“Okay, I do what you ask.”

“How long is he booked into the hotel?”

“I don’t know. Hotel cheap. Not good. Many criminal go there. Police ask question and hotel no keep secret.”

“I understand. Please call me to let me know how it goes.”

“I call you in maybe one hour.”

Chapter Fourteen

Lorne Welsh spoke at length on the phone to his wife, Lindsay. He was pleased with what he had discovered and told her what he had learned since arriving in Russia.

“Think about it,” he said, “I’ve only been on the job two months and uncovered what could turn out to be a real fiasco for investors if they had decided to invest in the place I looked at. I bet Oskar will be pleased.”

“And the factory you were looking at makes car parts?”

“We wondered how they could produce things so cheap, now I know. It’s a huge factory west of a Russian city called Novozybkov. Over a thousand people were hired to work there in the last two years. They practically pay nothing for overhead and the wages are atrocious, even by Russian standards.”

“What twigged you to go back with a Geiger counter?”

“A tourist company in Novozybkov wanted to know if I would be interested in going into Chernobyl. It isn’t far from Novozybkov.”

“They take tourists there?” exclaimed Lindsay.

“For a quick visit to certain spots. The radiation is still too high in many areas.”

“Doesn’t strike me as a place I would want to go.”

“Me either, but I guess some people do. I imagine it is pretty eerie. A big city that was cleared out after one day. Sort of like a huge ghost town. Anyway, the factory I was checking out was in the prevailing wind path from Chernobyl. For how cheap the factory was being leased, well, I had a bad feeling and checked it out myself.”

“How could they allow that? To let people go in and work there?”

“I think some money must have been passed under the table for these guys to be allowed to open a factory there. The Russian mafia is pretty strong. The plant manager was upset when I brought out the Geiger counter.”

“You think he would be pleased. You might be saving his life, not to mention how many others.”

“I suspect the plant manager doesn’t spend a lot of time there. When the needle went into the danger zone, he tried to tell me it was a fluke, that sometimes the wind brought over a small trace of radiation and gave a false reading, but that was bullshit.”

“Hope you didn’t hang out there too long.”

Lorne chuckled. “Don’t worry, my hair isn’t falling out. Still,” he added, turning sombre, “I feel real sorry for the workers. Not only with working in that environment, but the economy is pretty bad here. Jobs are scarce. I feel bad about it, but I have to recommend it be taken off the list for ethical investments.”

“So when are you coming home? We miss you.”

“I miss you, too. They want me to stay a few days longer. With what I discovered, it’s possible they might be forced to shut down the plant and relocate somewhere else.”

“That would be good.”

“I have my doubts that it will happen, but they want me to talk to the head honchos in Moscow on Monday to see what they say. I bet they already knew about it. My guess is I’ll be flying home on Tuesday.”

“Just you and that security guy there?”

“Yeah, Ben Pike. What a disgusting creep he is. Kept trying to line me up with a hooker last night.”

“What a jerk.”

“No kidding. At least he’s leaving tomorrow. He was only here to ensure my security when I had to go out to the plant. I don’t need the likes of him around when I talk to the people on Monday. Anybody with any class would shun him.”

“Which is why they hired you. You’re a classy guy.”

“You got that right.” Lorne laughed. “And don’t you forget it.”

A few minutes after Lorne said goodbye, he answered a knock at his door. It was a grinning Ben Pike who stood there with a half-full bottle of vodka.

“Seeing as I’m heading out in the morning, how about a drink with me before I go,” he said, pushing past Lorne as he entered the room.

“I’m pretty tired,” said Lorne. “How about another time.”

“Might not have another time,” said Pike. “I’m only on contract, who knows when we’ll get to work again.”

“It’s really late.”

“Come on, just one,” said Pike. “I feel like I owe ya an apology for how I acted last night. I don’t know what got into me. I drank too much and got stupid.”

“It’s okay. Let’s forget about it.”

“It’s okay? Good!” smiled Pike. “So no hard feelings? You sure?”

“No hard feelings.”

“Then you will have a drink with me,” said Pike, walking over to a table with two chairs as he unscrewed the cap.

Loren sighed. “Just one,” he said, retrieving two glasses from the bathroom and putting them on the table. He watched as Pike poured a generous amount in each one. “Easy does it,” said Lorne. “Smooth or not, I’m still not used to drinking that stuff straight.”

“I think the trick is not to sip it. Treat it like a shooter.”

“Don’t know if I could handle doing that.” Lorne chuckled.

The two men sat down and Pike said, “I came by earlier and was about to knock, but it sounded like you were talking to someone on the phone.”

“I phoned Lindsay. Also was lucky enough to catch the kids at home from school on their lunch break.”

“Everything okay there?”

“Oh, yeah. Life is good.”

“Must be nice to have a family. What ya got? Boys or girls?”

“One of each,” smiled Lorne, taking a sip of vodka and making a face.

“Told you to chug it,” grinned Pike. “Try it,” he said, raising his glass. “When in Rome…”

Lorned smiled good-naturedly and joined Pike in drinking it all at once.

“Yeah, that’s the way to do it,” said Pike, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “So tell me about your kids. How old are they?”

“Kelsey is in grade seven and Matt is in grade six.”

“Got pictures of ’em?”

“You bet,” said Lorne, pulling out his wallet and putting Kelsey’s and Matt’s school pictures on the table, before taking out a third picture of him and Lindsay together.

“Nice family,” said Pike, pouring them each another drink.

“Hey, one of those was enough for me,” said Welsh.

“Ah, come on. This will be the last one for me too, then I’m gone.”

“You go ahead. I’ve —”

“Bet you miss your kids,” interrupted Pike.

“Yeah, I really miss being apart from them. Wish I was heading home tomorrow too.”

“Actually I have some good news for you,” said Pike, standing up and looking out the balcony door. “You will be catching an earlier flight.”

“I will?” said Lorne in surprise.

“Yeah, stand up. I got something to show you.”

When Lorne got to his feet, Pike drove his fist deep into Lorne’s solar plexus, causing him to double over as the air exploded from his lungs. Pike’s next move was to ram the palm of his hand under Lorne’s chin, while delivering a blow with his other hand to the base of Lorne’s neck, breaking it instantly.

Before Lorne’s body could fall, Pike grabbed him by the arm and silently lowered him to the floor.

Pike smiled. “Yup, your flight is leaving right now.”

Chapter Fifteen

It was four o’clock Friday afternoon when Jack checked his watch. He knew it was only three o’clock in the morning in Moscow and would likely be a few hours before he heard back from Romanov. He looked across his desk at Laura and asked, “How you feeling?”

“Tired,” she admitted.

“Me, too. Let’s pack it in until Monday morning.”

“You don’t have to twist my arm on that. Do you think on Monday Isaac will order us disclose the identity?”