The Elusive Siberian Tiger

By Deke Rivers

This is a story of a determined youth, who swears, Vengeance, at his Father's grave, for those who plotted against, and those who actually assassinated, his Father, a Sea Captain of a Merchant Marine Cargo vessel in the China Sea, based in Vladivostok, Russia. The Vessel was owned by The Russian Mafia. What were the Reasons? The Youth subsequent

• Language: English
• Publisher: Stratton Press
• Release date: Sep 15, 2022
• ISBN: 9798887641164

Deke Rivers

Deke Rivers, a retired Architect, and Artist have lived throughout the world and now calls Elliot Lake, in Canada his home. Most of his novels are based on research, his travels, and his vivid imagination. As an Estonian Refugee from World War II, Deke River has circumnavigated the world, worked and lived in a variety of Countries, experienced the variety of cultures, struggled with the languages and the variety of environments from the Heat of the Topics to the Icy terrain of the Arctic. After forty years as an Architect working all over the world, working on almost every conceivable type of Project one could imagine. He then traveled to Alaska on a six-year Major Project, an Army Hospital in Fort Wainwright as their Chief Architect. Then he retired and moved to Elliot Lake, in Canada to live. Most of his stories are based on everyday characters that the average person can relate to, no Superman Type Heroes! He utilizes his own experiences and travels to emphasize to locations, and then creates the story his own vivid imagination.

Book preview

Prologue

It is strange how each and everyone of us sees and views everything around themselves differently!

Now with the World nationalities and their cultures spread across the Globe, each individual will have different opinions of what they see and what they are looking at, and each individual will react differently to what is happening or has happened around them. Everyone is now from a different culture, a different nationality. Basically every individual, no matter where they are from and no matter what their upbringing has been, will see and notice things differently than everyone else because we are all different, and none of us are the same as anyone else.

The second factor is, and probably more evident in adulthood, is the profession of the individual in question. Being male or female will make a world of difference. But also, one’s profession will invariable be a major factor…for example, an artist, a photographer, a doctor, a lawyer, a politician, a teacher, a nurse, or simply, a housewife will see things differently, even though they may all be looking at the same thing or the same scene at the same time.

Yes, the Mind is a very Complex organ, and it will dictate one’s life under the direction of Fate, the Eternal Power.

Beauty in the Eyes of the Beholder.

In Today’s Society, it is amazing just how different people are strangely attracted to some people yet turned off by others completely for apparently one or some reasons that no one can explain. It doesn’t matter what gender they are, Male or Female. Yet some individuals you just don’t want to know. Why? There is no apparent answer! And others you would love to know and possibly have as a Girlfriend or Boyfriend, obviously depending on your sex. Why? Again, there is no answer.

What are the factors that makes your brain decide who is to be your friend or who is that someone you want to avoid?

Is it just their physical appearance? Is it their clothing or dress? Is it their conversation, the tone of their voice, their general attitude? Or is it really an endless list of characteristics that can turn you on or off?

You know it can be just a simple feature, like a cute pouting smile, the way she or he flicks their hair, or the way she or he fiddles with something to hide their nervousness, but really and truly you know there are just too many variables to generalize to a simple answer.

So one relies on their own Gut Feelings to decide who they will befriend and those who they turn away from and generally avoid.

Isn’t Life Simple?

Just for example, if you were a male and you were to be approached by twenty beautiful women, yes, all beautiful, Blondes, Brunettes, and sexy Redheads, all gorgeous, all with Penthouse model’s bodies and all dressed up in erotic high-fashion outfits. Out of the twenty, you as the single male would find perhaps two or three that really appealed to your senses. Yes, you would acknowledge that they were all beautiful, but for your own unknown reasons, your brain, your senses, or your perception would select only two or three out of the twenty.

Why?

What were the magical waves that these two or three were sending to you to make them appeal to your senses? What made you select them? What separated them from the others?

Then the question became, were the two or three you selected interested in you? Just because they appealed to you, did you appeal to them?

Furthermore, if a Second Male were to approach the same twenty beautiful young ladies, that Second Male could or would possibly again select two or three again, but guaranteed that those two or three would Not be the same three selected by the First Male.

Again, Why? How?

How does one explain this Phenomenon?

Is there any explanation, or is it all just pure Semantics?

Is it possible that this happens because we are all different individuals with different feelings, emotions, desires, etc.?

The same scenario could be examined using a Single Female subject and Twenty handsome men. The same results would appear.

