Part 41 (1/2)

THE LIGHT WAS fading. The sky had gone from blue, to orange, to gray. Rapp stoked the logs in the large stone fireplace with a black iron poker, and then left the tip of it sitting in the midst of the blazing red coals. He took two st.u.r.dy chairs from the dining room and placed them in front of the fireplace. Coleman sat Abel in one and the big Saudi in the other. Their lower legs and ankles were duct taped to the chairs, as were their waists and chests. Both men were blindfolded and gagged. Neither knew he was in the other's presence. Rapp and Coleman had already searched the house and found nothing of interest other than the black bags, which were loaded into the trunk of Abel's Mercedes. fading. The sky had gone from blue, to orange, to gray. Rapp stoked the logs in the large stone fireplace with a black iron poker, and then left the tip of it sitting in the midst of the blazing red coals. He took two st.u.r.dy chairs from the dining room and placed them in front of the fireplace. Coleman sat Abel in one and the big Saudi in the other. Their lower legs and ankles were duct taped to the chairs, as were their waists and chests. Both men were blindfolded and gagged. Neither knew he was in the other's presence. Rapp and Coleman had already searched the house and found nothing of interest other than the black bags, which were loaded into the trunk of Abel's Mercedes.

When Rapp was ready he asked Coleman to remove their shoes and socks and then told Wicker, Hackett, and Stroble to wait outside. When Coleman was done with the shoes and socks he gave him the option to leave. Coleman declined.

Rapp stood in front of the two men with his back to the fire. He reached out and grabbed the silver tape that covered Abel's eyes and yanked it off his face. Two thirds of both eyebrows stayed attached to the tape. Abel tried to scream, but his cry was m.u.f.fled by the tape covering his mouth. Rapp yanked the tape off his mouth, and Abel began gasping for air. Rapp yanked the tape off the Saudi's eyes, and the man barely flinched. The Saudi had yet to utter a word other than when he was screaming in Abel's office and that had been because he knew his only chance was to have one of the neighboring office workers call the police. Since then he'd remained silent. Rapp could see it in his eyes. This one was a true follower. It would take months to break him, and even then the Saudi might prefer to die. That was why Rapp kept the tape over his mouth.

Rapp held up a phone and said, ”On the other end of this line is a man who has thoroughly read your KGB file. He has access to every database you could imagine. We know all about your time with the Stasi. We know how you started out as gay bait for Westerners traveling to East Germany, and we know about the blackmail operations you ran. You are only going to get one chance at this.” Rapp held up the forefinger of his left hand and repeated himself, ”One chance.”

Rapp turned around and grabbed the hot poker from the fire. The tip was bright red. Rapp held it in front of Abel's horrified face and said, ”We've talked to your buddy here.” Rapp moved the poker over to the Saudi. ”I think he lied to us. He blamed everything on you.”

The Saudi looked at the tip with a frown.

The poker swung back in front of Abel's face. It was still glowing hot. Abel turned his head away. Rapp pulled the poker back and said very calmly, ”Look at me. If I catch you lying to me...even once, this is what I'm going to do to you.”

Rapp took the poker, held it vertically in his left hand, and jammed it straight down through the top of the Saudi's right foot. The Saudi's entire body looked as if it would break through the duct tape for a second. Coleman stepped up from behind and grabbed the man so he wouldn't tip over in his chair. Rapp yanked the poker free and held it in front of Abel. A hunk of charred skin hung from the end, and the room filled with the awful smell of burnt flesh.

”One chance,” Rapp said. ”That's all I'm going to give you.”

That was all it took. Earlier, Abel had thought his biggest mistake had been threatening the a.s.sa.s.sin. Then he thought it was leaving the money in the accounts. Now he was convinced the biggest mistake he ever made was entering into a business relations.h.i.+p with Prince Muhammad bin Ras.h.i.+d. Abel sang and kept on singing for twenty solid minutes. He told how Ras.h.i.+d had sent for him. How Ras.h.i.+d had arranged the meeting with Saeed. How later he learned that this whole thing had been Ras.h.i.+d's idea. Abel didn't know that for a fact, but he suspected it. Ras.h.i.+d was a sick sociopath. He lived to manipulate people, and it was important to give Rapp someone bigger to go after. Some fresh meat. He'd already killed Saeed, and if this was the end of the road for Rapp, Abel was a dead man. If he could offer him someone like Ras.h.i.+d, someone who was really guilty, he might survive. He told Rapp that Ras.h.i.+d was in Granada, Spain, at his villa for the rededication of some ridiculous mosque on Friday. Abel had been to Ras.h.i.+d's villa before. He explained how the Saudi prince viewed himself as the new caliph for the reclaimed Muslim lands of southern Spain.

