Chasing the Night - Iris Johansen [87]
“He had to know he was being tailed,” Kelly said. “The agents even mention that they had no problem keeping track of his movements. You tell me he’s very clever. That means he didn’t care whether Venable knew about those meetings or his activities with all those other criminal groups. Until he started meeting with Ali Dabala. One meeting, then we start to see more holes.”
“Holes?”
“Periods when the agents appear to have lost contact with Rakovac. Sometimes for as much as forty-eight hours.”
“You said more. You noticed other periods like that?”
“The first time I went through the report, I skimmed over them. The holes didn’t appear with any regularity and some of them might have been periods that weren’t at all suspicious. Times when Rakovac might just have stayed in his villa for twenty-four hours or more. But I was getting desperate and decided to go back in and examine them more carefully.” She added, “They’re definitely worth looking at and seeing if I can see any pattern. We have to assume that Rakovac knew and let himself be followed when it didn’t matter to him. He had protection from Venable as long as he gave him what he wanted, and no matter what other dirtiness he became involved with, the CIA wasn’t going to step in.”
“Until they had information he might have become involved with terrorists.”
“That was too much for anyone to swallow. Rakovac conveniently disappeared.” She took a sip of her orange juice. “But he left the holes for me. That may help.”
“Then what are you doing just lolling here drinking orange juice? Get to work.”
“I’m working. I’m thinking about the sequences and how I can tie it together with what I know about Rakovac.” She took another drink. “But I don’t know enough about him. I know the filth he became later in life, but I don’t know how he started out. Most patterns start in childhood and stay in effect throughout life. What do you know about his early years?”
“Not much. He was born in the Republic of Georgia and involved in that short vicious conflict that involved South Ossetia and Russia. He was jumping from one side to the other all during the war. I wasn’t interested in his early years. I was too busy trying to fight the hell he was creating all around him as an adult.”
“I’ll see if Venable can e-mail me more details. I do know that he was only a teenager when he was first fighting the Ossetians, and he was exceptionally brutal and ugly. He’s had no permanent relationship with a woman. He prefers to have a variety of affairs with the kind of sadistic sex that he put Natalie through.”
“Oh, I can believe that. He’s mentioned in detail what he has in store for me.”
Kelly nodded. “But I’d like to find out more about his childhood. Maybe Kelsov can help me. No one should know more about him. After all, they did fight together before Rakovac betrayed him to Moscow.” She finished her orange juice and got to her feet. “I think I’ll go and find him. I saw him going toward the barn with Natalie.”
“You’re wrong. There’s one person who knows more about Rakovac than Kelsov.”
“Natalie?” Kelly nodded soberly. “I tried to do a little probing, but she shut down right away. I may try again. Or ask Kelsov to question her.” She opened the front door. “She seems willing to do anything for him.”
“Wait. You think these holes are really important?”
“Don’t you?”
“They could be. I’m hoping we’re not grasping at straws.”
“Sometimes grasping at straws can be productive. They’re a consistent in a multichanging landscape in Rakovac’s life. I have to look for consistencies and what events and personalities they’re associated with.”
“And then?”
She smiled. “Then I may see a pattern that may help you find your son.”
“I couldn’t make him do it,” Mikhal said when Rakovac answered the phone. “Luke’s become very stubborn. He’s beginning to defy me.”
“The little viper is like his mother. He’s just getting his teeth. You punished him?”
“In the most painful way possible for him. He’ll regret not obeying you.”
Rakovac was still disappointed.