“Yeah,” June said.
“He killed off one of his primary suppliers. That means he’ll be in the market for another one.” There was a twinge of hope in her voice.
“True, but we have no way to find him. He’s a ghost, Adriana. Abdi was our only link to him. The guy will vanish again. And this time, he won’t resurface.”
Adriana wasn’t so sure. “Where do all these guys go to find guns, bullets, explosives?”
“Usually, they have a series of connections, people in the black market they know. I’d say trust, too, but it’s a slippery slope to trust anyone in the arms underworld.”
“Right. Where else could they go for those things?”
“I suppose they could shop on the dark web, but federal agencies monitor that pretty diligently.”
Adriana thought of some of the horrific things she’d heard about on the dark web. Recipes for cooking human meat; young children for sale; and a plethora of other sickening things. It was the ultimate den of online iniquity, a place for the blackest of souls to hawk their wares and ply their trade.
With all that repulsive stuff happening on the dark web, she wondered why these agencies June referred to didn’t step in and take action. The answer that immediately popped into her head was even more nauseating than the things she’d heard about the digital underworld: they—the clandestine government agencies—were allowing it to happen. Maybe June didn’t know as much about her peers as she thought.
That was another rabbit hole to chase at another time. For now, Adriana focused on the thing her friend mentioned before.
“Who do you know in the black market that could help us?”
June scratched her head and thought. She didn’t answer immediately. “My connections,” she said finally, “are limited in the criminal underworld. What about your friend? You think he might be able to help us?”
Adriana knew who she meant. The guy who called himself A-Tak—real name Raymond—had helped them before, but it was anyone’s guess if he would do it again.
She already owed him one favor. She doubted there was any way to get around him asking for compensation this time. Of course, she could always play the law-dog card now. Maybe. Threatening someone who’d helped her in the past didn’t seem like a good way of doing business. Perhaps there was another way to enlist his help.
“I’d hardly call Ray a friend,” Adriana said. “But I suppose, considering the circumstances, he’s the closest thing to a friend we might have. I’ll give him a call and see what he’s up to. If I had to guess, he’s probably knee deep in vodka and gambling debts.”
“Model citizen.”
Adriana shrugged. “Everyone has their vices. Although Ray definitely has a knack for finding trouble.”
“Maybe we need someone like that right now,” June said. “We’ve done a pretty good job of finding trouble ourselves. Sounds to me like he’ll be in good company.”
Adriana nodded. “I’ll see what I can do.”
She watched as June wandered back over to where the other operators were sitting around on the ground next to the ambulance. The men were shaken, but they’d endured worse—maybe not worse scares than drowning, but they’d faced death before. Adriana knew that one or two of them were Navy SEALs. The others had also gone through incredibly difficult training to get into the spec ops of their respective military branches.
She’d seen one of the toughest parts of SEAL training in a video a few years ago. It involved submerging the recruits in ice-cold water repeatedly. She didn’t recall all the details but imagined it was nearly impossible to get through it—both mentally and physically.
June checked on the men, talking briefly to each one as she hovered over them.
Adriana knew June was a good person. She was kind and caring but also capable of dealing out swift and merciless justice to those who needed it.
Her bravado at the docks could have gotten her killed. Adriana considered chatting with her friend about that, about keeping emotions pushed aside and being more precise, more careful. Then she thought better of it. Now wasn’t the time. Emotions were still high. Maybe they could discuss it later.
Adriana turned away and trudged up the hill, leaving June and the authorities at the wharf to finish whatever cover-up they were going to implement. It was a wonder to Adriana how so many people could be blinded by the simplest of lies. The cops, emergency crews, everyone down there except her team would be told some kind of tall tale that they would invariably accept as truth.
So it was, living in the shadows.
Now, it seemed, she was about to dive deeper into the darkness once more. She fished out her phone and looked at the screen. Luckily, this newest version was waterproof. She pulled up her list of contacts as she rounded the corner at the top of the hill and headed down the sidewalk toward her car.
Ray wouldn’t answer her call, so she stared at the number for a moment before sliding the phone back in her pocket.
Into the shadows again, she thought.
6
Dublin
The door opened with a creak. The old Bow Street distillery, where one of Ireland’s most famous whiskeys was once produced, had been converted into lofts and single-family apartments. With the new construction, Adriana found it odd that the hinges made such a squeaky sound.
She’d cursed both the tenant and the landlord for not slapping some WD-40 on the hinges, or at the very least a little oil.
So much for a quiet entry.
She swung the door shut as fast as possible to minimize the sound and slowed its momentum just before it hit the frame. She twisted the doorknob and then gently released it so the bar would slide quietly into the receiver.
Adriana scanned the room as she always did when entering a strange place. She’d never been to Ray’s new apartment. In fact, tracking him down had been something of a chore. It took two days before she could locate him.