He spat on Tayyib and told Rapp everything he knew about the Saudi intelligence officer. He'd never liked the man. At one point the big Saudi tried to knock his own chair over and go after Abel. Rapp grabbed the red hot poker and held it up to the Saudi's groin. Tayyib instantly turned into a statue.

Rapp put the poker back in the fire and asked Abel, ”Tell me about the a.s.sa.s.sins you hired.”

Abel hesitated.

Rapp reached for the poker.

Abel answered, ”A man and a woman. I met them in Paris. I had never worked with them before.”

”How did you find out about them?”

Abel hesitated before answering. ”Ras.h.i.+d had heard of them.”

Rapp saw the lie. He could tell by the way the man had looked quickly down and to his right before answering. It was the first time he'd done it. Rapp grabbed the poker, held it out in front of Abel, and then jammed it through the top of his right foot.

Abel howled in pain and began screaming.

Rapp told Coleman to get some ice from the kitchen and then said to Abel, ”I told you not to lie to me. Now, how did you come to hire the a.s.sa.s.sins?”

Abel had tears streaming down his anguished face. Coleman returned with the ice wrapped in a kitchen towel. Rapp tapped the other foot with the hot poker and said, ”Last chance.”

”Petrov...Dimitri Petrov.”

Rapp had also read the file. ”Your old boss from the KGB.”

Abel nodded.

Rapp set the bag on top of his foot. ”Now tell me everything you know about the a.s.sa.s.sins.”

”I never saw the man. I only spoke with him. He spoke perfect French and English. His Russian was also very good, but not as good.”

Rapp remembered the man's perfect Americanized English from when he'd run into him near his house. ”What do you remember about the woman?”

”Very beautiful. Black hair, high cheekbones, very nice skin.”

”Eyes?”

”I never saw them. She never took her gla.s.ses off.”

”Nationality?”

”French. I am almost certain.”

That jibed with what Rapp had guessed. ”Do you think they were a couple? Beyond the business end of things?”

”Definitely.”

Rapp stopped asking questions for a moment.

Abel grew nervous. He knew once Rapp had gotten what he wanted from him, it would likely be the end. ”I would like to say that I was nothing more than a courier. I was never told who Saeed and Ras.h.i.+d wanted killed. I simply handed over an envelope to the a.s.sa.s.sins.”

Rapp placed a hand on the fireplace mantel and looked at Coleman. ”Why don't you drag our other friend outside and leave us alone for a minute?”

Coleman grabbed the Saudi's chair, tilted him back and dragged him across the hardwood floor and out the front door.

The door closed with a thud and Abel said, ”I am very sorry about your wife. They went too far.”

Rapp felt like shoving the hot poker through Abel's heart for even mentioning his wife. ”Nothing more than a courier, huh?”

”That's right.”

”A courier who got paid eleven million dollars.” Rapp's eyes were locked on Abel's. Once again he looked down and to the right and then he looked back at Rapp with pleading eyes.

”Please, you must believe me. All I did was deliver an envelope. Nothing more, nothing less.”

Rapp pushed himself away from the fireplace and walked into the dining room. Coleman had found the bottle of Louis XIII cognac. Like the modern-day pirate that he was, the former SEAL wanted to keep it. Rapp told him maybe. Now he had a better idea for it. He walked back in front of the fireplace, the ornate bottle in hand. Rapp took off the cap and thought about taking a swig. He thought about his wife and the life they had had together. He thought about the child they would never have. Then he thought about how their entire future had been ruined by this greedy p.r.i.c.k sitting before him.

Abel was really nervous. When men like Rapp got quiet, nothing good ever came of it. He had to keep him talking. ”We are both professionals, you and I. I know the rules. Professionals never harm each other's families.”

”You were a Stasi pig who used to kidnap people and hold them for ransom. You were never a professional.” Rapp brought the bottle to his lips and took a big gulp. It went back smooth and then bit his throat with a mellow burning sensation.

”How old is this place?” Rapp looked up at the timber rafters.

”It was built in nineteen fifty-two,” Abel answered, a confused expression on his face.