Natasha grabbed the papers from their dead driver’s pocket but tripped getting out of the car and twisted her ankle. Matt grabbed her around the waist and helped her limp away.
The dock area had more than a couple of smoky bars and they entered and sat in a dark area to gather their thoughts. By now Natasha’s hair was flowing and it was difficult to hide a good looking girl in a bar full of drunken sailors.
It took but a moment for two guys to come over to start trouble. Matt was nearly fed up with Russia. Before the first guy even opened his mouth Matt rose to his full six foot three inches and hit him on the chin with a punch that came from his toes. His CIA self defense instructor at "The Farm" had showed him how to twist his hips to increase the effectiveness of the blow, and this one was right on the button. He went down with a thud onto the dusty floor. The second guy just nodded and plodded back to his seat. Matt had passed his rite of passage here. There would be no more trouble. Even so, the feel of his now familiar Yarygin 9mm in his pocket was a comfort. He had grabbed it from his computer bag on the way out of the vehicle.
Natasha made a call to her boss/father, and thirty minutes later half a dozen commando types arrived to ensure their safe passage back to a hotel.
The escorts had already retrieved their bags from the car. They showed them to their rooms and told Natasha they would station someone in the lobby all night just in case.
Natasha was still bleeding a little from the nose. They were still full of adrenalin from their day of action.
Matt helped Natasha to her room but Matt slipped getting her inside.
They fell together with Natasha on top of Matt which took the wind out of his lungs. However a surprise kiss quickly revived him.
By the time Natasha reminded Matt to call Bill Simpson it was only five minutes late.
"Hi Bill any luck with Riyadh?" asked Matt.
"Not much, what is happening there?" enquired Bill.
"It has been a very busy day so far. We are in Minsk on the trail of one of those suitcases, can I give a better report tomorrow after a few hours sleep?" asked Matt.
"Ok, stay in touch. Keep your hands firmly on the ball, not on the lady, I just saw her picture. She is cute." said Bill.
Chapter 72
Natasha was studying the records closely as her written Russian was much better than Matt’s.
Matt had his notebook computer connected to the internet via an encrypted link bounced off a satellite.
Natasha would come up with the name of a ship and Matt would research the ship and her owner. They had been doing this for some time now and every time they had drawn a blank.
Finally Natasha mentioned "I found an invoice for crane hire, it is different to everything else in the journals."
Matt took a look as well, and it did seem out of place, everything else was for large amounts for repairs on large ships. Matt had been taught that it was not possible to investigate everything, and to look for the smallest thing out of place.
"Nat, lets get back to the boatyard, with the mafia goons all in jail, we should get a much better reception this time."
Chapter 73
The manager of the boatyard was extremely co-operative as soon as Natasha showed her identification. The new version of the KGB, was only slightly less feared than its predecessor!
"Thank you for the return of our documents Major, I regret your inconvenience yesterday" quite the master of understatement was Igor the manager.
"We would like your assistance to track down a vessel bound for Korea" explained Natasha.
"I am sorry, but the only vessels we work on here are local ships. None of these are big enough or stable enough to travel that far. The international ships are repaired at another larger yard with a dry dock" explained Igor in deep heavily accented Russian.
"We understand" said Matt, "but we are wondering about this invoice for crane rental" Matt passed over the book with the item underlined.
Igor scanned the invoice and the name Dimitri Ostrowski rang a bell. "Yes, I remember that. Dimitri has been building a small sailing boat in the yard next door. He got us to move it from its hardstand to launch it into the water. Come to think of it I have not seen him around since then. I am quite busy for the next hour, but I would be happy to take you over to meet some of the other workers there if you could wait" said a very co-operative Igor.
"That won’t be necessary. We can find our own way there. Thank you for your assistance. Can I be assured that our visit here will remain between us?" asked Natasha.
"What visit?" answered Igor.
Matt and Natasha walked to the back of the yard, dodging forklifts, barrels, spools of wire and a myriad of workers.
Eventually they located a well trodden dirt track along the water’s edge. It led to a small open patch of land covered with a number of much smaller boats, both sail and motor.
Natasha got a few wolf whistles as she limped along the track, but did manage to find someone working on their craft.
"Excuse me sir, we are looking for Dimitri Ostrowski" announced Natasha to a man partly obscured under a small motor craft.
"Just a minute" called the man, and he extracted himself and walked over while wiping his greasy hands on his overalls.
"Why do you want to see Dimitri?" questioned Ivan, the man who had helped Dimitri turn over his hull a month earlier.
"We will ask the questions, unless you outrank me" said a very businesslike Natasha who flashed her credentials.
"Please forgive me Miss, how can I help you" said Ivan obviously scared of authority.
"How long since you have seen him?" asked Matt.
"He launched his boat a week or so ago, but I am afraid I have not seen him since then. He has promised to take me sailing, so I am hoping he comes back to see me soon" said Ivan.
"Did he say where he was going?" queried Natasha.
"Not really, he seemed to be following orders of the other man with him" said Ivan.
"What did the other man look like?" asked Matt.
"I guess he was early to mid forties, short black hair and a clipped beard. Quite fit looking, but he spoke terrible Russian" said Ivan.
"Did he have a name? Or did he say where he was from?" Matt sensed they were on to something.
"He would not even acknowledge our presence. He only spoke to Dimitri, but I did hear them once whisper in another language. I did not understand at all, but it seemed quite clipped, I would guess from somewhere in the Middle East maybe" said Ivan, who had been around the world quite a bit on merchant ships in his youth.
"Bingo" thought Matt.
Natasha handed Ivan her card "please talk to the other builders, if they have any further information, please call me anytime, I will make it worth your while".
Chapter 74
Adam Scott immediately briefed Matt’s controller Bill Simpson, who telephoned Matt on his cell phone.
"Hi Matt, how is the vodka capital of the world?" joked Bill.
"Natasha and I have had a pretty busy day yesterday, getting shot at by helicopters and tied up by mafia boys" Matt explained.
"Are you guys both ok?" asked a concerned Peterson.
"It was a real rush, but we are fine. We did trace the suitcases. One was sent to Minsk east of here, the other two went to Saudi Arabia. I think one was on that Cessna."
"Pretty fair bet. But we still need to find the other two, where to next?" questioned Bill.