by Van Fleisher
Alek sounded tentative and cautious, “Not sure about that, but there have been ... changes are going on right now.”
“Like what?”
“I’ve been let go along with most of the team.”
“What?”
Alek answered as though there was someone eavesdropping. “A new IT Director was appointed, and he’s cleaning house. Can we meet somewhere?”
Vijay replied, “Of course. Why don’t you come here? We can talk, have dinner, and you can meet our daughter, Karima.”
“Sounds good. What time?”
“Just call me when you’re on your way.”
***
Alek hadn’t been to Chestnut Hill before, and he was impressed with the area and the Patels’ tastefully decorated home. Jennifer and Karima were out when he arrived, so he and Vijay sat down to talk. Vijay wanted to know what happened to the team and the FBI report. He was about to get more than that.
Alek explained, “There have been rumors all week that the IT department was about to get a shakeup. We’d heard that Kalin was livid about the FBI cooperation and that he’d instituted a witch hunt to find anybody who’d been associated with it.”
Vijay interrupted, “How did Kalin find out in the first place if J. Edward didn’t tell him?”
“I don’t know. There were a few people in IT who admitted that they’d known about the cooperation. They were fired on the spot. Then a new IT director was appointed, Dimitri Pavlova. He came down to our area, asked what we knew about the FBI program, and then read off four names – and mine was one of them – and told us we had thirty-minutes to clean out our personal stuff. Our system access had been canceled by the time we returned to our desks.”
A wave of guilt swept over Vijay as he questioned whether he was the one who had created this problem for Alek and his colleagues. It was his decision, initially, to share the information, but he also knew it was the right thing to do and that Kalin’s retribution was dead wrong.
“I’m sorry, Alek. I feel responsible for what’s happened, but they shouldn’t have taken it out on you. Besides, taking the info away from the FBI could be disastrous.”
Alek asked, “What’s so important about the Final Notice names? At best, it’s helped the FBI a little bit in wrapping up cases. It’s never stopped a crime, has it?”
Vijay agreed, “No, it hasn’t. Just knowing who received their Final Notice isn’t that much of a help.” Vijay was weighing options as he asked, “What are you going to do now?”
“I haven’t even thought about it.”
Vijay made his decision. “Perhaps there is something we can do together, but it must stay very confidential.”
Alek said, “I’d love to work with you again, but before we take that next step, there is something I need to tell you.”
Alek told Vijay about his conversations with Vik Vasin, the murder of his wife and son’s killer, Vik’s questions about getting Final Notice names so that a generous benefactor could help them out, the insurance check, and Alek’s discomfort when Vik pressed him for the information. He was even more uncomfortable telling Vijay that he had used his name as the approval step and that he lied about Vijay rejecting the request.”
Vijay became more and more animated as Alek confessed. “So that’s what the hired gun meant by ‘We want the Final Notice names.’”
Alek was lost, “Hired gun?”
Vijay explained Jennifer’s ordeal, and it was Alek’s turn for feeling guilty, as he recalled the FBI agent’s comment that a threat that’d been made. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry. I had no idea who I was dealing with,” and he told Vijay the whole story about the money and the – probably fake – FBI agents.
Vijay was trying to piece it all together. “So, you think this guy, Vik, wanted names of Final Notice recipients so he could pass them along to a generous benefactor? And when he thought I refused, he sent someone to intimidate me? And when that didn’t work, he infiltrated the VitalTech system posing as the FBI?”
Hearing Vijay put everything together embarrassed Alek. Sheepishly, he said, “Knowing the whole story, I think Vik wanted the names, but not for a generous benefactor. But threatening Jennifer with a gun and impersonating the FBI means that for whatever reason he wanted the names, it’s extremely important to him. And given who he is, it’s not for a good cause.”
Vijay’s mind was churning, “Seems like we’re running into a whole lotta Russians. Sorry, maybe it’s because they’re friends ... acquaintances of yours, which is natural; but Vik, his benefactor friend, the life insurance lawyer, the possible FBI imposters and now, Dimitri Pavlova.”
Vijay glanced at his watch, “Let me call Zoe, my FBI contact. She told me that their info flow from VitalTech just stopped. Do you have any theories about that, or what suddenly pointed Kalin to the VitalTech-FBI cooperation?”
Alek shrugged, “Nothing more than my comment about Kalin and his anger about feeding info to the FBI.”
Vijay wondered, “Could the FBI imposters, upon discovering the real FBI feed, have told Kalin? Is there a connection?”
Zoe picked up and interrupted that thought. Vijay apologized for not getting back with her sooner. He explained the VitalTech shakeup and terminations and that the fact that the CEO was unhappy about the cooperation, so likely, that was the reason the info stopped. Vijay also asked her to check if FBI agents had recently visited the Quincy VitalTech offices and specifically Alek Belikov. Finally, he offered his suspicions about the large number of Russians entering the frame.
