The Darkest Corner (Gravediggers #1)(70)

"We're following the major players who have spearheaded the current Russian Mafiya, and we know that they have plans much bigger than that of one single stadium's destruction. It's just gathering information at this point and narrowing down the possibilities."

"I think I can help with that," Colin said. "Mikhail Petrov is dead. Border Patrol stopped his eighteen-wheeler outside of San Antonio early this morning. The investigation is still ongoing. He was importing pottery and furniture into Texas. The only problem was when Petrov was stopped, the police found three underage girls in the cargo area.

"Petrov was also transporting several ounces of an unknown substance, which was his main purpose for coming across the border. It had originally been packaged and airdropped into Venezuela. It turns out Petrov is an acquaintance of Joaquin Ramirez."

Joaquin Ramirez made Pablo Escobar look like a choir boy when it came to drug trafficking. He ran one of the most ruthless cartels in the world. He had deep pockets and a global reach. As of yet, he was untouchable.

"Convenient," Deacon said. "It makes sense for him to be friends with Ramirez."

"Pretty much," Elias said. "The SEALs made several trips to Venezuela to try and make a capture. He's a slippery bastard." 

"Petrov was able to retrieve the package, and then Ramirez used his considerable resources to get Petrov into Mexico and set up with the correct papers and an eighteen-wheeler. Ramirez is known for his love of underage girls. He has a party every year and makes all the families gather at his villa. The locals call it Parte de las Lagrimas. The Party of Tears. Ramirez makes the daughters of the villagers parade through the streets, and then he selects several to stay with him as personal guests for an 'initiation.' I guarantee those three girls in the back of Petrov's truck were gifts from Ramirez."

"How'd he die?" Deacon asked.

"He went ballistic when they started searching the cargo hold," Colin piped in. "I guess he remembered he was supposed to be transporting the chemical weapon, and that if he didn't succeed his comrades would slice off his balls and shove them down his throat. Petrov opened fire on the officers and they fired back. A hazmat team contained the unknown substance, and Homeland Security took over. Eve and The Shadow showed up on-site and removed the substance from Homeland Security for testing. It has been confirmed as XTNC-50, and now Homeland Security is throwing a fit, wanting to know who the hell just took over for them. They'll be tied up in red tape for a while and still not get an answer."

"What about the girls?" Deacon asked.

"They were sent back home to their families," Colin said.

Deacon pushed back from his chair and started pacing the length of HQ. "They're not going to stop until they have that stuff exactly where they want it to be. They're hedging their bets. The tanker coming in from the Bering Sea. An eighteen-wheeler from Mexico. You can bet they've got other avenues of backup transport lined up."

"There's still no word on Egorov, but Levkin has been spotted less than fifty miles from here," Colin said, bringing up a photograph on the big screen. "An ATM caught him on camera. The card he used is issued to a Peter Paulson. A quick run on Paulson didn't bring up anything. He's been using cash. And there's no record of hotel or rental cars. But when you put all the data in the computer, the statistics are high that they're using Dallas as their gathering place. It's a great central location. A major city, but not L.A. or New York, which are usually under tighter scrutiny."

"We've got confirmation that Yevorovich is on the tanker. He's our next target. The tanker is slowly making its way towards U.S. waters, its course set for Alaska." Deacon stopped moving and switched the screen to a satellite image. "After doing a little digging, I found that a plane has been chartered and is scheduled to take off from Bethel airstrip in Alaska on Saturday. Reservation was made by John Jameson."

"They're so clever on the aliases," Dante said. "Where was the destination in the flight plan?"

"Dallas," Deacon said.

"Home sweet home." Elias shook his head. "So what's the plan?"

"We'll HALO in and land on the tanker like Eve said." Deacon put an image of the tanker on one screen and its blueprints on the other. "We'll plant the explosives and make sure Yevorovich is dead before we're extracted. We leave in two days. I want our focus to be on pinning down Levkin. He's the weakest link. Egorov has too many political connections to bail him out if he's caught. He won't talk."

"He'll be the most dangerous," Axel said. "He's the one we need to find. Nothing will stop him from his end goal. Egorov has ambition. He's willing to die for his cause, but he wants his name to go down with the greats. Putin will canonize him. His family will be held in high esteem. His children will never want for anything. His life is a sacrifice worth everything."