"Just like we figured," Lamont said. "We knew he'd have guards."
"But how many?" Ronnie said.
"More than one, you can count on that," Nick said. "We need to find out if he ever leaves the property. It would be easier to take him if he was away from the house."
"Can we get Harker to put a satellite on it? That way if he does leave we'd know it."
"I already asked her. Let's go back to the city. We can't do anything until we have more information."
Nick was driving. He put the car in gear and started back toward Leipzig.
Traffic was light. The roads were clear of snow except for a few blowing flakes. The freeze had left patches of ice here and there on the pavement. They were still in the suburbs. Nick kept the speed down.
Selena was looking in the side mirror. "I think someone is following us."
"The blue Volvo?" Nick said. "I've been watching him. He showed up right after we left Gutenberg's house."
The Volvo was keeping back, never getting too close.
"Maybe it's just a car," Selena said.
"Maybe it's not. Let's find out."
Nick speeded up. After a brief hesitation the Volvo kept pace. They came to an intersection just as the light was changing and Nick turned right. The Volvo was caught at the light. Nick drove two blocks and turned left. He saw a gas station and pulled in behind the pumps, facing the way they'd come. The engine idled, the only sound in the car coming from the heater.
The blue Volvo went by.
"Let's play tag," Nick said.
He let several cars go by and then pulled out into traffic. Nick kept two or three cars between them and their quarry. Suddenly the Volvo picked up speed.
"He's made us," Ronnie said.
Nick sped up after him.
"He's turning onto the autobahn," Selena said.
Nick followed him onto the A14, headed away from Leipzig. The plows had been out in full force, clearing the six lane highway. A narrow median divided the blacktop road, bracketed on both sides by a low steel guardrail. Ahead, the Volvo accelerated away.
"Man, he's really moving," Lamont said.
"Most of the traffic's going the other way, into the city," Selena said.
They passed a speed limit sign. It read 130.
"That's in kilometers," Selena said. "Eighty-one miles per hour."
"We're going faster than that," Nick said.
They'd moved out of the suburbs and into open countryside. The Volvo continued to accelerate. They passed a car that had skidded off the road. The surface of the highway appeared clear of ice and snow. They came over a rise. Ahead, the road dipped down toward a low bridge crossing a canal. On the near side of the bridge a small group of people clustered near an ambulance. A police car was parked next to it with flashing lights. The rear end of a car stuck up out of the canal. Several more cars had skidded off the side of the road into the snow.
Ahead of them in the Volvo, Dupree was going over a hundred miles an hour. He saw the police and hit the brakes. The car went into a violent spin. Dupree tried to brake and steer. Nothing happened. The steering wheel felt as though it wasn't connected to anything. The Volvo spun down the slope, out of control. Frantic, Dupree pumped the brakes and twisted the wheel, with no result. People scrambled out of the way as the car hurtled toward them.
The Volvo slammed into the ambulance. The gas tank ruptured. A dull boom rolled along the highway. A balloon of orange flame wrapped itself around Dupree's car.
Nick started to brake and the car went sideways. He took his foot off the pedal and tried steering into the skid but nothing happened. The Mercedes was sideways in the middle of the road and sliding down the slope at eighty miles an hour. There was nothing he could do. He left the wheel where it was.
"Oh, shit," Ronnie said.
Next to Nick, Selena sat rigid in her seat. She gripped the dash as they sped toward the bridge and the canal. They flashed by the flaming wreckage, still sideways in the middle of the road. Two cops in black leather and peaked caps stared open-mouthed at the car as it went by. On the other side of the bridge Nick felt the wheels grip the road. He swerved and straightened out and kept going, leaving the crash scene behind.
"Holy shit." Lamont looked back at the wreckage. "What was that?"
"Black ice," Nick said. "No way to see it."
"Did you see the look on the faces of those policemen?" Selena asked.
"We better get off this road in case they still have a radio that works," Ronnie said. "There's an exit coming up ahead."
Nick left the Autobahn and pointed the car in the general direction of Leipzig. Selena turned on the GPS.
"I wonder who he was?" she said.
"I don't know but he was trouble."
"You think he was waiting at Gutenberg's for us to show up?"
"I'm not sure, but I might have seen him behind us after we left the hotel. He probably followed us from there. If he was waiting for us, it means Gutenberg knows we're on to him."
"That's not good," Ronnie said.
Watching the GPS, Selena said, "Take your next left and follow that road for the next twenty-five kilometers."
Nobody said anything for the rest of the drive back into the city.
CHAPTER 40
Colonel Dimitri Brusilov stood in the commander's hatch of his Armata T-14, studying the border post marking the boundary between Russia and Latvia through his binoculars. The road went through the post and straight to the Latvian capital of Riga, less than a day's drive away. Ominous black clouds were building on the horizon over the Baltic, signaling a major storm front moving in. It meant snow and poor visibility and problems for everyone. The sky had been overcast most of the day. It had briefly cleared up but Dimitri knew it wouldn't last long. Behind him the other tanks in his battalion idled easily, wasting fuel, waiting for the order to advance. The problem was the weather. Heavy cloud cover meant no air support. Now that it had finally cleared there was only an hour or two of daylight left. Someone in high command had screwed up.
The tanks were from the 4th Guards Tank Division, part of the rejuvenated 1st Guards Red Banner Tank Army. The Red Banner Tank Army had been famous during the Soviet era. Dimitri and his tanks were about to write a new chapter in the Army's history.
Dimitri had been chosen to be first over the border, a significant honor. He was determined to be worthy of it. He wasn't concerned about himself but he wasn't sure how his tank would hold up. All of the T-14s had electronic and mechanical teething problems and his tank was no exception.
The computers on the T-14 controlled everything, including the radar guided targeting, loading and defense systems that made the Armata such a formidable weapon. There had been issues with the weapons systems on this tank from the day it had rolled out of the factory. Dimitri had tried to commandeer a tank with fewer problems but he'd been told to make the best of it.
Dimitri's career in tanks had begun in a simpler era. The Armata was faster and more powerful than any tank he had ever commanded but he longed for the days when it didn't require specialized training in computers just to keep everything working. If something went wrong during this operation it could end his career.
Off to Dimitri's left, the driver's head stuck out through his hatch like an odd shaped pumpkin. Yuri came from a small village east of the Urals. At twenty-three years old he was full of piss and vinegar and ready to conquer the world. His enthusiasm was catching and he was an excellent driver. Dimitri was pleased to have him in his crew.