Carpathian (25 page)

“The Sayeret,” Collins said and took a deep breath. “If these fellas are on the move somewhere, whoever is at that somewhere is in for a world of hurt. These men are killers. That’s what they do.”

“Can you explain, Jack?” Alice asked.

“No. Our intelligence on the Sayeret is highly classified. They are the Israeli army’s best, I mean the very best of their crop of young men. They go, do, and kill whoever is placed in front of them. If they’re moving there’s a reason for it.”

“Well, the president has been brought up to speed on Alice’s hunch. That coupled with our trouble in Rome involving the Mossad, and now with this movement of a unit that never moves unless the enemies of Israel need some ass kicking in a covert manner, and now we have word from our State Department in a memo that was read by practically no one that the Egyptian minister of antiquities and their Foreign Office have filed a complaint against Romania for the theft of Egyptian artifacts. The sale of these artifacts was traced to a broker who was listed somewhere in the fine print of the sales contract, a Russian national who just happens to be opening one of the most luxurious hotel-casinos in Eastern Europe. Worth in the neighborhood of two and half billion dollars, it is a surprising amount from a man the former KGB said never amounted to much in the world of Russian organized crime.”

“That alone should—”

Niles held up his hand to stay Alice’s complaint.

“To make a long story short, the president has given me the leeway needed to start operations. The Event has already been declared—target is the southern Carpathians—the area known as the Patinas Pass.”

Alice lowered her head and then suddenly looked up at Niles.

“Yes, Alice, you’re in the lead. It’s your last Event, so make it count or the senator will never let you live it down when he sees you again. And you know he’s watching.”

Everyone looked at the spot in the office Niles was looking at. It was the new oil painting of former director Garrison Lee scowling at them from the gilded frame that sat next to Abraham Lincoln’s picture.

They all stood to start the massive process of moving Department 5656 into Event mode, which would bring every departmental element inside the complex under the desert into the initial phases of getting a plan together. All personnel were now on full alert for a possible history-altering change in the human timeline—exactly what Department 5656 was created for—recognizing that change in history and sorting it out.

Alice lagged behind with Niles as she looked upon the portrait she absolutely hated. Not because of the scowl that everyone agreed was Garrison Lee in a nutshell, but because she knew Lee hated anything having to do with memorializing him or his life’s work at the Group.

“I believe this is yours.” Niles held the thick file Alice had worked on for almost half a century.

“Thank you, Niles.” She placed a hand on Compton’s chest and patted it twice as she headed for the double doors.

Compton placed his hands in his pockets and walked over to the large oil painting. He looked at his old friend and mentor and shook his head.

“The times they are-a-changin’, my old friend.”

PART TWO

REBIRTH

For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.

—Rudyard Kipling

6

SOUTHEAST ROMANIA, DACIAN HOT SPRINGS QUADRANGLE

The two richly appointed cable cars were running normally up and down the massive eight-cable system. There had not been one flaw in the computer programming that ran the operation. With the cars operational and the final preparations for the extensive private weekend nearing completion, Janos Vajic was starting to get that horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach as they neared the beginning of what could possibly be the end of his dream.

Janos watched as several workers arriving from the castle exited the cable car. The men seemed to be in a far better mood since the actions of the night before in the mountains high above the castle. As Janos turned away he saw Gina step onto the cable car platform high above the atrium. She held out a flimsy sheet of paper.

“This was just faxed over from Bucharest.”

Vajic took the paper and scanned it very quickly.

“What in the hell is Zallas trying to do to us? He has every known black marketer, gangster, and white-collar criminal in the world on this list. If the press were to sneak in here during the weekend we would never open, and I don’t care if Zallas has the interior minister in his pocket or not. They will shut us down through international pressure alone!” He crumpled up the guest list and threw it over the edge of the cable car platform where it landed in a geranium bush.

“I figure all we can do is keep the security as tight as—”

“We will not be handling the security. The resort security staff is to step aside.”

“What? This is a casino, Janos; we have to have armed security at all—”

“Zallas is handling the security for this weekend. His own people will be here and he says it’s double our normal staff. He said the press will not get to within a hundred miles of Edge of the World.”

Janos could see his general manager deflate. He put an arm around her.

“I have regretted my decision on partnering with this man from the first day. It’s like he never had money before and now he’s crazed about how to spend it. It’s like the trouble with the villagers up in the pass: he sends a backward Russian up there in a pretend hunt, and only he comes back down, but the attacks have ceased. I just don’t understand it.”

“Where is that Neanderthal anyway?” Gina asked as she was led to the cable car that had just arrived.

“Look here,” Vajic said as he gestured out of the large plate glass window in the rear of the car. He was pointing far below to the swimming pool, which stretched five hundred feet in the back of the resort. Sitting by the pool was the Russian. He sat in a chaise longue and didn’t move.

“What’s he doing?” Gina asked.

“He’s been sitting there since the maintenance people showed up at four this morning. He hasn’t moved. He refuses food and water. He just sits and stares waiting for Zallas to arrive.”

“What’s wrong with him, and where are the Romanian hunters that accompanied him?”

“They’re missing. Or at least we haven’t seen a trace of them since they left here last night. He just mumbles about the pass,” he said as he glanced upward along the cables and the mountain beyond. “That’s it. He won’t move until he reports directly to Zallas.”

Gina watched the still and silent man far below. Then she turned to Janos.

“I have the most horrible feeling that we are in the middle of something here that we have no control over.”

Janos Vajic stepped to the front of the cable car and saw the black Mercedes approach from the south. He took a deep breath and then faced his general manager.

“Well, the man who is in control has just arrived.”

As Gina followed Vajic’s gaze she saw over fifty vehicles as they wound their way toward the richest resort in the Eastern world.

