Beneath Still Waters

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Although, the life of one of her friends didn’t normally hang in the balance, completely dependent upon her success, and that’s where the dismay came in.

The deadline was the problem. Given enough time and materials, Annja knew that she could probably find the airplane. She didn’t have any doubt about it. If it was there, she would find it. But with only seven days to do it—actually six, now—it was going to be nothing less than a Herculean task. They needed help; it was as simple as that.

Good thing she knew where she could get some.

Normally she’d be worried about the price tag that would come with that help, and she would carefully consider the pros and cons of picking up the phone and getting him involved, but she didn’t have the luxury to worry about such things at this point. Time was too precious a resource to waste. Whatever the price, she was willing to pay it in order to rescue Doug.

Paul looked over at her. “I’ve got be honest, Annja. I don’t know how we could search an area of that size even with an army at our disposal. An army that, I should point out, we don’t have.”

“Yeah, I know. I’m working on it.”

With only a trace of reluctance, Annja picked up the phone and called Garin Braden.

“Hello, Annja,” he said, when he answered the call. “To what do I owe this pleasant surprise?”

“I hate to say it, Garin, but I really need your help.”

Garin laughed. “The mighty Miss Creed needs my help? You must be joking.”

Annja gritted her teeth. “I’m serious, Garin. I really need your help.”

“Well, in that case let me drop everything I am doing and rush to your aid.”

His sarcastic tone made her wince, but she pushed on anyway. “Please, Garin. A friend’s life is at stake and time is of the essence.”

Garin Braden was over five hundred years old. When she thought about it, that sounded crazy even to her, but she couldn’t deny the fact that it was true. Garin had been squire to a French knight named Roux, who in turn had been assigned to watch over Joan of Arc. Roux and his squire had failed in their mission, and when Joan’s sword was broken in the moments before her execution, the lives of the two men had been mysteriously lengthened. Over the next few centuries Roux searched for the fragments of the blade, intending to bring them back together, while Garin fought to keep that from happening, convinced the fragmentation of the blade was the very thing that assured his extended life span.

Annja was aware Garin had since come to realize that his efforts had likely been wasted, as her custodianship of the blade so far had had no ill effect on him. In fact, he seemed to be growing quite fond of her. Annja had diligently resisted his efforts to flirt, despite her attraction to him. The fact that he was the perfect example of tall, dark and handsome, never mind ridiculously rich, constantly battled with her understanding that Garin cared first and foremost about himself. He was determined, ruthless and used to getting what he wanted, no matter what the effort or cost. It made him dangerous in more ways than one.

She knew it was in her best interest to stay as far away from him as she could and yet here she was, reaching out to him for help in her moment of need.

Apparently my heart and my head aren’t seeing eye to eye again, she thought.

Knowing his nature, Annja expected Garin to ask what was in it for him and, frankly, she didn’t have an answer. The last time she had asked for his help he’d insisted on taking her to dinner and she’d had no choice but to agree. She was afraid of what he would require this time around.

To her great surprise, he didn’t do anything of the sort.

“What do you need?” he asked.

Given the nature of some of the expeditions she’d been on in the past, Annja had learned not to talk about them too much over an open telephone line, for you never knew who might be listening in. Instead she told him that she needed to find a certain object within a certain specified time frame and left it at that, knowing he would read between the lines and understand that she was after an artifact of one kind or another.

That was close enough for what she needed until she could see him.

Garin was silent at first and then asked, “Where are you now?”

“The Hotel Planita in Negril, Jamaica.”

“Okay, stay there. I’ll send a chopper for you.”

Garin hung up before she could thank him. He always did like having the last word.

* * *

JUST UNDER THREE hours later, a massive AW101 VVIP AgustaWestland helicopter settled onto the hotel lawn, inviting stares from more than a few observers. Annja didn’t blame them; this was the same helicopter used to transport the President of the United States under the designation Marine One, and just seeing it up close was pretty awe-inspiring. Given that it was one of Garin’s helicopters, Annja had no doubt that the interior would be even more lavish than she could imagine.

She and Paul watched as the door opened and a set of steps unfolded from inside the aircraft. Seconds later a black man with a shaved head and a soul patch on his chin appeared in the doorway. He was wearing a sharply cut suit and dark sunglasses. He scanned the small crowd assembled on the other side of the lawn before his gaze settled on Annja and her companion. He gestured them forward without hesitation.

Annja crossed the lawn and climbed the stairs. “Hello, Griggs,” she said, as she stepped aboard the aircraft.

Matthew Griggs, head of DragonTech Security and Garin Bradin’s right-hand man, nodded to her. “Miss Creed,” he said, with that lilting British Caribbean accent of his. “Please make yourself comfortable.”

The interior of the helicopter resembled that of a private jet more than any helicopter Annja had ever been in, with mahogany fittings, lush leather seats and even thick carpet underfoot to help absorb the sound of the rotor blades.

Griggs turned just as Paul came up the steps. The DragonTech Security man interposed himself between Paul and the interior of the aircraft. “I’m sorry, sir,” he said, “but this is a private flight.”

“It’s all right, Griggs. He’s with me.”

Griggs spoke over his shoulder to Annja without taking his eyes off Paul. “Is Mr. Braden aware of this?”

He wasn’t, but Annja wasn’t about to admit that to Griggs.

“Of course.”

“Very well.”

Once both guests were settled, Griggs said, “Help yourselves to the refreshments. We’ll be in Miami in about three hours.”

With that, he pulled in the stairs, secured the door and returned to the cockpit. Five minutes later they were airborne.

Glancing around the cabin, Paul gave a low whistle. “You said you were going to get us some help, but this is a bit more than I expected. Dare I ask who it belongs to?”

Annja didn’t see any reason not to tell him, especially considering the fact that Paul was likely to be meeting him in a few hours.

