Panthera Spelaea Ch. 61-70

"Look for anything related to the prisoners or Edward," I said as I looked over her shoulders.

"Here we go," Svetlana said as she brought up a conversation in Cyrillic. "Last communication was from Mikhail, to hold them until it's over."

"Tell them to let the men go. They were soldiers doing their job, and Mikhail got the ones he wanted. Promise them a bonus for good work, and say I'll be back in a few days."

Svetlana typed out the message and hit SEND. "Let's see what else is on here." She went back to the text conversations, finding one with Mikhail's accountant. "Deposit sent to E's account. I'll have the equity/cash transfers set up to execute at your direction." She showed me the screen. "That has to be Edward!"

"Tell him to execute the transfers immediately," I said.

Svetlana looked at me like I was crazy. "You want to give Edward his billion dollars? He set you two up, and he was going to kill Art!"

"No," I said with a smile. "I want to take a billion dollars out of Mikhail's estate. "

Svetlana grinned as she typed out the message and hit SEND. She got a response from the first man. He said they'd left the sedated men in a hotel room and were heading for the airport. She put the phone in her pocket and looked back at Anna and Melanie. The nervous raptor perched on her thigh as it looked around in the growing darkness. "How is she doing?"

"Good, I think. We're lucky it's dark out; hopefully, that keeps Melanie from flying off." She was petting the feathers on her chest to keep her calm.

"I need to retrieve some gear, and then we should get out of here."

Anna looked at the helicopter, sitting there doing nothing. You could see lights in the cockpit, but the pilot hadn't done anything since shutting the engines down. "Who is in there with the pilot?"

"I don't know, but we'll be ready." I took Svetlana back to the church; using the flashlight on the phone, we put on body armor and gun belts. The Glock pistols had night sights and a small flashlight under the barrel. "Don't use the flashlight unless you have to. We need to get to the helicopter at the same time without being spotted," I told her. "I'll approach from below and take the pilot door on the right. I need you to approach from directly behind and come up on the other side. You take the passenger door on the left. On my whistle, close in and open the door. Kill anyone who doesn't surrender."

"I'm ready." She didn't look it, but she would do it for me, for us. We went outside, stopping to tell Anna to stay out of sight. I worked my way down the hill, using the olive trees and brush to hide. My lion was forward, his night vision helping me see clearly. Svetlana had a clear path down the rocky hill, but she was vulnerable if spotted. I was twenty feet below the helicopter, hidden in the brush when she made it to the tail rotor.

I moved to ten feet, then whistled. Running for the door, I threw it open and pointed my Glock in the pilot's shocked face. I could hear the passenger door opening and the light moving around the back. "Clear," Svetlana yelled.

The pilot had dropped his phone, the game he'd been playing still making noise as it landed at his feet. He held his hands up, his eyes wide. He said something in another language, then switched to English. "Don't shoot," he begged me.

"You took my friends," I growled out.

"Please. I'm just a pilot flying charters around. I get paid extra to keep my mouth shut. I don't look because I don't want to know!"

"Get ready for departure," I ordered. "Svetlana, go back and get Anna and her pet."

Svetlana looked at me. "How are we going to keep it calm in a helicopter?"

I thought quickly. "Have Anna get a shirt or something to put over her head. It works with falcons."

By the time they returned, I was in the copilot's seat with my gun at the ready. Svetlana and Anna had improvised, tying a uniform shirt around her left forearm for the Eagle to perch on. A green T-shirt was draped over Melanie's head, hanging halfway down her wings. She looked silly, but it was working. Svetlana helped her into the back and buckled her in with the bird in front of her. The pilot spun the blades up, and we lifted off. "Where to," he asked.

"Head towards Sibenik. I need to make a call."

He headed north through the night sky, the darkness of the Adriatic Sea below us. I pulled out the satphone, hoping Zach got enough notice to stop Edward from taking out Art.