Chapter 16

8 hours and 50 minutes later we were landing in Belgrade. I hated travelling economy, the seats were uncomfortable, and the area was cramped. The only way that I could cope was to try and sleep, after all we would be having a busy night tonight before we were back on the plane heading for home. I had no intention of being there for longer than was problem was that I was finding that very hard to do. I couldn't understand why Raynor had ordered us to head to Serbia and collect the damn detonator. That wasn't what I did. I found the victims not the damn ransom. It worried me that Raynor was asking me to do that, I mean what did he intend to do with it? Or was he worried that if someone else found it then that could put Elaina in danger. After all if they had the detonator then they wouldn't need to hold Markovic's daughter hostage so she could well be in danger. I was hoping that was his reasoning becasue going to Belgrade was taking away time that I'd wanted to use to look for Steph and the daughter, hoping that maybe they might be together. Though from what Gregson had told me both of the women had disappeared seperately.

I spent my time going over maps to identify exactly where we needed to go, this part of the job was going to be in and out quickly.

Belgrade was a popular city for tourism, there were a lot of historic places to visit with excellent places to eat. There was an up and coming club scene so using that as an excuse for us travelling here made sense to me. CJ and Santos were booked on separately while I was travelling with Ethan, deciding that Ethan would give me some privacy, I wasn't sure that I wanted Santos incessantly trying to talk to me. All of us only had hand luggage to avoid the hassle of booking bags onto the flight, in fact, most of our bags were carrying items that Ethan thought we might need.

It also meant that we had no weapons on us, something that was making me feel very nervous. CJ had contacts here, how I wasn't sure, and I wasn't going to ask. I trusted each man with me so was confident that when CJ said that he could acquire some guns that he would. Each of us were travelling under a false id and looked the part of guys travelling to enjoy what the city was offering. Jeans, T-shirts and sweaters. Arriving early evening we hired a car at the airport knowing that we'd be returning it in the morning with few miles on it. I intended to retrieve the detonator as quickly as possible and get back home.

The coordinates that Raynor had sent to me wasn't very far from the city, close to Vinca, and not far from the Nuclear Institute. The timing of our arrival made it perfect for going straight there because we would be able to use the cover of darkness for what we needed to do and there shouldn't be anyone in the vicinity. It wasn't a long drive but we needed to make a small detour on the way, a stop at a garage where CJ would take possession of a bag in exchange for a lot of money.

We ended up with a Skoda Karoq SUV, which suited our purposes. It was large enough to handle four large men and our bags and being black would be less obvious for where we were going. Once we had collected some weapons I input the coordinates into the GPS, knowing that we would be turning onto another road before the final destination.

"Where exactly are we heading for?"

Of course, it was Santos who was asking and being impatient. I hadn't told them that piece of information yet because I was sure that gaining access to the site wouldn't be a problem. We weren't exactly breaking and entering.

"Groblje Vinča"

"Okay, what's there?"

Came from Santos, while Ethan started to laugh. I knew that Ethan spoke the language so was waiting for him to translate for Santos.

"A cemetery. Yeah, I can see somewhere like that being a good place to hide something"

"We don't have shovels"

Santos didn't sound that amused so I decided to put him out of his misery.

"We're looking inside a mausoleum. According to the coordinates it's located at the edge of the cemetery"

I knew exactly where it was and what it looked like, having used a satellite image.

"Surely someone could have died, and they'd have opened it up, wouldn't they?"

I didn't answer, because I was busy concentrating on the road. I had no idea if Santos could be right but judging from the location of the mausoleum, I doubted that it would have been used recently. We were approaching the small town of Vinca now and I needed to be on the road that led to the back of where the cemetery was, so was keeping an eye on the map on the dash. The road was a dead end, but I didn't drive to the end, instead I did a three point turn and then pulled the car off the road and in between the trees, out of view in case anyone should travel past.

"The cemetery is through those trees. CJ, you stay with the car, we'll let you know when we're on our way back"

We were all wearing black jackets, had secured our weapons within easy reach and were wearing mics and earbuds, hats and gloves. Opening the trunk of the car I passed a bag to Ethan and carried one myself, though I was hopeful that this expedition would be over easily without any trouble. I led the way through the trees, with Santos and Ethan following me, stopping at a tree line as the view of the cemetery appeared before us. All of us crouched down as we scanned the area, looking and listening for anything that seemed out of place. I doubted that anyone would be here at this time of night and was sure that the main gates would have been closed. The air was very still as we looked out over the gravestones. The only sound came from what must have been the scurrying of small animals or birds, certainly not from any people being around. It certainly carried the atmosphere of a cemetery, being very dark and quiet as though waiting for the unknown.

