On the speaker phone, Williams from Homeland spoke. “We’re shutting down all pumps at Lamar.”
As the hours passed, Vyper helped identify and restore the software on all operational systems at Lamar. She also inspected systems in refineries throughout Texas and Louisiana searching for signs of an attack. It was after midnight by the time Homeland declared it to be contained.
Mr. Smith came on the phone. “I want to express my thanks, and the thanks of Texas and the nation, for saving lives and mitigating the damage. To protect you, we have concealed your identity, but we are in debt to you nevertheless.”
Vyper shook her head. “It did not have to be this bad. Next time listen to what I tell you.”
Niko moved closer to the phone. “Now that Vyper restored Rockefeller’s service, is our Nassau operation over? Do we go home?”
“Definitely not,” said Smith. “The Russians have already begun planning another attack. They won’t give up until we stop them.”
“Another attack? What’s their new target?” asked Niko.
“It’s getting late. I can brief you tomorrow.” Silence hung in the air for a few long seconds. “I’ll tell you this much. One of their targets is the Calvert Cliffs power plant southeast of DC.”
Vyper raised an eyebrow. “That is nuclear.”
“You’re right.” Smith ended the call.
Niko kissed Vyper. “It won’t do any good to worry about it tonight. You’re tired and we have to go to work tomorrow. Now is a good time for me to sneak back into my apartment.” He left.
Despite yesterday’s excitement, Monday morning was a normal work day for Niko. As Professor Anton Zhora, he gave his ‘Defense in Depth’ security lecture to each class, making sure to capture images of his students with the eyeglass camera. He paid special attention to the two young men identified as Zatan’s employees.
When he arrived home, he grilled a hamburger for dinner. It reminded him that Vyper would be eating alone at Blackbeard's Conch House right now.
Niko put away the dishes and sat on the couch. Just as he settled in, an alarm went off on his phone. He read the message:
Vyper! Someone’s got her!
Chapter 27
Vanished
Niko’s heart raced. He jumped up from the couch.
Someone has Vyper’s phone.
He wanted to call her, but she wouldn’t be able to answer if someone else had her phone. He made a secure call to Smith. “This is Niko. Someone removed Vyper’s SIM card.”
The CIA agent’s calm voice responded. “We know. We got the same alert. I’ve mobilized a search. Do you have any idea where she might have been?”
Niko couldn’t think. He took a deep breath and let it out. “Blackbeard’s Conch House near the airport. She eats dinner there when she works.”
“I know the place. Her phone’s GPS history puts her in that area at the time of the alert. If they have any security tapes, we’ll check them out… hold on a minute.”
The line went silent. Time moved slowly as he waited.
Smith came back on the line. “I need your help, Niko. Set your fears aside and focus. Two men have Vyper’s phone. I believe they’re speaking Russian.”
Niko’s recent nightmares flashed through his mind. Sokolov smiling, Vyper screaming.
Smith’s voice was insistent. “Niko, are you still there?”
“I’m here. Where’s Vyper? Is she okay?”
“Listen to me. Her cell is streaming video and audio to the emergency web page right now. I can see one man speaking Russian, and I hear another man’s voice responding. No sign of Vyper, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t there.”
An alarm went off on Niko’s phone:
“We received the same alarm,” said Smith. “One of the men destroyed her phone.”
Niko gripped the arm of the couch. Shock and fear turned into anger and resolve. “Did it give you a location before it died?”
“Along the north shore of Lake Cunningham, but I’m sure they won’t stay there. For now, I need you to watch the video of those Russians. Watch it from beginning to end. You might see or hear something we didn’t notice.”
“You can find her, can’t you? She’s got an implant in her scalp.”
“When we get close enough, her implant will respond, but it’s only good for a hundred meters. If her purse is still with her, it’ll respond at two hundred meters.”
“What good is that? You don’t know where she is, do you?”
“We got a security video from Blackbeard’s. It shows two men escorting her into a car. That same car just passed a traffic camera on Independence Drive. We’ve dispatched drones to the area. They might be able to spot the vehicle. Better yet, they’re equipped to detect Vyper’s implant.”
“You saw her at Blackbeard’s?” yelled Niko. “What happened? Was she hurt?”
“She fell asleep or passed out while she was eating—probably drugged. Two burly men spoke to the waitress before carrying her out to their vehicle. We sent detectives to the restaurant. They’ll find out what happened.”
Niko grabbed his laptop and sat on the couch. “I’ll check out the video. Call you back later.” He set down his phone and opened the web page on the computer. A short list of two videos appeared—one for the front camera and one for the back. Niko selected the one in the front.
A close-up of someone’s hand appeared, resting on a dark T-shirt. The gruff man’s voice spoke Russian over the muted sound of a car engine. “I got the SIM card.” The image shifted abruptly to the face of a middle-aged, eastern European man with a nose that must have been broken once. “There, I turned it off.” The video moved in a jerk to his lap and remained dark.
Niko knew the phone would never turn off, but the Russian didn’t know.
A different voice asked, “Is the girl still out? Do we have to tie her up?”
“No,” was the answer. “She will stay asleep long enough to get to the house. Then she is Falcon’s problem.”
Falcon! Sokolov!
The name hit him hard. His worst fears had come true.
Neither Russian spoke for several minutes, then one of them broke the silence. “Pull over here. I’ll ditch the phone.”
It sounded like they pulled onto a gravel road and stopped. The image jumped from a view of the man’s shirt to a car door, which opened. The video moved in a blur, then settled on a glimpse of the night sky before it was blotted out by the heel of a shoe. Then the audio and video ended.
Niko played the second recording—from the back camera. The audio was identical. The video didn’t add anything new—only a stationary image of the inside roof of the car.
He called Smith. “Have you found her?”
“Not yet,” was the response. “The last camera their vehicle passed was at a bank near the mall on Marathon Road. It turned into the Highland Park area. We sent a drone to search from a low altitude. No signal yet. Agents are in the area.”
“They’re taking her to Sokolov,” said Niko. “They called him Sokol—that’s Falcon in Russian and Ukrainian. It was his nickname in Sevastopol. I’m heading to Highland Park.”
“We’ll find her. Stay where you are.”
Niko ended the call and grabbed his Glock. He checked the magazine and picked up extra ammunition.
Then he remembered the interrogating radar unit Miss Q had given him. “It’s best to use the directional antenna,” she had told him. “The signal will be strongest when the antenna is pointed in the direction of the implant.”