Beauty is in the Eyes of the Beholder.

This is the Story of a Man who, with just one innocent look, suddenly and unexpectedly falls in love with a beautiful young blonde Angel, a complete stranger, someone he had never seen before, and at the same time, the beautiful young blonde Angel unexpectedly finds the Man of her dreams. She now realizes that her life has suddenly taken on a new Meaning. She has no idea who he was nor where he had come from, but he was there, waiting for her, in the Old Antique Book Shop. She was inexplicably drawn to him like a Moth to a Flame, so to speak, and he, in turn, was also drawn to her.

How? Why? Suddenly, these two young strangers connected. It was as if some Magical Unknown Power had inexplicably made the connection, and they both realized that their Search for their Perfect Partners in Life had just come to an end. Both had found that Special Someone, the One they both had dreamed about. And yes, they couldn’t have been happier.

Fate had drawn up her plans and written the applicable scripts for their casual Meeting and yes, that included the two of them: Kristina Marilou Bourdon and Robert Dylan Ty Renoir.

Part 1

Elusive Siberian Tiger

Chapter 1

 Siberia, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

Siberia, Yes, understandably, the name Siberia alone sends a cold chill down one’s back. After seeing the Winter Scenery in the Movie Dr. Zhivago, it is no wonder! Who’d want to live in that kind of an environment, yet people do, but not always out of choice.

Yes, it was an unexplored Region of old Russia, where no one wanted to go, where undesirables were sent into exile, and where Stalin built his Gulags, the Prison Camps where millions perished or were systematically disposed of or just simply disappeared.

Upon Stalin’s death, it was recorded that over three million men were released from these Russian Gulags, prison camps. Yes, three Million—unbelievable! Yes, that was the life of the downtrodden Soviet Citizens under the Cruel, Corrupt, Heartless Stalin and his Successors until the collapse of the USSR.

Yes, Times had changed.

Siberia is an extensive geographical Region and has been a part of Russia since the sixteenth and seventeenth Centuries, perhaps even earlier, but the History Books are just not clear and certainly somewhat vague when describing what actually happened in Early Siberian History. Siberia, however, is very rich in natural Resources, which is essential to the Russian Economy!

The territory of Siberia extends eastwards from the Ural Mountains to the watershed between the Pacific and Arctic Drainage Basins. The Yenisei River conditionally divides Siberia into two parts: Western and Eastern.

At one stage, Alaska and many of the Aleutian Islands also belonged to Russia until Alaska was sold to the Americas. The United States purchased Alaska from the Russian Empire on March 30, 1867, for 7.2 Million US Dollars at approximately 2 cents per acre. Alaska became a Territory of the Americas on May 11, 1912, and a State on January 3, 1959.

Now Siberia stretches Southward from the Arctic Ocean to the hills of north central Kazakhstan and to the National Borders of Mongolia and China. Westward it extends from the China Sea all the way across the Asian Continent until it hits the European Counties that were basically taken over by Stalin following the Second World War, which extended the Russian Borders to basically the Baltic Sea that now had become not Russia, but the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics.

The Russians did accomplish one unbelievable Feat in the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway, built between 1891 and 1905, running from Moscow to Vladivostok, across the frozen landscape all the way to the China Sea at the farthest Eastern destination of the line. It’s 9, 289 km or 5,772 miles make it undeniably the longest Railway Line in the World.

After the end of World War II, and Yes, thanks to Eisenhower and his hapless Allied Leaders or Cronies, the Allies managed to Destroy Europe, a Mission they had completely forgotten, a mission that was to save Europe from One Dictator, Hitler, but regretfully they turned over half of Europe to another far worse unscrupulous Dictator—Stalin!

Regretfully, the smaller European Countries and the European People lost out Big-Time, while all the Heroes headed Home, totally oblivious to what they had done. Did they care? Of course not, they were all right. They were not affected. They didn’t have to give up their Culture or abandon their own language!

Irrespective, Life went On!

The Survival of all the DPs or displaced Persons is another Story!

They became the survivors!

However, to and for the wide World, Siberia is and was well known for its long harsh winters, with January temperatures averaging around -25°C (-13°F) as well as its extensive history of use by the Russian and the Soviet Administration as a place for Prisons, Gulags, or Labour Camps and basically exile, especially during the Stalin Years and the USSR, until its collapse.

