Fire Ice (NUMA Files 3)

"Novorossiysk doesn't freeze up in the winter. This is the major port for cargo moving between Russia and the Mediterranean and the rest of Europe, and it's also more or less convenient to Asia, the Persian Gulf and Africa. The port facilities are state-of-the-art. There are actually five parts to the harbor: three dry cargo handling areas, the oil harbor and the passenger terminal. You came in through the airport, so you know it's got connections allover the world."

"I can see why Ataman would have its headquarters here," Gamay noted, as she scanned the bustling bay.

"I'll show you." Yuri kicked the boat's speed up and angled the bow in toward a wide indentation on the shore. Six long concrete piers extended from land. Several ships were tied up at the wharves. Rising behind the piers was a sprawling complex of industrial buildings, gantry cranes, big straddle carriers and cargo derricks. Forklift trucks and tractors moved along the piers like oversized insects.

"Which part is Ataman's?" Gamay asked.

Yuri grinned and swept his hand in a wide arc. "All of it."

Gamay whistled in astonishment. "I can't believe the size of this place. It's bigger than some major ports."

"Ataman has it own fleet of tugboats, fuel and water supplies and tanks for bilge and waste removal," Yuri said. "See those giant cranes over there? That's Ataman's shipyard. They build all their own vessels. That way they can control design and cost." He furrowed his brow and looked around as if he had lost something. "That's funny, Ataman' s port is practically empty."

Paul exchanged a puzzled glance with his wife. "It doesn't look empty to me. Look at all that activity. I can see five ships of considerable size pulled up to the dock."

"Those are Ataman's small ships. I wanted to show you their ocean drilling rigs. They look like they could drill through to the other side of the world. Each one is like a city in itself."

"Maybe they're all at sea working."

"Maybe," he said, with skepticism in his voice. "But I don't think so. Ataman has so many ships, a few are always being outfitted. Even with all those wharves, they don't have space to take care of their whole fleet at the same time." He scanned the shoreline until he saw what he was looking for. "I can show you something almost as interesting."

Yuri kept the boat on the same heading until they were past the main wharves, then he steered in toward a smaller pier. A luxurious yacht four hundred feet long was tied up at the dock. The gleaming white hull was set off by black trim. The superstructure was unusually sleek and stream- lined. The hull was shaped in a deep V to cut through the waves. The wide rear of the boat was concave.

"Wow!" Yuri said. "I've heard of this baby, but it's the first time I've seen it."

"Quite a luxury yacht," Paul said with appreciation. "It belongs to Razov, the head guy at Ataman. They say he lives on the boat and runs his busine

ss from it." Yuri gave the tiller a wiggle. Gamay pressed the shutter release and banged off several shots. "Can we go around to the other side?" Gamay said.

Yuri replied with a pull on the tiller that brought them around behind the boat. Gamay lifted the camera up to her eye again and started to press the control button that would give her a wide-angle shot, when she detected movement on the deck. A figure had come into view. She extended the zoom to its full 200-mm range. "Dear God!" she said with a gasp.

"What is it?" Paul said.

She handed the camera over. "Take a look."

Paul peered through the viewfinder and scanned the deck, but saw no one.

"Deck's deserted now. What did you see?" Gamay didn't spook easily, but she couldn't suppress a shudder. "A tall man with long black hair and a beard. He was staring straight at me. It was one of the most frightening faces I've ever seen."

A Jeeplike vehicle was racing toward the wharf along an access road, and Trout's instincts were aroused. He looked through the camera lens as the vehicle drove onto the boat dock. Speaking calmly, he said, "We've got company. Time to go."

The vehicle screeched to a stop. Six uniformed men carrying weapons jumped out, dashed along the wharf, raced toward the gangplank and climbed onto the ship. Yuri had hesitated, but when he saw the armed men, he twisted the throttle as far as it would go, and headed out to the bay.

The bow lifted and the boat got on plane, making a respectable speed despite its heavy construction. Flashes of small-arms fire could be seen on the yacht's fantail. The bullets stitched a line of small fountains in the water. Paul yelled at the others to get down. A round hit the boat and took a chip out of the transom, but seconds later they were out of range. The danger wasn't over, though. Another vehicle had followed the first, and the men who piled out headed for the dock, where some powerboats were tied up.

Yuri pointed the boat out into the busy channel, crossing behind a cargo ship that was making its way out of the bay. The small boat leaped like a dolphin as it crossed the wake, but it rode the waves out comfortably. Yuri brought the boat around to the other side of the ship, using the cargo vessel as a screen. When they were safely beyond the Ataman complex, he peeled the boat away and they followed the coast back toward the camp. At one point, Paul suggested that they pull into a creek. They waited ten minutes, but no one followed.

Yuri's face was flushed with excitement. "Man, that was fun. I've heard a lot of businesses have their own armies to protect them from the Russian Mafia, but this is the first time I've ever seen them."

Paul felt guilty about putting the son of his old colleague in harm's way. He and Gamay owed Yuri an explanation, but too much knowledge could be just as dangerous. Communicating with her eyes, Gamay silently sent a message saying that she knew what to do.

"Yuri, we've got a favor to ask," she said. "We'd like you Ito say nothing about what happened back there to anyone."

"I guess your visit to my father wasn't entirely social," Yuri said.

Gamay nodded. "We've been asked by NUMA to check out Ataman Industries. They're suspected of being involved in some shady business. We had planned to do so from a safe distance. We never dreamed that they would be, well, so touchy."

"It was like something out of James Bond!" Yuri had a broad smile on his face.