They had become friends. Spaso was also a handsome man, bearded and very mysterious, but he’d told her that he wasn’t interested in anyone who couldn’t live off the grid with him. Even her friendship was a risk. But he’d been willing to take it because she’d been so charming.
At the time, she’d blushed and been surprised at how quickly the outlaw had swept her off her feet. Spaso had taken his name from Spasopeskovskaya Square, which meant Savior on the Sands and referred to the sandy soil of the Arabat District in Moscow. She’d wondered if he had lived there once or, perhaps, if he lived there still. He claimed to be the Savior of Cyberspace.
Quieting her nerves, Anna pushed the device into an open port on the general’s computer. Then she opened her phone and dialed a number Spaso had forced her to commit to memory. It wasn’t written down anywhere.
Occasionally, Spaso changed the number because one contact or another had gotten caught or sold him out. When that happened, he came around and met her—almost anywhere. She was surprised at how well he tracked her movements, until she remembered they were all in her planner in her computer. He would take her to lunch in the park or somewhere, and he would give her the new number, never once explaining why the old one had been compromised.
“Hello, Anna.” Spaso’s voice was low and cheery.
“Hello, Spaso. I do not have a lot of time, so I need to be quick about this. I will be glad to meet you for dinner at some time in the future.”
“I look forward to that. I suppose you need a computer unlocked.”
“I do. I have your device installed, but the computer is asking for a password.”
“It is no problem. Sit back and watch me work magic.”
True to his word, the password field suddenly filled in, then the computer booted up the rest of the way.
“What are we looking for?”
“Anything you can find involving the Russian military.”
Spaso was quiet for a moment, then when he came back on the line, he wasn’t quite so laidback. “You didn’t say whose computer this was.”
She didn’t want to hide the truth from him. He was putting himself at risk to do this. “General Cherkshan’s.”
“Ah. You are asking for trouble then.”
Anna watched the screen as pages flew by. “Not if we do not get caught.”
“This is true.”
42
Stadiou Street
Omonoia District
Athens
Hellenic Republic (Greece)
February 20, 2013
A man stepped out from one of the trees that lined Stadiou Street at night, but Linko refrained from drawing his pistol. It was a careless, almost amateurish, move, but he’d been expecting something like that.
Then the man lifted his hands away from his body to show that he was unarmed. “Mr. Smith?”
Linko wore a red and black hoodie against the wind. He had a 9mm pistol on his hip under the long tail of the garment. The hoodie had been his identification to the man he was meeting. “I am Smith.”
“Please stop there, Mr. Smith. Otherwise you will be shot.”
Linko came to a stop and didn’t look around for the sniper. Since there were no other people on the street, there had to be a sniper. The street was lined with multi-storied buildings. “I am simply here to meet. If I had meant anything else, I would have brought an army.”
“These are perilous times.” The man was older, in his fifties, with curly gray hair and an equally curly gray beard. He looked like someone’s grandfather, not the leader of a revolutionary group. He also looked like the photograph of Nicolos Aigle Linko had received on his tablet PC.
“I understand. What do you wish me to do?”
“Take a ride with me.”
Linko didn’t like getting into the car with the man, but he knew disagreeing would only create problems and increase the amount of time he’d need to pull the operation together. He shrugged. “Of course.”
Aigle waved and a taxi rolled forward and stopped beside him. “Join me.” He opened the door and climbed into the vehicle.
Linko walked over to the taxi and slid into the back seat with Aigle. A soundproof glass partition separated the rear of the taxi from the driver.
The driver pulled forward without looking back.
Aigle studied Linko. “We’re just going to drive around in this area for a time, if that is all right?”
“We could have met somewhere.”
“I prefer to do my business in the back of a cab, not in a public place. Too many people are looking for me.”
Linko disagreed with that but didn’t say anything. The 17N were still hunted, that was true, but not very aggressively. They had taken their last kill in 2000, and even that assassination wasn’t universally believed to be the work of the 17N. There were some who thought the CIA had performed it, even though the last man killed had been a British military attaché.
“Of course. But the man I represent—”
“You mean President Nevsky?”
Linko went on as if Aigle had not interrupted. “—will make sure you and your organization will become much more respected in this country.”
Aigle drummed his fingers on the hand rest. “I am not so convinced.”
“You only need look to the Ukraine to see that what I am telling you is the truth.”
“I have been watching the news with great interest, comrade.”
“What you are seeing there is the result of months of long, hard work.” Linko launched into his sales pitch. “Your country is being abandoned by the West, comrade. They do not care for this place any more. Your government has become too problematic and too expensive to support. The writing was on the wall when President George W. Bush supported the Republic of Macedonia as an independent country, as well as a member of NATO. The government here doesn’t have a strong ally anymore. But you can have one if you wish.”
Aigle studied Linko. “We have been promised this before.”
