She glanced at Sam. “They told you to come, right?”
“That’s right.” Sam nodded, a feeling of inevitability welling up inside him. “They told me to come. At 18:00 hours.”
Genevieve checked her watch. “That gives us another two hours. Plenty of time.”
Tom craned his neck. “Matthew! How’s our arsenal?”
Sam glanced up, startled. “What? No.” He glanced around at the crew. “Not you. Just me.”
The crew exchanged glances. Then they burst out laughing.
Elise shook her head. “Now I know he’s lost his mind.”
Genevieve took Sam’s hand in hers. “Sam, if you think we’re letting you in there alone, you really are crazy.” Beside her, Tom was nodding and Caliburn’s tongue lolled. His tail wagged and licked Sam’s hand.
He looked at all of them. “Thank you all for your offers, but I can’t ask you to get involved in this. This is my fight.”
The mission control room was quiet but for the hum of the machines and the dog’s panting and the swish of his tail. It was full of determination.
“Even so.” Sam gestured at the screen. “This place is a museum. How is it even possible that they’re hiding a prisoner there? Isn’t it… I don’t know. Open to the public?”
Elise tapped some more keys. Satellite images opened up on the screen. She navigated with some skillful strokes, narrowing in on and enlarging the center of the castle. It looked like a fortress. That was the stronghold in any keep, the most difficult to breach. Elise pointed at it. “The middle section is off limits to tourists. If they do have Catarina — and you’re sure they do?”
Sam’s jaw tightened. “I’m sure they do.”
Elise nodded. “Then that’s the best bet at where the mafia men are going to be keeping her.”
Tom leaned in, squinting at the map. “Good call, Elise, good work as always. But looking at that map, it looks like there’s only the one entrance for tourists.” He pointed, and Sam could see he was right. “There, right there at the southern end. Let’s say we do go in. Anyone keeping an eye out for Sam would spot us a mile away.”
Sam shook his head. “I can’t ask you to get involved. I’ve told you. This is my fight. If you’ll just give me back my gun, I’ll —”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Tom said. Then, turning to Elise, he asked, “Any chance you know another way in?”
Elise grinned. “As a matter of fact, there is… but it’s been flooded for centuries.”
Chapter Fifty-Nine
The river rushed along the bank in a swift moving torrent of pale gray.
On one side was Russia and on the other, Estonia — with the Tahila in the middle. The high walls of the fortress gleamed in the evening sun as if the whole castle was made of gold.
Ivangorod Fortress had been established by Ivan III in the fifteenth century as a claim to Muscovy’s right to the Baltic Sea. The castle had changed hands numerous times during conflicts and border shifts over the centuries that followed, growing into a full-fledged town as the years marched on. It returned once again to Russian rule after World War II, having outlasted Hitler’s disastrous march on the motherland.
The river had always afforded the fortress an extra layer of protection and access. Centuries ago, prisoners had been brought into the dungeon by rowboats through tunnels leading to the outside, which helped deter all thoughts of escape. But over the centuries the river had been dammed, increasing the water level above the entrance and flooding the prison passageways.
Tom zipped up his dry suit. He turned his gaze upward at the live video feed of the castle coming into view in the distance.
It looked enormous from the water level and impregnable in its day.
Sam greeted him. “We’ll be approaching the entrance in about five minutes.”
Tom nodded. “Okay. Good luck, Sam. We’ll see you on the other side.”
Sam said, “You’d better.”
Tom headed down into the bowels of the Tahila, where Veyron was double checking three RS1 Military Grade Sea Scooters known as Ghosts. The underwater diver propulsion vehicles were small, hand-held, electric devices used by SCUBA divers and free-divers for underwater propulsion. They weighed less than twenty pounds each, and had a water bladder, designed to automatically control the diver’s buoyancy.
They used a heads-up display revealing GPS that worked on predictions based on its internal mapping and known locations, as well as bathymetric topography — a detailed view of the seabed and seascape ahead utilizing an array of sonar transducers.
Genevieve and Elise were already dressed in dry suits that hugged their figures, revealing both women to be fit and athletic, with clear definition of their muscular frames.
Elise had set up the dive equipment lying out on the floor, a single tank of air, full-faced dive masks, regulators, buoyancy control devices, and fins for each of them. Her head turned upward toward Tom, and said, “Dive gear’s checked and ready.”
“Thanks, Elise.” Tom turned to Genevieve. “How are you doing?”
Genevieve had an array of arms set out on the floor that would be the envy of a small militia or elite team of mercenaries. At a glance, Tom spotted a couple Heckler and Koch MP5 submachineguns, an Israeli Uzi — Elise’s signature weapon of choice, which he figured always had more to do with her interest in computer games than actual practicality — a shotgun, and a combination of gas and traditional grenades.
Tom said, “You’ve been having fun again, haven’t you darling?”
Genevieve met his eye, and picked up the SRM Arms Model 1216. “Hey, like Cindy Lauper suggested, girls just want to have fun… grab your weapons…” She turned to Tom and asked, “How do I look?”
Tom grinned.
Genevieve looked beautiful and disturbingly dangerous in equal proportions as she gripped the SRM Arms Model 1216. It was a delayed blow back semi-automatic shotgun with a sixteen round, detachable magazine. Covered in matte black, it looked like something that belonged in Arnold Schwarzenegger’s hand when he was the Terminator; not a tall, slim, and wiry woman as intelligent and stunningly beautiful as his girlfriend.
Tom said, “Stunning and lethal in unequal proportions. I’ll let you decide which proportion is the bigger one.”
Genevieve smiled. “Thank you, Tom… how sweet. You think I’m more deadly than beautiful…”
Elise secured her Uzi to her backpack. “And he would be right, too… no offense, Genevieve, you’re plenty beautiful, but you terrify me half to death, and you’re on my side.”
“Thanks, Elise. So kind.”
Tom finished reassembling his Heckler & Koch MP5. He set the safety to on, and attached a full magazine, before tethering the weapon to his Sea Scooter.
Veyron said, “We’re there.”
“Thanks,” Tom said.
Genevieve secured her shotgun. “Let’s bring hell to the devil who decided to pick a fight with Sam Reilly.”
Tom and Elise grinned. “Agreed.”
Tom donned the last of his dive equipment, put the dive mask on and stepped into the dive lockout locker and into the dark, icy waters of the Narva River below.
Tom used his right thumb to depress the speed rate button, and the little propeller began to spin with a whine. The headlight positioned in front of the diving propulsion vehicle flicked its beam off the walls of the tunnel. It was as dark as any cave he had ever explored, but the visibility in the icy waters was exceptionally clear.