Zoe asked why Vijay wanted to know if the FBI had visited Belikov, and Vijay detailed the purported FBI visit to Alek at VitalTech. He omitted Alek’s account of his meeting with Vik Vasin to protect Alek. Zoe explained that she was on her way to a meeting, but she’d find out about the visit and get back with him. Right now, the critical question for her was, how did all this affect the progress that Vijay had made on the behavior forecasting?
Vijay hadn’t sounded out Alek yet about helping him with the enhanced information flow to the FBI, so he remained cautious in front of Alek, but he said, “Don’t worry. Our conference call is still on.”
Vijay hung up with Zoe and began explaining about the new threats the FBI was up against and his own work on developing an enhanced behavioral report. He admitted to Alek that his original VitalTech access had been shut down, as well as a second access point, but that he had set up other doors, too.
Alek laughed out loud, “Whack-a-mole!”
Vijay laughed too, but added, seriously, “I can’t pay you what you’re currently making.”
That made Alek laugh again, “I don’t have a job, so currently, I’m not making anything.”
The real truth was that, right now, they needed each other. Alek needed Vijay’s friendship and support more than money. He also sensed an opportunity to work against Kalin and possibly help the FBI. And there was something else. All of the Russians that Vijay had referred to were not good examples of his countrymen. They were examples of the worst of his countrymen and most of the ruling class.
Vijay knew that Alek’s wizardry with data systems and security would be invaluable to his efforts going forward. Alek also had an extremely imaginative vision, and he once prophesied, well before it became a reality, that most peripherals – such as watches, health monitors, and phones – would become obsolete and that communication and data transmission would be handled by wearables. Alek even predicted another stage in telephony; implants, a chip implanted close to the brain that would allow conversations and data exchange without devices, confessing that the idea came from a 1967 movie starring James Coburn. That inspired him to design a microchip that he had embedded in his head by a veterinarian friend. It never worked, of course, but Alek used to kid Vijay about the day when Vijay would get a call with the caller ID reading, “Alek’s head.” Vijay smiled – it felt good to be working with Alek again.
They were both laughing and regaling old times when Jennifer and Karima came
home.
***
CHAPTER 13 – FAMILY LIFE
Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Jennifer had been surprised but happy to see Alek. Vijay explained Alek’s situation, and Jennifer was sympathetic and genuinely pleased that he and Vijay would be working together again, although she was very uncomfortable with their project. Hearing that VitalTech pulled the plug on their cooperation with the FBI increased her concerns and raised alarms. There was a lot to digest, and it would take a while to think it all through, but Jennifer could feel her anxiety increase.
Fortunately, Karima’s antics had become the center of everyone’s attention, and Jennifer joined in. Karima was busily flashing coquettish smiles at Alek, then giggling and turning away. Alek was smitten by the little toddler with jet black hair and light eyes. He had insulated himself from being around anyone with a family for a long time. But now, as his defenses melted away, he began to melt too. His eyes welled up, and he excused himself to use the bathroom.
That evening, over one of Vijay’s delicious Indian vegetarian meals of gobi aloo, baijan, rice, naans, and a couple of chutneys, Alek was re-introduced to normal family life, if you could call a multi-millionaire’s life, “normal.” Driving home and later, as he lay in bed before falling asleep, Alek reflected on the day’s events and felt that a new and meaningful chapter in his life was about to begin.
After Alek left, and Karima was in bed, and the dishes washed and stacked in the dishwasher, Vijay and Jennifer brewed a couple of teas and discussed the evening … and Alek. Jennifer was pleased that Alek seemed to be in a good mental state, and she was happy for Vijay that they’d be working together. Given her concern about Vijay’s project, however, she asked what prompted VitalTech’s decision to stop the FBI cooperation.
Vijay confessed that he didn’t know, and that it was still just an assumption that VitalTech had stopped it.
Surprised by his comment, she asked, “Well, if neither you nor VitalTech stopped it, who else could have?”
Vijay decided to come clean with the whole story. So, he explained about Vik Vasin leveraging Alek to get the Final Notice names, as well as the fake FBI visit and Kalin’s knowledge of the cooperation.
Jennifer lost her relaxed demeanor and stiffened, immediately transported, once again, back to the evening of the attack. Her concerns were now at a red or orange alert level, and in a very agitated way, she stated, “Vijay, this guy Vasin and whoever visited Alek, posing as the FBI, are criminals, and your hacking is clearly against their interests. That poses a real danger to you, me, and Karima! That’s what brought that scumbag to our home, asking for the names. Now they have access, and if you try to stop them, or re-instate the data feed to the FBI, do you not think they’ll try again? And they won’t make the same mistake they made last time.”
Vijay was caught between Jennifer’s concerns for all of them – especially Karima’s safety – and his desire to end the violence created by his invention. But he couldn’t do both with 100% certainty. He took Jennifer’s hand and said, “I’ll call J. Edward tomorrow and see if he can get Kalin to re-instate the data if VitalTech is withholding it.”
