“I think I need to tell you a little something about Arje Dekker. Odgerel, could you send the kids outside for a few moments?”
Yalta came in when the kids went out. Chudruk translated. I told them I’d met Dekker on the circuit and read about him in the news. This seemed to mollify my friends. When I told them about the atrocities he’d committed, they were horrified. These were the descendants of the great Genghis Khan. They knew about the horrors of war. But the brutality of what Dekker had done shocked them.
“I don’t know why he has targeted me, and I don’t care. What I do care about is making sure he doesn’t hurt Veronica to get my attention.”
I had just finished when there was a knock at the door. Sansar-Huu’s oldest poked her head in and handed Zolbin a note.
“She says a boy dropped this off.” He handed the note to me.
My name was on the outside. The eyes of everyone in the tent were on me as I opened it.
Meet me at the abandoned block of flats outside of the city.
He included directions. How thoughtful. But what time? And would he have Veronica with him? He didn’t say to come alone.
I looked around the room. There was no way I could involve my friends in this. But I would need a ride.
Sansar-Huu turned off the headlights and coasted into a crumbling parking lot. It was almost midnight. And very dark. I felt for the flashlight in my pocket.
“We will look around for Veronica,” he whispered, pointing at Chudruk.
“Just stay out of sight. I’ll yell when it’s over,” I replied. This time I was taking no chances. Chudruk had given me his set of throwing knives-a sport I’d taught him when we worked together in the States. My goal was to find Dekker so my friends could find Veronica. We were a block from the meeting site.
Dekker had chosen a pile of rubble that used to be a Soviet-designed apartment building. There were many places he could hide. This was the perfect location for an ambush. Whatever happened, it had to be quick and quiet. I wanted this man dead once and for all.
My friends would go on foot around the perimeter, carefully searching for Ronnie. Both men were armed with old semiautomatics. We only had two guns, and I thought it would be better if they carried them. I could work quickly with knives.
My plan was to walk into the middle of the complex. Dekker wanted to see me. Well, that was what he was going to get. I waited until my eyes adjusted to the darkness. Then I headed in.
The air was sharp, in spite of its being July. I heard the clinking of broken cement on twisted, exposed rebar as rats slithered in the darkness. I wanted to find him right away. I was going to kill Arje Dekker if I had to do it with my bare hands. Fortunately, I could do that. It was simple leverage, really.
I heard footsteps off to my left. They were moving quickly in my direction, so I ducked into a broken entryway. The darkness smothered all light. The steps grew louder and I tightened my grip on one of the knives. Suddenly, the footsteps stopped, then started running in the opposite direction.
Lunging from my doorway, I flipped on my flashlight, only to see a shadow ahead round the corner. I was so busy concentrating on what was in front of me, I failed to look down. Something large tripped me. I fell, immediately twisting to my right. Pulling out the knife, I hurled myself at the body. It didn’t move.
I shined the flashlight and found the unconscious form of Veronica Gale on the ground in front of me. This left me with a dilemma: I could run after Dekker, or get this woman to safety. This wasn’t her fight. She wasn’t supposed to be here. The choice was clear.
I carried her back to the truck over my good shoulder and placed her gently in the passenger seat. I started the car and drove to the ruins, honking the horn again and again. Chudruk and Sansar-Huu emerged from the darkness and climbed in.
“He drove off.” Chudruk pointed toward the airport.
“She’s bleeding,” Sansar-Huu said. “She’s been hit in the head. Her breathing is shallow.”
I wasn’t even surprised to see Dr. Baatar at the hospital. He admitted Veronica and me, giving us both CT scans and thoroughly checking us out. He assigned us to a room for the night, and Chudruk stayed to stand guard while Sansar-Huu went back to the ger. I passed out once the doctor convinced me Ronnie was all right. I slept like a stone.
Chapter Twenty-three
Evey Hammond: [reads] Vi Veri Veniversum Vivus Vici.
V: [translates] By the power of truth, I, while living,
have conquered the universe.
Evey Hammond: Personal motto?
V: From Faust.
Evey Hammond: That’s about trying to cheat the devil, isn’t it?
V: It is.
– V FOR VENDETTA
I’d been around a lot of dirtbags in my life. And I’d gotten to kill most of them. But none of them had ever been a real threat to me before. Maybe partly because I’d been younger, but mostly because I had been unattached. Bad guys had no leverage, nothing to threaten me with that would actually scare me in any way. Some of my cousins had been through rough times with either their kids being kidnapped or the people they loved threatened in some way. But not me.
This was new. Veronica was in danger. Because of me. And my vic had escaped his sentence because of my mistakes. This was unheard-of. I didn’t think anyone in the Bombay tribe had ever had to chase a vic. We always took them out where they stood.
My confidence, for the first time in my life, was shaken. I couldn’t just walk away from this one. And I didn’t know what to do. My number one task was to hunt down Arje Dekker and kill him so that Veronica was safe.
“Uh…” Veronica shifted on the hospital bed.
“Veronica?” I asked gently, closing the gap between our beds.
“Cy?” She looked up at me and frowned, then closed her eyes.
“You’re all right. The doctor says you are fine. We’re booked on the next flight home.” There was no reaction. But even if she was unconscious, it made me feel good to tell her that she was safe. Of course, I left out that the next flight home was on the Bombay family’s private plane, but I figured she didn’t need to hear that.
My biggest concern was Dekker. He was gone, and I was convinced that he knew that I was going to kill him. And I would kill him. There was no doubt about that.
Chudruk and Sansar-Huu went back to get Veronica’s and my things. I stepped out of the room to make a phone call.
“Missi?” I said quietly as my cousin answered. “I’m going to need the family jet and some information on Dekker’s whereabouts.”
“Hey, Coney!” came a voice that was not Missi’s. “It’s Monty. Mom’s on assignment.”
Damn. I really needed her. She was the one person who could get me what I needed. Leave it to the Bombay Council to send her out when she was our best techie.
“The jet will be there tomorrow morning.” Monty’s voice interrupted my thoughts. “Who’s Dekker?”
Montgomery Bombay was one of Missi’s twin teenage sons. “Look, Monty, I appreciate the help. But you don’t have the chops yet to-”
“Okay, got it. Arje Dekker, on a flight to Berlin, then on to London. I can have you two land at Heathrow at the same time.”
“Um, okay.” You know, I shouldn’t be surprised by anything that happens in this family.
Monty sighed on the other end. “I just hacked into the system. It’s not like it was hard.”
“Sorry, kid. I underestimated you.”
“And I’m not a kid. You guys should figure that out. Mom trained me. ”
“Sorry, Monty.” And I meant it. Underestimating any Bombay was a dangerous venture. “So what’s my ETA in London?”