“What will it do?”
“It will allow British intelligence — and the US, when they get on board — to turn the tables on Morozov’s hackers. It will make sure that they can’t steal the AI data. And it will give us the incriminating evidence we need to bag Morozov.”
Max was taken aback. Was she saying that the CIA and MI-6 wanted to let Morozov conduct another cyberattack on his father’s company?
“Who are you working with at the CIA?”
“Caleb Wilkes.”
“Wilkes?” Max knew the name. Not well, but well enough. Wilkes was CIA counterintelligence. He was a very shadowy figure — even for Langley.
“He’s the one who’s going after Morozov,” Charlotte said. “He intends to take him down or turn him. He’s fishing. And trying to let out enough reel that Morozov doesn’t break the hook.”
“Is Wilkes on board with this plan?”
“We’re working on it.”
“What’s the problem?”
“I don’t know why Wilkes doesn’t see it our way. So far we haven’t been able to convince him to take an alternate path. But now we have you involved. I’ll give you a thumb drive with the cyber antidote to plug into the Fend 100 control center. Can you do that?”
Max thought about it. “Yes. I think so. Do you have the thumb drive now?”
“I won’t be able to give it to you until the night before. They’re still working on the software program. You’ll have to meet me in Jacksonville.”
“Okay.”
“I need to go.”
“How will I hear from you?”
She reached up and gripped the back of his neck, leaning in like she was going to kiss him on the cheek. Her lips hovered over his ear. “The night before the test flight — I’ll call you and tell you where to meet me. Give me your number.”
She held out her phone and he typed a number in.
She looked into his eyes. “It will be alright, Max.” Then she softly kissed him on the cheek, turned, and disappeared into the crowd.
Pavel Morozov watched the speedboat approach from the second deck of his yacht, which was anchored several miles north of Key West.
His security man looked at Pavel, and then at the girl. Pavel gripped her ponytail with his strong right hand, pulling back so that her head was arched over the rail of the vessel. The drop was a good forty feet to the warm water below.
The girl had been pretty, before his knuckles and ring had gone to work on her face. Her eye was swollen. Blood dripped down from her nose and lip.
The security man nodded toward her. “Would you like me to finish her?”
Pavel shook his head slowly. “No. Please just send up our new arrival.”
The woman who had just arrived on the speedboat came up a minute later. Pavel looked her up and down. “Ah, hello, Miss Capri.”
Charlotte regarded him, her eyes glancing at the scared and bloodied woman that Morozov was holding by the ponytail.
“Good evening, Mr. Morozov.”
“Did you have a good time tonight?”
“I did.”
Pavel looked back at the girl by his side. The position of her body looked painful, but she didn’t cry. She didn’t beg. Her eyes were afraid, but her voice was silent.
Morozov stared at her. “I intend to drop you into the sea. But before I do that, is there anything else you care to tell us? If it is helpful to me, perhaps I will change my mind about your fate.”
Still the woman didn’t say a word. She just sniffled quietly.
With his left hand, Morozov removed a small black object from his pocket. He kept holding the girl back with his right hand. With his teeth, he carefully pulled open the folding blade of the knife.
The girl he was holding began struggling to free herself from his grasp, her eyes widening at the sight of the blade.
“Do you want to do it?” Pavel asked Charlotte.
She let out a sound of disgust and walked away.
Morozov smiled. He turned back to the girl and shoved the knife into her back several times, careful that he punctured her lungs. He then flipped her over the rail and off the yacht. Her legs had been tied together, with weights attached to them. That would send her down to the bottom.
Her body made a big splash, but it was dark. Morozov couldn’t see her after she sank below the surface. But he felt good, wiping his bloody hands on a towel. It was always satisfying to remove a bad employee from his organization.
15
When Max returned to the cottage, Renee was still out back, sitting by the pool, her computer in her lap. She looked relieved when she saw it was him.
“Worried?” Max said.
“A little.”
“Good. That’s healthy. You were right about Bear Security Group. Pavel Morozov is involved.” Max filled Renee in on who he’d met and what he had learned.
“Do you trust this woman? The MI-6 agent?”
“They freed me from the clutches of the FBI.”
“You don’t think a good lawyer could have done that?”
“Depends what the FBI has on me.”
“But you’re innocent.”
Max waved off the comment. “If what Charlotte said is right, the CIA is intentionally allowing Morozov’s cronies to hack into my father’s network. Someone in our government has an agenda.”
Renee looked up from her computer. “Do you believe that?”
“I don’t know. It sounds reckless. There must be another side to the story.”
“I wonder if there’s a way we could find out who at Fend Aerospace might be working for Morozov.”
Max looked up. “That would be a big help. Do you think you could do that?”
Renee was looking at her computer again. She whistled.
“What is it?”
“I’m taking another look at Morozov’s boat. It’s really something.” She turned the computer so he could see.
“That’s Morozov’s?”
It wasn’t a normal yacht. The ship was a massive gray vessel that looked like a futuristic version of a sailboat. Giant metal masts rose up two hundred feet above the deck. Narrow tinted portholes lined the sleek hull. There was a helipad. Multiple spots for small motorboats to pull up. Wooden sundecks. Indoor and outdoor pools.
“It’s incredible.”
“It says here that it’s one of the most expensive ever built.”
“How much?”
“Nearly half a billion dollars.”
Max looked up at the sky. “Hmm. I’ll think about it.”
“About what?”
“Getting one. I’m sure that would help with my playboy reputation.”
“Right,” Renee said. “It arrived in Key West just two days ago.” She looked up. “So they were here at the same time that hackers from this region located us in Georgia.”
“You think that they did it from the yacht?”
“I don’t know. This yachting website says Morozov is taking it around the Caribbean and Florida for the next month.”
“Why?”
Renee typed some more. “Because when you’re rich,” she said, “you can do whatever the hell you want. You know that.” She smiled at him.
“Easy, now.”
“It appears as though he’s throwing a party on the yacht tomorrow night.”
“Oh, really?” Max was interested. “I wonder why I wasn’t invited.”
“A lot of big investors are showing up. You know, Max, if I can access the computer network on that yacht, that might be an opportunity to—”
“No,” Max interrupted, a stern look on his face. “That would be a terrible idea.”
“You wouldn’t have to go, of course. They would recognize you. But they don’t know me.”
“That’s an even worse idea.”
Renee looked hurt. “I may not be an expert at fieldwork like you, but I was a trained member of the CSE.”