Milanovich’s death would create a power struggle in his organization. The only way to avoid mass bloodshed would be a division of the empire. Such a negotiation would take a year or more to materialize. It would be preceded by threats, challenges, and skirmishes. During that time frame, Victor would solidify his hold on his businesses in the New York City area. Instead of paying roof to Milanovich or anyone else, his hard-earned cash would go into a savings account for his grandson. No longer would his heir be denied part of his rightful inheritance because of a greedy old man’s insatiable appetite for money.
Victor had begun plotting his coup as soon as he was jailed in New Jersey a week ago. His lawyer had acted as conduit, relaying instructions to his men in New York and Kyiv. Victor’s mission had been threefold: get the charges against him dismissed, kill Milanovich, and acquire the formula. He’d accomplished two out of his three goals, and they were the most important. The formula was a luxury. He didn’t need it to survive, but it would have been the crowning moment of his career if it had happened. His earlier talk of revenge was mere theatre. Victor was a thief. Revenge was an emotion. Based on Victor’s experience, emotions weren’t going to enrich his grandson.
As for the boy and the girl, Victor was reminded of the time his daughter, Tara, took him to an animal shelter in New York City to find puppies for both of them. When she saw two mutts in a special cage, Tara inquired about them. An attendant told her they were destined for euthanasia. No, we’ll take them, Tara said. Initially Victor didn’t understand her decision. They’d come for puppies. Why would they want some scraggly looking mixed-breeds? In Victor’s experience, the strong ate the weak. Why would she care about two mutts?
Tara had put her arm around her father and whispered three words in his ear.
Let them live.
CHAPTER 56
The explosions knocked Bobby and Eva off their feet. Bobby rose quickly, regained his senses, and looked for Eva. To his surprise, she’d already gotten up. She stood two steps ahead waiting for him. There wasn’t a hint of anxiety in her expression. It was as though they were back in the Zone, searching for scraps amidst the radioactive rubble, looking out for each other.
A double glass door opened up onto a veranda. Smoke billowed from the direction of the front entrance. The rat-tat-tat of gunfire filled the air. Two guards were perched beneath the concrete banister shooting at someone in the distance. Men shouted instructions to each other.
Bullets whizzed over Bobby and Eva’s heads.
They dropped to the ground.
“Someone’s shooting at guards from beyond the entrance,” Bobby said. “Nadia and the rich guy. They must not have come alone.”
He glanced at the outdoor staircase to the right. It wound its way up to the third and fourth floors of the castle.
“There’ll be no guards in the back,” he said. “They’re all here returning fire. Think you can rappel down a cliff?”
“If you can do it, I can do it,” Eva said. “We’re the same.”
Bobby and Eva waited until the bodyguards raised their rifles and fired at their targets on the ground beyond the castle. Then they raced up the staircase, keeping their heads low. They wound their way around the entire building until they ended up at the top level where Bobby and Luo had arrived. They didn’t encounter any guards. They were all preoccupied with the attack on the property as Bobby had suspected.
Cracks of gunfire echoed around the castle. Bobby found the rope and grapple where Luo had hidden them. He removed his climbing gloves from his pocket and gave them to Eva. Told her she’d land on a grassy knoll beneath the foundation.
Eva nodded, climbed over the guardrail, and descended down the side of the cliff. She supported herself effortlessly. After six steps she gained confidence and accelerated her pace. From Bobby’s vantage point looking down past the guardrail, Eva appeared to be gliding backward from heaven to earth.
When she reached the bottom, Bobby pulled the rope back up. He heard voices. Men. At least two of them. They weren’t coming from the outdoor stairs. They were coming from inside the Swallow’s Nest. More guards were coming to fortify the flanks along the front walls, Bobby thought.
Bobby picked up his pace. He swung the rope over the guardrail and rappelled down the side of the cliff with long, bold kicks to the face of the cliff. The rope burned his hands but he barely felt the pain.
Eva was waiting for him at the bottom of the cliff. He slid onto solid ground beside her. She’d already found the knapsacks and pulled the skates out. They sat down on the ground and took their shoes off. Eva wasn’t wearing socks.
“Your father bought you a pair just in case,” Bobby said. “They’re in your skates.”
Eva froze. “My father?”
Bobby nodded but continued lacing his skate. “The guy who saved us. The guy with the boomerangs. His name was Luo. He was your father.”
Eva stared at Bobby. “I don’t know what to say to something like that.”
Bobby shrugged. “I hear you. We can talk about it later. The reason I mentioned it is I didn’t want to take credit for what your father had done.”
“You have a flashlight?”
Bobby glanced at Eva, concerned she was losing a grip on the urgency of the situation. “What?”
“A penlight. A flashlight. Do you have a flashlight?”
“We can’t shine a light. You want them to see us? Put your socks on. We have to move.”
“I will not put my socks on until you shine a light on my right foot. You can come up close and shield it with your other hand to keep it dim.”
Bobby knew better than to argue with her. No one was more stubborn than Eva, except possibly for the man in the mirror. He slid closer to her. She stuck out her right foot. Bobby cupped his left hand around the circumference of the flashlight.
“Shine it at my toes,” Eva said. “Just a quick flash so we don’t make too much light.”
Bobby turned the flashlight on, caught a glimpse of normal-looking toes, and turned the light off. “You’ve got a callus on the bottom of the big one but otherwise they’re fine. Can we go now?”
Eva grabbed her toes and pulled them back. “Now shine it again.”
Bobby flashed the light again.
Black insects nestled deep in the groove where the toes met her foot. As if that wasn’t bizarre enough, the insects weren’t moving. They were dead.
“That’s disgusting,” Bobby said. “What are they? Some sort of ticks?”
“Look closer.”
Bobby put his face up against Eva’s foot and shined the light one more time.
The black limbs weren’t feet and antennae. They were lines. In fact, Bobby wasn’t looking at a row of insects. He was staring at a drawing. The drawing consisted of tiny chemical symbols.
“The formula,” Bobby said.
“Tattoo,” Eva said. Her teeth shone in the dark. “Dr. Arkady said no one ever looks under the toes.”
Eva slipped on her socks and put on her skates. Bobby finished lacing his own. They strapped on their head lights.
“We’re going to change the world,” Bobby said. “And we might get rich, too.”
“As long as we stay together,” Eva said.
Bobby looked into her eyes. “I don’t think that’s going to be a problem. Do you?”
“No. No problem at all.”
They skated onto Lake Baikal side by side. A quarter moon hung over the ice. Stars glittered in the sky. Bobby glanced at Eva. She looked at him. Neither of them showed any emotion but they squeezed their hands at the same time. Bobby wondered how life could possibly get any better, but it soon would. They had each other. They had the formula.