White Mountain (39 page)

“I can see she is important to you.
 
So Waller didn’t overstate the obvious.
 
She
is
the key, after all.”

Isabella saw shock come and go on her uncle’s face, and then he turned away to pick u the phone.

“What do you mean?” she whispered.
 
“Why did you say I was the key?”

Rostov smiled.
 
“As soon as the others arrive, we will talk.”

David’s hands were shaking as he dialed Jasper’s room.
 
When Jasper answered, David didn’t waste words.

“Get the others and come to my room.
 
Immediately.”

He hung up before Jasper could question him.

“There,” he said.
 
“I’ve done what you asked.
 
You don’t need Isabella.
 
I know you can’t let her go yet, but just tie her up and take us instead.
 
No one will find her until you’re far, far away.”

Rostov laughed.
 
“I don’t want you, old man.
 
I don’t want any of you.”
 
Then he pointed the gun at Isabella.
 
“I don’t even
want
her…not that she wouldn’t be special, I’m sure.”

Isabella’s stomach churned as her mind was screaming Jack’s name.

“Then what in hell do you hope to gain from all this/” David asked.

“Shut up!
 
You will all know soon enough,” Rostov snapped.

Seconds later, they heard voices in the hall, then the sound of approaching footsteps.

“They’re coming,” Isabella moaned.
 
“Oh Lord, they’re walking into a trap.”

“Open your mouth and he’s dead,” Rostov snapped, and jammed the gun against David’s cheek.

She cast a frantic look at David’s face His eyes were closed, his face white as a sheet.

The door swung inward.
 
Jasper was in front, with the others close behind.

“David, what on earth is—“

He gasped, then froze.

“Get inside,” Rostov snapped.
 
“Do it now, or he’s a dead man.”

The quartet slipped inside, then plastered themselves against the wall…four old men, horror-stricken and mute.

“What’s happening?’ Thomas finally asked, his voice shaky with fear.

“Please let him sit down,” Isabella begged.
 
“he just got out of the hospital.”

Rostov frowned, then waved the old man to the other chair opposite the fire.
 
John took Thomas by one arm, and Rufus took the other, as they helped Thomas to a seat.
 
Jasper’s gaze was fixed on David, as if trying to read his mind, but David wouldn’t look at him.
 
He wouldn’t look anywhere but at the floor.

“Now…how would you say this?
 
Oh yes…I know,” Rostov said.
 
“Is not his cozy?”

Suddenly David looked up, his face contorted in anger.

“They’re here, as you asked.
 
Now what do you want?”

Rostov took Frank’s diary from his pocket and tossed it onto the floor by their feet.

“What’s that?” Jasper asked.

“Vaclav Waller’s diary,” Rostov said.

“Jesus, Mary and Joseph,” Rufus muttered, and cast a frantic look at the others.

“Who’s Vaclav Waller?” Isabella asked.

Rostov smirked.
 
“So…she doesn’t know all the little secrets, eh?”

“Shut up,” David said.
 
“Just tell us what you want and be gone.”

“Money!”
 
Rostov said.
 
“I need money to disappear.”

“I have money in the safe,” Isabella said as she jumped to her feet.
 
“You can have it all.
 
Just don’t hurt us.”

Rostov slapped her aside with the butt of his gun.
 
She staggered and fell in front of where Thomas was sitting, and as she did, it brought five old men to their feet.

Rostov took a step back and aimed the gun at her head.

“One move and she’s dead,” he said.
 
“sit down, and don’t get up unless I tell you.”
 
Then he looked at Isabella.
 
“That goes for you, too.”

Her ears were ringing from the blow as she crawled to her knees.
 
Jasper glared at Rostov and then helped he back to her chair, as if daring the Russian to shoot.

Rostov sneered.
 
This was better than he’d hoped fro.
 
It was obvious that they would do anything to keep her safe.

“I don’t want your petty cash, Isabella Abbott.
 
I want money enough to disappear.
 
I have decided I do not want to return to Russia.”

“Why did you come in the first place?” she asked.

Rostov looked at her, a little surprised by her attitude.
 
Most women would be cowering from his threat.
 
She was bruised and bleeding and still had the nerve to meet his gaze.

“Because I was sent,” he said.

“To kill Uncle Frank?”

He snorted lightly.
 
“Uncle Frank chose to kill himself.”

“I don’t believe you,” Isabella said.
 
“he wouldn’t do that.”

“Ah…but he did,” Rostov said.
 
“He chose to die rather than to come with me.”
 
He shrugged.
 
“I can’t say I blame him.
 
Russia does not look favorably upon her defectors.
 
Besides, he was already dying.
 
My arrival only hastened his exit.”

“Dying?” she gasped.

Rostov shrugged.
 
“Some kind of cancer.
 
I suppose.
 
The medicine was in his room, along with the diary.
 
All you had to do was look.”

Isabella gsped again in disbelief, looking for her uncles to deny what he’d said.
 
But when they kept silent, she realized that what Rostov had said was no secret to them.

She looked at David.
 
“is this it?” she asked.
 
“Is this the secret?
 
Was his name Vaclav Waller, and did you all help him defect?”

David’s head was bowed, and the others wouldn’t look at her.

