We arrived a little after eleven and parked down the street, then crept closer on foot. It was overcast, so there was no moonlight, and no wind, so Lake Michigan was millpond-smooth.
We found the warehouse easily enough, a shabby concrete block right on the water’s edge with a rusting metal roof. The place was completely quiet, not even a guard. Maybe they never left anything of value there.
We settled down to wait. I’d brought binoculars and Alison and I passed them between us, searching for boats that might be heading for the warehouse. But there was almost nothing moving on the lake.
Then, at 11:45pm, Alison nudged me. “There!”
She passed me the binoculars, and I followed her pointing finger. A boat was heading straight down the lake, towards the warehouse. I tensed, ready...then, as it came closer, I sighed and shook my head. “It’s a Coast Guard patrol,” I told her. The Coast Guard boat veered off a few minutes later and followed the shoreline. It was nearlymidnight, and there were no other boats even in sight. “We should stay, just in case,” said Alison. “Maybe they’ll show up late. Unless Grushin changed the date.”
I looked at the warehouse. “We might as well take a look inside.” With the lake so calm, it was easy to spot boats moving. Valentin could give us at least a half hour’s warning if anything showed up.
Alison nodded. We crept over to the warehouse’s side door, and Valentin picked the lock. We agreed he’d wait with my men and call us if a boat looked like it was heading our way.
Inside, the warehouse was pitch black. We didn’t want to risk switching on any lights in case anyone did show up, so we had to use the flashlights on our phones. Picking our way through the place in the dark, side by side, with our flashlights sweeping around was nerve-wracking and also, weirdly...fun.Like we were some detective couple in a TV show, creeping around some derelict house trying to solve a murder. I glanced sideways at her. She’d put her hair up into the tight little bun that drove me crazy, and my flashlight’s glare revealed little glimpses of her ass in those skintight black jeans, her perky little breasts pushing out her sweater…and that grimly determined frown. My FBI agent, who’d crack the case no matter what.
It wasn’t a fun place to be. But there was no one in the world I’d rather be there with. Working with her,beingwith her, felt right, like I’d found the missing half of me. Yes, the Bratva was corrupting her, just as I’d feared, but, somehow, she was managing to keep her moral core. Maybe she could be my conscience, my balance. And yes, our world was dangerous...but with all her training, she could handle the danger better than any woman I’d ever known. She was the perfect partner for me.
And then reality kicked in. I couldn’t be with her. I couldn’tstop,andlivelike a regular person. I had to keep pushing and pushing until it killed me, because if I let the anger fade...the guilt would consume me.
We picked our way across a big concrete loading area, nearly tripping over coils of chain. Then we came to a railing, beyond whichthe floor was covered in what looked like black, shiny plastic. For a moment, I thought we were looking at a wall-to-wall store of plastic-wrapped drugs.
Then the floor moved, just a little. We both shone our flashlights directly on it and?—
It wasthe lake.The whole back half of the warehouse was built over the lake, and we were looking straight down into the water. That meant a boat could be sailed right in here and unload out of the rain...and out of sight. There were some stairs that led right down to the water and two catwalks made of metal mesh for people to stand on while unloading.
At that moment, my phone rang. I grabbed it. Valentin. “What’s up?” I asked. “A boat?” I looked out at the lake, but there was still nothing in sight.
“No, Grushin’s men!” Valentin told me. “They just pulled up, two cars and a van!”
That made no sense. If they were here to meet the shipment, where was the boat? “Okay, we’re on our way out,” I told him.
“No! They’re coming to the side door! They’ll see you! Should we rush them?”
Fuck.I didn’t want to get into a shootout if I could help it. Even if we won, and even if Alison came out unharmed, westillwouldn’t know what Grushin was doing here. “No,” I said quickly. “We’ll hide. There’s no boat coming; they must be here for something else. We’ll wait until they go.”
I looked around. There wasn’t anything to hide behind in the concrete loading area; it was just a big, open space. But downstairs, next to the water: they wouldn’t need to go down there. I grabbed Alison’s hand and hurried down the steps. Then I pushed her under the staircase. There wasn’t room for two of us to squeeze in, so I ran to the matching staircase on the other side of the warehouse and ducked under it.
I heard the side door open and, a second later, the lights flickered on. Now there reallywasnowhere to hide. But as long as they didn’tcome down here… We exchanged nervous glances from across the warehouse and tried not to make a sound.
And then something weird happened. The black water in front of us started to bulge upwards in the middle, like the lake had become solid. I stared...and then, as the water started to splash around the edges, my perception shifted. Something black and curved was rising up out of the lake.
We’d got it wrong. The boat had shown up right on time. We just hadn’t been able to see it because it had been slipping silently under the water. Grushin was using a submarine.
Footsteps from above. The shipment had arrived...and Grushin’s men were coming down here to unload it.
53
ALISON
There wasno time to call Valentin. There was no time to doanything.Any second, Grushin’s men were going to start down the stairs and see us. There was only one place to hide.
I scrambled out from under the staircase and dived into the lake, fully clothed. Across the warehouse. I saw Gennadiy do the same. At least it was early September and the water wasn’t too cold.
I swam under the catwalk, where the shadows would hide me as long as I kept still, and started treading water. The first of Grushin’s men clattered down the metal staircase, then another and another. They gathered on the catwalk, right above my face. Apparently, my side of the warehouse was the unloading side.Great.
Now that the lights were on, I could see the shape of the submarine. It wasn’t some huge thing, like the nuclear submarines navies use. It was only about the size of a small truck. And it didn’t look like something a navy would build, either: there were dents where some of the metal panels had been hammered into place, and exposed pipes secured by cable ties. This was homemade and barely hanging together: it probably needed repairs after every trip.
One of the companies Grushin had been calling did welding.That’swhat that was for.
