‘Don’t think about him, think about us. Come, the car is waiting.’ General Piotr Gavrikov escorted Elodie Delacroix out of the building to a Mercedes-Benz S 600 bulletproof limousine flying a red, white and blue pennant, the flag of the Russian Federation. He helped her into the spacious interior, and the car pulled away towards the expressway and the city of Moscow.
London, England
‘I’ve received a reply from Ilya Pavlychko. Do you want to see it?’ Ilona asked Dr Middleton.
‘That was impressively fast.’
‘I know, Ilya’s people seem to know everything about Russian banks. I suspect they’ve got a team of informers working in them.’
‘You suspect, or you know?’ She didn’t reply, and he asked, ‘Is it conclusive, or does it require what you call my lateral thinking?’
‘Here.’ She plopped two sheets of A4 paper on his desk.
‘Hmm, this is most informative. Behind the companies mentioned on the bank statements are six charitable trusts, based in the Cayman Islands, named “Golden Path”, I to VI.’
‘That’s the name on the folder that Shen gave to Sharif.’
‘It had not escaped my notice, my dear. What is fascinating is that each of the six payments to Mme Lee-Win’s Hong Kong account transited through the Moscow Trade & Kreditbank. As Ilya points out, that is one of the Kremlin’s banks of choice for, let us say, confidential transactions.’
‘You mean, government business?’
‘Exactly. I’m reliably informed that the oligarchs do a lot of “government business” through MTK. I wonder if that’s the link we’re looking for?’
‘The oligarchs?’
‘Time will tell. Have you considered one other aspect of this affair, Ilona?’
‘Probably not, I’ve been too busy. What is it?’
‘Simply this. The acquisition of Lee-Win was actually a commercially brilliant strategy, as can be seen by the success of the new software. There is a veritable flood of news items, tweets and messages about it online and in the evening paper. I have no doubt that the value of the company has greatly improved as a result of this development. And you will remember that Mme Lee-Win reduced the sales price due to the threatening circumstances at the time. The purchasers have hedged their bets very well.’
‘A good point, but it doesn’t help us to uncover their identity.’
‘You are, as usual, correct, and I am digressing. Can you forward your note to Billy and get him on the telephone as quickly as possible? And please send a suitable note of gratitude to Pan Ilya, he is a veritable treasure trove of knowledge.’
Marbella, Spain
Jenny went to bed at seven. She’d made a light supper, but had no appetite when she sat down alone at the table. After one glass of Ribuero del Duero, she could hardly keep her eyes open and went upstairs. She tossed and turned for a long while, her mind going back over the recent events; Leo, Emma, Coetzee, the XPC problem and Patrice in Shanghai. When she finally fell asleep, she didn’t have one of her strange dreams, but her sleep wasn’t as restful as usual.
US Homeland Security Headquarters, Washington DC
‘Looks like we’re getting somewhere, Hugh. Well done to you guys.’
‘Not guilty, Billy. All due to Ilona and her friend Ilya, who discovered the six trusts. They are uncovering the truth layer by layer. It seems there is no limit to Shen Fu Liáng’s duplicity.’
‘The guy sure turns out to be a bigger can of worms than we expected. This is one of the smartest fit-ups I’ve ever seen.’
‘Nevertheless, our friends in South Africa believe they can thwart the attack with some help from you.’
‘I know. Marius Coetzee thinks it might be possible to rejig the trigger code. He suggested that if they can’t work out how to hack into the hub, maybe we could talk Lee-Win into letting us access it, but you and I know there’s no way I can get that to fly.’
‘Diplomatically unlikely, I agree. Meanwhile, the Soviets continue to move their pieces around the chess board with impunity. I’m surprised you’re not attending the NATO meeting?’
‘Truth is, Hugh, if the shit hits the fan, I’m more useful here in Washington than with those politicians in Brussels. I hate to say it, but NATO is not what it was when I was young and ambitious. I don’t expect much from that conference except newspaper headlines.’
‘On this point, Ilona and I agree, NATO is in a state of disarray, vulnerable to a strong and decisive move to destabilise its member states. And all of our recent information suggests that the cyber-attack discovered by Leo will come from Russia, who will use it to blackmail their territories back to recreate the USSR. This attack is now a clear and present danger.’
