The River of Bones v5 Read Online Free PDF Page B

traveled together, even when the communists ruled Russia, although I was very young.  It’s all on the internet.
    “I’ve waited and waited to come here, thinking this would be the best place to find help.  We Russians think Alaska is where the cowboys live, although some are traveling now to places like Sakhalin Island to drill for oil.  Our men don’t act like you.”
    Simon laughed.  “I think you mean Texans . . . but you might have just met a couple of cowboys.”
    Her face reddened and she paused again.  “Will you help me then?” she asked.  “I’ve told you the truth.”
    She probably has, thought Jake, but what good had it done her?  Simon and he had no money or aircraft, and the risks of such a crazy expedition were incomprehensible.  Why, oh, why, every time the opportunity of a lifetime came along, a million obstacles stood in his way?  Then he wondered how many years one got for bootlegging across the Bering Straits.  God, he couldn’t imagine all the years!
    “Let’s get a drink and have dinner, because I need time to think this over.”  He reached for his winter jacket and watched Simon and Sasha pull on their coats too.
    He followed them outside, locked the door, and walked downstairs.  The snow was still falling, but as if it wouldn’t last.  He stopped at the bottom of the steps, then stared.  Fresh footprints lay on the ground, trailing around the back side of the hangar into the darkness.
    “Simon, watch out for Sasha, stay under the ramp lights, and don’t leave.”
    “I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to go back there.  You never know who you’re going to run into in this goddamn town.”
    He saw Sasha Pavlov’s face turn pale and her hands clutch her coat collar.  “He followed me—”
    “Who followed you?”
    “I have never seen him, but the man who hired my father.”
    He walked away, following the tracks through the snow.  It seemed the person leaving the trail had crept to the top of the stairs, then snuck back down when he’d seen the lights switch off.  The closest place to hide had been around the back of the hangar, where it was black as midnight beside the lake.
    When he turned the corner of the building, he stopped, waiting for his eyesight to adapt to the darkness.  A storage shed sat at the far end, blocking any escape.  Wooden boxes used for shipping aircraft engines were stacked against the wall and fuel barrels lay piled one on top of another.  Maybe the snoop had jumped off the embankment onto the frozen lake, eight feet down.  Still . . . there were plenty of places to hide.  He followed the tracks again.
    Suddenly, he saw a shadow six feet away.  He froze.  “Who are you and what are you doing back here?”
    Silence.   Then he heard a click.  Instantly, he realized he’d made the worst mistake of his life.  The shadow lunged at him, mumbling something odd.
    “ Kto vi?”
    He felt the long knife stick into his belly on the left side, just above his belt.  Then everything seemed to move in slow motion.  He screamed and punched the shadowy face—so close he smelled bad breath.  Splat!   Strangely, he sensed that he’d broken the attacker’s nose.  He glimpsed a dark silhouette hurtle down onto the snowy lake.  Silence once more, everything turning black . . .
     
    “Jake, hang on.  The ambulance is coming now.”
    Simon’s voice sounded so distant . . . and who was the woman kneeling beside him?  The siren sounded so close.  Then he remembered his stupidity.
    “Simon?”
    “Hang on—they’re almost here.”
    “Call Molly Faircloth.”
     
     
     
     
     

CHAPTER FOUR
    ANCHORAGE
     
    “Jake, can you hear me?  Please wake up.”
    White ceiling, white walls . . . what was this?   He blinked his eyes and things cleared.  Whose voice had he heard so close beside him?  He rolled his head and looked.
    “How do you feel?  Your color’s coming back.”
    “May I call you Molly?  Mrs. Faircloth seems too