“You think so?”
“Definitely. Are you in or out?”
Yong grinned. “Okay. Let’s do it.”
A minute later, Yong was sandwiched between Betina and Vicky on the couch, playing Fortnite, while Greg stood off to the side in a corner of the room giving Betina instructions into her earpiece, and Cosmo filmed it all with a GoPro camera.
Nick, Kate, and the Kahuna walked toward the door.
“Where are you guys going?” Yong asked. He gestured toward the Kahuna. “Besides, isn’t he one of the cameramen?”
Vicky squeezed her arms together and her D-cup breasts escaped from her B-cup-sized Bavarian barmaid top. She looked straight into Cosmo’s GoPro. “Whoops. It looks like my boobs have accidentally popped out. Whatever will I do now?”
Kate put her hand over her eyes. “Her girls are out, aren’t they?” she said to Nick.
“Yep.”
Vicky held up her hands. “Oh well. I guess I’ll just have to sit here topless.” She turned to Yong. “You don’t mind, do you?”
Yong’s mouth hung open and the controller slipped out of his hands onto the floor. “No. It’s okay with me.”
“So, we’ll see you later,” Nick said.
Yong looked from Vicky to Betina and then back to Vicky again. He appeared a little shell-shocked. “It’s okay with me.”
Nick grinned. “And you don’t mind if we go to your dad’s office and look around?”
Yong absentmindedly picked up his controller and went back to playing Fortnite with Betina. “Sure. It’s okay with me.”
Kate, Nick, and the Kahuna snuck out of the room, closed the door behind them, and backtracked through the building toward the business wing of the consulate. The halls were largely deserted, and the few people that hurried past them seemed much more concerned with what was going on outside than inside.
Kate’s cellphone buzzed. She stopped for a moment to read the text. “It’s Dad. He set off the fire alarms and shut down the video cameras in this section of the building. He says we have around ten minutes before the flash mob dissipates and the police arrive.”
“No problemo,” the Kahuna said. “I’m used to working under pressure.”
A couple of minutes later, they’d made it through the building to a large set of double doors at the end of the hallway on the second floor.
Nick peeked inside. “It’s the ambassador’s private office,” he said. “Right where Yong said it would be. And nobody’s home.”
The Kahuna followed Nick and Kate inside, sat down at Zhang Wei’s desk, and smiled. “He must have been in a hurry. He didn’t even log out. This should be even easier than I thought.” His fingers moved a mile a minute over the keyboard as he searched first the embassy server and then Zhang Wei’s private files for anything that looked like it came from Sentience.
Kate watched the door. “We have five more minutes. Then we’ll need to shut this down.”
“I think I found something from Sentience,” the Kahuna said. “It’s in his private files.” He looked up at Kate. “I also found references to stolen data from Kranos and Waterloo.”
“Those are the two Silicon Valley companies whose billionaire CEOs died under sketchy circumstances,” Nick said.
Kate took a cellphone picture of the screen. “I guess we know for sure how Olga and Neklan have been making their money. They’ve been investing in companies with sensitive technologies then using their inside connections to steal data and sell it to Zhang Wei.”
“I’m lucky they didn’t kill me too,” the Kahuna said.
Kate put her hand on the Kahuna’s shoulder. “Their original plan was to capture you alive and sell you to Wei.”
“That would have been ugly,” the Kahuna said. He connected a portable hard drive to the ambassador’s computer. “I transferred Vicky’s DVD to this external drive last night. Now all we have to do is securely delete the Sentience data.” He scanned Wei’s computer to make sure it was completely gone. “Next, we rename my wife’s ‘highlight reel’ so it looks like the Sentience file I just deleted. And, finally, we upload Vicky’s best from the external drive to the computer.” He hit return. “Here we go. It will take a couple minutes, but it looks good. They won’t know a thing until they break through the encryption.”
“Do you hear that?” Kate said. “It’s quiet.”
Nick listened. “No more fire alarm. I think we’re out of time.”