When the incompetent Allied Army Leaders, led by that idiot Eisenhower, came up with the distribution of the occupied lands following World War II and the defeat of Hitler, Stalin inherited virtually half of Europe, thanks to the Allied Leaders. Let’s face it, the USSR or the United Soviet Socialist Republics, was actually created by the incompetence of the Allied Leaders headed by Eisenhower.

Consequently, Russia, under Stalin, now became the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. However, after the death of Stalin and the Numerous other Socialist Leaders like Khrushchev and Brezhnev, and so on, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics could not sustain themselves and literally fell apart and collapsed.

Yes, thus the Small European Countries immediately reclaimed their lost Independence, and Russia returned to it true self pre-USSR.

The Map of Europe and Asia needed to be completely redrawn—yet again!

Yes, Counties handed to Stalin on a platter by the oblivious, incompetent Eisenhower and the misguided and scared Allied Leaders reverted back to their own Independence and became Separate Countries again—for example, the Three Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania—but the Russian Occupation and Stalin’s Policies of outlawing of their own Languages and their own Cultures left a big dent in the recovery period for these small Countries following the Collapse of the USSR, as they had a new generation of people to teach their own languages to again and to relearn what their cultures were all about. Yes, the path to total self-independence again was not easy for these peoples. Yes, Eisenhower was totally clueless and had no idea what he had done, nor did he care. After all, he was the Hero, right beside John Wayne, the Actor.

As far as the United States was concerned, Eisenhower, the Hero, and John Wayne, had won the War. The fact that they had, in fact, created the USSR and Destroyed Europe for Generations to Come was completed ignored.

After the Collapse of the USSR, Russia reverted basically back to what it was before the Second World War.

Each of these smaller European Countries went through difficult times reintroducing their own Languages and their own Cultures back to their own people and their own lives again. Many of those left from World War II occupation never did learn to speak their own language again, so the Younger generation was now obliged to learn their own Language, Russian and English, with French and German as options.

Also, one must remember that all the DPs dispersed around the World—Australia, the USA, South America, to mention a few. Yes, they survived. The only other option was Death!

Now, in this new ever-changing Modern age, the Chinese influence and the Chinese language also has become an important consideration to master as well.

Chapter 2

The Russian Mafia

The Russian Mafia or the Russian Organized Crime, sometimes referred to as Bratva (Russian Brotherhood), has become the most powerful Mafia in the World, with over 300,000 members spread over fifty Countries Worldwide! It is a collective of various organized crime elements originating in the former Soviet Union.

The Russian Mafia can be traced back to Russia’s Imperial Period of the Czars, which began in the 1700s, in the form of Banditry and Thievery, much like the Robin Hood Era in England.

But it was not until the Soviet Era that Vory V Zakone (Thieves-in-law) emerged as leaders of prison groups in Gulags (Soviet prison labour camps) and their Honour Code became more defined.

With the end of World War II, the death of Joseph Stalin, and the Fall of the Soviet Union, more gangs emerged in a flourishing Black Market, exploiting the unstable Governments of the former Soviet Republics and at its highest point, even controlling as much as two-thirds of the Russian Economy.

In Modern times, there are now as many as six thousand Criminal Organizations or Groups with more than two hundred having Global Reach and exposure.

In August 2010, Alain Bauer, a French Criminologist, declared that the Russian Mafia was one of the best Structured criminal organizations in Europe, with a quasimilitary operation.

Now their influence was felt all over the world!

The Russian Mafia has been active from the 1700s to the Present.

It is active in many Parts of Eastern Europe, throughout Russia (mostly Moscow), in the United States (mostly Brighton Beach), Canada, Spain, Portugal, France, Australia (Gold Coast and Sydney), Hungary, and many More Countries.

The Criminal Activities are basically in the following areas:

Human Trafficking

Racketeering

Drug Trafficking

Extortion

Murder

Robbery

Smuggling

Arms Trafficking

Gambling

Fencing

Pornography

Fraud

Their Allies are all the World’s Criminal Organizations!

At that time, the Russian Mafia was Controlled by these:

Russian Mafia

Western Czar – Based in Moscow was Vlad Chayka

His Assistant, Andre Chupalov

Daughter, Adriana

Eastern Czar – Based in Vladivostok, on the China Sea

Ivan Chelanov

His Assistant, Yegor Yashin

Siberian Czar – Based in the middle of Siberia, in Novosibirsk

Yuri Sergeyev

His assistant, Yelim Sizov

All three Czars had ambitions to be the Numeral Uno in Russia.

