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Like a large and complex gear train slowly picking up speed, events, forces and lives in America had been set into motion by the death of Ann Oja. Four thousand miles to the east local family and friends gathered at the rural Oja farm east of Tallinn, Estonia to comfort, Jaak, her husband of 68 years whom they all loved dearly. For most in attendance change of a profound nature approached just beyond the visible horizon. No one could see it coming.

In Search of the Lost 7^th Royale Part 3 (Episode 13- Return to a Heart of Darkness)

ESTONIA 1986

Unknown to the world, the 7^th Royale radiated a glorious presence with lines that bore the signature of Jean Bugatti’s unique genius. His creative gifts seasoned through years of inspired expression had manifested itself in ever greater iconic automobile designs through the 1930s. The 7^th Royale capped a brilliant body of work sadly cut short by the young Bugatti’s untimely death. The sculpted lines penned by Bugatti imparted a breathtaking visual expression of motion, power and elegance. The Royale’s velvet smooth 12.7-liter 400 plus horsepower 8-cyl. engine stamped an equally resounding exclamation point with performance capabilities that did the incomparable aesthetics justice. For almost half a century this Olympian masterpiece had stood stoically in silence and darkness under an accumulating blanket of fine dust.

As he had for almost half a century, Jaak Oja, now stooped and bearing a veil of grief, slipped past the barn’s false rear wall to dutifully minister a dose of oil to the eight cylinders of his beautiful beast. With the loss of his beloved wife Ann, Jaak felt the imminence of approaching change. He saw no better plan than to wait for it to come.

NEW JERSEY 1986

News of his mother, Ann Oja’s, death savaged areas in Mihkel’s heart and soul possessing no capability for defense. Like a cruel mind game, death had ripped a scab off emotions Mihkel had long repressed. It had abruptly brought to the forefront of his mind his beloved mother. Then, just as suddenly, ripped her away with cruel finality. Further adding to his sorrow, Mihkel had to face the question of what about his elderly and, now, widowed father?

Though sealed off from Estonia by the Soviet Iron Curtain of the post WWII years, Mihkel had exerted his best efforts to stay connected with his parents. Letters bland enough to be read by the oppressive Soviet KGB censors without incident could be exchanged. At times, packages sent from America bearing what appeared to be scraps and basic necessities would reach the Oja farm. Always the soul numbing Soviet repression hung over all exchanges like a toxic cloud. Mihkel knew that with his mother’s passing his father’s time would surely be near. Now, for Mihkel it was Soviet oppression be damned. He had to see his father, but how?

ESTONIA 1945

In one of those serendipitous circles of life, the means for returning Mihkel to his father’s Estonian farm had its roots anchored in the painful past of WWII Soviet deportation of native Estonians. During the war years Juri Varnik, Mihkel’s boyhood friend, had become one of the many thousands of valiant Estonian men known as the “Forest Brothers.” These Estonian patriots had armed themselves and blended into the dense Estonian forests. From there, as a powerful guerrilla force, they attacked occupying Soviet troops. Towards the war’s end Juri had been part of a “Forest Brothers” scouting unit that had set upon a Soviet truck convoy. Each truck with its canvas top drumming in the wind was carrying Estonian women and children to a local railhead. There east bound freight trains encircled by a malevolent cloud of locomotive smoke, snorts, hisses, and haunting whistles impatiently waited. Upon arrival these terror struck bewildered women and children would be squeezed into freight cars destined for Siberian gulags and, most likely, death. Freed by the Forest Brothers’ deadly assault, the women and children fled in all directions. Amidst the horror and chaos a beautiful though fleeting encounter changed the lives of two young Estonians and in so doing rippled through lives of loved ones decades later.

Fleeing into the forest a distance from the railhead, young “Forest Brother” Juri Varnik helped one of the freed women, Katariina Jakobson find shelter. Not yet twenty, Katariina, a bright and comely seamstress harbored beautiful dreams despite the presently ugly world surrounding her. Katariina shared her dreams with Juri. Mesmerized he would sit attentively as she spoke. The rich poetry of her words and gentle voice cast a spell to which Juri joyfully succumbed. He marveled at the wisdom, insight and passion for someone so young…and beautiful.

