Jake clicked on a table lamp, pulled out his laptop, and wirelessly accessed the internet through the hotel link. First he accessed his computer in Innsbruck. It was still up and running. He took control of his computer there and ran his search from that computer. Any good computer programmer would be able to link back to his current location eventually. But that would take time and would only narrow the search to somewhere within the Baden-Baden hotel, or perhaps from a car within a short distance from the hotel. Jake had been meaning to access the hit website for some time, but hadn’t settled long enough to do so. And he sure as hell didn’t want to do it while he was at Andre’s place in France. He had to make his way around the web through layer after layer just to find the hit notice on him. It took him nearly an hour to go from his notice to find the one on Vladimir Volkov. Once he found that, he searched again for a way to collect on the one million Euros for the Russian’s death. Jake was right. To confirm the kill, he’d have to explain the circumstances of the man’s death, including what he was wearing, the manner of death, the bullet placement in his case, and not just the location of the kill, but the physical position of the body’s last resting place. A photo would help. Jake had everything but the photo. The driver had nothing. This got Jake wondering why some on-scene Polizei officer wouldn’t try to collect the bounty. Ah, Jake found it. Polizei were not allowed to participate, and they, whoever they were, would know.
This was getting more strange by the moment. He memorized the details on how to collect and made the claim to have taken down Vladimir Volkov, using a code name Remus.
Before he got off the hit site he found many others in his situation. Europe had suddenly become the wild west. Only without any apparent code of conduct. He knew many of the names from his days working in Europe with the Agency. What the hell was going on? Why would someone or some group want all of these former intelligence officers killed?
Then he shut down his computer and lay back into his bed. It was now after midnight.
He picked up the non-traceable cell phone and considered calling Alexandra. Where would she be? Would she be awake? He punched in the number and waited.
“Hello,” came a woman’s voice. It was Alexandra.
“Did I wake you?”
“I’m in bed but I can’t sleep. Where are you? Never mind.”
“Are you at home?”
“Yes.”
“Did you go to work today?”
“No.”
He hesitated. If he told her about the shooting down the road, she would know where he was. He could call her in the morning and tell her then. Once he was gone from Baden-Baden.
“What’s going on?” she asked him. “Are you all right?”
“Yeah. I just needed to hear your voice.” He could tell her in broad terms that he wasn’t the only one with a bounty on his head. It might actually make her feel better.
“The Interpol Blue Notice was lifted,” Alexandra said. “Thank your friend for me.”
“I will. Listen, things are getting a little intense. But I’m not alone. There are others with my problem. And they might not know about it. But I was checking the net and found hits on others. Many others.”
“Who?”
“I shouldn’t say at this point.”
“I understand. What do they say in real estate?”
“Location, location, location.”
“Right. Do you have access at home to your work computer?”
She thought and said, “Yes. But they might be checking for my access.”
“That’s what I’m hoping for,” Jake said.
“You want them to find me looking?”
He couldn’t wait for her to get into the office in the morning. Had to trust her, which he did. He just didn’t trust everyone with whom she worked.
“First, check the German news on the internet. I came across an interesting item.” He knew it was there, because he’d read the story himself.
“Just a minute.” He could hear her tapping on her computer in the background. “The woman in Mainz whose cat had a kitten with two heads?”
“Yeah, I thought you’d really like to see that image at this time of night.”
“How about this. Three men found shot to death in Baden-Baden?”
“Yeah, I’ve been there before and it seemed to be such a nice resort town.”
“What about it?”
“Any identification?”
“No.”
“But they gave an address,” Jake said. “I was curious so I looked it up. Turns out to be a guy named Vladimir Volkov.”
“The Vladimir Volkov? Former KGB and SVR?”
“That’s right. So I searched the net and found not just my hit notice, but that for Vlad as well. Turns out someone had a million Euros out on him also.”
“Interesting.”
Neither said a word for a minute and Jake guessed she was considering the ramifications of this new revelation.
Alexandra said, “Don’t tell me you plan on collecting.”
“You know a better way to catch those involved?”
“No.”
“Go to work tomorrow,” Jake said. “Tell them you saw the news on the internet, found out it was the former Russian spymaster of Germany, and started to search.” He gave her the fastest way to find what he’d found online earlier. “Come clean about your involvement with me driving to Luxembourg, and how you linked the hits against me to those of Vladimir Volkov. Ask to be put on the case. Then you won’t have to sneak around. You’ll have full intel at all times.”
“You think they’ll believe me?”
“It’s the truth. They have to believe that. Besides, they might already know about the hit notices. Maybe there have been others killed already. For some reason someone wants former spies dead. We need to find out why and who’s behind it.”
“Are we still set to meet the day after tomorrow.”
“It’s after midnight,” Jake said. “So that’s tomorrow.”
“Right.”
Jake said good luck and goodbye and shut down his cell phone. Maybe now he could actually sleep. Instead, his mind reeled back over the past few days, seeing the men he’d shot. Deep inside he knew he’d had no choice. Shoot or be shot. But these were all men who would no longer enjoy a good beer or experience the touch of a woman. As quickly as they’d entered his mind, Jake shoved them out again. Now his mind transported him to a Montana mountain stream, with Jake making the perfect presentation of a dry fly. Almost immediately a trout scooped it up and flew out of the water. The fight was on. The heavy rainbow broke the surface, flipping high into the air, trying its best to spit out the fly. But Jake kept the line tight. Those were his last thoughts as he finally dozed off.
24
Clouds swirled over the city and a light rain started to dot Anton Zukov’s windshield as he drove through the eastern industrial area of the city. It had been only a couple hours since his last meeting with Viktor at the office, where he told him to go home and get some sleep. Right. Instead Zukov was at a late dinner when he got the call from Viktor to meet him at their office again. As he drove through this crappy area of the city, he thought about why Viktor had set them up here. First of all, it was cheap real estate — more money went straight into Viktor’s pockets and more also trickled down to Zukov. Another reason? Viktor had what some would call an unhealthy longing for the past. Their cell company was located within a short drive of the old KGB office in what was East Berlin. And if they looked carefully, they could even see the former headquarters of Stasi, the old East German Secret Police that had actually run the city with fear and intimidation during the Cold War.