Anger welled in Isabella, pushing past her fear.
 
He body was shaking, her face streaked with tears.

“Why won’t somebody tell me what’s going on?”

“Shut up!” Rostov yelled.
 
“All you need to know is that I want one hundred thousand dollars in small bills or you dir.”

Jack slipped into the dining room through the terrace doors.
 
The room was empty of guests.
 
Only a few of the wait staff were in the area, straightening up chairs and sweeping up for the night.
 
They were startled by his sudden appearance, as well as the rifle on his back.

“Have you seen Isabella?” he asked.

“Not since dinner,” a waitress said.

He moved through the room into the lobby.
 
Delia was not at the desk.
 
He slipped past the stairs toward the family quarters and knocked on her door.
 
No one answered, and the door was locked.
 
Quietly, he picked the lock and slipped inside.
 
The rooms were empty and quiet.
 
Too quiet.

Exiting quickly, he made for the stairs, taking them two at a time.
 
When he reached the third floor landing, he plastered himself against the wall, listening for sound of trouble, but he heard nothing.

He started down the hall, pausing at every door to listen for sounds of life inside, but everything was quiet.
 
Then, just as he was about to call out her name, he heard someone shout.

Grabbing his handgun, he started down the hall, moving quietly but with haste.
 
Again he heard voices, this time all talking at once.
 
He frowned.
 
Then he heard Isabella shout and someone telling her to shut up, and he knew he’d found Victor Ross.

His heart sank.
 
Ross had done the unthinkable.
 
He’d come back to the scene of the crime—something none of them had expected.
 
He glanced at his watch.
 
It was past time to call in.
 
Travis would already be heading down the mountain.
 
But from the sounds inside the room, he couldn’t afford to wait for the men to arrive.
 
The only thing he could do was go in before someone got hurt.
 
Maybe he could stall Ross long enough for the search team to arrive, but Travis needed to know where they would be.

Reluctantly, Jack ran all the way to the end of the hall, then ducked into an alcove and keyed up the mike.

“Travis, this is Jack, come in.
 
Over.”

A short burst of static sounded, and then Jack heard Travis’s voice.

“This is Travis.
 
What did you find?”

“He’s here,” Jack said.
 
“On the third floor, last room on the right.
 
He’s taken hostages.
 
I can’t tell how many, but I know Isabella is there.
 
I heard her voice.”

“We’re on our way,” Travis said.

“I can’t wait,” Jack said.
 
“I’m going in now.
 
Maybe I can stall him before he does something we can’t fix.”

“You need to wait,” Travis said.
 
“There’s no telling—“

“I’m not taking the radio,” Jack said.
 
I’ don’t want him to know you’re on the way.
 
Just get here as fast and as silently as you can.”

“I’ll radio the copper to drop some men.”

“No!” Jack said abruptly.
 
“He’ll hear it.
 
If he starts shooting, I won’t be ablt to control the damage, and I wan’t risk their lives.”

“Damn it, Dolan, you and I both know that the last thing a good agent does is give himself up as another hotage.
 
You’re playing into his hands if you do.”

“Just shut up and hurry,” Jack said, then turned off the radio and laid it on the floor.

Then he took out his handgun, slipped it in the top of his boot, pulled his pants down over it and dropped the holster on the floor.
 
Maybe Ross would think the only weapon he was carrying was the rifle, so when he was disarmed, he would still have a chance.

He moved toward the room again, this time taking no measures to disguise his footsteps.
 
He didn’t want Ross to know he’d already been made.

Stunned by Ross’s demand, Isabella shook her head in disbelief.

“Why on earth do you think we could come up with an amount of money like that?
 
Look around you.
 
This is an old hotel.
 
The only guests we have are the ones who come to the clinic.
 
The restaurant barely pays for itself.
 
We are not wealthy people.
 
Your demands are ridiculous.”

Rostov glared at her.
 
“You lie.
 
You live like a queen in this place.
 
Your father and these old men are doctors….American doctors have money.”

“Only two are doctors,” Isabella argued.
 
“And they’ve been retired for years.”

Rostov laughed.
 
“So much you still don’t know,” he said, then pointed the gun at David’s face.
 
“Why don’t you tell her?
 
Why keep the little girl in the dark any longer?”

She looked at the men, waiting for them to deny what Ross was saying.
 
They only gave her long looks of pity.

Suddenly she burst out in anger.
 
“I can’t stand this!
 
No, I
won’t
stand this!
 
Not any longer!
 
You’re talking riddles.
 
All of you.”
 
Then she got to her feet and pointed at Ross.
 
“There is no money, so shoot us now and leave us to die in peace.”

Before Rostov could answer, there was a knock at the door.

“Isabella?
 
Honey?
 
Are you in there?”

Hope sprang and then sank within the same seconds.
 
Jack!
 
And Rostov would kill him.

“Jack, run!
 
Ross is holding us hostage!
 
You—“

Rostov hit her with his fist.
 
She went down in a heap just as Jack came through the door, his rifle aimed at Victor Ross.
 
He took one look at the woman on the floor and the man standing above her.
 
His voice was low, completely devoid of emotion, but the look in his eyes gave away his rage