“Almost done. Just give me another thirty seconds.” The Kahuna put in a different DVD and uploaded the banking virus to Wei’s computer. “Okay. We’re set. Now the next time Zhang tries to electronically wire any monies, they should be redirected straight to Nick’s account. In theory it shouldn’t even matter if he has two-factor authentication or some other security protocol, because it will appear to him as though the money is going to the right place.”
Kate cracked the door. “The coast is clear. Let’s go.”
Nick, Kate, and the Kahuna walked back through the consulate to Yong’s suite, and sat down. Yong was still sitting between Betina and Vicky, focused like a laser on the game play. The red light on the wall turned yellow and then, a couple minutes later, turned off completely.
Zhang Wei, accompanied by two uniformed guards, walked into the suite and systematically went through each room. Yong waved them away from the TV screen. “They do this every time there’s a security breach,” he said to Betina. “Just ignore them.”
Wei stopped in his tracks when he came to Vicky, and smacked his forehead. “What the heck is going on in here? Why is she half naked?”
Vicky gave him a finger wave. “It’s okay. I’m a super Instagram model. Would this be a good time for me to get a selfie with you?”
Wei tilted his head back and said something in Chinese.
“What’s he saying?” Nick asked Yong. “He sounds angry.”
Yong rolled his eyes. “Who knows? I don’t speak crusty old Communist.”
The ambassador pointed to the door. “Everybody get out.”
Yong put down his controller. “Yeesh. You’d better go, before my dad has a coronary.”
Nick, Kate, and the rest of the crew followed Yong through the embassy and out into the courtyard. The “Mao Is a Meanie” sign still hung proudly above the door, but people were milling around and, with the exception of a couple of Czech policemen talking with embassy security, things seemed to be slowly returning to business as usual.
Yong walked them past the armed guards at the entrance and stood with them outside the green door. There was no sign of the Dalai Lamas, Maos, or Asshats. The police cars were starting to disperse, leaving behind a small crowd of onlookers, including a sixty-year-old Clint Eastwood type and an older gray-haired grandma type wearing a blue tracksuit.
Yong rocked back and forth on his feet. “Sorry we had to cut it short. Did you get some good stuff?”
Nick flashed a crooked grin at Yong. “Definitely.”
25
Nick, Kate, Jake, and Cosmo sat on a bench at the base of Petrin Hill, just south of Prague Castle. A funicular tram ran up the steep slope, taking passengers to the top, more than three hundred feet above the river, where inviting parks and hidden gardens welcomed tourists and picnicking Prague residents.
Kate took a deep breath and looked at Nick. His eyes were closed, and he was slumped into the bench, enjoying the songbirds and midday sunshine. “When do you think we’ll hear something? Waiting around isn’t exactly my forte.”
Nick opened one eye. “How could you not relax here? It’s like a little oasis in the center of the city.”
Cosmo looked up the hill. “My guidebook says there’s supposed to be a lookout tower and a small castle that houses a mirror maze at the top, but there’s a hundred Czech crown admission and I already spent my daily stipend.”
“I’ll spri
ng for it just as soon as the Chinese government replenishes my offshore bank account. I’m expecting them to send a sizable deposit my way any time now.”
Kate narrowed her eyes. “You mean Uncle Sam’s way, right?”
“Right. Of course.” He paused. “Do you think Uncle Sam would buy me a beach house?”
“It’s a little premature to be thinking beach house.” Kate watched a group of people get onto the funicular. “We might have stopped Zhang Wei from giving the AI to the Chinese military, but there’s no guarantee that Neklan doesn’t have a copy of the Sentience data squirreled away somewhere. We need to take him down.”
Nick’s cellphone buzzed before he could answer. He read the text. “Good news. As of two minutes ago, we’re a hundred million dollars richer.”
Kate blinked. “A hundred million dollars? I can’t even count that high.”
“It’s a lot of money, but there’s only one thing better than a hundred million, and that’s two hundred million.” Nick dialed Olga Zellenkova on his cellphone. “Plus, the look on Viktor Neklan’s face when he realizes we’ve scammed him twice in the same day.”