Ray, or A-Tak as he was known in the hacker community, was incredibly careful about hiding his online footprint, and for good reason. He’d committed internet crimes in nearly every European country and was wanted in several of them, at least for questioning.
Adriana knew the deeds Ray performed were essentially harmless to the population at large. He didn’t steal money from people’s bank accounts. Identity theft wasn’t his thing—unless it was someone who’d screwed over good, hardworking people.
He’d been a sort of hacktivist for several years now; handpicking his targets from a short list of society’s worst and wealthiest. He was no digital Robin Hood, although he often contributed to charity. He took only what he needed, spread the wealth with others who needed it more, and then used whatever he could find against the target—usually uncovering a scandal of some kind.
While Adriana wasn’t sure how she felt about his flexible morals, she did have a deep respect for Ray. She’d downplayed June’s calling him Adriana’s friend, but the truth was, in this world she was about as close to a friend as Ray probably had.
He spent so much of his life in the dark, entrenched in the digital world of code and pixels, there wasn’t much time for socializing.
On her end, she figured it was probably best to keep a safe distance. Guys like him pushed the envelope. They tested waters that—eventually—would be full of sharks looking for a meal. Sooner or later, he’d piss off the wrong person, or group, and they would come after him.
He was careful. Adriana would give him that. But even the most cautious hunter could eventually become the hunted.
She noted three high-definition computer monitors in the back-right corner near a window. One of them displayed an ordinary desktop. The other two were full of code that continued scrolling up at a steady pace. The machines cast an eerie glow into that part of the room. There was a jacket on an orange couch, but other than that, the place was remarkably clean for a hermit like Ray.
Adriana figured there would be empty pizza boxes or beer bottles lying around everywhere.
“I didn’t think you were going to bother me anymore,” a familiar voice said. It came from the shadows of a doorway to the left.
Adriana didn’t answer. His sudden comment startled her, but she didn’t let it show. Some people would have jumped out of their shoes. Not her. She’d gotten over that nervous tendency years ago.
“I suppose you need my help with something,” Ray said, stepping from the doorway. The light of the monitors struck him and revealed a gun in his hand, held waist high.
“This how you treat all your guests?”
His head turned once to the right. “I don’t have guests. And you weren’t invited.”
“I never am.” She kept her voice cool and even, almost seductive in a weird sort of way.
He swallowed. “What do you want, Addy?”
“You already said it. I need your help.”
He bit his tongue for a second. He winced dramatically, showing her he was frustrated. Then he stepped over to the counter and put the gun on the surface.
“You’re lucky I didn’t kill you.”
“Is that thing even loaded?”
“Yes.” His voice was unsteady. “Okay, no. You have any idea how hard it is to get bullets around here?”
“I’m surprised it’s a real gun.”
He snorted. “Pfft. It’s real.”
“Hardly a useful tool without the things that make it go bang-bang.” Her wry smile melted his defenses.
He turned and strolled over to the corner where his machines were downloading and uploading information. He leaned over the desk, checking something on one of the monitors, and then stood up straight again.
Adriana took a few steps deeper into the apartment. “What is all that?” she asked. “Downloading pirated movies?”
“Ha. I’d tell you what I’m doing, but then I’d have to kill you.”
She rolled her eyes at the clichéd joke. “Kill me with what? Your gun that has no bullets?”
“Did you come here just to give me grief, or do you really need my help? What are you doing in Dublin, anyway? I moved here because of you, by the way.”
He wandered back into the kitchen and grabbed a beer out of the fridge. He popped open the bottle and took a swig. Most of the drinkers his age would be at one of the Dublin pubs like the Stag’s Head or Temple Bar. Ray was an introvert. That was putting it mildly.
She noted an empty grocery box next to the door. It had probably been delivered the previous day. She imagined he did most of his shopping online simply to avoid contact with other people.
“No, I didn’t come here to give you grief,” she said. “That’s just an added bonus.” She curled her lips in a way that shut down any irritation.
He took another sip of beer and set the bottle on the counter. “I’d ask how you found me, but I don’t think I want to know.”
“Or maybe you already do.”
He snorted. “Yeah, I probably do. One of my connections squealed, didn’t they? Who was it? Gil? I bet you didn’t have to do much to get him to talk.”
“It wasn’t Gil. And it doesn’t matter. I’ve already spent two days trying to track you down, so if you don’t mind, I’d like to get to it.”
He put his hands out wide, wondering what she was waiting for.
“We’ve been tracking another terrorist,” she said.
His head turned to the side in dramatic fashion, like he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Oh no. Not this again. Tell me you’re not still chasing terrorists.”
“I am. And just like before, if you let that secret out, I really will have to kill you. And the bullets in my gun are very real.”
She opened her leather jacket just enough for him to see the weapon inside hanging from her shoulder.
He tried to read her expression to tell if she was joking or not. There wasn’t a crack on her face that indicated she was.
“You…wouldn’t really. Would you?” he asked, a little disconcerted.
“Probably not.” She let the jacket fall back to its place. “But I would beat the crap out of you.”
