“He liked to use the feces to make art. He would mix the stuff with water and use a paintbrush to paint. And you know what he would paint?”
“What would he paint, Noel?” Eli asked.
“Mice!”
He continued the nonsensical story for several minutes. Sarah tried to concentrate on it, but the words kept fading in and out. It was as if she were in a waking dream.
The words droned on. Eventually she couldn’t understand them anymore. She had to close her eyes, just for a minute.
Noel stopped talking.
Rivka was out. Her head was on Sarah’s shoulder. Sarah’s eyelids fluttered and finally fell. She began to slide over in the booth, but Eli caught her and held her up.
“Wow, that was fast,” Noel said.
“Always is,” Eli agreed.
“I’m glad you gave them the correct glasses.”
“Come on. Let’s get them out of here.” He pulled Sarah out of the booth and let her lean on him.
“What’s going on?” she slurred.
“Sarah, I’m taking you home. You’re drunk,” Eli said.
“I am?”
Noel helped Rivka up. She whimpered a little. “Rivka, come with me. We have to go home now,” he said. Rivka started to cry a little.
“My stomach hurts,” she mumbled.
“Let’s go,” Noel said.
Eli left money on the bar as they helped the girls out. He winked at the bartender and said, “I guess those Car Bombs were a little too strong.”
When the night air hit Sarah’s face, she became aware that she was outside. “What’s going on?” she asked again, but her voice sounded far away.
“I’m taking you back to my place.” She thought it was Eli’s voice. The nice man was helping her walk, though. She shouldn’t have drunk so much. She knew that drinking didn’t agree with her. Now she felt awful. She just wanted to climb into bed.
The last thing she remembered before passing out was a car door slamming as she fell into the passenger seat.
Eli drove his beat-up 1995 Chevrolet Cavalier out of the New City and headed north, toward Atarot Airport. Sarah was snoring lightly in the seat beside him. Before he had left the street where the bar was located, he watched Noel get Rivka into his car and drive away.
Eli was happy that he didn’t have to do what Noel had to do.
The Rohypnol worked amazingly well. He had broken up the two white tablets, one in each shot glass, and waited until the powder dissolved before bringing the Irish Car Bombs back to the table. Sarah and Rivka never knew what hit them. Car bombs, indeed.
It was approaching midnight when he turned off the main highway and took a little-used route toward an industrial area of the city. Eli could hear planes overhead, flying in low for a landing at the small airport. When he had first gone to the warehouse to prepare it for Sarah’s arrival, he wasn’t happy about its location. He would have preferred it to be farther out of Jerusalem and not so close to the airport. But orders were orders. Apparently Yuri and Vlad’s people already owned the building. Eli supposed it didn’t really matter. As long as he was paid what was coming to him.
It was at the end of a curving road full of derelict warehouses and condemned office buildings. Vlad had said it was “where Jesus lost his sandals.” This wasn’t far from the truth. Aside from the proximity to the airport, the warehouse seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. The building was dark and would have appeared deserted were it not for the two sports cars parked in front. The Ferrari and the Jaguar were a little too conspicuous for Eli’s comfort level, but what was he going to tell those guys? Get a couple of ugly old cars like his?
He pulled the Chevy next to the Jaguar and shut off the motor. He looked at his sleeping passenger and softly said, “Sorry, Sarah.”
Eli got out of the car and went to the front door of the building. He knocked and waited until the little window slid opened. Dark eyes peered out.
“You going to help me or not?” Eli asked.
The door unlocked and opened and the two Russians came out.
“She okay?” the one called Yuri asked.
“Yeah. She’s out cold, though,” Eli said.
“Let’s get her inside, then,” the one called Vlad said.
They walked to the car and opened the passenger door. When he saw Sarah, Vlad remarked, “Hey, she’s a beauty! This is going to be a more interesting assignment than I thought.”
“Shut up, you horny bastard,” Yuri said. “Help me.”
The two men pulled her out of the car and carried her to the building.
“Don’t drop her,” Eli said. “Be careful.”
“Don’t worry, kid,” Yuri said. “She’s worth gold.”
Eli followed them inside and shut the door behind him. The warehouse was clear in the middle, but the sides were full of old and broken kitchen and bathroom appliances. A loft, supported by two concrete columns, jutted out halfway over the ground floor, serving as half of a second floor. It, too, was covered in junk. The men carried Sarah across the floor of the dusty warehouse, through a door on the west wall, and into a moldy-smelling corridor lined with three offices. They went into the third office, which was empty except for a cot, a small table, and a chair. The cot was made up with blankets and a pillow. Adjoining the room was a bathroom containing a toilet, a sink, and a shower stall.
There were no windows, of course.
Yuri and Vlad placed the unconscious girl on the cot, covered her with a blanket, and left the room. Vlad locked the door and motioned for Eli to follow him into one of the other rooms.
“You did good,” he said. “I have your money.”
The middle room was both an office and a bedroom, as it contained another cot along with a desk and phone. Yuri stood in the doorway and watched as Vlad opened a drawer and removed a large white envelope. He tossed it to Eli, who opened it and glanced inside.
“It’s all there,” Vlad said. “But you can count it if it will make you feel better.”
Eli wanted to do just that, but he thought it would make him look weak. He didn’t want to appear weak in front of these guys.
“I’m sure it’s fine,” he said. “How did… how did the other thing go?”
“What other thing?”
“That guy Blaine?”
“Oh, Blaine,” Yuri said. “That went… very well.”
Eli nodded. “Well, I guess your people are pretty happy, then. I think everything I found out from her”—he gestured with his head toward the next room—“will be accurate. Her father is the one you’re looking for.”
Vlad spoke again. “Like I said, you did good. Now, we’ve made you a nice cozy place to sleep in the loft in there. Sorry, but there are no more vacancies back here. Yuri sleeps in the next room, I have this one, and our guest has the other one.”
“I know,” Eli said. “I’ll be all right.”
“How about the girl’s friend?” Yuri asked.
Eli shrugged. “I don’t know. I haven’t talked to Noel. He got her in the car and drove away. I assume everything is fine. By the way, don’t you think you should move your cars?”
“We were going to do that,” Yuri replied. “We’ll put ’em in the back and cover them with a tarp. You should do the same.”
The three men left the warehouse, moved their vehicles, and met back in the little office.
“Good,” Yuri said. “Let’s get some sleep, boys.” He held out his hand to Eli. Eli shook it, and then he grasped Vlad’s hand. He nodded and left the room, following the corridor back to the warehouse. He ascended the wooden stairs leading to the loft and found the sleeping bag in the back corner.
As he undressed and climbed into the bedroll, Eli wondered if he was going to hell.
18
Southeastern Turkey is beautiful, but it’s a bitch to travel through. It’s extremely rugged terrain. I’m afraid that Reza’s Pazhan doesn’t have the oomph to continuously travel up and down the mountain roads. The car slows down considerably on an uphill incline. While northeastern Iran is also mountainous, it doesn’t compare to this part of Turkey. The Caucasus range is vast and the roads are not as well kept. I’m lucky that it isn’t winter, for then it would really be difficult. It can be bitterly cold and snowy between December and April, and I’m pushing it by being here at the very end of March. On the higher slopes there’s still a lot of snow and ice, and I’ve taken to adjusting the temperature controls on my uniform to keep me warm.