“I understand,” Balkon said eagerly. “You know I have contacts everywhere. Trust me. I’ll do it even if I have to go to Moscow to find her.”

“You’ll find her if you have to go to the ends of the earth,” Volkov said coldly. “Use Maria, use anyone else you have to, but bring her to me. Now get moving!”

* * *

“We’re landing.” Lara was looking out the window as Tanner came down the aisle. “Is that the airport? The scenery looked beautiful as we flew in, but the airport is out in the middle of nowhere.”

“Which is the best place for us to be since we have no documents, and my friend who owns this facility doesn’t appreciate attention from the authorities.” He leaned over and fastened her seat belt. “It’s a small world and there are always people who want to make it even smaller by selling information.” He sat down beside her and fastened his seat belt. “We won’t be here long. I just wanted to rendezvous with your Maria and pick up some equipment before we took off again for somewhere safer.”

She stiffened. “Where?”

“I’m weighing our options. I’m making a few calls and I’ll have a decision for you by tonight.”

“What if I don’t accept your decision?”

“Then we might have problems,” Tanner said. “But we won’t borrow trouble until we have to.” He smiled wryly. “Though I haven’t allowed myself much time to persuade you that I’m almost always right, since I want to get you out of here as soon as possible. I have an idea that might be as much a difficulty as it proved in Avgar Forest.”

“You didn’t find it that difficult,” she said quietly. “We both know that. But it was only because I wasn’t prepared. I’d make sure it wouldn’t happen like that again.”

“I’m quite certain you would. So I’d better change the subject to keep you from deciding you should try to prove yourself,” he said. “I got a report from the man I left in Avgar Forest. Volkov and your endearing father found the bodies of Gregor and Razov, and they weren’t pleased. There was a minor explosion between them when they found Razov. Volkov knew you hadn’t taken him down.”

“Of course he did,” she said between set teeth. “I wouldn’t have been able to kill him from behind with a hold like that. I don’t have the height or the strength. I’d even considered it, and then I discarded it. Volkov has studied everything about me and would realize that. That’s why I was so frantic when I woke up and found out you’d done it. If you wanted Kaskov’s money that bad, you should have just waited and let me kill Razov. It might have given us more time.”

“I humbly apologize. You’ll have to forgive me if I didn’t want to waste the time waiting around to watch you dispose of a man I thought was probably a dangerous killer. Particularly when I wasn’t sure that you were capable of doing it.”