“Fair enough,” he said with a goofy nod. Then he strode past her and slid into the rolling chair at his workstation. He spun around to face her and crossed one leg over the other. “All righty then, who are we looking for?”
Adriana reached into the other side of her jacket and produced a folded piece of paper. She moved across the room with what Sean had called deadly grace and handed the paper to Ray.
“This is Khalil Tosu,” she said. “I need to find him.”
“Obviously. You kind of already said that.” Ray looked over the paragraph of information next to the black-and-white image of Tosu. “Known arms dealer. Fundamentalist. Killer. Sounds like this guy is a Grade A piece of crap.”
“Indeed. My team and I were in the middle of apprehending him when the operation took a turn. Tosu got away. One of our men was killed in the process, although we took out over a dozen of his goons.” She ticked her head up. “You ever heard of him?”
He stared at the picture and then finally shook his head. “I…I don’t think so.”
“You don’t sound certain.”
“I’m not. I mean, there are lots of guys like this out there. Usually, I try to steer clear of these types. You know me; I like to avoid trouble.”
That much she did know. It was one of the reasons hackers like him went with nicknames or some kind of alias.
“But this guy,” he went on, “there’s something familiar about him. I can’t put my finger on it. Seems like I’ve seen him somewhere before, but I’m not sure.”
“Here in Dublin?”
“No,” he shook his head slowly and handed the paper back to her. “No, I don’t think so. I haven’t been here that long, and the few times I’ve gone out I didn’t really make eye contact with many people.”
“Sounds like you live a lonely life.” She let her lips crease on the right corner.
He guffawed. “Please. Loneliness is a state of mind. I have needs, sure, but that’s easily taken care of. I don’t have time for relationships. Would slow me down too much.”
“I feel like we’ve had this conversation.”
“Yeah. So anyway, I can throw out a net and see what comes back. Some of my buddies in London might have some info on this dude. It may take a while, though. How fast you need to find him?”
She gave a stern look that told him everything he needed to know.
“That soon, huh? This guy must be a problem.”
“You read that summary. When we lost him, he was in the middle of a deal to get weapons to one of his terror cells. We don’t know where the shipment was going, only that he was the pickup guy orchestrating everything. He knew we were there, knew we were setting a trap for him. We were lucky to get out alive.”
“Sounds like you got yourself a mole,” he said, sticking his finger out for a second.
“We have people working on that issue. My job is to find Tosu and bring him in.”
“Okay. I’ll help you. For my usual fee, of course.”
“How about I don’t remove your kneecaps as a down payment?”
He pouted his lips and nodded. “Yeah, that works.”
Then he spun around and started typing on the keyboard. She watched as he entered lines of code, his fingers flying across the keys in a flurry of rapid taps. Adriana was pretty fast with her typing skills, but she’d never seen someone capable of Ray’s speed.
He stopped for a second and stared at the center screen, then spun around and crossed his arms.
“What?” she asked. “There a problem?”
“Yep,” he said. “You know the rules.”
She let out a long sigh. “Are you serious with this?”
He answered with an exaggerated nod.
She took a deep breath and exhaled. “Fine. A-Tak, will you please help me find this terrorist?”
He displayed a wide, silly-looking grin. “See? Was that so hard? Now I can help you.”
She rolled her eyes for the second time and pulled up a chair to watch him work. Adriana lingered a few feet back, not wanting to make him uncomfortable or cramp his workspace.
Ray worked at the computer for over an hour without getting up to so much as use the bathroom. The only time he paused was to ask Adriana to grab his beer off the counter in the kitchen. Other than that, he was more focused than anyone she’d ever seen. The only people even close were the kids back in Tommy’s lab in Atlanta. They were the same kind of geniuses as Ray: introverted, a little quirky, and preternaturally smart.
Adriana’s eyes were growing heavy by the time Ray finished setting up his online net. He let out an exhausted sigh and leaned back in the chair. Then he stretched his arms up high and linked his fingers, pressed the hands against the back of his skull, and craned his neck until the vertebrae let out a relieving crack.
“I think that’s got it,” he said.
She yawned and covered her mouth. “That will find Tosu?”
“Based on what you told me, this guy is still looking for weapons. Your little operation might have been torpedoed, but that doesn’t mean he’s not still shopping. All we have to do is wait until he makes a mistake.”
“And if he doesn’t?”
“Well, then you’re up a creek without a paddle.”
She frowned at the expression. She’d spent a ton of time in the United States, especially in recent years, but that phrase was one she’d not heard before.
It was Ray’s turn to roll his eyes. “It means you’re screwed.”
7
Tirana, Albania
The phone in Tosu’s smoking room rang. The shrillness of the noise and its loud volume startled him briefly. Khalil Tosu wasn’t a man given to being surprised often. Those who tried typically ended up with a bullet in their skull, even if the surprise had been a good one.
Shadows Rising Page 4