‘I think you’ve hit it on the button. Everything points to a Russian power play that’s taken five years to gestate, starting with the takeover of Lee-Win by these six trusts. But we still don’t know who owns them.’
‘Our belief is that behind them you will find five oligarchs, plus Shen Fu Liáng.’
‘I can see why you’d say that, Hugh, if the plan is to grab big chunks of the repossessed territories. But you’re still pissing in the dark. Sorry, Ilona.’
‘We shall ignore that mental image. In any event, we shall remain so, unless you consider you now have enough proof to look at your files and see who are behind those trusts?’
The American’s guffaw roared from the loudspeaker. ‘What makes you think we’ve got stuff in Washington on innocent-looking Cayman Island trusts?’
Ilona and Middleton stayed silent, and Chillicott finally said, ‘OK, I think the case is strong enough to take it to the top. I’ll get back to you tomorrow. I’m not promising anything, but I’ll see what I can find.’
‘Thank you, Billy, you’re a credit to UK–US collaboration. Long may it continue.’
London, England
At six-thirty p.m., UK time, Ilona Tymoshenko was still in her office, sorting out her emails and thinking about the day’s events. She’d called Marius Coetzee and updated him on their conversation with General Chillicott, although she still wasn’t confident it would produce anything concrete they could act on. Now, she was reflecting on Hugh Middleton’s lack of reaction to one event that morning. As an ex-official at the Security Service of Ukraine, Ilona was suspicious both by nature and formation. She had been copied on Chillicott’s email and knew that Hugh had received the photo of Elodie Delacroix, who might possibly be the mystery person, Tsunami, but he hadn’t mentioned it. That wasn’t normal. Hugh never missed a chance to show off his superior intellect with a sarcastic or witty remark. Another secret, she wondered, possibly connected to Leo Stewart?
Ilona went to her file of contacts in the western security agencies. If the woman was some kind of Chinese or Russian agent, as they believed, there must be a dossier on her somewhere. She’s supposed to be Belgian, she remembered, and found the name of Chief Inspector Lucas Meyer, head of the Antwerp SICAD, the Communication and Information Service of the district of Antwerp.
Meyer had been her Belgian contact in 2008, when she had investigated a diamond smuggling operation on behalf of the Security Service of Ukraine. Three high-ranking justice officials had been arrested on corruption charges involving government contracts, and had apparently been paid off with millions of dollars in uncut diamonds. Information from the whistle-blower pointed to Antwerp as the marketplace for the stones. For once, international police coordination had been successful, and the stones were impounded, the officials convicted and everyone involved was congratulated.
CI Meyer didn’t answer her call and Ilona left a voice message, hoping he would remember her. Fifteen minutes later, he rang back. He was still in charge of the SICAD and remembered exactly where and when they’d worked together. After exchanging the usual platitudes, she told him a fictitious story about checking out a prospective business partner, and he agreed to put Elodie’s photograph through their facial recognition system. If her image was in any European database, they
had a good chance of identifying her. She thanked him and sent the photo across, wondering if her action constituted deceitfulness toward her senior partner. Once again she decided, There’s no room for secrets between partners.
FIFTY-TWO
Delmas, Mpumalanga, South Africa
Saturday, 17 July 2017
‘Good morning, Abby. You’re up with the larks.’
At six a.m., Leo was trying to fit in an hour’s training. It was several days since he’d exercised his body and he was feeling stale and lethargic. He’d fastened an old, hard mattress against a wooden door in the courtyard and was punching and kicking his way to a healthy state of mind.
‘You’re not the only one who needs a workout. I’ve been locked indoors for weeks. It might be good for our brains, but not our bodies.’ Laying a blanket on the grass, she started stretching, prior to some Pilates exercises and a few minutes of yoga. Abby was wearing shorts and a bikini top, she looked a picture of health, slim and supple, a glowing sheen on her brown skin.
They worked out in silence for fifteen minutes, then Leo threw his soaked cotton T-shirt aside and continued his assault on the mattress.