Though only knowing each other for a handful of days in this happenstance encounter of 1945, the young Estonian couple knew they had found love. Their love would last, their time together would not. While fetching water in a nearby stream Katariina encountered Soviet guards. Concerned by her failure to return, Juri, following her trail, saw her, under guard and being returned to the railhead. In an act of ultimate love and sacrifice, Juri dispatched the two guards and with a final kiss hid Katariina on a west bound train heading to what he hoped would be an allied “Displaced Persons Camp”. He then distracted approaching Soviet guards and led them away in chase. Katariina never saw him again nor ever learned of his fate. She always hoped for one thing but knew another. Nine months later in early 1946, Katariina gave birth to a beautiful daughter whom she named Valentina Varnik.

UKRAINE 1986

Even for a member of the Soviet hierarchy, life had been especially good for Colonel Yuri Petrov. With his patron Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev holding the reins of power for 18 years, Petrov developed a political momentum that carried him in grand style through the years following Brezhnev’s death in 1982. In the later 1970s as the Premier had sunk into an alcohol and drug fed haze, the great care Petrov exhibited in overseeing Brezhnev’s significant car collection and personal needs earned Petrov handsome rewards such as his 200-acre country estate in the Ukraine. This wooded retreat near the Black Sea afforded an ideal setting for driving the classic cars he had collected. Many of his cars had been skillfully extracted from the Brezhnev Collection while leaving no record of their disappearance. Other vintage vehicles had been added during numerous classic car search trips to wealthy venues outside of the Soviet Union. Petrov, in deftly employing the skills and connections honed in his service to Brezhnev endeared himself to other influential Russians possessing a comparable appetite for the “good things” in life.

On one trip that took him to France, he visited an elderly aunt, Yvonne Smirnov. She lived near the old Bugatti factory where she had worked as an office manager before WWII. In the midst of an idle conversion with his elderly aunt, Petrov snapped to when she recalled some big fancy secret high speed custom Bugatti and some nosey journalist who had come to ask questions about it. She apologized for her bad memory and for forgetting exactly where up north it had been shipped. She then drifted off to other stories and mourned the death of Mr. Bugatti’s lovely son. Petrov, however, could never free his mind of the possible existence of a mystery high performance custom Bugatti that disappeared just before WWII.

NEW JERSEY 1986

Mihkel had reached out to share the news of his mother’s passing with his best friend Ed Sikes. Ed, after leaving the service in the 1970s, had delighted Mihkel by choosing to open a business in nearby Greenwich, Connecticut. A savvy businessman who knew what he liked, Ed utilized his global contacts to launch a business that specialized in brokering the sale of vintage aircraft, primarily military and vintage luxury cars. He operated out of a renovated Cadillac dealership from the 1930s. He along with fellow local visionaries and WWII veterans Ed Jurist (Vintage Car Store in Nyack, NY) and Bob Grossman (Foreign Cars of Rockland in West Nyack, NY) served a marketplace comprised of knowledgeable collectors possessing considerable disposable income. Ed came from money and continued to attract it in his adult years. As Mihkel hung up the phone a vibrant blonde burst through the door.

“Hello Uncle Naali”. The bright and joyful voice came from one Valentina Varnik Taylor. She loved to use his sobriquet from his WWII exploits. Blonde, athletic and pretty, Valentina did not so much command a room when entering; more so, the room seemed to happily yield to her presence. As she sashayed into Mihkel’s office no one could foresee the pivotal role she would play in Mihkel’s return to the Oja farm and his father.

Katariina Varnik with young daughter Valentina had migrated to America in 1948. As a gifted seamstress she established a business in Englewood New Jersey, just across the George Washington Bridge from New York City. She soon gained renown for both bespoke women’s fashion and custom drapery.

