The FSB and GRU had developed a healthy relationship with the hotel’s staff, and the facility itself, being only four stories and surrounded by large pine trees, made it easy to establish a defensive perimeter. Additionally, the hotel was only a five-minute drive from the train station and just ten minutes from Adler Airport. When agents like the Snow Maiden weren’t attaching battery cables to the genitalia of prisoners, they could visit the nearby water park, sports and entertainment complexes, the Sochi Dolphinarium dolphin park, and the Discovery World Aquarium—not to mention the soaring skyline of the new Olympic park.
The Snow Maiden grinned darkly as she turned away from the window at the sound of Nadia stirring. “Are you hungry?”
Nadia lay across the bed, looking more like a corpse than a pampered rich man’s daughter. They’d given her a change of clothes: a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt that made her appear a few years younger. She lifted her head, and finally, after a deep-throated cough, was able to sit up.
A flat-screen television sat atop a dresser behind them. “Would you like to watch TV?” the Snow Maiden asked.
“No.”
“Would you like to tell me where your father is?”
Nadia widened her good eye on the Snow Maiden. “When this is over, I’m going to come back for you. My father has very powerful friends. He’ll make it happen. And when he does, I’m going to do ten times what you’ve done to me.”
“Ten times? That’s impressive. They taught you some math in that fancy college. So, do you think we’re already done? Look at your beautiful fingernails . . . are those gels? And your nice teeth. You had them whitened? So beautiful . . .”
Nadia closed her eyes and sighed in frustration. “I told you. I was on my way to the airport. All I know is I was supposed to get on the plane. I have no idea where the plane was going.”
“It was heading straight into the mountains, where it crashed.”
“Whatever you say.”
“I can get my computer and show you.”
“I don’t care.”
The Snow Maiden dragged a chair over to the bed. She flipped it around and draped her arms over the back. “What’s it like to be you?”
“What kind of question is that?”
“Tell me about your life.”
“No.”
The Snow Maiden glanced around the room. “There’s nothing else to do.”
Nadia set her teeth and began to nod. “I see what you’re doing. Get me to talk. Get the whole Stockholm syndrome thing going. Get me comfortable, then I let something slip, huh? You think I’m stupid like the other scumbags you take here?”
“No, you’re very intelligent. I read one of the research papers you did for a class. I wish I knew as much about computers as you do.”
“Yeah, then you wouldn’t be stuck in some shitty government job . . .”
“So you’re going to follow in your father’s footsteps because he made sure you’d have that opportunity.”
“That’s right.”
“Did you miss him?”
“What do you mean?”
“When you were growing up. I assume he was never around, always busy working on the computer viruses. Did he ever forget to pick you up? Did he ever forget a special occasion like your birthday?”
“Why do you care? You trying to work out your own issues by making me feel bad?”
“I’m just asking questions.”
“He was a great father. But then my mother died.”
“I’m sorry.”
“No, you’re not. You’re trying to be my friend because you think I’ll say something. You’re so obvious. And pathetic. And what’s with the crazy black hair and the boots?”
The Snow Maiden shrugged. “I like them.”
Nadia took a deep breath and turned away. “There’s something wrong with you. Something very wrong.”
“What makes you say that?”
“How can you do this kind of work?”
“I enjoy it. I bet you would, too.”
“Are you kidding me? You’re just some government employee who had a terrible life. You’re like some woman who wants to be a man with a big gun. That’s all you are. You’re nothing.”
“You don’t sound afraid anymore.”
Nadia balled her hands into fists. “I’m not.”
“The cuffs hurt. I’ll leave them off if you’re a good girl, but if you—”
Nadia launched herself off the bed and came at the Snow Maiden with her right fist held high above her head.
The Snow Maiden pushed back off the chair, even as Nadia’s fist came down. The girl missed, and the Snow Maiden followed with a right hook to the girl’s jaw and a left jab to her chest, knocking her squarely onto the bed.
In the next heartbeat, she straddled the girl, pinned her wrists to the bed and leaned in close to her ear and whispered, “Is this what you want? More pain?”
“Let me go.”
“Where’s your father?”
“He’s right behind you.”
The Snow Maiden grinned, then suddenly released the girl and tapped on Nadia’s temple. “I think your father is right here, and he’s driving you crazy.”
“Why do you want him so badly?”
That woke the Snow Maiden’s grin. “I wish I knew.”
“Well, it’s pretty clear he fucked over the government. He wouldn’t tell me exactly how. He just said go to the airport. I begged him, pleaded with him. I never heard his voice sound like that.”
“Like what?”
“Scared.”
Neither of them spoke for a moment, but then the Snow Maiden blurted out, “I don’t want to kill you.”
Nadia flashed an ugly grin. “I’m okay with that.”
“I’ll confess: I hate you and people like you. And obviously, I can’t kill you unless I’m sure you have nothing to give me.”
“We’re going around in circles here,” Nadia said. “You don’t believe me, so you’ll keep asking the same questions over and over. And then I’ll get so tired of hearing them that I’ll begin telling you what you want to hear. But that’s not the truth. I don’t know where he is.”
“Do you know where Joline is?”
Nadia’s head drew back, and her mouth began to fall open in shock.
“I know where she is.”
Suddenly, the door opened behind them and two of the Snow Maiden’s men ushered in Joline Bossert, a twenty-one-year-old CSCS student with blond hair, narrow cheeks, and limbs seemingly too large for her fragile Swiss torso. She had earrings running up the sides of both ears, along with a pierced brow partially hidden behind her trendy blue glasses. She’d been stripped down to her beige bra and white panties.
She was Nadia’s best friend from college. They were, according to Joline, inseparable.
The second Joline caught sight of Nadia. She spoke rapidly in Italian, since she was a native of Lugano: “Oh my God, Nadia, what’s happening? Are you okay? What’re they doing to us? Why are we here? They . . . they . . . just grabbed me right out of the apartment!”
The Snow Maiden put her finger to Nadia’s lips and sang, “I think you know where your father is . . .” She rose off the bed.
Behind her, Nadia bolted up and screamed, “You leave her alone!”
The Snow Maiden whirled and raised her voice: “First, before we begin this little reunion, I’d like to discuss a few details. This room has been modified just for us. It doesn’t matter how loud you are. You could scream at the very top of your lungs and no one, not room service, not the old lady down the hall who is chain-smoking, not anyone will hear you . . . or her . . .” The Snow Maiden tipped her head toward Joline. “Now, she’s going to die in front of you if you don’t tell me where your father is. If you really don’t know, well, I’m sorry, she’s going to die anyway, then.”
In the Snow Maiden’s right pocket sat an assisted-opening folder, which she removed and thumbed open. The blade swung into place with enough spring action to catch Nadia’s attention.