“Look to the Ukraine. See what is being done.” Linko spoke passionately, and—truthfully—he felt some of that. He felt certain that he was part of something that was continuing to grow. “We live in a time when most citizens do not know their own leaders or even their own government policies. These people just take and take, not contributing to the country they are graciously allowed to live in. They have become too lackadaisical in their view of the world. If they are allowed to continue, unchecked and unguided and unpunished, they will empty the world, and future generations will starve or prey on themselves. They must be brought to heel, and the world needs to look to a strong leader.”
“You think the man you work for is that man?”
Linko shook his head. “He is the man for my country, comrade, but he is not the man for your country.” There, he’d set out the bait. “Who will lead your country in the future has yet to be determined. But whoever it is must be strong enough to stand up and seize the reins. Then he will join with my leader so that the West can encroach on our world no longer. This is what it will take. I have been told to tell you this.”
Aigle took in a breath and let it out.
“There is already much unrest in your country, comrade. Without guidance—and soon—there may be no chance to be yourselves. What would happen if Turkey decides to expand its borders? Who will protect you then?”
“Russia also supported the Republic of Macedonia’s recognition as a country. I have not forgotten that.”
“I am aware of this. But the president that was responsible for that is not the man who sent me here. He is looking for an ally, and he is willing to fund your operations against the corrupt government that bleeds your people dry.”
“What your president wants done will take time.”
“He understands that. But it must be done. He wants to build an ally here, and I assume you want one as well. We both want the United States gone from your country.”
Aigle was silent for a moment. “I will think
about your offer. We will meet again in a few days.”
“That is fine.” Linko didn’t like being brushed off by the man, but he knew he had no choice. Still, he couldn’t let it go without firing a salvo back. “I have a list of other people to contact. Probably you should be contacting them as well.” He named them off on his fingers. “The Revolutionary Nuclei. The Sect of Revolutionaries. The Conspiracy of Fire Nuclei. The Revolutionary Struggle. All of these groups and more will be interested in what I have to say on behalf of the man I represent.” He took a breath. “So take all the time you need. Comrade.“
43
Museum of the University of Athens
Plaka, Athens
Hellenic Republic (Greece)
February 20, 2013
It was almost closing time when Lourds and Captain Fitrat and his team finally made it to the museum. At the door, Lourds asked to speak to Dr. Adonis Marias, the president of the museum. He had called earlier, and Marias was expecting him. They stood in the shade of the palm trees out front while the docent went to send word to Marias that his guests had arrived.
The museum had begun life as a large three-story dating back to the Ottoman period, making it easily one of the oldest buildings in Athens. Colloquially, it was known as the House of Kleanthis, named after one of its two previous owners, Stamatios Kleanthis, a famous architect. The other man was Eduard Schaubert, another architect. In 1833, the two had developed the first city plans for a modern Athens. Houseguests, artists, and intellectuals came and went the whole time, and Lourds had sometimes fantasized about what meals at the house must have been like.
Fitrat looked at the museum. “It is a lot smaller than I had imagined.”
“At one time, this was the University of Athens. That lasted for six years, until the university was moved to its present location in 1841.”
The matronly docent Lourds talked to at the door quickly returned. “Professor Lourds? President Marias said to show you right up.”
“I know the way, if that’s all right.”
“Of course. Enjoy your visit.”
Fitrat stationed three men outside the building and two more remained with their rented SUVs. Two of the men and Fitrat accompanied Lourds as he led the way into the museum.
***
Dr. Adonis Marias waited for Lourds on the third floor of the building. The room was filled with antiquities from the time of Jason and the Argonauts. One of the kraters, large vases used to mix wine and water, depicted images of warriors armed with spears. Lourds had helped validate the krater and translated the writing on the bottom. The engraving was simply a prayer to Poseidon, but it named two ships and a captain. Lourds still didn’t know the stories of those ships and that captain. They were just details swallowed up in the inexorable march of history.
Marias was a couple inches taller than Lourds and had a shaved head and a neat, trim goatee that was black as coal. He wore a suit that fit him well, but his jacket hung over one arm. His hazel eyes raked Captain Fitrat and the two soldiers with him.
Marias smiled at Lourds. “Military?” He knew military because he had been a soldier for a time.
He spoke in Greek. Neither Fitrat nor the soldiers knew the language. Lourds nodded. “They’re a personal security detachment. Layla sent them to watch over me.”
“You’re still seeing her?”
“I’d be an idiot not to be.”
“Upon that, we can agree. They speak English?”
“Quite well.”
“Good.” Marias stepped forward, offered his hand to Fitrat, and switched to English. “Dr. Adonis Marias.”
“Captain Jamshid Fitrat, at your service.” Fitrat pointed to the other two men. “Corporals Rahimi and Salih.”
The two young soldiers stepped forward and shook hands with Marias.