Abby positioned herself so she could sneak glances at his muscular frame pivoting gracefully back and forwards. ‘I didn’t know you were an adept. When did you take it up?’
‘About five years ago. After I came down here on holiday.’
‘Seems like a lifetime ago. Then you went to the States and made your name.’
‘Some name. I was lucky enough to be offered a great job. Anyway, how about you? I never thought you’d get involved in IT. Didn’t seem like your thing.’
‘She did it to help my business and my life, Leo.’ Coetzee had come out of the house with a mug of coffee. ‘Now, it looks like it’s time to help the world. Come on kids, breakfast time, then we’ve got stuff to do.’
Moscow, Russian Federation
Shen stayed under the shower for five minutes. The water was hot and crystal clear, unlike the sometimes lukewarm, cloudy liquid from the taps in the Emirates apartment. He’d slept like a baby for eight hours and felt on top of the world. There was a pot of breakfast tea in his room when he came out of the bathroom and he poured himself a cup. Looking out the window at the woods surrounding his house in Rublyovka, the most expensive suburb of Moscow, Shen felt as if he’d finally come off a treadmill that he’d been on for the last five years. He felt at one with himself and with the world.
His mother Olga and sister Annika were in the breakfast room when he went down, and they fussed over him as if he was still a teenager. Annika was unmarried, and she and her mother adored their adopted brother and son. They enjoyed a leisurely breakfast filled with stories of government corruption, local scandals and struggling billionaires, then Shen stood up from the table. ‘I’ve got a few things to do. I’ll be on the phone in my office and come down later for coffee.’
‘Grigori, darling, I thought you’d retired from Lee-Win and come home to run the family businesses?’
‘Don’t worry, Annika. By Monday, I won’t have anything to do. You and mother make a list for me and I promise to get started.’
Moscow, Russian Federation
Elodie’s phone woke her at nine a.m. After the most passionate night she’d enjoyed for a long time, she had slept like a baby and felt wonderful.
She heard Shen’s voice. ‘Good morning, darling, did I wake you?’
Clearing her fogged brain, she said, ‘Of course not, it’s ten in the morning here. I was just making another cup of coffee, but you’re not here to have it with me. I’m missing you.’
‘Just a few days and I’ll see you. You know the upload was successful?’
‘I never doubted it,’ she lied. ‘You were in charge and it went perfectly. Well done, mon chéri. Will the trigger command go out tomorrow?’
‘More likely on Sunday, I’m staying in Shanghai to make sure. But it’s time for you to get out of Dubai before the shit hits the fan. I can’t come back there, and I think you should go straight to Dublin. I’ll join you there on Monday.’
Elodie was immediately suspicious. She was supposed to be dumping him, not the other way around. ‘Then I won’t see you before getting to Ireland?’
‘You’ll have time to make sure everything is OK at the apartment. Get in more champagne and caviar, fill it with flowers.’
‘Well, if you say so. I’ll book the flights now and be there when you arrive.’ Some chance, she said to herself. ‘Are you certain we’ll be finally through this whole five-year struggle, with our pay-off?’
‘Don’t worry, by Monday you’ll be rich and we’ll be as free as two birds.’ He liked the metaphor. Two separate birds, he thought, but I’ll finally be free of the past.
Delmas, Mpumalanga, South Africa
‘What do you think of Dr Middleton’s theory about Shen’s second-son complex?’ Coetzee was having breakfast with his family and Leo.
‘Am I allowed to know what it is?’ Karen didn’t know what he was talking about.
After he managed to explain it to her over the interruptions from the others, she said, ‘I can understand Dr Middleton’s point of view. That poor man, Shen, being kicked out of his family and his country like an illegal immigrant. If you had that kind of money, wouldn’t you do anything to get your own back? Who’s this Dr Middleton, by the way?’
‘He and his partner, Ilona, head up a cyber security company in London, very tight with US Homeland Security. It’s funny,’ Coetzee mused, ‘he didn’t say much, but I was almost sure I knew him. I seemed to recognise his voice, but I just couldn’t place it. Anyway, he seems pretty bright, so if we suppose the theory’s right, and that Russian Hub Manager code seems to confirm that, it means Shen’s going to deploy the trigger from Moscow via Shanghai. How would he do that?’
