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Snorting Cal said, “Yeah. Fuckin’ disease at this point for me.”
Alex wiped his watering eyes. “Want to talk about it?”
Rubbing his hands down his thighs, Cal muttered, “I’m just frustrated, Alex. Frustrated we haven’t found a damn trace of that seaplane. Or where the hell it went.”
“It did not help that the satellite passing over Central America had already flown over that area minutes earlier. It left a hole we could not fill in.” Alex glanced at Cal’s hard profile. He could see the anxiety, the worry, in his narrowed eyes, the way his mouth was taut and thinned. Even his clasped hands were tight. He reached out, patting Cal’s taut shoulder. “We will find Sky. I know we will.” Removing his hand, he anchored his elbows on his thighs as well. The Pacific Ocean felt calming to Alex. He liked the lapping of the water against the rocks that were no more than a hundred feet away from where the condo had been built.
“We need a break,” Cal uttered. “Something… anything…”
“I know,” Alex rasped. “I have been working with this Lieutenant Anderson on the comms satellite that picks up cell phone, radio, and land line traffic. Yesterday, I asked Butch to get the satellite parked over Central America. Anderson knows Russian. She is the one that’s been picking up more Russian traffic in that region of late. We both felt if we could get the satellites in synchronous orbit so they remained over that area, we would have a better chance of finding something.”
“I didn’t know you’d have any Russian being spoken in Central America. Maybe South America,” Cal uttered.
Alex snorted. “Russian mafia is spreading out like a cancer through all Central and South America. The mafia is now on both coasts of the U.S. They want to take those markets away from the Latin drug lords.” Alex rubbed his hands slowly together as he watched the lights glimmer along the curve of the San Diego Bay. Ordinarily, he would be mesmerized by watching the beautiful colored lights dancing off the glassy surface of the ocean, but tonight, Alex wanted to try and reach Cal, to help him. He kept Lauren’s advice about letting Cal speak and answer only when appropriate in the front of his mind. “In fact,” he added, “the West Coast leader of the Russian Mafia has more or less claimed Central America as his territory.”
Cal cocked his head, looking at Alex’s profile. “And Alexandrov has claimed Peru?”
“Oh, no. Yerik Alexandrov wanted all of South America,” Alex said wryly. “His son Vlad often bragged that other teams just like ours were infiltrating Brazil, Columbia, and Belize. No, Alexandrov is like Genghis Khan of Mongolia: he wants to dominate the whole world of drug trade on that continent.”
Snorting, Cal muttered, “You think these two kingpins will end up fighting one another someday after they eradicate the Latin drug lords?”
“I do not know.”
“Well,” Cal said bleakly, “look at it another way: the Latin drug lords we’ve been trying to kill, or capture have a new, stronger enemy: Russians who want to wipe them off the face of the earth. Shows you the savageness in this battle.”
“Yes,” Alex murmured, “and they are far more lethal, far more ready to put a gun to their heads and kill them. Russians do not want to capture the drug lords. They want to scour the earth of them.”
“No need to tell me how nasty Russians can be,” Cal said.
“We will find Sky. You need to hold onto that,” Alex urged him quietly. He saw the corner of Cal’s mouth flex, as if he’d just poked an open wound in him and poured salt in into it. “Hold your faith, my friend. I know Sky looks fragile, but her spirit is strong.”
“I can’t close my eyes at night, Alex. All I see is Alexandrov torturing her. The bastard is sadistic. Just like his son. Sometimes… sometimes I wish I didn’t know what I know about the torture methods Russians use on their enemies.”
“I saw Vlad toy with people who he wanted to manipulate or wanted something from,” Alex offered quietly. “There was a Quechua chief in a particular village in Peru. He was very powerful, well known and beloved by the people in the region. Vlad wanted his cooperation. He knew if we went in guns blazing and killing the chief, we would not get the cooperation of the villagers who were carrying sacks of cocaine down trails through the jungle. Usually, Vlad would grab a daughter of a chief, tear her clothes off in front of the father and his village, and rape her. That was his usual tactic.” Alex’s mouth turned downward. “But with this one chief, he was very different. He spent a month manipulating him, becoming a friend, bringing gifts to him and food to his family. He played it smart, Cal. There was never any violence, which surprised me, because Vlad took a scorched earth policy with most of the Indian villages.”
“Why did he change tactics?”
“Because it served his purpose. The chief eventually granted him permission to use those jungle trails. Vlad brought in medicine to help his people, and of course, I and Nik were the ones who were administering it. We were able to vaccinate all the children, and I helped deliver two babies in the village.”
“So, you’re saying Alexandrov didn’t kill or rape anyone?”
“That is what I am saying. And,” Alex turned and looked Cal in the eyes, “Vlad loved Sky. I know you do not want to hear that, but the man was insanely in love with her. That is all he ever talked about at night when we made camp. He carried several photos of her. He would often show us her photo, tell us stories of how he lived with her while growing up.”
Cal muttered, sitting up, “I wasn’t aware…”
Alex shrugged. “I did not think it was important to tell you this, at first. I did not want to hurt you or her. I know Sky never loved him, she feared him, and she was right to do so.”
“What are you saying?” Cal demanded, turning fully toward him. “What does this mean?”
Shrugging, Alex said, “I really do not know. But I can conjecture. Vlad loved Sky. He said his father knew all about his plans to ask her to marry him when they graduated from high school. Vlad even bought a set of wedding rings and was going to ask her to be his wife. And he wanted to get her pregnant right away, to give him big, strong sons. That was his dream. He talked to our team about it endlessly.”
Blinking, Cal felt a surge of terror along with hope. “His father knew all about this?”
“Of course. The Zimmerman family had no idea what kind of monster and master manipulator they had under their roof. Vlad was was in constant touch with his father in New York City by email and cell phone, and often Vlad sent photos he’d taken of Sky to his father.”
Cal felt his stomach twist. He felt sick. He slowly got off the picnic table, the concrete cold beneath his bare feet as he considered the new information. “So the elder Alexandrov knew his son was in love with Sky?”
“Yes,” Alex admitted. “And I did not think this was important enough to tell you before. But now, I do.” He watched Cal thinking about the information, his hands tense on his hips as he stared out at the black water, unseen by the moonless night.
