Theres some paperwork we need you to sign, Thomas said.
As Jenna and Blake took care of the paperwork, the officials huddled out of earshot to talk briefly before Thomas addressed the couple again on behalf of the group.
Theres some paperwork we need you to sign, Thomas said.
As Jenna and Blake took care of the paperwork, the officials huddled out of earshot to talk briefly before Thomas addressed the couple again on behalf of the group.
Jenna, Blake, Thomas started, as horrible as this was, and as anguishing as it is facing what youre facing, you have to keep the facts in mind and prepare yourselves.
Prepare ourselves?
Rescuers are finding fewer survivors, Thomas said. The chances of anyone, let alone a baby, enduring three-hundred-mile-an-hour winds, injury, then more than forty-eight hours of exposure without water or food, are remote.
Are you telling me to give up hope? Jenna said.
No, no, not at all. Were only advising you to bear in mind that were running out of time.
Im well aware of that, Jenna snapped. Please dont try to tell me my son is dead! Until I see him, Caleb is not dead! In my heart hell never be dead!
Were not suggesting that, Jenna.
We will find him. I swear well find him.
23
London
The Boeing 767 departed Londons Heathrow Airport and cut westward across the night sky toward the southern tip of Greenland.
Destination: Lester B. Pearson International Airport, Toronto, Canada.
From his upholstered leather seat in executive class, Pavel Gromov studied the constellations. Like an ancient soldier, he divined purpose from the stars, vowing to his dead wife and sons that he would achieve his goal.
I will return to Russia with my grandson.
Gromov sipped his vodka and glanced at Yanna Petrova next to him in the window seat. Her face was in her eReader, but more often it was turned to the window. Her attempt to flee from him before their departure in Moscow had been bold but thwarted when the airport security people on Gromovs payroll alerted him.
Need I remind you of the consequences if you do not cooperate, Yanna, hed warned her when they were alone.
Youre vile! shed spat at him.
Shed barely spoken to him on their Aeroflot flight from Moscow to London. It was the same now, bound for Canada before they entered the United States.
Gromov contemplated the ice in his glass, pleased that hed moved fast on his plan to find his grandchild. Hed used his connections to secure expertly forged travel documents for both of them. Made from stolen official security papers, they were flawless. Theyd come at great speed and great expense. Hed used key sources to ensure corresponding information supporting the counterfeit papers would be found in all the necessary databases.
Matters didnt go as smoothly with Yanna.
Shed been startled then furious to arrive home and find him waiting alone in her apartment.
Why are you here? Get out!
Fyodor fathered a child.
It cant be true.
I learned this from the clinic. Without you I never wouldve known I have a grandchild.
But how did this happen?
My police sources had informed me that the clinic is involved with a black market network. They used his sperm to impregnate an American woman who gave birth to a baby boy in Texas. You are going with me now to get him.
Impossible. Youre insane.
Call your office and inform your boss that a relative of yours in the Urals has died and you must travel immediately to Yekaterinburg. Say that you will be away for two weeks. Our flight to London leaves in four hours. Make the call and pack now. Its hot in Texas.
Yanna stared at him then looked around her apartment, probably for some way to escape her situation. Youre a criminal and I refuse to help you!
Gromov showed her photos on his phone of her parents home and her little sisters apartment. It is not a decision you are free to make.
Hed made it clear her family would be killed if she didnt help him. Overwhelmed with rage and fear Yanna had reassessed her situation, bit back on her anger then made the call and packed.
Now she put down her eReader, buried her face in her hands and began to cry.
Why? Why are you doing this to me? she asked Gromov in Russian.
Subduing his voice, he ordered her to keep her voice low.
Yanna turned and bristled at him. I still cannot accept this. I demand to go home, now!
Gromov did not respond.
I could go to prison for what youre forcing me into, she said.
Do as I say and you wont be arrested.
Youve practically abducted me and are threatening my family if I dont help you steal someones child.
No, Gromov growled through gritted teeth. I am rescuing the baby stolen from me, from Fyodor, and you! You, Yanna, will be the mother of this child.
I do not want this child! Its not mine!
Its Fyodors child. You yearned to have his child. Accept that this is fate. I will provide for you. You will be wealthy beyond anything you could imagine. And with the time I have left, I will help raise the baby.
To be a soulless criminal like you? Yanna stared at him, breathing hard with disgust.
Gromov said nothing.