Pointing to the outline of the small mausoleum that we were aiming for I gave the hand signal to Santos to remain where he was to watch our backs before Ethan and I moved out toward it. We moved using the cover of old headstones, some leaning over to the side, all of them showing their age from the passage of time and weather. Approaching the mausoleum, I could see that it had been white but as anything, the effects of age and weather was apparent from the peeling paint, and it seemed that no one was interested in its upkeep. That had me convinced that it hadn't been used for a long time. Both of us were ever aware of our surroundings, constantly looking around for any sign of trouble as we eventually came close to our destination.

Approaching the front of the mausoleum and looking at where the stone door was, we quickly pulled out sharp knives from our bags and started to use them at the edges. All doors would have been sealed after a body had been placed inside, so given the last time of opening we knew it would be difficult to break the seal in order to open the door.

"This isn't right"

I looked at Ethan wondering what he was referring to and saw him shining a penlight onto the seal.

"What's wrong?"

I asked, wondering why he would say that.

"The seal's been broken, in fact I'm sure there's a smell coming out"

That mausoleum should have been intact from when Markovic had last been here, unless. Surely someone hadn't been here already? Between us we pulled at the stone door, noting that it slid out easily. As it opened the smell was stronger, but not overpowering. I would know that smell anywhere because to me the smell reminded me of a dead body. You might think that that was expected seeing as where we were, but the fact that the man buried here had been here for at least 60 years I doubted that it came from him.

I took the risk of using a penlight to inspect the inside of the mausoleum, it was totally empty except for the stone casket that was on top of a stone shelf to one side. Ethan had walked over to it and was slowly pushing the top away, so I moved next to him to help. As the stone top began to move and the inside came into view, I knew that we were too late.

"Who the fuck is that?"

As the lid moved to reveal its contents, I could now see what Ethan was referring to. To me it looked like the body of a man but who he was I had no idea. The man was obviously dead from the color of his skin, which had dark blue, black and green areas of flesh all over. His eyes were glazed looking like cataracts and his eye sockets were sunken. The body had fungus that looked like hairy white areas near the mouth and nostrils. I'd say the man had been in here for several weeks. We completely removed the stone lid but an immediate look over the body gave us no clue as to how he had died.

"He wasn't buried here"

No shit, I thought to myself. The fact that the man's eyes were still open, and nothing had been done to prepare the body certainly told me that no undertaker was responsible for him being inside that casket.

"We need to lift this body out"

I saw the look Ethan gave me, not sure if it was because of the smell or the fact that we would be removing him from the inside of a casket, but between us we lifted him out and onto the floor.

"Get what you can from the body while I check inside"

As Ethan did that, I used my penlight to take a closer look inside and that was when I saw it. A piece of card with writing on it, writing that was in English.

"Too late"

I turned the card over to see if there was anything else written on it but found nothing. A quick scan of the casket revealed only dried dust and bones. I even used my hand to move some of the debris to ensure a thorough search. I wasn't feeling at all comfortable being inside here, maybe the fact that the detonator wasn't here, there was a hand written card and a recently deceased man was the reason.

"Do you have what we need?"

I asked Ethan because I was keen to get out of here in case this was a trap. At Ethan nodding his head I showed him the piece of card. His eyes went wide for a fraction of a second before he pulled out a plastic bag for me to drop the paper into. As soon as his bag was closed, we replaced the body back inside the coffin and lifted the stone top back in place, ensuring that everything was as we had found it. Once all our lights were switched off, we stopped at the door.

"Coming out"

Was my way of telling Santos that we were on our way and waited for his response, allowing my eyes to acclimate to the dark and watching around us.

"All clear"

Ensuring that the door was closed we made our way back toward the tree line. I never said another word as we collected Santos and headed back to the car. CJ had the engine running and as soon as the doors closed, he was driving us away, back toward Belgrade. I was annoyed that what should have been a simple retrieval had gone FUBAR. Now I had to decide what the hell to do next. I wanted to get back home but knew that we had to regroup, rethink what the best way forward was. The only lead that we had as to what had happened to the detonator was probably laying dead in that mausoleum.