*****

The Problem was that due to their own personal ambitions, all three wanted to be the Prime Czar of all the three Russian Mafia Bases, so every time they tried to get together to discuss the Affairs of the Russian Mafia, they couldn’t agree on any resolutions, specifically those proposed by Vlad from the Moscow Contingent.

Ever time Vlad proposed an Amendment or a New issue, Ivan and Yuri always teamed up to cancel or reject the revised Proposal. It soon became apparent all three had their own agendas. Vlad tried to get some form of Unity into the Russian Mafia’s Organization across Russia, but Ivan and Yuri were happy to run their own affairs without any interference from Moscow, basically Vlad.

So quickly Vlad introduced and brought in his old friend, Michael Weide Tokarev, from Estonia, that he had met many years ago and had become good friends with. Before this power Struggle began, Vlad had made Michael Weide Tokarev an offer he couldn’t refuse.

He offered him his own ship, the position of Permanent Captain on the Russian Mafia–owned Merchant Marine Vessel, but based out of Vladivostok on the China Sea, with instructions to get familiar with the Mafia Operations in Vladivostok, to help Vlad understand the politics in Vladivostok and basically to be Vlad’s Eyes and Ears in the East.

As Ivan was getting old and was planning to retire relatively soon, Vlad’s plan was to get Michel Tokarev involved with the Operations there, and once Ivan had retired, then Vlad would push the Mafia Hierarchy to Nominate Michael as the New Czar in Vladivostok, basically as an ally for himself.

But in the wings was another Cruel, hated, and very ambitious KGM General who was desperately wanting to be the new Czar in Vladivostok.

Thus, as Boris Shinsky and Yuri Sergeyev were both KGB Generals at one time, they plotted a way to get rid of any opposition when it was time for Ivan to Retire. To achieve their basic plan to get Boris nominated as the new Vladivostok Czar, they had to eliminate the Opposition, who turned out to be Michael Weide Tokarev.

So Yuri and Boris plotted the assassination of Michael Tokarev, totally unknown to Vlad in Moscow, who was kept out of the picture.

Chapter 3

Michael Tonu Weide

Now Michael Weide was originally born and educated in the Harbour Town of Tallinn in Estonia. After graduating from the University with a degree in Marine Technology, he had worked on various Marine vessels based out of Tallinn Harbour. Eventually he became Captain of his own Merchant Marine Vessel and had sailed up and down the Baltic Sea.

His Son, Robert, was also born in Estonia, in the small town of Viljandi, where his wife’s Family had a small Farm.

When the Russians moved in, Michael and his wife, Marie Emeline, and their son, Robert, changed their name and took the surname of Tokarev to blend in with the Russian Policies.

Fortunately for them, before all of the Stalin’s Russian Policies were put into place in Estonia, the Family managed to escaped from the new Estonian SSR to the small French Coastal Harbour Town of La Rochelle, close to the Famous Loire Valley, the home to some of the most Magnificent Medieval Chateaux ever built in Europe, if not the World.

Thus, now in France, Michael again changed the Family Name once more to Renoir to blend in with the French Environment they were now living in. His son thus became Robert Dylan Renoir, the name of a True Frenchman.

There, Michael advanced and became a Master Seaman and eventually the Captain of numerous Oceangoing Merchant Marine Vessels up and down the Baltic and North Seas and the European Coastline.

Now, years later, Michael was a sea Captain of a Merchant Marine Vessels in the China Sea, based out of Vladivostok, Russia, on the China Sea.

That particular time, Robert and his Mother planned to visit Michael, now stationed in Vladivostok on the China Sea at the furthest stop on the Trans-Siberian Railway, which ran from Moscow to Vladivostok.

Yes, they had travelled across the Asian Continent from Paris, in France, to Moscow in the Soviet Union. From there to Vladivostok, they travelled on the Trans-Siberian Railway, to visit Michael.

Chapter 4

The Elusive Siberian Tiger

The Magnificent solitary Siberian Tiger, also called the Amur Tiger, with its distinctive Gold-and-White markings, inhabits the Sikhote Alin Mountain Region in the Southwest Primorye Province, also known as the Ural Mountains, the desolate Mountain Range in the Russian Far East and Backing onto the China Sea, and very far from Civilization.

This extraordinary animal, the Siberian Tiger, is without a doubt the Largest in the Cat Families in the World, the Male at maturity, averaging about eleven feet in Length and can weigh up to seven hundred pounds.

Regretfully, they too, were now on the International Endangered Species List of Animals remaining in this world. There are less than four hundred left in the Ural Mountains. The isolation they live in has protected the remaining specimens, but for how long, this is, of course, unknown.