“Ahoy hoy,” Nick said into the phone once Olga picked up.
“Nicolas. I didn’t expect to hear from you so soon,” Olga said after a silent moment. “What can I do for you?”
“I’m in Prague, and I thought I’d look you up.”
“I figured you’d follow us here at some point. I’m just surprised it was so soon. I’m impressed. Unfortunately, my and Viktor’s business here is complete. I’m afraid we won’t be staying much longer. I’m sure you understand.”
“I understand that you have a buyer for the data you stole, but we have the Kahuna,” Nick said. “What do you say we make a deal?”
“What kind of deal?”
“We know the Chinese are willing to pay you three hundred million dollars if you deliver the data with the encryption codes and only one hundred million without. We can give you the codes.”
“For three hundred million dollars, they’ll expect us to throw in a live Kahuna.”
“They don’t need the Kahuna,” Nick said. “They need the codes. From what the Kahuna told us, it’s a state-of-the-art encryption that could take years to break, even by the most sophisticated computer scientists. I’ve seen the file and I’m assured it’s totally worth the price. They won’t have any buyer regret, if you know what I mean. I’m sure you’ll persuade them.”
“And what do you want in return?”
“We split the extra two hundred million down the middle. One hundred million for you and one hundred million for me.”
“I’m not sure Viktor will agree,” Olga said.
“I think he will. It’s more than fair. Without our codes, he won’t get a penny over the hundred. I could call up the Chinese right now and try to make a deal without him.”
“Let me ask Viktor.” She put Nick on hold and returned thirty seconds later. “We have a deal. Where do you want to meet?”
“I think a nice public park this time. How about the top of Petrin, by the lookout tower? You have fifteen minutes. After that, we’re gone.”
“I’m not sure we can get there by then,” Olga said.
“You mean you won’t have time to plan an ambush, don’t you?”
Nick could hear Olga smiling through the phone. “I guess we’re getting to know each other pretty well.” She paused. “Viktor and I will see you in fifteen. Ciao.”
Nick, Kate, Jake, and Cosmo made their way to the top of Petrin Hill.
“International wires can take a while from when they’re initiated until the transfer is recorded in the receiving bank, but the more time that passes, the more suspicious Neklan will get,” Nick said. “He’ll be as mad as a hornet and twice as dangerous once he figures out what we did.”
Kate looked around the park. “Dad, you stake out one end of the park near the lookout tower and, Cosmo, you position yourself at the other near the mirror maze. Nick and I will wait for Olga in the middle.”
“What are we looking for?” Cosmo asked.
“Anything suspicious.”
“You mean like Neklan’s armed mercenaries closing in on our positions?” Jake said. “Don’t worry. We’ve got your back.”
Ten minutes later, Olga Zellenkova and Viktor Neklan stepped off the funicular tram and walked over to Nick and Kate.
“I’m giving you your money,” Viktor said, “but that doesn’t mean I’m not still coming for you once this is done.”
“We’ll take our chances,” Kate said.
Neklan shrugged. “Just so we understand each other.” He turned to Olga. “Let’s do this and get out of here.”
Olga dialed the Chinese embassy on her cellphone and asked for the ambassador. “I’m here with the gentleman we spoke about,” she said once Zhang Wei picked up the call. “He has the encryption codes you need.”
“Here’s what we need in return,” Nick said. “The ambassador wires half the money now. Once we know it’s in our accounts, we send him the encryption codes. When he confirms the merchandise is decrypted, he wires us the other half of the money.”
Neklan narrowed his eyes. “Whose account is the money getting wired to, mine or yours?”
Nick provided a routing and account number to Olga. “Ask the ambassador to wire my half to this account and your half to your account. That way we can both be sure there’s no monkey business.”
Olga took the paper from Nick and looked at Neklan.
“It’s acceptable,” Neklan said, “if it’s okay with Zhang too.”
