Amber Beach (50 page)

“Time’s up. Say good-bye, Pete. Ellen wanted privacy for her questions.”

Resnikov hesitated, then gave in. He was in no position to push and he knew it. “There will be other times.”

“Not if I can help it”, Jake said.

Ellen waited until the front door shut behind Resnikov and his car headed out the driveway.

“How did you get across Russia with the panel?” Ellen asked Kyle.

“Dollars”, he said succinctly. “You would be
amazed
what hard cash buys in the former Soviet Union.”

“Who did you buy?”

“Same people you do – whoever is for sale.”

Ellen gave Kyle a cool look. “You’re not being much help, babe.”

“Unless you owe someone more than money”, Jake said calmly to Kyle, “tell Uncle the method and keep the names to yourself.”

Kyle hesitated.

Archer came into the bedroom and leaned against the door frame. “That’s good advice. Don’t make any enemies until you have to.”

“I used the Russian military in Kaliningrad”, Kyle said to Ellen. “They haven’t been paid in so long they’re selling everything from socks to fighter jets in order to eat. They got me and the shipment to Kamchatka. I gave the truck to someone who was my height and coloring. He drove to Russia and disappeared with the truck to draw people off my trail.”

Archer and Jake exchanged swift looks.

“Nice work on short notice”, Archer said simply.

Jake nodded.

The look on Kyle’s face said that he wished he had been smarter sooner – with Marju, for instance.

For about ten seconds, the sound of Ellen’s red nails tapping against her leather purse was the only break in the
silence.

“Okay”, she said briskly.
“You’re in Kamchatka.
Then
what?”

“You saw the shipping carton for the amber”, Kyle said, his voice rough. “What do you think?”

“I think you went to that fishing outfit on the Kamchatka Peninsula and Vlad Kirov got you out of there along with the amber panel.”

Kyle nodded.

“So that really was you who came in through SeaTac?” Ellen asked.

“Yes.”

“Hell. I owe that guy in Immigration a twenty. I really thought it was the DOA using your passport. How did you kill him?”

Simultaneously Jake and Archer said, “No.”

They didn’t say anything else. They didn’t have to. Ellen moved on to her next question without a pause.

“If you were Marju’s dupe, why didn’t you call your family when you needed help?”

The corners of Kyle’s mouth turned down. “I thought I could take care of it myself. I sure as hell didn’t want to put their necks on the line.”

“Was Jake in on it with Marju?”

Kyle stared at her.

“Oh, come on”, Ellen said impatiently. “It wouldn’t be the
first time in history that a best friend and the best friend’s girl get it on in the sack and then dump one corner of the triangle.”

“Jay didn’t like Marju. He tried to warn me.” Kyle shrugged. “I didn’t listen. When it came to her, all my brains were below my belt.”

Ellen started to ask another question.

Jake beat her to it. “How did you find out about the amber panel?”

“In other words, who betrayed Kyle?” Ellen asked.

“Yeah.”

“Marju.”

“Wrong answer”, Jake told Ellen. “Marju doesn’t have the kind of connections to get to you.”

“What will you give me if I tell you?” Ellen asked.

“What do you want?” Jake replied.

“Is the panel genuine?”

“Like I told Pete, I haven’t done tests.”

“All I want is your expert opinion”, Ellen said.

“You’ll get it. Who betrayed Kyle’s escape route and destination to the Russians?”

The agent’s black eyebrows rose, revealing the intense blue of her eyes. “You planning a little revenge?”

“Why, is the leak one of yours?”

“No. The leak was Kirov’s brother-in-law. He’s a screw-up with a gambling habit. He traded the information about the amber panel for his gambling debts with the
mafiya.”

“And word got back to Pete.”

Ellen shrugged. “You know Resnikov better than I do, babe.”

“I doubt it. From the start you were all over this
panel
like a cat covering shit”, Jake said. “That tells me you already had a line on the Amber Room scam.”

“So you think the panel is a fake?” she asked quickly.

“For several years the Russian government has been
openly making a replica of the Amber Room, trying to reclaim a lost bit of heritage”, Jake said. “Then the government ran out of money for art, along
with everything else. The artisans weren’t paid. When they began making amber artifacts on their own and selling them the same
way – on their own – the
mafiya
moved in. They high-graded or outright stole amber from the Baltic mines and put the artisans to work making copies of old imperial splendor and selling them overseas.”

“Was the panel you saw part of the scam?” Ellen asked.

“It could have been. It also could have been real. Before you twist an opinion out of me, call your boss.”

Ellen went still. “Why?”

“If the Amber Room has been rediscovered and the communist nostalgia buffs in the military have it, or the Lithuanian separatists have it, Russia is in deep kimchi. If the room is fake and in the hands of people who want power more than money, the legitimate government of Russia still has the problem of proving the fraud or going right back into the kimchi. If the room is an outright
mafiya
hoax, a lot of money changes hands and it’s politics as usual. Before you box in your boss with my answer, make sure it’s the answer Uncle is ready to live with.”

