His eyes widened. “Mafia?”
She didn’t answer, knowing this guy would be far more concerned about dealing with the Mafia than with government intelligence officers.
Franz walked past the couch again, smacking the Russian on the other side of his head.
“Hey.” The Russian rubbed his head.
Toni knew she could torture this guy and maybe get what she wanted, eventually. But she had a better idea. Had formulated it in her mind on the short drive from Ramstein Air Base to Frankfurt. She knew what motivated this guy. Find that in anyone and the answers come without too much trouble.
“I have a proposition for you, Sergei,” Toni said, her tone much more congenial.
He smiled.
“It has nothing to do with sex,” she assured him.
“You seem to know what I’m thinking. So how can I be of assistance to your…organization?”
She lowered her gun to her side, but kept the pistol ready in case he wasn’t buying what she was selling. Her eyes shifted slightly to observe Franz looking through more drawers on end tables, and then flipping through books stacked on the floor.
“Your servers are hosting a site that has put out a contract to kill a number of people,” Toni started, choosing her words carefully. He seemed to be more concerned now. “As you might guess, this is a direct conflict with our organization.”
“But…”
She raised a finger to him. “Don’t ask how we know this. I can see that you know I’m correct.”
Silence as they stared at other, the Russian’s disposition shifting from nearly a lack of concern when he might be shot, to grave anxiety with this new prospect.
“What do you want?” Sergei asked, defeated.
“Quite simple. Who hired you to set up the hit site?”
Sergei shifted in his chair. “You might as well just shoot me.” His head turned to the side. “Why do you care about that if you are Mafia?”
She knew this was coming. “Maybe we want to work with these people. Set up a similar situation for our concerns. Are you all right, Sergei. You don’t look well. Would you like some water? Maybe a coke?”
Sergei looked to the kitchen and then back to Toni. “Maybe some vodka. Just a little.”
Toni nodded to Franz, who went to the freezer and poured the man a glass of vodka.
Franz lifted the glass to show Sergei, who lifted his thumb in the air asking for more than that. Franz filled the glass higher and brought it to the Russian. He started by sipping and then downed the entire glass.
“Feel better?” she asked Sergei.
He nodded.
“Good. Now, on with the negotiation. You were just going to tell me who hired you to host that hit site.”
The Russian shook his head and tried to focus his eyes on Toni, but he was clearly having problems.
Toni asked him simple questions first — like the color of his eyes, the city where he was born, his mother’s name, his sister’s name — questions where she already knew the answer. She had him just where she wanted him now. In fifteen minutes the Russian was a pliable as a five-year-old, telling her everything she asked. Truthfully.
When she got what she wanted from the man, she drugged the Russian further and went to work on his computer. Since she’d gained access to his servers, she could control any of his sites or those of his clients. Toni could have used Jake right now. He was much better with computers. While she trolled Sergei’s computers, Franz smoked until he ran out of cigarettes. She transferred and downloaded what she needed and then deleted any trace of her access.
A couple hours later and they were ready to go. Toni sent access codes to the Agency, allowing them to take over Sergei’s computer at any time. For now they needed to keep the Russian in place. When he woke he’d try hard to remember what had happened to him, but find his morning rather blurry. He was likely to remember she and Franz had been there with the gun, searching his place, but that’s about it. Even if he decided to search his computers for any breach, he wouldn’t find one. Yet, he would change the codes almost immediately. Just in case. She knew that and expected it. And the Agency would be able to automatically collect those new access codes.
She smiled as she left the Russian there dozing on the sofa. Sergei had just become Toni’s bitch.
21
Jake purchased a five-day five-country first class Eurail Pass that morning in Lyon. He first hopped a train to Geneva, Switzerland, changed trains and headed north through Basel and into Germany. He was on a train that would eventually end up in Berlin, but he could get off at any stop along the way and pick up any train he wanted to at any time. He knew the German train system intimately, having traveled the system too many times to count. And one thing he knew is that another train always came along, on schedule. Their precision was inspiring in a time when airline delays were insane and traffic jams on the Autobahn could delay drivers for hours.
The train pulled into Baden-Baden now and Jake gathered his bag and got off. The train would only stop in the city for two minutes.
Baden-Baden was a famous German spa town on the northern edge of the Black Forest. The Romans had known the healing powers of the water there, and the town had subsequently become the summer playground for European aristocracy — everyone from the rich and famous to royalty. Dostoevsky hadn’t only lost his shirt in the spa, but also the casino. Jake had fished the rivers of the Black Forest a few times with a local club, catching mostly small rainbows and browns on barbless flies and releasing them to fight another day.
It was late afternoon now. Jake considered getting a taxi and going to a hotel, but after sitting on the train all day he needed to stretch his legs. He slung his backpack over his shoulders and hiked into town.
Stopping to gaze at windows, he kept his eyes open in the reflection for anyone tailing him. Nothing. He’d select his hotel randomly, staying somewhere he’d never been before and pay cash. He found a hotel in the center of the old town section, using his best German to his advantage. Having lived in Germany and Austria for so many years, he had no American accent. He even dreamt in German now.
When he got to his room, he plopped down on his bed and lay for a moment. Baden-Baden hadn’t been a random location for Jake. Someone was there who could help him. And he might even be able to reciprocate. But first he needed to get some sleep. This man was best to see after dark. He immediately went to sleep.
When Jake woke the room was dark, his stomach was rumbling, and he felt like he had a hangover. He showered and changed and went downstairs for dinner in the hotel restaurant. It was almost nine in the evening now. Time to go see an old friend.
Jake slowly walked six blocks from the city center to a residential area of row houses. Although Baden-Baden was one of Germany’s oldest towns, the population still hovered around fifty thousand. That population had always included many different nationalities, from French to Romanian to Russian to American.
He reached inside his leather jacket and felt the butt of his Beretta. A block ahead he saw the building, which sat right up against the narrow road and rose to only three floors. His target lived on the third floor. Jake guessed he had a nice view of the Black Forest to the southeast on a clear day.
As he approached the front door, he saw that there was an entryway to an inner courtyard. Maybe he should have come by in the daylight to get the layout, but he didn’t want the guy to see him in the daylight.
Jake stepped slowly through the corridor until he came to an inner garden, which was shared with a building from the streets next door. It was a perfect square inside with stairwells on four corners.