Adam walked up to a sailor who was barking orders to others. “You hiring?”
The man looked Adam up and down, then nodded. “You’ll do. What’s your name?”
Adam responded with the first name that came to mind. “Niko. The name’s Niko.”
“You can start right away.” He yelled to a sailor on the upper deck of the ship. “New man coming up.” Then he spoke to Niko and pointed. “Top of the ladder. We’ll do the paperwork later.”
The ladder, actually a steep metal stairway, was firmly attached to the ship. Niko climbed to the top.
The deck boss’s on-the-job training was delivered with one terse command. “Do what they’re doing.”
Niko got right to work, moving barrels off pallets and muscling them down a narrow ladder, where he placed them next to dozens of other barrels. It seemed like the job would never end.
When he returned for more barrels, his boss yelled out. “Niko, the third mate wants to see you.” He pointed toward the bow. “Take the forward ladder—two decks down.”
Niko descended one deck and half of the next. Then he stopped abruptly.
I’m a dead man.
On the deck below was Falcon, an evil grin on his face. Next to him stood a large man, obviously an enforcer. Niko turned to climb back up, but another man blocked his way. There was no escape.
“Where do you think you’re going?” asked Falcon, leaning on a metal table, fingering the handle of a meat cleaver.
Niko’s heart raced. He felt the bile rise in his throat, but held back, trying not to puke. Nothing he could say would help, so he remained silent.
Falcon spoke to the man behind Niko. “Get him down here.”
Niko quickly scrambled to the lower deck, trying to avoid being pushed off the ladder. He stopped in front of Falcon.
The evil man’s black eyes never blinked. “You owe me a lot of money.” He tilted his head briefly toward each of his enforcers. “Strip him.”
One man pulled Niko’s jacket from behind, pinning his arms against his body. The man in front removed Niko’s shoes and socks, spilling cash on the deck. As the rest of his clothes came off, more cash appeared.
Falcon picked up the jacket and removed more money. “Tie him to the ladder. Tie his arms to the rails.” He grabbed a meat cleaver from the table. “You know what happens to people who steal from me.”
Niko sat straight up in bed, sweat soaked the sheets. “My hands!”
Falcon had disappeared. Vyper’s hand was on Niko’s shoulder. He reached out and hugged her naked body.
“You are shaking,” she said. “Did you have the same dream?”
Niko’s breathing calmed, and he released her. He nodded. “Sokolov caught me stealing. He threatened to chop off my hands.”
“Lie down and relax.” Vyper ran her fingers through his hair. “You let the death of Sokolov’s nephew affect you. That happened a week ago. He is the one whose hands are missing.”
“True. The Russians killed him, and we’re the ones who exposed his role in the skimming scheme. He wasn’t even in Russia. They tracked him down to Odessa. They took his hands! It was a message to people who steal Russian money—like we did.”
Vyper kissed his cheek. “It is almost morning and I am awake. I will fix breakfast.”
“We don’t have to get up immediately.” Niko wrapped his arms around her neck. “I’m not hungry yet… not for breakfast.”
When they arrived home in the evening, Niko followed Vyper into the bedroom they now shared. “You look amazing in that dress. And I wasn’t the only one who noticed. Everyone in the restaurant checked you out.”
“They were staring at my breasts.” Vyper walked to the dresser. She pulled out a halter top and shorts. “Fancy clothes are uncomfortable. And I do not like strange men staring at me.”
“All the women show a bit of cleavage.” Niko picked out a T-shirt and cargo pants. “Did you enjoy the restaurant? Would you like to go back sometime?”
“I prefer eating here. The chef does not cook meat the way I like it.” She removed her dress and held it in front of her. “It is pretty, but uncomfortable.”
“Okay, you win.” Niko changed his clothes. “I won’t drag you out to dinner again… at least not for a while.”
Vyper got dressed and went to the couch. “Come on. We have work to do.”
He joined her. “Sokolov’s going to have a hard time finding you. Ever since his nephew was killed, he’s been hiding. And I don’t blame him.”
“We cannot let up on Sokolov’s team until they arrest him and put him away.” Vyper tapped a few keys on her laptop. “It looks like Zatan’s team is stealing data from pipeline and refinery systems, so someone must be paying them. I want to find out who it is.”
Niko searched through news and online postings. He found a positive article about Sokolov, published by a Russian newspaper a few hours ago. The story made the billionaire sound like the savior of Chechnya. As the CEO of Rusmir, he had built a broadband internet service in Grozny, and extended it into the more rural areas of the country.
To counter this, Niko wrote an expose on Sokolov, starting with his time as a crime boss in Sevastopol. He added the story of the billionaire’s role in money laundering and skimming. Once he was satisfied, he pushed the story using Vyper’s sock puppets.
As people responded to his expose, Niko engaged more sock puppets to express outrage and to reinforce the negatives.
When he searched for more news, he discovered something that stopped him cold. He raised his voice. “Vyper! This is it! The news we’ve been waiting for!”
“What?”
“Sokolov and his wife were killed. Found a couple hours ago in a cheap hostel in Kiev.” Exposing this powerful man had been their only focus for four months. Putting him away was their goal. Now the Russians found him—murdered him—his wife, too. Niko wanted to celebrate, yet he felt bad about the wife’s death.
Vyper tapped away on her keyboard. “The official report says they were killed in their room by a team of violent criminals. Shot in the head. His hands were cut off—missing. The place was trashed. Nothing valuable was found in the room.”
They stared at each other in silence until Niko finally spoke. “We have no reason to feel guilty. We probably saved lives.”
She smiled. “I want to celebrate with video games. We can test your concentration.”
Whoop… Whoop… Whoop
Niko bolted upright in the bed at the sound of an alert.
Lying next to him, Vyper grabbed her cell phone and the whooping stopped. “Armed men. Three in my driveway. There could be more.”
Niko caught a glimpse of her phone—green video with dark trees, plus three light green figures moving slowly. Then the night light under the bathroom door went out.
“They killed power.” Vyper sat on the edge of the bed. “We are on batteries now. Maybe thirty minutes before the generator starts up.” She tapped on her phone. “This will encrypt all data, erase temp files, and shut down the computers. Whoever it is, they will get nothing.”
Niko took her by the arm. “We don’t have thirty minutes. They’ll be breaking down the door in a minute or two. We could hide, but they’re certain to find us.” He snatched his Glock from the dresser by the bed and checked the magazine.
“No!” Vyper grabbed his wrist. “You cannot fight them all. They will shoot us both.”
A loud bang came from the front of the house—then a second one.
Part II: Game Changer