Niko looked back. It was the familiar dark BMW. Cars parked in the Starbucks lot blocked its way, so the Russians had to drive around them.
Without a word, Niko’s driver took a sharp right turn onto the highway, darting into the left lane. Horns blared in protest. The tires of the Russians’ vehicle squealed as it slid around the end of a row of cars.
The woman pointed to the glove compartment. “Inside. Get the laser.”
Laser? He opened the compartment and grabbed a silver cylinder. It looked like a light saber. He waved it toward the driver. “This it?”
“Stop!” She switched lanes, cutting off the car on her right, and raced forward. “Be careful with the beam. Open your window. Point it outside. Activate it with the button.”
Niko pointed it at a billboard, and a blue dot appeared. “I got it.” He glanced back at the headlights switching lanes in pursuit. “What do I do now?”
“When I tell you, aim at the driver’s window. Move the dot around until the driver reacts.”
The Russians passed the last car separating them, closing the gap.
“Now!” demanded the woman.
He leaned out his window and pointed the laser where the driver’s head should be. He moved the laser up a bit, then down, then left. The BMW fishtailed. Niko did his best to keep the laser pointing at the same spot while the Taurus followed the highway as it entered a wide curve.
The BMW swerved before smashing into the post at the end of a guardrail. The rear end of the car raised up and flipped over the front.
Niko stared in disbelief. “It worked!” He closed the window. “You’re an amazing driver.” He held up the laser. “I gotta get one of these.”
The Taurus moved into the right lane and slowed to the speed limit. The dark-haired woman looked at him but didn’t make eye contact. She seemed to be studying his face. “Tell me your name.”
She spoke in a flat, emotionless voice—no obvious regional dialect. Maybe he could figure her out as she talked more. “I’m Niko—uh, The Pythia.”
She nodded. “I trust you because you are The Pythia. But, your name is not Niko. It is Adam Zima. You are from the Ukraine.”
“What? You already knew my name—my real name. Did Marko tell you?”
She glanced at him. “Your face… from Starbucks… I had time to identify you from your face.”
“You know my name. So, what’s yours?”
She didn’t respond.
Niko let the silence hang in the air, waiting for an answer.
“Vyper. The name’s Vyper.” She turned into a parking lot and made a U-turn facing the highway. “Watch for a tail.” She headed back in the direction they came from.
Vyper! Finally, we meet. He scanned the traffic. No vehicles made an obvious attempt to follow. Now that the Russians were gone, Niko decided to ask for help. “Is it safe to talk here?”
“Yes. I sweep for bugs regularly. But you must answer my question first. Where is Marko? I cannot locate his phone.”
She doesn’t know? “He was poisoned. I think it caused a heart attack. I don’t even know if he’s alive.”
Vyper was silent, hands on the wheel. She kept driving while rocking her head and shoulders back and forth—in a rhythm.
“Are you okay?” Niko touched her arm. She jerked it away.
Her reaction reminded him of an autistic girl he knew back in the Ukraine, but he didn’t think anyone with autism could drive a car and hack a computer. Strange.
She turned into a strip mall and parked in a remote area. “I do not understand. Marko’s phone is not active on the network, and you say he was poisoned. But he sent out an alert to the entire first shift, telling them to return to the Center immediately.”
“What? I didn’t receive the message.” Niko raised his voice, nearly yelling. “Marko was lying on a stretcher heading to the hospital before I ditched my phone. He wasn’t in any shape to send a message.”
Vyper gripped the wheel and continued rocking back and forth. “Tell me what happened.”
Niko described the incident with the old woman in the brewpub. “Is there any way you can obtain the security videos from Alpha World?”
“Of course. But first, tell me everything.”
He detailed the events—from Marko’s reaction in the brewpub to the high-speed pursuit by the BMW.
Vyper never met his gaze. She continued rocking. This cool-as-ice woman, super hacker, evasive driver with a laser weapon, shut down as soon as she heard about Marko.
But Niko needed answers. “At Starbucks, I tried to get information out of county dispatch. None of my hacking tricks worked. Can you help?”
She stopped the rhythmic movements. “You will never break into Loudoun County Dispatch. I put protection into their systems. Marko told me to secure them three weeks ago as part of the new government contract.” She reached behind the seat and retrieved a laptop. “Give me a minute.” She opened it up and typed a few keys at a blazing rate. A second later, she typed another burst of keystrokes, then another.
Niko watched while Vyper skillfully worked her way through all the security barriers. As soon as one screen appeared on the laptop, he tried to make sense of it, but before he could, a new screen appeared. After a minute of trying to follow her actions, he gave up.
Vyper shook her head. “No. No. No!” She typed in a flurry of bursts. “He was non-responsive in the ambulance.” She started to rock again. “No. No. No!”
A Sterling Hospital logo appeared on the next few screens, followed by text and computer code.
She stopped typing, closed the laptop, and wrapped her arms around the steering wheel. In a soft voice, devoid of emotion, she whispered, “He is dead.”
Chapter 5
Critical Threat
Niko stared at Vyper, still hunched over the steering wheel. Her words screamed inside his head: He is dead.
Shaking his head, Niko tried to deny the facts. “Marko can’t be dead. The ambulance arrived. The EMT’s treated him right away and took him to the hospital.”
Vyper released her grip and her hand went limp. Then she flapped it up and down before doing the same thing with her other hand.
Niko instinctively edged toward the door. “How do you know Marko’s dead?”
Pressing one hand to her cheek, Vyper gripped the wheel with her other hand. Her voice shook as she answered. “They summoned the coroner.”
It’s true! Russians killed him… Joey, too. I’m next. Gotta hide. Start a new life—alone.
Vyper slipped the car into gear. “Marko was my friend. He changed my life.” She pulled out of the strip mall and onto the highway.
Niko looked around. They were still in Ashburn, turning onto Route 7. “Marko changed my life, too. He told me to go deep. Can you take me to the Metro station in Reston?”
Vyper shook her head. “You cannot take a chance. The Russians will look for you. You must stay at my place… for now.”
“You sure?” Niko didn’t think she’d be able to handle someone in her home. “Why don’t you drop me at Tyson’s Corner? The Russians can’t stake out all the Metro stations.”
“No. You will stay at my home. You are in danger.” She pointed to the glovebox. “Break down your burner phone and take one of mine.”
“Okay.” Niko disassembled his phone. “If I’m going to stay with you, I’d like to know your name—your real name.”
“I used to be Lydia Harris, but now I am Vyper. Only Marko knew my real name.”
Niko suddenly realized something that sent a chill through his veins. “Marko didn’t send that message to the Action Center staff—but someone did. Someone who wants both shifts together in the same building. We’ve got to alert them.”