‘If the Lee-Win people are in the clear, he couldn’t have set up a transit facility on their hub without their knowledge, so he’ll need someone, a physical person, to do it. It has to go out from the Shanghai hub, with their signature, otherwise the download will be refused by the customer networks.’ Abby described the problem.
‘So, this Hoi Wei that he’s been writing to is his accomplice in Shanghai, and he’s going to receive the trigger update and send it out from there.’
‘Logically, yes. That’s why Shen’s in Moscow now, if we’re right about that. Wei’s his mole in Shanghai.’
Leo swore in frustration. ‘That means we’ve been spinning our wheels looking at ways to hack into the Lee-Win hub. If the upload’s going to be sent out from Moscow via Shanghai, it will be gone before we could touch it. We would have to actually bring down the hub, knock it over, to prevent the trigger going out.’
‘Problem is,’ Abby mused out loud, ‘how do they keep sending it? If they’re in the clear, the people in Shanghai are bound to spot it, and when they do, they can just switch it off. I still don’t get how it works.’
‘Maybe they’re not in the clear after all, but whatever’s going on, time’s really short. If Shen’s in Moscow, it must be ready to send out, so we’re probably right about Sunday at midnight.’
‘He must be completely mad.’ Karen shivered.
‘He might be, but he’s not acting alone. I’m sure Middleton’s right. He thinks it’s about money and power, as usual. Chillicott’s finally going to look for the owners behind those trusts. Middleton and Ilona are betting they’re oligarchs, investing alongside Shen to pick up the pieces when the USSR is reconstituted.’
‘That makes sense, there’ll be chaos in those countries and that means rich pickings.’
Abby frowned. ‘But even if General Chillicott finds the truth, it doesn’t help us stop the Moscow-Shanghai deployment.’
‘I have a feeling that he’s not in a position to act directly. Politically, I mean. He’s leaving it to us.’
‘In that case, Dad, we’ve got to get into Shanghai ourselves to derail the upload. But how?’
Abby
was quiet while Coetzee and Leo talked the problem over, then she asked, ‘What was the name of Jenny’s banker who sent the documents from Hong Kong?’
‘Patrice de Moncrieff, French guy. He’s kind of part of the family in Marbella. I never liked him much, but he’s delivered the goods this time.’
‘You told me he met with Mme Lee-Win and her son, right?’
‘Junjie, yes. Patrice went to her house and met them there.’
‘Did he tell them what this is all about? I mean the cyber-attack?’
‘No. Jenny specifically told him not to, because she’s ill and it wouldn’t be fair to upset her. What’s your point?’
‘Is he still there?’
‘You mean Patrice? I don’t know. Aunt Jenny probably knows. Why?’
‘Wait, last question. How long is the flight time from Hong Kong to Shanghai?’
‘I’ll check.’ He looked it up on his phone. ‘It’s about two and a half hours. Now, what’s the interrogation for?’
‘Ed told us the Lee-Win board have huge respect for Chongkun, the founder, they even dedicated the upload to him. If they’re not involved in the conspiracy, I’m sure they’d listen to his son and help us find this Hoi Wei, and maybe prevent the trigger upload.’
Coetzee said, ‘You mean, Patrice and Junjie should go to Shanghai to talk to the Lee-Win board?’
‘That’s a great idea, Abby. I’ll ask Aunt Jenny to call him, see if he’s up for it.’
‘Wait on, Leo, not so fast,’ she said. ‘There are a few problems. Chillicott has produced nothing to confirm a Russian involvement, and Patrice hasn’t told Junjie about the cyber-attack. It’ll be a huge shock to him and we don’t want his mother to know about it. And if the board members really are clean, they’ll know nothing about any of this either. It’s not the kind of thing you can explain or demonstrate from a distance. They’d need to see Leo’s network shutdown to understand the potential catastrophe they’d be involved in.’
The Dark Web: The stunning new thriller from the author of The Angolan Clan (African Diamonds Book 3) Page 36