She had no answers and time was up.
* * *
Ajza carried the baby down the mountainside. She was tired and worn-out from the past few days, and she took every step with care. The baby wasn't all that heavy, but he was still a burden.
Maaret was too weak to carry her son. At times, Ajza had to help the younger woman, as well. She feared that one of the guards would decide Maaret was moving too slowly and shoot her.
They went in single file. Taburova rode his pony down the mountainside without a problem, but several of the women slipped and fell. When they did, the men would beat them until they got to their feet again.
Just before they reached the flat ground, a convoy of old trucks rattled into view. The vehicles stopped at the foot of the mountain and waited.
When the women reached the trucks, the guards lined them up. Taburova rode his horse in front of them, sizing them up with his relentless gaze.
'The time has come,' Taburova declared as he reined in his mount. 'Tonight you will lay down your lives for Chechnya.'
Ajza stared at the man and remembered how heroic he'd appeared that night on the mountainside when he'd killed Achmed. Now she knew that he was exactly what the files she'd read had told her he was: a cold-blooded murderer. It didn't matter that he wrapped a flag around his bloody work. Taburova lived to kill people.
Ajza stared at the trucks, wondering if the weapons she'd come looking for were stored in them. No. The weapons wouldn't be so easy to get to.
'Get on the trucks,' Taburova ordered.
His men started shoving the women toward the trucks.
Ajza strode forward with the child still in her arms. Maaret held on to her elbow for support and stumbled along beside her. They climbed into a truck, and Ajza took a seat on the floor in the rear, her mind raced. There had to be a way out.
* * *
Kate watched the mass exodus from the Black Widow camp then the convoy trundling along the dirt road, with alarm. According to the map she had access to, the nearest paved road was twenty miles away.
'They're not out for a Sunday drive,' Jake commented.
'No, they're not. Do you think it's possible they've been tipped off that they're being watched?'
'Sure. But a guy like Taburova, do you think he'd try to sneak off in broad daylight?'
'No.' Kate backed up the video recording until she saw Taburova talking to the women. Even from the view from the satellite, she recognized the man at once. 'He'd kill everyone in the camp and disappear into the night.'
'That's what I was thinking.' Jake scratched his jaw. 'That makes this a business trip.'
Kate pulled up Sergei ProkhoroVs field reports. He and Viktor had managed to keep General Kumarin under surveillance. So far the general hadn't deviated from his routine duties. Room 59's intel unit was spot on with those.
'Taburova is hours away from Moscow at the rate he's traveling,' Jake said. 'There's time.'
'Maybe,' Kate replied, 'but it feels like we're running out of it.'
'We'll be ready. Unless there's a wrinkle we haven't spotted.'
Kate massaged her tense neck muscles. 'We always look for those, but they still manage to surprise.'
She flicked through the file on Taburova and brought it up side by side with General Kumarin's. She had the definite feeling that she was missing something there. She didn't have the slightest clue what it was.
51
'You need to relax and be patient.'
'I
Viktor sat in the passenger seat, as cool as if carved from ice. Over the last day, Sergei had seen the man sit like that for hours. All that moved were his eyes. He barely seemed to breathe.
Sergei went back to watching the parking lot of the government building where Yuri Kumarin kept a set of offices. They were only a few blocks from the Kremlin, where he usually worked.
The previous night, Sergei and Viktor had broken into the offices. In truth, Sergei had merely accompanied Viktor, while the latter had done the work. Sergei wasn't capable of the miracles the other man had worked with the elite security system in the building. He wondered if Mikhalkov would have been able to handle the system with as much finesse.
Viktor, by all accounts, was impressive.
Sergei glanced at the laptop computer between them. The monitor showed views of Kumarin's office. While they'd been inside, they'd installed the smallest video cameras and audio pickups that Sergei had ever seen. They were designed to access the building's Wi-Fi network and transmit to a satellite pickup Viktor had set up on the building's rooftop HVAC unit. Viktor was certain the monthly bug sweep that Kumarin had scheduled would find it, but that was still nine days away.
If nothing else, the one thing Sergei was certain of was that he wouldn't be able to wait another nine days. He felt that he'd be lucky to make it through another night.
'Something like this takes time,' Viktor said.
'I know.' Sergei hated that the man could read him so easily.
'We will be fine. Everything is going according to plan.'
'To Kumarin's plan, maybe.' Sergei tried to keep the bitterness out of his voice, but knew he failed when he saw Viktor smile. Which only made Sergei more irritated.
'You've made plans before?' Viktor asked.
'Of course.'
'Remember how easy it was to have those plans upset? All it takes is one misstep.' Viktor glanced reassuringly at Sergei. 'You and I, tonight, are that misstep for Kumarin. You'll see.'
'And if Kumarin chooses another night?'
Viktor shook his head. 'Not another night. This one.'
'How do you know that?'
'Because the buyer for the weapons is on his way to Moscow.'
Sergei bit back a curse. 'How long have you known this?'
Viktor shrugged. 'A while.'
'You could have told me.'
'You have been worrying enough.'
Sergei cursed. 'You people have been withholding information from me.'
'Perhaps.' Then Viktor nodded. 'A little.'
'Why?'
Viktor pointed at the laptop and the images of Kumarin working at his desk. 'Because we needed you focused on this man.'
'Why haven't you simply picked up the buyer?'
'Like Kumarin, this other man is not easily caught. During the time that they're together, they should be slightly more vulnerable.'
'And if they're not?'
'They will be. You must accept this.'
Sergei wanted to shout in frustration, but he knew it would do no good. He breathed out and made himself be patient.
Then, on the laptop monitor, Kumarin put down the phone and got up from his desk. He grabbed his coat from