“Garin Braden.”

Paul started in surprise. “Garin Braden?”

“Yes.”

“Garin Braden the industrialist?”

Annja would have been more prone to call him Garin Braden the scoundrel, but that was splitting hairs, in her view.

“Yes.”

An uneasy expression crossed Paul’s face.

Seeing it, Annja asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Braden and I had a bit of a run-in at a press conference when I asked him some uncomfortable questions,” Paul replied.

“When was this?”

“A year, maybe eighteen months ago.” He shrugged, then waved it off. “I’m sure he’s forgotten about it by now.”

Annja wasn’t so sure of that—Garin tended to carry a grudge longer than anyone she knew—but she agreed and left it alone for the time being. If it was an issue, they’d deal with it later. “Might as well relax,” she told him. “We’ve got a few hours of flight time ahead of us, it seems.”

While Paul wandered around, checking out the cabin, Annja pulled her laptop out of her backpack and fired it up. She connected to the flight’s onboard Wi-Fi and began researching the Junkers aircraft and its capabilities. Getting a better sense of its strengths and weaknesses would allow her to better pinpoint how far it might have gone after being damaged in the dogfight with Captain Mitchell and his wingman, which in turn might allow them to narrow their search area.

Or, if we’re particularly unlucky, make it even bigger.

She was thankful that there was a fair bit of information available.

The Junkers Ju 88 was a twin-engine multirole combat aircraft built by the German firm Junkers Flugzeugund Motorenwerke for use by the Luftwaffe in World War II. It had been intended to be a fast bomber that could outrun any Allied fighters that tried to chase it. According to most of the sources Annja checked, it had been moderately successful.

Despite being plagued by several problems in the later part of its development, the aircraft and its many variants were in constant production from 1939 to the end of the war in 1945. More than 160,000 were built, more than any other German twin-engine aircraft of the time period. It served successfully as a bomber, dive bomber, night fighter, heavy fighter and reconnaissance aircraft. They had seen heavy action during the Battle of Norway, the Battle of France and the Battle of Britain, as well as in various campaigns on the Eastern Front.

The Junkers had a top speed of 292 miles per hour, a ceiling of 29,000 feet, and a maximum range of 1,700 miles. It had been built to be flown by a crew of either three or four, though one man could manage it on his own if the rear-facing cockpit guns and the weapons bay under the nose were left unmanned. Annja’s research told her that one of the key features of the Junkers aircraft was its ability to keep fighting even after taking heavy damage. That explained how the target aircraft had managed to stay aloft despite being savaged by the pair of P51s under Mitchell’s command. That concerned her somewhat, as the Junkers’s hardiness might mean it had managed to go even farther than they suspected after the destruction of the Mustangs.

All in all, it seemed like a pretty hardy aircraft. It made her wonder what the pilot’s destination had been. Where had he been trying to go with all that gold, if that, indeed, had been what he’d been carrying?

She called up a map of Europe and the Middle East on her screen. She looked at it for several minutes, trying to work out reasonable routes in her head. With a possible range of 1,700 miles, the pilot certainly had his choice of destinations available to him. If he’d flown due south, he could have reached the deep deserts beyond Tripoli in Libya. Flying due west would have taken him nearly to Atyrau, Kazakhstan. An agent of the Reich might have found assistance in either location and could have flown on from there after refueling. While dangerous, both would have been safer than the route he had chosen; southeast through Austria and into the teeth of the Allied army marching north toward Berlin. It didn’t make a lot of sense.

Nothing made a lot of sense in those days, she reminded herself. The war was all but lost and the Reich was falling apart. The guy probably loaded up what he could and made a run for it. Stop trying to read more into it or you’ll drive yourself nuts, Annja thought.

With that warning ringing in her ears, she put the laptop away and sat back to enjoy the rest of the flight. She knew all too well that there would far too little time for rest in the days ahead.

Chapter 8 (#ulink_3129b513-c038-5087-b4f1-bafe4e4224fc)

Griggs’s estimate had been right on the money; they landed at Miami International Airport just under three hours later. A black SUV with dark tinted windows was waiting for them next to the helipad. Griggs escorted them to the vehicle and then climbed in beside the driver. Annja assumed they would be taken to wherever Garin was staying, so she was surprised when the driver raced around several parked Airbuses and delivered them to a sleek business jet waiting for them on the other side of the terminal.

Annja was about to ask what was going on when she noticed the corporate logo of a gold dragon poised in midflight on the tail of the aircraft. It was the same one that had been on the tail rotor of the helicopter they’d just left behind.

DragonTech Security.

When the car stopped, Griggs escorted them up the steps and into the aircraft.

Garin Braden was waiting for them.

“Ah, Annja,” he said, as a broad smile swept across his face. “So good to see you.”

Garin was a big man, both physically and charismatically. He seemed to fill the room wherever he was. His dark hair was pulled back in a ponytail and his beard was immaculately groomed, as usual. This day he was dressed in a dark shirt and jeans, which was unusual for him. Annja was more used to seeing him in impeccably cut suits.

Everybody needs a dress down day, she thought with a smile.

Annja introduced Paul to him, noting that Garin held the other man’s hand just a moment longer than normal.

Had he recognized Paul? she wondered.

Garin didn’t say anything or acknowledge that the two had previously met, so Annja let it go. He ushered them into chairs opposite his own and got right down to business. “You said it was urgent. Tell me what is going on.”

Annja laid it all out for him: Doug’s kidnapping, the phone call, the package, the fact that the kidnapper knew she was in Jamaica, the demand that she find and recover the plane and its contents. The only thing she left out was the fact that she was romantically involved with Paul. She didn’t need Garin critiquing her choice of companions, but she knew he would do so anyway. No sense in giving him more ammunition for the task.