Maria squeezed her mother tight.
Matilde Soller rubbed a caring hand up and down her daughter’s back and said, “Let’s make sure Melody is okay and find out if she knows anything that can help Etzy. If someone does have his sister, they won’t stay in her apartment. We’ll have a look from a distance first. If something isn’t right, we’ll go with plan B.”
The ability to reason was something that came easily to Matilde Soller. Being the wife of a high-profile senator put her in the spotlight more than she liked, but it was nothing the former Fortune 500 executive couldn’t handle.
“I love you, Mom,” Maria said with another squeeze.
“I love you too, honey.”
“I should have told Max that we were dating,” she said, her voice shaking.
“It wouldn’t have mattered, Maria.” She shook her head. “It wouldn’t have mattered.”
“How do you know?”
“I know,” she said, invoking the definitive authority of a parent.
Maria was the one who had broken the quiet soul out of his shell and that increased her feeling of guilt. “But—”
“Let’s try to help Etzy through this,” her mother said in a gentle yet firm tone. “We could both use a distraction right about now. I have someone we can trust. Someone who can help. I’ll give him a call after we check on Melody.”
Chapter 31
“Yes, my old friend, there is nothing to be concerned about,” Pavel Kozlov said. “Everything is under control. The only change may be with the schedule. We may have to move things up.” The Bratva boss anxiously clenched his fist as he considered the silence on the other end of the line. Kozlov looked at the steel door to his office, and then down at the calendar pad on his desk. He picked up a pen and traced a circle over and over before he started talking again. “It is not a problem if we do. We have already planned for such a circumstance.”
There was another long pause before Yuri Khrushchev spoke. “We only have one chance at this, Pavel.”
Khrushchev was an old-school spy, once the head of Russia’s Sixteenth Directorate, responsible for the KGB’s signals intelligence and communications interception, or SIGINT for those who ran in his circles. Kozlov’s mentor was a deliberate man and would respond only after careful consideration.
“This operation has cost us far too much,” he continued. “The organization has risked everything to make this happen. Failure is not an option.”
Kozlov shifted in his chair and said, “Yes, I understand. We will not fail. The operation will be our greatest success, and we will soon rise to power once again.”
Khrushchev didn’t respond immediately. “What about our loose end?”
“I just received word that it will be taken care of within the hour.”
“That is something I have heard before, Pavel,” Khrushchev said.
Kozlov knew the hardline communist on the other end of the line wasn’t a man who gave second chances, but the Bratva leader was still confident their underground organization hadn’t been compromised. Before he could respond, Khrushchev continued.
“This Turner. The American. Whatever you call him. This is a matter that we cannot afford to leave unresolved.”
“Yes, I agree.”
“Now that he knows we’re after him, the job will be considerably more difficult. Nobody can know we are in control before the operation is complete.”
“He will be dealt with. I have men putting the squeeze on him in Washington, DC as we speak. He won’t know what hit him.” There was another lengthy pause, so he continued. “I have another angle,” he said simply, not wanting to elaborate.
“Keep me informed. And what of the senator’s son?”
“The matter is being taken care of.”
“He’s dead. Don’t you think it’s a little late to take care of it?”
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “What I meant is that we will make an example of the one who chose him. It will keep the hackers quiet until this is over. Then we will get rid of them all.”
“I want results, not promises,” Khrushchev replied, far from satisfied. “I need to know when we will be moving forward with the operation so I can make sure everything is ready here. The Group is meeting on Sunday. Let me know if Andrei should move forward.”
“Of course.”
“I will need to know as soon as possible. Our man cannot be in the United States when this happens.”
Kozlov knew exactly whom he was talking about. It would be a complicated situation if the Russian President was trapped in America at the G8 summit when all hell broke loose. He recognized the displeasure in Khrushchev’s voice before he heard the line disconnect.
He headed out of his office and down the dank hallway of the compound to The Dungeon. The Russian pounded his already-clenched fist on the metal door and glared at the camera above until the door opened. He stomped into the room.
“Mikhail, where is Dimitri?” Kozlov said in an angry tone.
Fear filled the room as the hackers diverted their eyes from his direction.
Mikhail stood quickly. “Please follow me this way. He is inside the server room.”
Mikhail led him across to the server room door and affixed his eye to the retinal scanning device until he heard the lock disengage. He opened the door to the sound of a swooshing noise as the server room depressurized. Dimitri Sokov stood over a workstation built into one of the large computer racks.
“What have you found, Dimitri?” Kozlov asked.
Sokov was visibly frustrated. “Nothing yet, but I’m getting close.”
“Are all of your hackers present?”
“No, not all of them,” Mikhail said.
Kozlov’s face began to redden as he digested the news. “What did you say?”
“There are two that are not present right now. Sofia has returned to Russia to help work on the operation there, and Dennis, one of the Americans, had a dentist’s visit.”
Kozlov’s eyes flashed with anger.
“It’s something he had planned several days ago,” Mikhail added. “He has a problem with his tooth.”
Kozlov looked to Sokov and said, “Is this Dennis capable of clearing his tracks, Dimitri?”
“They are all capable of such a thing,” he said intensely. “We only bring highly skilled people into an operation such as this.”
“Then find him,” Kozlov barked, his head cocked angrily to the side. “Yuri thinks very highly of you, Dimitri, but a problem with this operation will not be tolerated, no matter how long you have been friends.”
“I have already sent our best man to bring him back. His computer skills will be of no use in this situation.”
Chapter 32
They had been driving for less than fifteen minutes when they reached Melody Millar’s apartment complex. Maria Soller was considering the trouble her brother and boyfriend had gotten themselves into when she snapped, “No, no, turn right here, Mom.”
Her mother jumped at the sudden sound of her voice.
“Are you sure, honey?” Matilde Soller asked.
“Yeah, it’s one of those crazy apartment complexes,” she said, not wanting her mother to follow the instructions given by the car’s built-in GPS. “It’s like a maze. We can go this way and won’t have to hunt for a parking spot. It’s the way Etzy and I went there.”
Mentioning his name increased the sense of urgency. Maria directed her mother through a few short zigzags until they came to a dead end flanked by two empty parking spots.