The Katerina Icon by Robert Mitchell

Author:Robert Mitchell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Treasure search in Russia, Buried treasure Russian Monastery, Looted antique icons Katherine the Great, young adult fiction mystery thriller Russia, Kidnapping by Russian mafia
Publisher: ROBERT MITCHELL
Published: 2019-02-17T00:00:00+00:00

Nine

“Stop car,” she ordered. “Stop car up there.”

Dmitry pulled off onto a flat area cleared of trees and covered in a deep layer of snow at the corner of the intersection.

“Who the hell are you?” I asked. “What do you want?” I knew what she wanted. She had seen us pay the hotel in cash and had probably seen how much more Dmitry still had in his wallet. It was a simple mugging, Russian style, and I had been stupid enough to fall for it.

“This Nagant,” she said.

“What?” I asked.

“She’s talking about the revolver,” Dmitry said. “It’s a Nagant. It’s Russian.”

“Yes, Nagant,” she said. “Make nice hole.” And then she laughed. It wasn’t a wicked laugh, nor was it a giggle. It was simply a laugh as though she had made a small joke. This woman wasn’t crazy. She was frighteningly sane, but no longer the cute thirty-year-old woman she had appeared to be. “Where is jewels?” she demanded again. “Where is Tsar’s gold? Where is treasure of Tsar Nikolai?”

“What the hell are you talking about?” I asked. Maybe she was crazy after all.

“You kill brothers,” she said, stating it as matter-of-factly as if she had been talking about us having somehow spoiled her day. It took no more than a split second for the penny to drop. Dmitry’s eyes met mine.

“What brothers?” Dmitry butted in before I could put my foot in it any further by denying that we had killed them and blaming it on old Ivan.

“I go to house of boat this morning at Amosovo. I go very early. Look for brothers. I find Oleg. Oleg have neck cut. I find Gronski. Gronski have stabbing in chest. Both brothers dead.”

“Who the hell are you!” Dmitry yelled. “We don’t know your brothers. We’ve got nothing to do with whatever the hell it is you’re talking about!”

I sat perfectly still, not wanting to risk her twitching finger on the trigger of what looked to be a very large revolver, and not wanting to say anything that would put us further into the mess I had allowed ourselves to be dropped into. I could feel my fingers trembling inside my heavy gloves and clenched my fists to try to hide my fear.

“You think I stupid?” she said quietly. “You think I speak little English I stupid? I not stupid. I know you. You are men take Alexander Pietor Ivanovich from water. I know. I there. I see. You are men Alexander Pietor give icon. I there in Petersburg with Gronski and Oleg. You are men Alexander Pietor give secret of Tsar gold and Tsar jewels.” She paused and looked first at Dmitry and then back at me and then to Dmitry again. “I not stupid!” she yelled. ”I know name of Ivan. I know he not Ivan. I know he Alexander Pietor Ivanovich!” Her voice had risen in intensity as she had progressed and she was now almost screaming, the revolver being waved forward between the two of us as she made each point.

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