"We need somewhere to stop overnight"

Was all that I said as I tried to figure out what had happened and who the man inside that mausoleum was. It was obvious that the detonator had been taken, probably by the same people who had left that man there. But why kill him? Was he someone who knew that the detonator was there? Had he led someone there and then been killed? Why leave a note behind? Okay I knew we were too late so did someone know that we were coming?

I only became aware of where we were when CJ parked the car. Looking around we were sat outside what looked like a cheap hotel. I wasn't in the mood to argue with the choice of accommodation so got out of the car and grabbed my bag from the trunk. By the time I reached the reception, Ethan was talking to the receptionist and was holding two sets of keys in his hand. He handed a set to CJ and to me before he passed his bag to Santos.

"I'll go get us some food"

Looking around the place it seemed neat and tidy beyond the old fashioned furniture and fittings. Being on the second floor was fine by me especially as we had the only two rooms up there. The bathroom was shared by the two rooms and again was practical and clean. Following Santos into a room I threw my bag onto one of the single beds. The room was small with two single beds with a table and lamp in between. Drapes covered the small window in the wall opposite and there was one lone chair sat underneath it. The floor was covered in a thin threadbare carpet that had seen better times, but it looked as though the walls had been freshly painted a cream color over the wallpaper.

"Was it there, do you have it?"

I sat down on the bed, my elbows on my knees and my face in my hands.

"It wasn't there"

I wasn't going to say any more until we were all together. There was a lot to think about now and we needed something to work with. I heard the flush of the toilet and running water before CJ came into the room and looked around. CJ knew my moods so sensibly didn't say anything. I was the next to use the bathroom, a box of a room with pink colored fitments and a shower over the bath. I smiled as I compared it to the one that Steph always complained about in her apartment because to be honest there were a lot of similarities. Returning to the room I was glad that Ethan was back and even more pleased that he was working on his laptop as he ate what looked like pizza. He looked up at me and then across to the small bedside table between the beds indicating to the pizza boxes stacked up and some bottles of water. Maybe not my food of choice but being hungry I grabbed a couple of pieces.

We sat in silence, eating, drinking the water and it was only after I'd thrown the box and empty bottle of water in the bin that I felt ready to tell the others what we had found.

"The detonator wasn't there. Someone had already been inside, but they did leave a dead body"

Of course the obvious questions were thrown out, did I know who it was, how had he died or how long he had been there for. I had no answers and knew that we were relying on Ethan finding something.

"What now?"

I looked at Ethan as CJ asked that, because it really depended on what Ethan could find out.

"The man was older, well dressed but I have no idea how he died. There was no blood or open wounds, nothing in his pockets to say who he was. I lifted his finger prints and am running his face through a facial recognition program, but that could take a few hours"

"So at the moment we have no idea who could have the detonator"

I considered that and started to go through possible options.

"Markovic obviously thought that it was still there, so not him. If someone from the FBI found out I don't think they could have got here any sooner than us, plus that man had been dead for a few weeks"

"Obviously not the people demanding the ransom?"

I gave a look to Santos that had him looking down at his feet as he realized that was a stupid comment to make.

"Maybe the people who have the warhead. They'd be desperate to get their hands on it"

I heard the odd swear word that was produced by that thought, if the warhead and detonator were in the same hands then there was the potential for a hell of a disaster occurring somewhere in the world. Maybe if we knew who that man had been then that might give us a better idea and then we could decide what to do next. I also had a sickening thought that if CJ was right and the detonator was now with the warhead then they wouldn't need Lainey as a hostage. The timeline though seemed out for that to be the case and I was really hoping that we were maybe dealing with a third party. At the moment I wasn't in any hurry to report back to Raynor.

"Catch some sleep"

Was all I said as I removed my sweater, T-shirt and boots, but I kept my jeans on, just in case we were disturbed during the night. I pushed my gun underneath the pillow and lay down on the bed with my hands behind my head. The silence helped to calm me down, to stop the annoyance from bubbling to the surface and I was suddenly thinking about Steph and where she might be. I could only pray that she was safe, and it was with that thought that I allowed myself to drift into sleep.