the men crowded in the doorway. “Get out of here, we’ll take care of it” the Russian said.
He looked very young. He held a big automatic in his right hand.
“I’ll stay” McGarvey said. “Did you kill Baranov”
“Get your demolitions man in here, god damnit! Now”
“Did you kill him” the Russian asked implacably. “Yes, you sonofabitch.
Now get your man in here”
“Good” the Russian said. “You can stay” He turned. “Get Valeri up here on the double.
She was all right physically, but Baranov had done something to her.
Something terrible. It was still in her eyes, and he supposed it would always be there. “Perhaps you are right. In any event it is a moot point now” Lieutenant Lukyanov glanced at Lorraine. “She will be okay”
“I don’t know”
“What about you” Lieutenant Lukyanov asked, turning back to McGarvey.
“You are a spy. You do this sort of thing all the time. I sincerely hope that you do not show up on Soviet soil again”
“This is Germany” Lieutenant Lukyanov smiled thinly. “I’m just a simple policeman, not Spycatcher” Spycatcher was a KGB agent in popular Soviet fiction.
McGarvey returned the smile.
Lieutenant Lukyanov reached across him and opened the side door. “Go” he said. “I cannot drive you across, but you and Dr. Abbott will not be hindered. And I believe someone is waiting for you”
“You’re a long way from Moscow”
“And you from Washington, Mr. McGarvey. Go in peace.
“We’re in the wrong business for that” McGarvey said.
“How did you know my name” McGarvey asked the. They shook hands and he stepped down out of the van. Lieutenant Lukyanov helped Lorraine out, and McGarvey had Russian cop. ‘ wasn’t sure, it was you. But we’d been told that you to hold her to keep her from falling. She was shivering again. were on the move, and that you had an old vendetta with The lieutenant slid the door closed, the van backed away from them, turned and drove off, leaving them standing there Chairman Baranov it was just dawn. They sat in the back of a panel van, alone. downtown near the Brandenburg Gate. The sodium vapor With the morning, traffic had begun to build up on both lights were pale against the gray morning sky.
Still holding Lorraine tightly, McGarvey led her down the broad sidewalk past the remains of the East sides of the border.
“He was a very bad man, Mr. McGarvey” Lieutenant Lukyanov continued. “We had come to arrest him. My capgerman sentry complex, none of the soldiers paying them tain thought he would return with us, but I disagreed” the slightest attention, only an occasional face turning their
“Even if he had, he wouldn’t have stood trial” McGarvey way from one of the vehicles waiting to cross. said tiredly. He looked at Lorraine shivering in the corner.
“It’s all right now” he said softly in her ear.
At first she didn’t react. He didn’t know if she had even heard him. But then, as they walked, she slowly turned her head and looked up at him.
“It’s over” he said. “We’re almost there”
“Don’t leave me, Kirk” she whispered. “I won’t”
John Trotter got out of the back of a dark red Mercedes sedan. He looked thinner to McGarvey, his features more gaunt, the planes of his face more sharply defined. “We need to get her to the hospital” McGarvey said. “Has she been injured? Is she hurt” Trotter asked in alarm. He looked and sounded completely strung out. “I don’t know, but I want someone to look at her. We’ll stay for a couple of days, if need be”
Lorraine clutched tightly at his arm as he helped her into the back seat of the car. “I’ll be there” McGarvey told her. “I’m not going anywhere.
