Good boy.
Together, they crossed the central room to the south wall. A door there opened to a staircase leading down. At the bottom, milky light glowed, accompanied by the distinctive hum of fluorescent lighting.
He and Kane started down.
A couple yards from the last step, an order barked out in Russian. “Who’s there?”
Tucker had been expecting this and whispered to Kane, “PLAY FRIENDS.”
The shepherd loved this command. He perked up his ears, sprung his tail jauntily, and trotted down the remaining steps into the corridor beyond.
Tucker followed. Ten feet down the corridor, a thick-necked man in an ill-fitting business suit frowned at the wriggling dog.
It was one of Anya’s escorts.
“Dobriy večer,” Tucker greeted him, wishing him a good evening.
Taking advantage of the guard’s divided attention, Tucker kept walking forward.
The man held up a stiff arm and rumbled something in Russian, but Tucker made out only one word—identify—and the tone was demanding.
Tucker gestured at Kane, playing the chagrined guard and a misbehaving dog. “Sasha . . . Sasha . . .”
When Tucker was two strides away, the man had had enough and reached into his jacket.
Tucker dropped the act and called to Kane. “PANTS.”
Kane clamped his jaws on the man’s pant leg and jerked backward, using every ounce of his muscled frame. The guard tipped backward, one arm windmilling, the other still reaching for his gun.
Tucker was already moving. He closed the gap and grabbed the hand going for the concealed weapon. He lashed out with his opposite fist, punching the man squarely in the center of the throat.
The guard croaked as he fell to his back, still conscious, his eyes bulging, his mouth opening and closing spasmodically as he tried to draw breath.
Tucker slipped the man’s gun out of its shoulder holster—a GSh-18 pistol—and cracked its steel butt across his temple.
His eyes finally fluttered shut.
Tucker dropped to one knee and aimed the pistol down the corridor. Although the takedown had gone relatively quietly, there was no way of knowing the second escort’s proximity.
When no one immediately came running, Tucker pointed ahead. “SCOUT CORNER.”
Kane trotted down the corridor and stopped at the next intersection. He peeked left, then right, then glanced back with the steady stare that meant all clear.
Tucker joined him and searched ahead.
Unlike the floor above, the storage cellar had undergone little renovation. The walls consisted of crumbling brick, and the floor was rough-chiseled granite. The only illumination came from fluorescent shop lights bolted to the exposed ceiling joists.
On the left, stacks of boxes blocked the corridor. To the right, it was open. At the far end, a rectangle of light was cast on the opposite wall.
A door.
Tucker led the way down the hall. He flattened himself against the wall and peeked around the corner of the door.
Inside was a massive storeroom with an arched roof. It occupied the length and breadth of the main floor above. Bookcases covered all the walls. In the center, row upon row of trestle tables lined the hall, stacked with books, manuscripts, and sheaves of paper.
A raven-haired beauty in a red blouse stood at the nearest table, partially turned from the door. With her arms braced on the table, she studied an open manuscript. To her left, the second guard sat at another table, smoking and playing solitaire.
Tucker drew back, motioned for Kane to stay. Keeping to the hallway, he stepped past the open door to the opposite side. He shoved the stolen pistol into his side pocket. He signaled Kane—distract and return—then pointed through the open door.
Kane trotted a few yards into the massive storeroom and began barking.
A gruff voice shouted in Russian, accompanied by the sound of a chair scraping on the stone floor.
Kane trotted back through the door, and Tucker waved for him to continue down the corridor, back the way they’d come.
A moment later the guard emerged, hurrying to catch up. Tucker let him get two steps ahead, then rushed forward and swung a roundhouse punch into his kidney. Gasping, the man dropped to his knees. Tucker wrapped his right arm around the guard’s throat and used his left palm to press the man’s head forward. Five seconds of pressure, squeezing the carotid artery, was all it took. The man went limp in his arms. To be sure, Tucker held on for another thirty seconds before lowering him to the floor.
Kane returned to his side, wagging his tail.
Tucker patted the shepherd’s side, then turned and stepped into the storeroom.
The woman was facing him now, a worried hand at her throat. Her striking blue eyes stared at him, glassy with fear, making her look even younger than her midtwenties. She took a couple of wary steps away from him, plainly skittish. But he couldn’t blame her, considering the circumstances.
“You . . . you are Tucker, yes?” she asked in lightly accented English.
He held both palms toward her, trying to calm her. “I am. And you’re Anya.”
She nodded, sagging with relief, while also quickly composing herself. “You were almost late.”
“Almost doesn’t count . . . I hope.”
Kane trotted forward, his tail high.
She stared down with a small, shy smile. “I must say he startled me with that sudden barking. But, my, he is a lovely animal.”
“His name is Kane.”
She glanced up at Tucker with those bright eyes. “As in Cain and Abel?”
His voice caught. “Just Kane now.” He turned back to the door. “We should get moving.”
He quickly led her back upstairs, pausing to frisk both men on the way out, taking their identification cards.
Anya followed, clutching to her chest a leather shoulder bag studded with rhinestones. It was large enough that she could’ve carried Kane in it. Not exactly inconspicuous. She caught him staring as they climbed up from the cellar.
“A Prada knockoff. I’m leaving my entire life behind, my career. Is one bag too much to ask?” As they stepped back into the main hall of the Riding House, she turned to him. “So what’s your plan, great rescuer?”
He heard the forced humor in her voice, masking nervousness, but perhaps deeper down even a glint of steel. Now rallying, she seemed tougher than she first appeared.
“We’re walking out the front gate,” replied Tucker.
“Just like that?”
“As long as you can act worth a damn.”
9:09 P.M.
Tucker spent a few minutes rehearsing with Anya in the main hall of the Riding House, running through what was to come. Once ready—or ready enough—he led her toward the exit door.