Fyodor was right to sever his life from yours, Yanna said.
Gromov clenched his jaw then he sipped vodka. His Adams apple lifted then settled and he blinked several times.
No, he said. Not like me. Im leaving the vory way behind me. Look at all it has cost me. I have paid a price for my sins.
So now you seek absolution? Youre an old vor trying to slither his way into Heaven through some desperate criminal act of insanity.
Gromov felt the beginnings of a smile before he sipped more vodka and decided that he liked Yanna Petrova and her moxie.
Something like that, he said.
Suppose you locate this child, she said, and suppose through your methods you take custody of him. How are we going to leave the United States and enter Russia with a baby without raising any suspicions?
Dont worry. Im arranging everything.
Yanna turned to the window, withdrew into herself and said nothing for the remainder of the flight.
After Gromov and Yannas plane landed at Torontos Pearson International Airport, they proceeded to the checkpoint for passport control and immigration. As Canadian citizens they entered the country easily, collected their bags then proceeded to the ground transportation section where they were met by a driver holding a small cardboard sign bearing the handwritten name Popovich.
Inside the luxury sedan, the driver took all of Gromovs and Yannas counterfeit documents and gave them each a large envelope with new Canadian documents, passports, airline tickets and plastic ID cards under new names.
Reviewing her new Canadian identity, Yanna gave up trying to gauge just how connected Gromov actually was. It frightened her, for he seemed to have friends in very high levels of security around the world.
The citys skyline, dominated by the needlelike CN Tower, rose before them as their car sped along Torontos expressways. They traveled some fourteen miles southeast to the heart of the city and a central airport known as the Toronto Island Airport.
They boarded a twin-engine turboprop operated by a small commercial airline for a ninety-minute direct flight to Newark.
Walking through the terminal, they got in line for U.S. Customs. Yanna went first. For a fleeting moment while standing at the desk, she wanted to divulge everything to the Americans, plead for mercy and a return flight to Moscow. Glancing over her shoulder, she felt the heat of Gromovs eyes on her and the full force of his threat.
Walking through the terminal, they got in line for U.S. Customs. Yanna went first. For a fleeting moment while standing at the desk, she wanted to divulge everything to the Americans, plead for mercy and a return flight to Moscow. Glancing over her shoulder, she felt the heat of Gromovs eyes on her and the full force of his threat.
If I make it home, it will be to mourn my family.
Yanna proceeded as normal and was cleared for entry. Upon entering the United States, she resigned herself to enduring her ordeal until the end, praying that she would return home to her ordinary life.
When Gromov got to the desk, the agent took his Canadian passport, cracked the spine and inserted it into the passport reader. He checked the photo to ensure Gromov matched it. Then he looked at Gromovs customs card.
Wherere you headed, sir?
New York City.
Whats the purpose of your visit?
I am taking a holiday, to visit the museums, maybe see a show on Broadway.
Where were you born?
Moscow, Russia.
Russia?
I moved to Canada as a young man to study and became a citizen.
Did you live in Canadas capital, Toronto?
Gromov looked at the agent. He was being tested. Apologies, but I must correct you. Canadas capital is Ottawa. That is where I live.
Thats right, I forgot. And what do you do in Canada?
Im a semiretired professor of eastern European studies at Carleton University.
The agent stamped Gromovs passport and returned it with the customs card.
Welcome to the United States.
As was the case in Toronto, a driver holding a sign-this time the name was Budarin-met them at baggage claim at the Newark Airport, collected their luggage and led them to a new Lincoln.
When they pulled away from the airport, Yanna turned to Gromov.
Where did you learn English?
He looked at the horizon.
Here.
Their car gathered speed and merged into the rivers of traffic flowing along the New Jersey expressways as they headed for New York City. Soon the span of the majestic George Washington Bridge emerged with Manhattans glorious skyline, pulling Gromov back in time.
He was seventeen when hed left home to journey across Europe and found work in Rotterdam on a freighter that sailed the world. When theyd docked in New York Gromov jumped ship. He worked illegally on the waterfront, learning English and every aspect of importing, exporting, smuggling and illicit global trafficking. He stayed for eight years, making lifelong friends and establishing business networks worldwide, before returning to Russia. He ran into some trouble, landed in prison for several years where he enriched members of the Brotherhood with his expertise on America. When he got out, he built his empire in Moscow while he maintained his alliances in the United States.