Marias turned to Lourds. “You said you had a document you wanted me to look over.”
“I do, but we’re going to need some space to work.”
“I have a rather large office in the back we can use. And some good Turkish coffee. Or wine, if you’re in the mood.”
Lourds smiled. “Coffee. I have missed that the past few days.” He looked at Fitrat. “Nothing against tea, but I have a preference for what I grew up with.”
Fitrat nodded and smiled. “Will there be tea?”
Marias strode across the room, dodging the displays. “Of course there will be tea. And cakes, if you’d like something to nosh on.”
***
General Anton Cherkshan Residence
Patriarshiye Ponds
Moscow, Russian Federation
February 20, 2013
“I have managed to go beyond your father’s computer, Anna. These things you are seeing now, they are from somewhere inside military command. I had to hack through more than a few firewalls to get this far, but I am nothing short of incredible. I have told you this before.”
Anna’s stomach knotted up at Spaso’s revelation. What she had seen so far was astounding. Evidently, the general had worked on the preliminary invasion of the Ukraine from his study, and he had drawn on sources within the military complex to do it.
“None of these files are on your father’s computer. In fact, I do not know if they ever were. I could find nothing of these on his hard drive.”
“Perhaps he used a portable drive.”
“It would not matter. There would still be traces. I would have found them. No, he was very careful about what he was doing there. The path I have found back into the military computers? That came from a program someone put on his computer to spy on him.”
“He was being spied on?” That frightened Anna. It was one thing to imagine the general as an unwavering force, but to know that he was vulnerable to someone outside was upsetting.
“This is Russia. I have told you. Everyone spies on everyone.”
“I do not.”
Spaso tsked. “Even if that were true before today, it is no longer true, is it?”
Silently, Anna admitted that it was not. Her guilt was overwhelming, but her need to know was stronger.
“Anna, I did not mean that. It was a jest. All in fun.”
“I know.”
“What you are doing is very brave. The fact that you are your father’s daughter is even more remarkable. No one I know could do what you are doing.”
“Betraying my father?”
“Do not look at it like that. This thing that is being done, Nevsky’s ‘reunification’ effort, must be stopped. Someone has to reveal all the treacheries the man has committed.”
“But my father—the general—has been the architect of the fall of the Ukraine.”
“He was a man simply doing his job, Anna. You have to understand that.”
“I am trying. But I cannot fathom why he would do this, knowing people were going to die.”
“I suspect he sees himself as saving a great many people. Perhaps he even imagines he is saving you by making the Russian Federation stronger.”
“He is taking away freedoms.”
Spaso was silent for a moment, then his voice got harder. “Do you see him as a monster, Anna? Is he a cold-hearted killer?”
Anna thought back to all the things her brother had showed her in the newspaper, all the horrors her father had seen while fighting the Chechens. She remembered how he had been there for her and how he had complained about her generation not knowing the love of their country the way they should.
“No, he is not a monster.”
“Then remember that, and know, too, that Nevsky has sold your father the same bill of goods that he tries to sell everyone through his television spots, his newspaper interviews, and his blog. Nevsky is in this for power. Your father thinks Nevsky is only trying to turn Russia back to the old way.”
“The kind of Russia where my father was more comfortable.” Anna recalled how many times her father had told her that the “new” Russia wasn’t working, how the people were so much worse off than they had been. �
�He said he was afraid that he would live to see Russia fall and that he would have to leave my mother, my brother, my niece and my nephew, and me all unprotected.”
“So you see, Anna. You see how Nevsky manipulated your father and placed him in the role of protector.”
“Yes.”
“Your father is blind to what is going on. He thinks only of the good he is doing. You have had arguments with him over the pieces you write in the paper. You have told me about them.”
“I know.”
“Then realize this now.”
Anna struggled to.
“Anna, look at this.” Spaso’s voice had changed, taking on a darker, harder tone.
Blinking back tears, Anna looked at the computer screen. She read the document sitting there. “This is about Greece?”
“Yes. There are several files here, all regarding Greece and ways to undermine the government and force the United States out of the area. There are contacts for terrorist organizations here.”
The pages on the screen flipped back and forth. Anna saw maps, photographs, interviews, blueprints, and other documents that looked like they should have been kept somewhere safe.
Spaso cursed and the open screens on the computer began shutting down. “Whoever was spying on your father’s computer has found me.”
Anna’s stomach sank.
“It was nothing I did. Nothing they could find. This was just bad luck.”
“Can they trace you?”
“Yes, but I’m sending them on a wild goose chase. They will think that a CIA agent hacked into them. They will not track this back to you. Or your father. I promise you this.”
“Should I do anything?”
“No. Let me. You are safe. Everything will be fine.”
“What about the documents you discovered?”
“I downloaded them all.”
“I need them.”
The Oracle Code (Thomas Lourds, Book 4) Page 25