Young Valentina had made many influential connections through her mother’s clientele. Now 40-year old, Valentina held a respected position at the United Nations in New York City as a multi-lingual translator, with Estonian and Russian languages among her fluencies. She also served as a member of the diplomatic corps. Her work focused on the Scandinavian and Baltic nations. As a pastime, Valentina’s passion for and mastery of Estonian Folk dance afforded her the opportunity to visit and immerse herself in the birthplace and culture of her parents. Interestingly, it would prove to play a critical role in facilitating Mihkel’s return home.

Happily  married, Valentina’s husband John Taylor, a geologist by education and trade, worked at the nearby renowned Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. Much of his time, however, demanded conducting on-site research involving the significant oil and gas reserves in and around the Baltic nations. His work had created the opportunity to meet Valentina at a United Nations conference.

Shortly after relocating to New Jersey in 1965 Mihkel and Beth had attended a local Lutheran church with a appreciable membership with Estonian roots. It did not take long for the Oja and Varnik families to discover their bond. Thus, by sheer happenstance the life lines of old Estonian boyhood friends Mihkel and Juri reconnected at the spot marked by Valentina. Over the years Valentina had embraced Mihkel and Beth as her uncle and aunt. Both loved her like their own. They thought she looked just like the spirited blonde runner throwing the sledgehammer in the iconic Apple Mactintosh “1984” Super Bowl ad.

Mihkel shared with Valentina the news of his mother’s death and the imperative need for him to return to Estonia. In a blink her ebullient mood turned focused and task oriented. Clearly, Mihkel had enlisted the wholehearted support of one who would be a most wily, tough and resourceful co-conspirator. Mihkel with a tone of quiet reflection instructed all present to give thought to the challenge at hand. Valentina mentioned that with Mikhail Gorbachev now ruling the USSR and louder calls for self determination rumbling throughout the Soviet Union, some sensed the Iron Curtain around Estonia gaining a certain porosity.

A few days later Mihkel, wife Beth, son Jack, Valentina and husband John Taylor gathered at the hand hewn dinner table at Mihkel’s house. Son Jack spoke first. A wrestler while at Purdue University earning a degree in Mechanical Engineering, Jack, at six feet two inches and 210 pounds looked like a living action figure. Jack would be your guy if seeking the  archetype for “the strong silent type.” Standing tall at the table he simply stated that considering the fluidity of world events, returning his father to Estonia would not be a question of if but how. In speaking next, Valentina bearing an unusually impish expression explained how she and husband John had evaluated the resources at Mihkel’s disposal and flushed out an idea. She then turned to Jack and asked if he liked to dance.

In the next few weeks a plan took shape. The international credentials of Valentina through her U.N. cultural exchange dance activities and husband John’s work involving the Estonian fracking fields could both provide cover for penetrating what appeared to be an increasingly permeable Estonian border security. Valentina had a number of times traveled to Estonia to reintroduce the traditional native Estonian folk dances that had been purged from the Estonian culture during the height of the Soviet occupation. Her passion, perfection and personality would ensure a warm  welcomed back. She thought Jack could more easily gain entry as part of her dance team. Jack while not enthused accepted his place in the plan. He made clear he would do anything for his father and the grandfather he had never met. Geologist John’s plan provided for Mihkel to be a technician on his research team. As the fruits of John’s work served to attract hard currency to Estonia, the presence of his team served everyone’s interest including the occupying Soviets. Late fall saw the two teams under cover of their professional guises depart America as separate and independent operations.

Ukraine 1986

The phone rang at the bedside of Yuri Petrov. Not there to answer, Petrov could be found luxuriating with a few well compensated and endowed companions on the fantail of a 174 ft. custom built Benetti yacht. Petrov basked in the sun as he sailed across the Black Sea to Yalta for a vacation on the Russian Riviera. The trip? A thank you gift to Petrov for facilitating the yacht owner’s purchase of a state owned oil company. Petrov wanted for nothing except for more of everything.

The answering machine clicked on. The raspy voice of Yvonne Smirnov, Petrov’s elderly aunt and one time Bugatti office manager could be heard. She said to give her a call. The machine clicked off.