When the Zodiac slid into the calmer water just outside the wake, they saw that Farbeaux had grabbed the uppermost railing and was dangling. They cringed when it looked as though he slipped and then relaxed when Henri’s strength showed through and he vanished over the top rail and onto the deck of Peter the Great as she sped along her way. The Zodiac made a sharp and dramatic turn and with throttles full open to their stops and sped away back toward Shiloh.
The sergeant handed the pop gun to a corporal and then shook his head.
“That was about the ballsiest thing I’ve ever seen.”
“Just who in the hell are these people, Top?”
“You know what? I don’t want to know.”
After gaining the coarse steel deck, Henri stayed down as he studied the situation. He quickly stood and then took ahold of the rubber-and-plastic grappling hook and threw it into the sea. He also removed the black knitted cap, and that soon followed. The goggles were next. As he again stooped to his knees, he soon saw that Peter the Great was only a quarter awake. Kreshenko must have given his tired crew a break and only went to a lower state of alert so they could get some rest for their journey home tomorrow.
Henri stood and walked as normally as he could past the stern missile launcher and the .50-caliber machine guns lining her deck. If he was seen, he knew that Salkukoff would have the final laugh. Even Kreshenko would not have approved of an assassination on board his ship.
He heard voices, and he stopped and took station behind a tarp-covered lifeboat next to the port railing. He listened as two Russian sailors slowly made their trek toward the stern, where they both lit cigarettes and laughed about something.
“That was close,” Henri mumbled to himself. Another minute and that grappling hook would have hit one of those poor fellows right in the head. He smiled and then moved off. He found the steel stairs that led upward into the main superstructure of the cruiser.
Men were seen here and there, but they were too busy concentrating on their tasks at hand to notice the shadowy figure climbing the stairs. Henri quickly found the hatchway he was looking for and then ducked inside. The passage was darkened nearest the door for light discipline reasons. Henri used this darkness to move like an ancient ninja, only at his age, he felt more like a turtle caught in the middle of a road race. Twice he heard voices and moved into another passage to avoid the men. He finally made it to officers’ country after narrowly avoiding getting caught no less than seven times on his journey.
He finally saw the captain’s quarters and, next to that, the more comfortable guest quarters afforded naval and politburo dignitaries when they came aboard. This was the cabin Salkukoff had been issued. Close to the captain of Peter the Great at all times, Second Captain Dishlakov had informed him.
He frowned when he saw that the usual marine guard who was accorded the commanding officer of any warship was missing. The two cabins were unguarded, and that, he knew, was not good.
Farbeaux had that old familiar feeling of danger that had saved his life on numerous occasions in his dealings with shadowy men. He listened but could hear nothing other than the constant drone of Peter the Great’s engines as they pushed her through the sea. He stepped quickly toward the wooden door. He placed his head closer to the cabin and listened. He heard nothing. He angrily turned and removed his lightweight bulletproof vest and covered the cage-enclosed light, and then he quickly smashed the cage and bulb with the butt of his nine-millimeter silenced handgun, the vest catching their remains before they shattered onto the deck. He lowered all to the tiled deck, and then without thinking about it too much, he quickly reached out and turned the handle and opened the door to Salkukoff’s cabin.
The room was empty. The intel he had received by questioning Second Captain Dishlakov regarding the sleeping arrangements made Henri realize he was in trouble, and he quickly lowered the gun as just then he realized he had been had.
“Step back easily, Colonel,” Salkukoff said as his own Makarov silenced pistol jabbed Henri in the back. “And since you have failed in your mission, you won’t be needing this.” He deftly reached around Farbeaux and pried the pistol from his gloved hand. Henri felt the pressure of the gun barrel ease, and he turned.
“Easy, Colonel. I am no fool.”
Farbeaux looked the Russian in the face close up for the first time. He saw a life of privilege in his soft features. A man who had had everything handed to him. One of the chosen of his mysterious organization. Farbeaux knew the type well, as he himself had been one of the chosen as deemed by the French government in his extensive training. But Henri could see this man was a true believer in his cause. Whatever end game that was, he didn’t know. And if the situation didn’t change very soon, he never would.
“If I thought you were a fool, Colonel Salkukoff, I would have killed you in the Ukraine.” Henri stepped from the darkened cabin and into the shadowy passageway. Salkukoff watched the Frenchman’s hands closely. He gestured with the gun for him to go to Kreshenko’s door and enter. He did so.
Kreshenko’s body was laid out on his bunk. One leg was on and one off the bed. His uniform blouse was off, and he only wore a white undershirt. Evidently, Salkukoff had murdered the man in his sleep. The bullet hole was clearly visible in his forehead. The Russian clicked on the overhead light and stepped into the captain’s cabin and closed the door.
“A tad cowardly,” Henri said as he turned away from the still body of Kreshenko to face the Russian killer.
“And you had a different plan of attack for myself?”
“Yes, I was going to wake you before I killed you, Colonel. I wanted you to see who it was that was ending your life.”
“You have changed since our last meeting in the Ukraine, Colonel Farbeaux. You seem to have lost your edge. I think the Americans are starting to get to you. Fifteen years ago, could I have caught you in the act?”
Henri said nothing. Salkukoff was right. He had indeed lost his killing edge, and he knew it was Colonel Collins and Sarah who had effected this change the most. Still, he could never admit that and never would.
“Before you kill me, answer one question for me.”
“As a professional courtesy, Colonel, why not?” Salkukoff said as he eased his frame onto the captain’s bunk only after slinging the captain’s stiffening leg away from him. He smiled as he tossed Henri’s pistol on the bed next to Kreshenko. “Go ahead,” he said as he kept the silenced Makarov pointed at Farbeaux’s belly.
“Your organization — is it real, or is it nothing more than I suspected all along when the Americans and the British first brought it up, that you and your mysterious benefactors are nothing more than organized crime thugs pulling strings from behind the wizard’s curtain?”
Salkukoff smiled even wider. “Organized, highly. Crime?” He shrugged while the pistol never wavered. “We don’t have race wars, Colonel. We don’t have internal strife, at least behind the curtain, as you so cavalierly put it. We control certain aspects of government but encourage a more direct approach to the problems of this world. The West has become a serious problem. We are no longer going to play the game, Colonel Farbeaux. And soon, we will make our intentions known to the world. With the market cornered on industrial blue diamonds, we will make military strides the West can only dream of. The phase shift operation was only the beginning. There are plans in the works that no one in NATO could ever see coming. Never see because the West is blinded by their arrogance in their stance that they are the righteous. I am here to change all of that. The Northstar Committee is changing it.”