The Romanov Ransom by Clive Cussler & Robin Burcell

Author:Clive Cussler & Robin Burcell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2017-09-12T04:00:00+00:00

41

Remi slid onto her back into the hidden compartment in the truck bed next to Sam, who was next to Gustaw. Sergei and the driver lowered the floorboards over them, then moved the boxes into place, the space turning suddenly dark. As the truck started down the road, she wondered how terrifying it must have been for the children hidden there during the war.

After several minutes—the road, thankfully, fairly smooth—she felt the truck slow, then stop. A few moments later, she heard someone talking and strained to listen as the antique dealer, speaking Polish, said, “Is something wrong?”

“There was an escape. Dangerous criminals in the area. We’re searching every vehicle.”

“Nothing back there but boxes and old furniture. It’s been locked the whole time. I can’t imagine how they could get in, then lock it.”

“We’d like to look. For your own protection.”

Remi slid her hand toward Sam’s as she heard the sound of someone walking toward the back of the truck. “Do you have a key?” the man asked the driver.

“I can open it for you.”

“Just the key. Please.”

The engine shut off. “Here it is.”

“Thank you.” She heard someone walking toward the back, then the sound of keys jangling as the person unlocked the cargo door, then rolled it up. Light filtered in through the cracks in the floorboard a moment before the back of the truck dipped as someone stepped inside. Remi felt Sam tensing beside her as he gripped his gun with both hands. She tried to even her breathing, sensing that the man was standing directly over them.

“Anything?” someone from the outside asked.

“Just furniture,” the man above her said.

“Let’s go.”

The truck rose slightly as the man jumped out, then walked back toward the cab. “You haven’t seen anyone around, have you?”

“I saw several people walking through the forest about a kilometer or so back, but they didn’t look like criminals. There was a woman with them.”

“That could be them. We heard a woman was helping. How long ago was this?”

“No more than five, ten minutes, I’d say.”

“Thank you.”

The truck started, the engine sputtering before it turned over, then accelerated down the road. After a few minutes of driving, he called out, “I think we made it. No one’s following.”

Even so, Remi didn’t relax until they arrived in Wrocław and the four of them were out of the truck. He’d parked in the street behind the antique store, and she was grateful that no one was around to see them emerging from the hidden compartment below the floorboards. “We can’t thank you enough,” Remi said. “We owe you our lives.”

He smiled at her, his green eyes alight. “My pleasure. I’d heard rumors that the Guard was active in these woods. But this is the first time I’ve ever seen them.”

“We hope,” Sam said, “you’ll never encounter them again.”

They followed him into the back of the darkened shop. He turned on a light, and Remi was surprised by the quality of the antiques as she ran her fingers along a spinning wheel that was from the turn of the nineteenth century.

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