Vyper snapped her phone into a holder on the dashboard. “I will send the alert.” She tapped on a red shield-shaped icon before speaking. “Code Omicron. Critical threat alert. Marko is dead. The message recalling first shift is bogus. Suspect Russians. Repeat, this is a critical alert.” She ended the call.
Niko shook his head. “I don’t get it. The Action Center staff wasn’t part of our classified operation—they don’t even know about it. It was only Marko, Joey, and me.”
“I know that, but the Russians do not. They will want to eliminate everyone.”
I warned Marko about them. Joey, too.
Niko took a burner phone from the glovebox. “Franklin’s in charge. Marko trusts… uh, trusted him. Franklin will respond to the alert.”
Vyper nodded. “I hope you are right.” She slowed the car and turned onto a private road leading to a tall building. Across the top story, red neon letters spelled out the word Umber.
Niko stared at the building—a corporate office of some kind. “What’s with this place?”
Vyper drove into a multi-level parking garage. “The Russians know my car now. We need a replacement.” She parked in a dark corner on the third level. “Gather your belongings and get out. Leave nothing behind.”
No one was around. Only a few vehicles were parked on this floor. When they stepped out of the car, he could see Vyper more clearly. Despite the baggy sweat suit, she was an attractive woman. She wore no makeup and didn’t smile much, but he found her button nose and mysterious eyes captivating. Something about those eyes—not blue, not dark—perhaps hazel.
Niko helped clean out the Taurus, putting everything in a bag. As Vyper walked away at a brisk pace, he followed her and whispered, “Where are we going? Do you plan to steal a car?”
Vyper kept walking. “Marko rented space here. Other garages, too. A replacement car is on the second floor.”
“Replacement? How could Marko afford that?”
She opened the stairway door. “Money is not an issue. Especially after the Russian operation earlier this year. He told me to prepare for anything.”
When they got to the second floor, Vyper walked up to a blue Toyota Prius and squatted down behind the liftback. She retrieved a small plastic container attached to a magnet. Inside was a key fob and a battery. She inserted the battery and unlocked the doors. After they both got in, she drove away heading south on Route 7.
For the past two years, Niko had assumed the legendary Vyper was a man. Marko always said he trusted Vyper completely, but he’d also warned the computer wizard “doesn’t work well with others.”
She’s different. Hyperactive?… or batshit crazy?
Vyper headed south and turned into a Walmart lot, driving through and exiting east into an industrial park. A few blocks later, she entered a residential area with ranch homes lining both sides of the road.
“You live here?” asked Niko.
“No. Just cautious. Do not want Russians following us to my home.”
A highway came into view. According to the sign, they’d returned to Route 7. Vyper crossed the highway, entering a neighborhood like the one they just left.
Niko watched her out of the corner of his eye. She answered every question he asked, but nothing more.
Is she angry with me? The quiet type? Or just plain weird.
When stressed, Niko talked. “Marko found me when I was at my lowest.” He held up his left hand, showing four fingers and a stump where his little finger had been. “He took me to a doctor and paid for everything… I miss him.”
Vyper glanced at the hand and kept driving.
Tightly packed residential duplexes gave way to expensive homes tucked back in a wooded area. As the road narrowed, the woods became thicker and the houses farther apart.
Niko rubbed the end of his stump. “I worked for a mob boss in Philadelphia—thought I was smarter than him… I wasn’t.”
When Vyper didn’t respond, Niko continued. “Marko took me in. Sent me to study at George Mason University. Taught me to make an honest living.”
This one-sided conversation was frustrating. Niko wasn’t even sure she was listening. “Are you angry with me? Did I do something to piss you off?”
Vyper shook her head. “I am not angry. I trust you completely.”
“I’m glad you trust me, but you’re so quiet. Is it something I said? Something I did?”
Silence filled the car for a few seconds that felt like minutes. Then she responded, “Marko always told me I need to improve my people skills… I am autistic.”
Now the awkwardness and odd gestures made sense, but the autistic girl Niko remembered from his youth needed constant supervision. She certainly wouldn’t have been able to hack into a computer or drive a car.
“I didn’t realize you have autism.”
“It is not a disease. I am autistic—just like you are Ukrainian.”
“Sorry for prying. I’m a jerk.”
The woods thinned out. Modular homes dotted both sides of the road. Vyper slowed and turned into a driveway leading through a line of trees. A green modular ranch home appeared in the clearing, situated on a small plot of grass, surrounded by mature oaks and pines.
Vyper clicked a button on the visor. Her garage door opened, and she parked inside. “Bring everything into the house.”
They walked through the laundry room into the dining area. The kitchen appeared ahead, and the living room was to the left. Vyper pointed to the right. “Drop your belongings in the bedroom at the end of the hallway. I will connect to the Action Center.”
Niko dropped his things on the double bed and returned to the living room where Vyper sat on the end of the couch, a computer on her lap. An oversized sweatshirt exposed one shoulder, and her stringy black hair covered the other.
He sat on the opposite end of the couch and studied the images on the large wall-mounted TV. It displayed four separate live videos of the Center where he had worked in Ashburn, each filling a quarter of the screen. Two cameras covered the operations area from different vantage points. A third showed the front of the building and the fourth showed the roof.
Niko stared at the people in the room. “It’s crowded. Looks like both shifts are still there. Didn’t they get your message? Why didn’t they go to the safe room?”
On the screen, Marko’s second-in-command, Franklin, stood before the group. Vyper turned on the sound. “… want to know as soon as the tracker communicates. We need to find the Russians as quickly as—"
Vyper interrupted. Her voice, altered by the computer to sound eerily mechanical, demanded the attention of everyone in the Action Center. “Code Omicron. Get out of there now. You are at risk.”
Everyone in the Center spoke at once.
Franklin held up his hand. “Attention. Attention everyone.”
The staff faced their boss.
“Marko warned us. He said our communication has been compromised. Our security team called for backup. They confirmed—help is on its way. Pay no attention to the voice on the PA. The Russians are trying to stop us. As Marko always says, we have a job to do. Do not abandon your station.”
Niko turned from the screen to look at Vyper. “They should be okay. We use Parthian Security, and they always respond quickly.”
Vyper didn’t smile. Instead, she stared at the computer, unleashing one rapid burst of typing after another. She shook her head, then spoke into the microphone again, her electronically modified voice interrupting the staff. “Parthian never received your request. The Russians must have intercepted it—no one’s coming. Get out. Now!”