The criminal invasion of the Carpathians had begun.

EVENT GROUP COMPLEX, NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, NEVADA

Jack heard the knock on the door and Carl Everett, looking haggard and half asleep, stuck his head inside.

“I’ve noticed that the red Event lights are lit up like the Fourth of July around here. Fill me in on what we’ve missed?”

“You bet. Have a seat, Carl. We need to talk.”

Everett opened the office door and stepped in. He rubbed his eyes and took a seat in front of the desk.

“I thought I lost you for a minute over there. Is Ryan all right?”

“He slammed into his bunk doing mach one. He’ll not be with us for a while, double jet lag and all.”

“What about you?”

Everett didn’t answer for a moment as he took in the colonel.

“I’m pissed at a woman and a double-dealing little Mossad colonel who tried to kill us. But that’s not what’s on my mind at the moment. Can we go off subject for a second, Colonel?”

Jack leaned back in his chair and waited for the shoe to fall. He had noticed Carl had addressed him by his Army rank behind closed doors, something the Navy SEAL ordinarily never did. Collins nodded his head that he should continue.

“I think it only proper that I inform my commanding officer that I have applied for transfer to the new naval surface warfare center being set up at Cape Canaveral.”

Jack’s brows arched as he listened to his second in command, a man he had known in some tough times and a true friend. He knew why this was happening.

“The new euphemism for space warfare center? The surface part of the name has little to do with it. You’re not a shipboard officer, Carl. You’re something far more special than that.”

“Some would say, Colonel. But then again you cut me out of the loop in the search for your sister’s killer. That’s personal to me because I knew and liked Lynn. I think it best that I get on with this new program and see if I can help out some.”

“I wasn’t worried about you and Ryan while you were in Rome. Even when I knew your lives were in jeopardy. I can live with that. I can allow you to go into harm’s way as long as it’s in the line of duty and under the auspices of this department, the one in which you are assigned.” Jack stood from his chair and paced to the door and locked it and then turned and walked to his desk and sat. “I will not lose friends on a personal quest of vengeance when they find enough death around them every damn day right here in this madhouse of history. But that is to be expected and accepted. You dying performing a criminal act on my behalf is not, nor will it ever be, acceptable, Carl.”

Everett didn’t look away from Jack’s glaring eyes.

“That’s your mistake, Jack. If you can’t see the basic problem here you are far blinder than you realize. You are making mistakes not only in judgment on how to best go about finding your sister’s murderer, you’re cutting off the sounding boards and genius that make things work here at the Event Group, and that’s the people who believe they are more than just a goddamn team to you.”

Collins was trying to get everything settled in his mind from Everett’s verbal assault. For the first time in his adult life he didn’t know how to proceed.

“This communication you have going with the Frenchman has to stop, Jack.” Everett stood and faced his friend. “Farbeaux may be assisting you because you think he is better equipped to do what you plan on doing, finding the scumbag and killing him. But don’t you see that Henri Farbeaux doesn’t do anything without it benefiting Henri Farbeaux. He will kill you if he gets the chance—make no mistake about that.”

“There is a method to my madness, Carl. He may do what you say he will—maybe just to get Sarah, who knows, but there is
one
element in this equation you’re missing—that son of a bitch is expendable, you and my friends are not. No more people are being lost on my account. In the line of duty is one thing, dying for something personal is another.”

Everett set his jaw muscles and for the first time that Navy SEAL stare was directed at Jack.

“Transfer request stands. I’m needed elsewhere with everything coming down all over the world.”

Jack Collins took a deep breath and then sat into his chair. He looked at Everett and then down at his desk blotter. He nodded his head in agreement.

Carl Everett came to attention and saluted. Jack looked up and frowned.

“The Navy doesn’t salute indoors, Captain—dismissed.”

Everett allowed his gesture of respect to slip by the wayside. He turned abruptly and then unlocked the door and stepped out of the office.

As Europa sounded a tone over the speaker system embedded in the walls, Jack was staring at nothing. All thought of the past day’s events had slipped into a neutral position. He had just lost one of the best friends he had in the world because of the stubborn streak Sarah had warned him about a million and one times.

“Attention all personnel, as of 1245 hours this date an operational order has been issued by the director of Department 5656 declaring an Event in the Carpathian region of Romania. All departmental supervisors are to report to the main conference room immediately. All personnel are restricted to base and Gates 1 and 2 are now closed. Alert 2 status has been upgraded—full security measures are hereby in effect.”

Jack didn’t hear a word of the supercomputer as she gave the Event alert. His mind was on his friends—the ones he was losing because of his fears and the fear of others above him in rank.

Outside the office the Event teams were forming. The assault on the Carpathians was now an official case file.

The Event Group was now in its element.

PATINAS PASS, CARPATHIAN MOUNTAINS, ROMANIA

The moon was bright and the villagers of Patinas were out in the cool of the evening. The village itself would be considered large for most in the region. The census taken in 1980 by the former communist government listed the occupants of that particular protected area as 752. The center square of the village of stone and wood houses was alight with the fire that was built every evening for the families of man to congregate and share stories on the events of their day. It had been a tradition for over two thousand years. The families gathered and laughed and sang and played their string instruments to the delight of the children. Most of the musical instruments were new and shiny and the electric lighting now coursing through the small village even newer than the instruments that began showing up the past two years as gifts from the man who would soon be their king.

As the Romanian Catholic church bell rang just once announcing the hour of nine, all those around the fire and sitting on the grass listening to the music started to say their good nights and good-byes to family and friends. As they all laughed their way to their houses or out of town for their farms and flocks, there was only one who remained behind. The old woman sat in her customary chair after waving off several of her nephews and nieces as they tried to persuade her not to sit out in the damp night.