***
Washington, DC. Zoe had attended a meeting where she was shown some recent police reports covering Final Notice recipient shootings. The reports detailed murders of Italian mob members by Final Notice recipients in the Boston area. They were unusual for several reasons: First, the victims were Italian mob members and family, shot by Final Notice recipients who did not appear to have criminal connections or a motive. Secondly, with one exception, the shooters were all killed immediately following their act, either by a “good guy,” suicide, or another shooter. And last, when she had mentioned these to Vijay, he told her that none of them displayed the typical hormonal signatures of any of the killers he had seen so far. He marked all of the Boston Final Notice killers Zoe had mentioned so that he and Alek could look at their hormonal signatures in more depth.
As for the FBI and police, priorities being what they were, these particular crimes were treated with a lower sense of urgency than shootings involving non-criminals, so there was not a lot of follow-up and detail. The Bureau would deny it, but they seemed to adopt the attitude that if the warring mobs wanted to kill each other off, have at it. Besides, Zoe had her priorities, and these weren’t high on her list, either.
Still, she needed to understand how and why these seemingly unconnected Final Notice recipients were becoming involved. Zoe called a colleague in the Boston office to see what additional information she could get. The agent confirmed what Zoe already knew about the Italian mob victims, and that the shooters had no criminal backgrounds or motives. But then, he dropped a bombshell by stating that the victims were very likely all targets of the Russian mob, or ‘Bratva.’ He added that after the third murder, the Italians had retaliated by gunning down a number of Bratva members.
Zoe asked about the “good guys” involved with the Italian shootings, and the agent shared that one was an off-duty police officer and the other a private citizen. Zoe asked for names and was told that the police officer was Terry Sullivan and the civilian, Lev Panova. The agent added that Panova had a license to carry, witnessed the shooting, and acted on his own to protect others.
Before hanging up, Zoe asked about agents being sent to VitalTech – possibly to see Alek Belikov, within the past thirty days. It took the agent a moment, and he said, “No. No visits to VitalTech. I do see a link to Belikov regarding a police visit to his home.”
Zoe asked why Belikov was interviewed. Reading the report, the agent explained that it concerned the death of Thomas Sheehan – his wife and son’s murderer. The agent added that Belikov was cleared when they found the murderer. “Who was it?” Zoe asked?
The reply added one more Russian to the growing list. “Serge Chernov.”
Zoe hung up, pulled out her tablet, and ran searches on Sullivan and Panova.
There was nothing out of the ordinary with Sullivan, and his “good guy” label seemed plausible, although this was the first time an armed “good guy” had delivered what the NRA had touted as a fringe benefit of armed citizens. Lev Panova was a different story: a naturalized U.S. citizen who arrived from Russia with his parents when he was six years old. No occupation listed, but there were a couple of arrests for theft and drugs a few years back.
Zoe stared at her screen, not seeing it but thinking: Five Italian mob members who would be likely Russian mob targets … shot by Final Notice recipients who did not appear to be connected to them … who, in turn, were immediately killed or committed suicide. The Italians responded in a straightforward way, not carried out by Final Notice shooters. Had the Russians hacked the VitalTech system after their fake FBI visit, figured out who had received Final Notices, and then convinced them to kill? Or were the murders just made to look like they did it? And Vijay was right; there are Russians coming out of the woodwork!
Her phone pinged, jolting her back to the present. It was a text from Demi: “Pasta ok tonight? xo” She texted back, “Sounds great! Xoxo”
Zoe and Demi had quickly settled into a routine with Zoe staying with Demi three to four days a week. She had taken Demi to her flat, and they both agreed that Demi’s was preferable. Zoe was content with what was the closest family life she’d had since she went away to college. Demi was an upbeat, high energy, and fun-to-be-around partner. She was a bit secretive, although that was a big part of her job, and very inquisitive, peppering Zoe with questions about work and other friends. The last part was easy. Outside of work buddies, some acquaintances and now Demi, Zoe didn’t have any real friends in Washington. Demi was all Zoe had and all that she wanted.
***
Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. As promised, Vijay called J. Edward Konig, who seemed to be in a good mood, blabbing about a huge acquisition he was close to completing. His mood changed abruptly when Vijay asked about the FBI data feed, “Are you aware that VitalTech has stopped the information flow to the FBI?”
J. Edward answered, “Mike and I discussed it, and I told him it was his call.”
Vijay, trying to maintain his composure, shot back, “J. Edward, you know why we initiated it and how important it was with a hundred users. There are ten million users now, and the FBI is concerned that, given the political divisiveness in the country, especially with elections coming up, the VT2 Final Notices harbor the potential to wreak havoc.”
J. Edward replied, “Vijay, you know as well as I do that the information we gave the FBI never helped them stop a shooting. Hell, if it is critical to our national safety, they would subpoena the information, but they haven’t done that yet because they know it won’t help.”
Vijay cautiously replied, “But what if the data could be enhanced to help them be proactive?”
“How would that happen? As smart as that watch is, it can’t read minds.”