Co-Authored by Tracey Arcieri and Karen LaManna

Chapter 2

As he sat in a floral print wingback chair, facing a large picture window, Gregory sipped his tea and contemplated his next decision as he observed the boats sailing down the Potomac River. He'd just returned from a meeting at the Soviet Embassy where he tried to re-establish his position of power. With a smirk, he took another sip of his tea, satisfied his bargaining chip in the form of Lee Stetson was squirreled away.

Finding Stetson was much easier than he'd expected and abducting him was like taking candy from a baby. He hired two Russian mercenaries, Ivan and Dimitri Karamozov, and instructed them to follow him starting at his apartment, which they did for several days. They'd taken pictures of his comings and goings, which they reported to Gregory each morning. Gregory poured over each image, determining which ones held little importance. He studied every face Stetson made contact with, and after initially dismissing Amanda King as just his partner, he soon changed his position. Two nights in a row, she stayed at Stetson's apartment until late in the evening, an event most people wouldn't find unusual for partners; however, Gregory wasn't most people. He'd studied Stetson's face in the images as he walked Mrs. King to her car, he noted how Stetson held her hand and even his expression as he watched her drive away. There was more to their relationship than met the eye. He was certain of that.

On the fourth day, Stetson was dressed casually as he left his apartment alone. Ivan and Dimitri followed him discreetly to a narrow, lonely stretch of forested road. Taking advantage of their quiet surroundings, Dimitri managed to shoot out the passenger side rear tire, which forced Lee to stop on the side of the dirt road. The two men pulled their van over just beyond his stopped vehicle. As they exited the van, they could hear Stetson cursing. Ivan pulled his baseball cap down over his eyes as he spoke softly and offered a hand. Stetson didn't even blink as he accepted their help, completely unaware he was the quarry in this case. Recognition never dawned on him. They'd met once before, several years earlier, in a lonely cabin in the woods on Christmas Eve. He never saw the needle coming as Dimitri moved behind him and injected the sedative directly into Stetson's neck. It was only a matter of seconds before he collapsed on the hood of the car, unconscious.

Ivan easily lifted Stetson onto his shoulders. He carried him to their van as Dimitri pushed Lee's disabled car into a small ditch and pulled branches off the surrounding trees to cover it. Dimitri trotted back to the van where Ivan was closing the back doors. They drove to the house in Bellevue Forest in Arlington, not far from the water's edge to the ramshackle building on the back end of the property. Once inside, they located the hidden door to the root cellar. It was once used as a hideaway during the civil war for runaway slaves in the Underground Railroad. Dimitri grabbed an old wooden step ladder propped up against one wall. They carefully lowered Stetson down and left him on the metal cot that they'd placed inside earlier that day, under Gregory's command.

Neither man spoke until they were back in the van and headed toward the main house. "I don't understand why Gregory wants Stetson unharmed so badly," Ivan stated, his Russian accent thick.

"We don't question, we just do what we get paid for! Remember that!" Dimitri snapped as the van stopped beside the house.

The men found Gregory as he sat at a large oak desk in the study, reading a newspaper. He merely glanced up at them before he returned to the article he was reading. "I take it Stetson is in place?" he questioned the men without looking up.

"Yes, just like you instructed. He is not harmed other than the sedative," Ivan stated.

"And he was alone?" Gregory turned the page of his paper.

"Da, alone," Dimitri replied this time.

"Well done, gentlemen, I'll have your partial payment ready this afternoon once I confirm Stetson is indeed unharmed as you've informed me," Gregory looked up at Dimitri.

"Partial? What you mean partial?" Dimitri demanded.

"Ah, ah, ah, Dimitri, I assure you, you will receive the full payment once the trade has been made. You have only retrieved my package, I still need to make delivery," he replied cryptically. Gregory closed the newspaper, leaned back and simply stared at the two men as he folded his arms across his chest. "Gentlemen," he dismissed them with one word.

Dimitri and Ivan turned, headed back outside and climbed into the van. Gregory stood and walked to the window to watch the van drive away. He checked his watch, then sat back down at the desk. He lifted the phone and dialed. He listened for the ring then without preamble stated, "I have him. Yes. There will be no mistakes. Correct, by weeks end, we will have Kozlov and Stetson will be dead." He hung up the phone and opened a desk drawer. He picked up a Polaroid camera and walked outside toward the building Ivan and Dimitri had left Lee less than an hour before. In the far corner of the building, he lifted the hidden door and peered into the darkness. The murky sunlight streamed in enough for Gregory to see Lee unconscious, face up, on the cot below. He aimed the camera and depressed the button. The camera clicked and whirled before it spit out the image he was convinced would be his ticket back into the good graces of his superiors in the KGB. He laughed loudly as he lowered the door and walked away.

Stetson had been imprisoned in the root cellar for almost twenty hours now. Gregory visited the shack once again before he left for his meeting. He was going to check on Stetson, but as soon as he walked across the floor he heard him yell, "Hey, who's there?" Instead of confronting him at that point, Gregory left with the feeling of satisfaction knowing Stetson had no idea who had him or why. Now, as Gregory contemplated his next move, another thought came to him…Mrs. King. His last interaction with her had left him scratching his head. She was clever and unassuming, not quite an agent, but she was most definitely more than a civilian. He'd watched Harry V. Thornton interact with her and knew she was valuable, but he couldn't figure out why.

He would deal with Mrs. King after Stetson was taken care of once and for all. He wanted the satisfaction of pulling the trigger himself, to see the look on Stetson's face when he died, but Gregory knew that was too risky. He would have to rely on another person to complete the deed and hope he was within range to witness the execution.