The Criminal Poachers and the hated Trophy Hunters are still illegally Hunting the Precious remaining Animals for their colourful and unique skins, each one distinctive and different, just like the human fingerprints, and eventually they too will become extinct. Let’s face it. Regretfully it is just a matter of time.

*****

It was early Spring. There was still some snow on the Ground as Michael Leopold Tokarev, alias Renoir, and his sixteen-year-old son, Robert Dylan Renoir, made their third Camping Trip into the wilderness of the remote Eastern Ural Mountains to Photograph the largest of the Cat Family, the Siberian Tiger, that at maturity became the largest cat alive, an incredible eleven feet long and weighting up to 700 pounds. Michael and Robert were there only to Photograph these spectacular animals, not to hunt them or kill them. They were not Trophy Hunters or Poachers; they were simply avid Photographers and loved the Wilderness of the Ural Mountains and their unique residents.

The Siberian Tigers are not found anywhere else in the world.

*****

When Michael had some time off, he took his son, Robert, camping to the Ural Mountains so that Robert too could see the Magnificent Siberian Tigers in their own natural habitat.

Typically, these Tigers lived in eastern Russian Birch Forests, and there are some still left in China and North Korea too.

Michael and Robert had found a pride of the Magnificent Animals and had stalked them daily, but from a great distance. The Pride consisted of eight Cats—two large Males, two smaller females, and four cubs. Michael and Robert had tracked them through the isolated Forests of the Ural Mountains. They had already taken loads of Photographs through the forests, but this group appeared to be heading for the Coast, which was probably the best location to Photograph these spectacular animals, as there, they would be wide open and Michael and Robert could get full-length photographs of them with their telephoto lenses as they frolicked in the surf of the Ocean and on the clean yellow sands of the small isolated beaches.

Unlike other in the Feline Species, the Siberian Tigers really had no fear of water and actually enjoyed frolicking in the Surf and in the various mountain rivers and creeks.

Once they had reached the Coast, Michael and Robert had set up their cameras to get a perfect vista of the Tigers as they entered the Coast between the rocky cliffs of the deserted Coastline, when suddenly Robert caught a sudden reflection from something on the neighbouring hillside. He had seen something that disturbed him.

Then quickly checking his powerful binoculars, he and Michael discovered Four Men, Asian men, rifles ready, lying in the grass, ready to kill the Tigers as they entered the Beach Area. They were obviously Poachers looking for the precious Skins of these Tigers that they could sell on the Black Market for a meager $5 or so.

Dad, I think we got some work to do, said Robert.

Yes, we do! There are thousands of Poachers out there but only a few Siberian Tigers left. The poachers are all armed—the Tigers are not! Let’s even the odds a little! I’ll take the first two, you take the other two.

Right! responded Robert without any hesitation as he lined up his British L42A1 Enfield Sniper Rifle.

Back in France, Robert had been working with the French Secret Service, where Robert had become their expert Snipe. His reactions were almost instant, so he could eliminate many in a very short time with his special Rifle. So looking at each other, Michael and Robert nodded their heads and smiled as they lined up their targets and then very efficiently took out the four shocked poachers. Then from a Tent in the background, two others raced out with Rifles in their hands. Robert, again without any hesitation, dropped them as well.

Their beloved Tigers had been saved! That was all that mattered. Neither Robert or Michael, the Tiger’s Guardian Angels, felt, any emotion at what they had done. It was the survival of the fittest, and they were more fit than the others on that particular day—Very Simple.

They collected all the ID documents and property of the six Poachers, and at the end of their camping trip, they turned over all the Applicable Documents to the Authorities. All were North Koreans looking for dollars for the unique Tiger skins. The Authorities thanked them for their dedication to the Tigers. There were no charges by the Authorities for what they had done, in fact the local Authorise commended them. The Authorities knew Michael and Robert as they always checked in with the Park Authorities before their Camping trips into the Ural Mountains.

Yes, as many species of Animals were being killed off by the so-called cowardly Trophy Hunters and Poachers, Michael and Robert acknowledged that for now they had been there to help the Tigers, but their numbers were dwindling too, and in the world’s timetable, the Siberian Tigers too, would one day be an extinct Species.

Yes, the Siberian Tigers were officially protected by Law, but to the Poachers and the Trophy Hunters, that meant nothing! They, of course, couldn’t read Russian! Even if they could, they didn’t care. It was all about the