Part 25 (1/2)
”Da,” he agreed. ”Gone.”
Klesko chambered a round into his gun, the sharp mechanical sound echoing out into the surrounding trees.
”You make games for us?” Klesko crowed into Johanna's ear. ”Here is how you pay. ...”
Klesko raised his gun and pressed it to Johanna's head.
”No!” Wally cried out, unable to stop herself. At the sound of her voice, Klesko and Tiger became hyperalert, anxiously scanning the forest around them to determine which direction the call had come from.
”Who is here!?” Klesko shouted, keeping his gun trained on Johanna. ”Show yourself or this one dies!”
Wally made a move to stand up, but Claire held her back.
”I have to do this,” Wally said.
Claire looked into Wally's eyes with an expression that seemed fearful and brave at the same time.
”It's not you they want, Wally,” Claire said.
”What do you mean?”
”They want Yalena.”
”But they have her,” Wally pled. ”And they'll kill her.”
”Trust me this once,” Claire implored her daughter. ”You said you could forgive her, your mother. Did you really mean that?”
”Yes. Of course,” Wally said, confused.
”For everything? For leaving you behind?”
”Yes.”
”For being too much of a coward to tell you the truth? You could forgive her for that?”
”Yes,” Wally insisted, tears of confusion and fear now welling in her eyes. ”Why are you asking me this?”
Claire gave Wally a sad smile. ”I never stopped loving you,” she said.
She lovingly caressing Wally's face and hair, as if committing the feel of them to memory, then kissed Wally on the forehead.
”My beautiful Valentina,” Claire said, then repeated in flawless Russian, ”Moya prekraasnaya Valentina.”
Those few words, spoken fluently by Claire, stunned Wally silent. Claire reached back and hid her handgun under her belt at the small of her back, then stood straight up. Fifty feet away, Klesko and Tiger immediately focused on her, raising their guns in Claire's direction. She held her hands up high, palms open, empty.
”I'm here, Alexei,” Claire said.
Claire stepped purposefully toward the two men.
Wally took all this in, paralyzed with confusion. She sat motionless on the frozen ground, watching as Claire-the only mother she had ever known-walked unflinchingly toward the Russian killers. In a flash Wally's mind raced with all that Claire had told her about her Russian mother: her betrayal of Klesko, her abandonment of Valentina to the orphanage, her flight to America, and finally her determination to reunite herself with her child.
The story had been her story.
”Oh my G.o.d,” Wally whispered. She could barely breathe.
As she struggled to process all this information at once, Wally was struck by the terrible realization that Claire was now willing to sacrifice herself yet again, all for Wally.
”Yalena?” Klesko said dubiously as he watched Claire approach. He wasn't sure it was her at first, but then recognition came to him. ”Yalena.” He spat her name, cold rage in his eyes at the sight of Claire. ”Yobanaya sooka ...”
f.u.c.king b.i.t.c.h.
Klesko charged at her, drawing his gun up and pointing it at her face as they neared each other.
”Mom! No!” Wally's voice shot out from the woods.
She rose from her hiding place and vaulted the stone wall. She raced up behind Claire, her own gun drawn and pointed at Klesko's head.
”Don't you touch her, you son of a b.i.t.c.h!” Wally barked at Klesko, who suddenly looked confused, the aim of his gun flas.h.i.+ng back and forth between Claire and Wally. Tiger raised his gun as well, pointing it at the girl stomping quickly through the snow toward them.
”No, Wally!” Claire cried. ”Go back!” But seeing her daughter's resolution, Claire quickly reached behind her back and drew her own gun; all four of them-mother and daughter, father and son-converged at a point near the empty cache, four guns raised and s.h.i.+fting their aim from person to person. The confusion was undeniable in all their faces as they looked to each other, back and forth, trying to make sense of everything.
”M-Mom?” Wally stammered, unable to give voice to all the questions swimming through her mind.
”It's okay, Wally,” Claire said. She kept her gun trained on Klesko as she knelt down to Johanna-slumped on the ground near the cache-and checked her pulse. ”Johanna's still alive, barely.”
As Claire stood upright again, Klesko studied Claire's face closely, squinting. He traced her features in the air, with the sight of his gun, trying to recognize the woman all over again.
”Yalena, but not Yalena,” he said. ”The nose, the eyes. Doctors did this. And ... this is ours?” Klesko indicated Wally with a nod, but did not wait for an answer from Claire. ”I see it,” he said, studying Wally's features as he had Claire's. He laughed, almost giddy at the irony-he had been hunting his own daughter.
”Ochee ch.o.r.n.ya,” he said. ”Dark eyes, like me.”
”Never yours, Klesko,” Claire said, turning to give Wally a rea.s.suring look. ”You were never his, Wally. Do you understand?”
Her thoughts still reeling, Wally answered her mother with a quick, uncertain nod. Claire turned her focus to Tiger. She studied his features, lovingly but sadly.
And she never lowered her gun.
”So grown,” she said to her son, struggling to keep her voice from cracking. ”Tigr. My boy. I'm so sorry.”
The young man glared at her. For once, his una.s.sailable composure revealed some cracks, betraying a deep sense of rage as he looked upon Claire. When he spoke, however, there was unexpected vulnerability in his voice.
”Was it so easy to choose?” he asked Claire. ”One child for the other?”
”It was impossible,” his mother answered, her words barely a whisper as her thoughts took her back to that terrible time. ”His family had taken you away from me, would barely let me see you. All I wanted was to be a mother to you, but they never allowed it.”
”I was lost to you,” Tiger said with pain in his eyes.
”Not in my heart,” Claire said. ”I never stopped thinking about you, never stopped loving you. I'm so sorry. ...”
Claire regretted the inadequacy of the apology, even as she spoke it. She waited, hoping for some sort of response from Tiger, but he remained silent, his unforgiving stare hanging on her. Wally took all this in with both fear and wonder, the tangled mess now unraveling.