Silence and the tapping of fingernails. Then Ellen gave Jake a genuine smile and headed for the door. “It’s a shame you got out of the business. See you around, babe.”

The door closed behind her.

Jake let out a long breath.

“Is Pete
mafiya,
government, or freelance?” Kyle asked.

“Good question”, Jake said. “He used to be government, but that doesn’t mean he won’t work whatever side of the street he happens to be on.”

Honor began rubbing her temples. Trying to keep track of who was doing what and with which and to whom – maybe – was enough to give her a headache.

“Call Pete a twenty-first-century entrepreneur”, Archer
suggested blandly. He looked at Jake. “Is Marju being ‘debriefed’ by Ellen’s people?”

“Probably. If Marju can’t cut a good enough deal with Uncle, she’ll go back to Russia and keep on selling out the Lithuanian freedom fighters. Or maybe she’s doubling for them against the Russians. The facts fit either way.”

“I’ll bet she’s doubling”, Kyle said bitterly.

“Why?” Jake asked.

“The only real passion she ever showed was for freeing Lithuania from Russia.”

“Then why did she team up with Resnikov?” Honor asked.

Kyle’s mouth lifted in an acid smile. “No doubt she had a plan for killing Resnikov and taking the panel for her precious Brotherhood. We’re lucky she didn’t kill us in the bargain.”

Honor blew out a hard breath. “What about Snake Eyes? I suppose he’s the Fairy Godmother in
drag?”

“Nope”, Jake said. “He’s
mafiya.
Marju’s cousin probably told him about the panel and he got greedy.”

“Where is Snake Eyes now?”

“On his way back to Kaliningrad if he’s smart”, Archer said. “If not, he’ll be caught, doubled, and sent back.”

“Doubled?” Honor asked.

“Sent back as a spy in exchange for not doing time in the United States.”

“That’s it!” she announced, closing her eyes. “I have a headache.”

Seconds later her eyes flew open. Jake was standing so close to her that she could feel the warmth of his breath. His fingers slid into her hair, rubbing her scalp, tracing all the tight muscles from her neck to the top of her skull.

“Headache, huh?” he asked. “I have just the thing.”

“Since when does spectacular sex cure headaches?” she retorted.

Then she remembered that two of her brothers were in the room.

Archer snickered.

“Who said anything about sex?” Jake asked, but his eyes told her that he liked the idea. “I was talking about taking the
Better Days
up the Inside Passage to Alaska.”

“What is the
Better Days?”
she asked.

“Jake’s boat. Another SeaSport”, Kyle said.

Jake ignored everyone but Honor. “What do you say to a boat trip that’s long enough for me to teach you everything I know?”

“About fishing?” she asked in disbelief. “Why would I do that?”

“I’ll let you use my rod”, he offered with a slow grin. Honor’s mouth opened. No sound came out.

“It’s customary for newlyweds to take a honeymoon”, Archer added blandly.

“Butt out, Archer”, Jake said. “Remember what I told you earlier.”

Honor looked at her oldest brother. “What is Jake talking about?”

“He said if I leaned on you or got between you two, he would take you so far away from the Donovan clan that it would take a day for e-mail to reach you.”

Her eyes widened. She looked at Jake almost warily, afraid to hope and unable to do anything else. “We’re not married, so there’s no point in a honeymoon.”

“We will be”, Jake said.

“Why?”

“Because you love me.”

She closed her eyes and smiled sadly, “Wrong answer, Jake.”

“Because I love you.”

Her eyes flew open, wide and questioning.

“You have my word”, he said simply.

Honor stood on tiptoe and wound her arms tightly around his neck. “In that case, love, let’s go fishing.”

Elizabeth Lowell’s many remarkable historical and contemporary novels include
New York Times
bestsellers,
Forget Me Not, Only Love, A Woman Without Lies, Autumn Lover
and
Winter Fire.
Her latest major accomplishments,
Amber Beach, Jade Island,
and
Pearl Cove
were instant
New York Times
bestsellers. Ms. Lowell has more than fifteen million books in print. She lives in Palm Springs, California, with her husband with whom she writes mystery novels under a pseudonym.

Amber Beach*
Autumn Lover
Beautiful Dreamer*

The Color of Death
Desert Rain*

Die in Plain Sight
Eden Burning*
Enchanted
Forbidden
Forget Me Not*
Jade Island*
Lover in the Rough*
Midnight in Ruby Bayou
Moving Target*
Only His
Only Love
Only Mine
Only You
Pearl Cove*
Remember Summer*

Running Scared
To the Ends of the Earth*
Where the Heart Is*
Winter Fire
A Woman Without Lies*

*Available as a PerfectBound e-book.