Olga spoke over the phone to Zhang, and then to Nick and Neklan. “The money is on its way. What shall we do to pass the time until we confirm it safely arrived?”
“What else?” Nick sat down and made himself comfortable. “We wait.”
Kate felt as if her heart was about to explode as the minutes passed. Finally, Nick’s cellphone buzzed and he checked his texts. “Good news. The wire arrived.” He borrowed Olga’s phone and typed the encryption code. “Give this to Zhang.”
Neklan checked his banking information on his cellphone. “Why hasn’t my share arrived yet?”
“Hold on, Viktor. Sometimes it takes longer to show up, depending on the bank.” Olga looked back at her phone, sent the text, and put Zhang on speakerphone. “Can you open the file now, Wei?”
There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone, followed by cursing in Chinese. “Is this a joke?”
Everybody listened to the sounds of Vicky moaning as her highlight reel DVD played in the background of the phone call. “I thought I asked for the pizza with extra sausage,” Vicky’s voice said. “I like a lot of sausage, if you know what I mean.”
“Surprise,” Nick said as Olga and Neklan stared at the phone in disbelief. “You’re surprised, aren’t you? I can tell just by looking at you.” He held up his hands and shook them, jazz hands style. “Surprise.”
“You have two hundred million dollars of the People’s Republic’s money?” Zhang said. “All I have is some porn video. Where is the technology you promised? The generals who I promised this to are going to kill us both.”
Neklan checked his bank account again. “Where’s my money? It’s still not here. What’s going on, Zellenkova?”
“About that,” Nick said. “I stole it.” He looked at Olga and Neklan. “This is the part where I gloat.” He flashed them a crooked grin. “Oh man, gloating is so much better when it’s face-to-face. Maybe we can get Zhang on FaceTime so I can gloat with him too.”
Olga listened to Zhang curse over the phone for a few more seconds then hung up. “It’s over, Viktor. The Chinese will never stop looking for us. It’s better to be in a nice, cozy American prison than dead.”
“Speak for yourself,” Viktor said. He drew a switchblade out of his pocket, stu
ck it into Olga’s stomach, and twisted the blade. She collapsed to the ground and used both hands to try to stop the blood oozing out.
Neklan motioned toward the lookout tower. One of the men in the crowd of tourists drew a semiautomatic gun. The crowd screamed and scattered as he aimed in Kate and Nick’s direction. The gunman got off one wild shot before Jake was on top of him. He wrestled the weapon from the mercenary, got him in a chokehold, and dropped the unconscious gunman to the ground five seconds later.
Neklan drew a pistol and took off running past Cosmo and into the little castle housing the mirror maze. Cosmo glanced back at Nick and Kate. “Two men enter, one man leaves,” he shouted and followed Neklan.
Nick and Kate sprinted to the castle and ran inside. “Cosmo?” Kate shouted. She looked around. The room was decorated with thousands of faux gothic arches and full-length mirrors. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Cosmo and Neklan wrestling with each other. She turned and moved toward them, before realizing it was just a reflection coming from somewhere else within the maze. She watched as Neklan disengaged from Cosmo, took a step back, and fired off a couple shots, striking Cosmo in the leg, shattering several mirrors, and scattering the other people in the room as they ran for cover.
Nick and Kate ran to Cosmo. “Are you okay?” Nick asked, kneeling beside him. He ripped off a piece of his shirt and wrapped it around the bloody leg.
Cosmo moaned as Nick tightened the tourniquet. “He ran into the next room. Don’t let him get away.”
“Go,” Nick said to Kate. “I’ll get his bleeding under control.”
Kate bolted through the doorway and looked around the room. It was filled with funhouse mirrors and decorated liberally with wax figures of famous historical figures. A sign on the wall asked patrons not to touch, as they were on loan for the next month. Kate ducked as a bullet whistled past her, striking wax Dracula and knocking him off his moorings.
“For the love of Mike. This is crazy, Neklan. Everybody knows you need a wooden stake to kill Dracula. Just give up.”
The Big Kahuna Page 22