“Because I’m pursuing a treasure.”
The formula. Luo knew about the formula. That still didn’t explain where he’d picked up Bobby’s trail—
The boomerangs.
Luo was the angel! He was the one who’d saved their lives.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. What treasure?”
“The girl you used to scavenge with in the Zone. Her name is Eva. They say she’s dead, but I think that’s a lie. I think she’s alive. And you either know where she is or you’re looking for her, too. You see, I am her father. And she is the treasure I seek.”
CHAPTER 39
Luo studied Adam Tesla’s reaction. He’d been impressive from the moment Luo had met him. Cordial but not engaging. Responsive but not revealing. The sound of Eva’s name, however, had caused him to freeze. It had injected an intensity into the boy’s eyes.
“I don’t know any Eva,” Adam said.
“I was a soldier in the Russian army. On leave in Moscow. Eva’s mother was a student at a university. She was studying nursing. I met her. We became sweethearts. I did well in the Army. I liked the structure. I liked the action. We exchanged letters, but I rarely came home. I only saw Eva three times before her mother died. She was two. Her aunt and uncle took care of her from then on. The war in Chechnya broke out. I lost touch with them. But I never forgot. I have this picture. She’s so young you may not recognize her but take a look anyway.”
Luo fished a photo out of his wallet. It was a picture of Eva and her mother when his daughter was two years old.
Adam glanced at it. He revealed no emotion. He handed the photo back to Luo.
“Why do you think she’s alive?” Adam said.
“Because a wolf only finds peace with others.”
Adam frowned. “Excuse me?”
Luo laughed. “Something the groundskeeper at the cemetery told me. I went to visit her grave. The groundskeeper told me what he knew. I got curious. I went to your old school. Asked some questions. The two of you had become inseparable. There were rumors you scavenged in the Zone. I went there and spoke to a guard. He’s ex-military, too. Guards in the Zone hear stories after the fact. I bribed him. He told me he heard something about the Zaroff Seven and a pair of scavengers that fit your descriptions. He also told me an American woman had been seen in the Zone twice in the span of a year. I found her driver, a professor named Anton Medved, and the scavenger who’d brought her in. A man named Hayder. The babushka, the Division of Nervous Pathologies, Ksenia and Denys Melnik. They all pointed to a treasure. Something priceless in the hands of a boy and a girl. And now here we are. Both looking for the same thing. Except I don’t care about money. I only care about the girl.”
Adam studied him. “I only care about the girl, too.”
“Then we should discuss a partnership.”
“But if you were following me the entire time, you had to have seen her face. You had to have seen the driver and the girl. On a train, in one of the stations, in the ferry building. You had to have seen her face.”
“Obviously I knew you’d jumped under the truck for a reason—”
“Then why didn’t you walk right up to her and look in her eyes? Why didn’t you pretend to bump into them or something like that?”
Luo hung his head. “I did.”
“And?”
“I didn’t recognize her. I thought it would be like the cinema, you know? I thought I’d see some part of her mother or me but I just wasn’t sure. The driver kept her so wrapped up in that hood I wasn’t even sure she was a girl. And I couldn’t try again or he’d become suspicious. My best move was to keep following you. Be patient. You know about patience, don’t you?”
“I know about patience. But how is the situation better now? We don’t even know where she is anymore.”
“I’m not worried about that. I’ll find her. And I will be better off because we won’t be in a public place. And their guard will be down. They won’t be expecting me. They won’t be expecting us.”
“Us?”
“Two men stand a much better chance than one.”
“Why should I trust you?” Adam said. “How do I know you’re really Eva’s father? How do I know you didn’t make all this up to earn my trust so you can get the other treasure? The one everyone else wants. How do I know you’re not lying?”
“That’s the beauty of the situation. It doesn’t matter if I’m lying or telling the truth.”
“Why not?”
“If I’m lying, and I’m not Eva’s father, and all I want is this other treasure, our interests are still aligned. It will do me no good if you are harmed, and it will do me no good if she is harmed. We can still help each other.”
“Meaning, I can trust you no matter what, up until that moment in time when I won’t be able to trust you at all.”
Luo grinned. “Couldn’t have said it better myself.”
“My father had a name for this type of scenario.”
“What did he call it?”
“A fool’s bargain.”
“Your father was a wise man. We are all fools for falling in love. I fell in love once. That love produced a child. And then you fell in love. With that child. Most men are fools until they die, and those who aren’t are already dead.”
“I would prefer to stay alive. The thing is, even in a fool’s bargain, there has to be some token of trust to get the relationship started. If I give you my trust, what will you give me?”
Luo shrugged. “What do you want?”
“What else do you have in that bag besides Leninade?”
“A toothbrush, some soap, a towel, some bottled water, some reindeer jerky, and these.” He pulled out three boomerangs. “Ever use one?”
Bobby shook his head.
“Then they’ll be of no use to you.”
Luo put the boomerangs back in the bag and placed it on the floor. He lifted his left pant leg. A ten-inch knife pressed against his calf. He unstrapped the holster and offered it to Bobby.
“It’s a G10 handle — the stuff they use for structural supports — and a high-carbon Damascus blade,” Luo said. “It never let me down in the tundra or the battlefield. Check it out.”
Adam took the holster. He slipped the knife from its sheath. The midnight blue handle seemed to mold to his hand.
“You like it?” Luo said.
“I don’t like guns or knives. But I like this one.”
“I thought you might. Keep it.”
“Really?”
“As a token of good faith.”
“Thanks.”
“Make sure you don’t strap it too tight.”
“I thought I’d just keep it in my bag.”
“Not a good idea.”
“Why?”
“Two reasons. You may need to drop your bag to defend yourself. And if you get caught, your bag will get searched before your legs.”
“What do you have strapped to your other leg?” Bobby said.
Luo looked up but didn’t answer. For the first time, Adam had asked him a question he hadn’t expected.
“Let’s hope you don’t have to find out.”
Adam attached the holster with the knife flush on his calf.
“No,” Luo said. “Put the knife to the outside of the leg. Secure both Velcro straps tight but not too tight. Make sure it’s comfortable.”
Bobby stood up and walked around. “What do you do for a living?”
Luo grinned. “I thought you didn’t want to talk. I thought you wanted to get some rest.”
“I do. But sometimes a question nags at me and keeps me awake.”
“I get that, too. I’m a retired soldier living on a pension. Sometimes people hire me to find people for them. In this case, I hired myself.”
“Do you have a mobile phone?”
Luo reached into his knapsack and pulled out a cell phone. “Coverage could be spotty as soon as we get away from Vladivostok. If you need to make a call, I’d make it now.”