Silent Thunder

"How were you paid?"

"In cash. Half was paid to me that evening, the remainder I found in an envelope on my car dashboard Monday morning."

"After your three passengers made it safely to shore."

Petrenko lifted his eyebrows in surprise. "You know that?"

"You were boarded by a Coast Guard cutter?"

Petrenko nodded. "Yes, but they only seemed to be looking for drugs or weapons. They let the dog sniff around for a while, then left."

"I'll need the name of your supplier."

"I'm afraid I can't-"

"He made the arrangements for those passengers. I'm not leaving here without his name."

Petrenko moistened his lips. "Please respect my position. I understood when you couldn't reveal your sources, and you must understand that I can't reveal mine."

"No choice."

Petrenko had turned pale, but he still shook his head.

Kirov glanced quickly at Ha

"Why?"

"Don't argue. This won't take long."

She looked at Petrenko. Jesus, he looked frightened. "What are you going to do?"

"Only what needs to be done." Kirov was staring at Petrenko. "The choice is entirely his."

"Please," the man gasped. "I can't do-"

"Go wait in the car," Kirov repeated to Ha

His voice was calm, almost expressionless, but Ha

"You bet it's not." The voice came from the rear of the store.

Ha

Petrenko stiffened. "A

The gun was wavering in the girl's trembling hand. "Move away from him."

Kirov didn't move.

"A

A

Kirov slowly turned to face her. "You don't want to do this."

"The hell I don't."

"We didn't come here to hurt your father."

"Yeah, sure, I heard you. And he's not my father."

"Then who is he to you?"

"None of your goddamned business." She readjusted the gun in her hands. "I could blow your brains out, and nobody would blame me. I'd tell them that you broke in here and tried to rob us."

Kirov's brows lifted. "Rob you? With what? I don't even have a gun."

"A

"I heard the whole thing. He said he couldn't help you, so go."

Kirov spoke softly. "We can't do that. I'm totally unarmed, but if you want to kill me, you'll just have to press that trigger."

"A

A

"The briefcase from the other night. From the boat."

She shook her head. "The others may come back for it."

"No one is coming for it. Go get the case, please."

She thought for a moment, then moved close to Petrenko. "Here. Hold the gun."

"Gladly."

Keeping the gun aimed at Kirov, she slowly handed it over to Petrenko. He turned and casually threw the weapon into a counter drawer.

"No!" A

"Go get the case. Hurry along now."

Still keeping a wary eye on Kirov and Ha

"I hope there aren't any other guns back there," Ha

"No. You must excuse my young friend's tempestuous nature. She's very protective."

"Like a pit bull," Ha

Kirov smiled. "Yes, she's obviously a bit impulsive. You know, of course, she had the safety on."

Petrenko nodded. "She's protective but completely unversed in the use of firearms. I prefer that she remain in that ignorance. Violence can scar children."

"More than children," Kirov said. "What's in this case you sent her to fetch?"

"As you know, my passengers from the other night were forced to slip overboard a few miles from shore. One of them left behind a small satchel. Apparently it contained nothing of real value because I received a note with my money instructing me to destroy it."

"Which you obviously didn't do," Ha

"I hadn't gotten around to it." He grimaced. "Okay, I thought it might prove valuable if they wanted it destroyed. I was considering my options."

"That case isn't going to buy you out. I still need the name of your contact," Kirov said.

"I was afraid you'd say that," Petrenko sighed.

"If I have to question him, I'll make sure that he thinks someone else tipped me."

"His name is Dan McClary. He works out of Cobh, Ireland."

A

Petrenko shrugged. "It belongs to this gentleman now."

A

"Sorry," Kirov said.

A

"Not over an iPod." Kirov picked up the briefcase. "This is a far happier solution for everyone, I assure you." He turned to Petrenko. "But if I find that you lied to me about McClary…"

"You'll know where to find me." Petrenko waved his arm around the store. "I've been here twelve years. This is my life, and I don't intend to abandon it."

"Sometimes life abandons you," Kirov said as he opened the door for Ha

At a rest stop on Highway 25, Ha

"I don't suppose there's any chance that this is the GRU information Pavski sent for," Ha

"Not if Petrenko was ordered to destroy it."

That was what Ha

"A silencer for a.357 Magnum handgun. Petrenko's passengers obviously didn't come to sightsee." Kirov took the silencer and sniffed it. "It's been used."

"Recently?"

"Difficult to tell. There's nothing particularly silent about these things. It's not like the movies, where silenced handguns only make a slight whistling sound. It's more like a ca

"Good to know for the next time I need to use one." She pulled out a well-read copy of The London Times, dated six days earlier.

Kirov glanced at the front page. "I'd say this paper was probably purchased somewhere else in Europe, maybe Ireland."

Ha

"Yes. It covers the newspaper's price, as you'd see with out-of-town newspapers. It's in euros, and much higher than you'd pay in London."

Ha

"You're wrong. I never enjoy depriving women of things they desire. I'm much too primitive."

"Primitive?"

"From cave days man has instinctively provided for the female." He smiled as he unwound the earphones. "Or maybe it's not instinct but the knowledge that they'd be given what they want much more easily if they kept them happy." He put on the earphones and powered up the player. "She probably would have appreciated this terrible Euro-rap music far more than I do." He yanked the earphones and turned off the player.

Ha