Page 107 of Close Pursuit

“Christ, man. Who’d you piss off?”

Alex shrugged. “Wish I knew. I was at my lawyer’s office when I got the call that Katie and the baby had disappeared from the orphanage.”

“Any guesses as to who’s tailing you?” Mike demanded.

“Pros for sure. Maybe FSB. Maybe CIA.”

“What do they want?”

Alex snorted. “They want me to work for them.”

“You think they’re making a run at Katie and the kid to twist your arm?”

“Possibly.” He corrected angrily, “Hell, Probably.”

“Any other possible players?”

He frowned thoughtfully. “It’s a long shot, but Katie’s been poking around trying to find out who Dawn’s birth father is.”

“Wouldn’t that be a local from Karshan?” Ian asked in surprise.

“Dawn’s blond-haired and blue-eyed. Birth father’s Caucasian.”

“Sonofabitch,” Ian breathed. “So Katie’s turning over rocks. Who’d she expose?”

“I was hoping you could tell me. What were you doing in Zaghastan?”

“Dude, you know the drill. I can’t answer that.”

“Just listen, then. Someone’s been chasing Katie and me pretty much continuously since the Karshan Valley, starting with you. I thought it was all about me. God knows, I’ve got plenty of enemies and they all have the manpower to follow me and hassle me.”

“But?”

“Katie got this idea in her head that we should find Dawn’s birth father and let him know he had a kid. She asked for a list of names from your uncle of all the Caucasian men in the Karshan Valley nine months ago. A guy named Yevgeny Shishani was on it.”

Mike shook his head. He obviously hadn’t heard of the guy.

“Chechen mafia. Arms dealer, drug lord. Smuggler.”

“And?”

“Tell me something. Did you find any poppy fields in that area? Any evidence to indicate that opium production or smuggling was going on?”

“No. Nothing like that,” Mike said firmly. The guy was telling him the truth. Alex saw no tells of deception at all.

“How about weapons dealing? Any arms runners passing through there?”

“Negative.”

“Then why would a guy like Shishani end up in a godforsaken place like the Karshan Valley?”

“I got nothin’. You got a theory?”

“Yes, in fact. I do.” He exhaled hard. “This is a little crazy, McCloud, but go with me on it.” He described the cave with its bore holes and deep shaft. He then described the chronic cough the locals all seemed to have, and the weird smell in the valley.

“Yeah, I noticed that stench,” Mike piped up. “I tracked it to those big communal ovens they used.”

“I don’t think those were ovens. I think they were smelters.” That sent Ian’s eyebrows up, but he listened in silence as Alex continued. “I took a close look at this Shishani character. No political ties. Purely a businessman. Seems to me he wouldn’t go to the Karshan Valley unless there was money in it for him. With me so far?”

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