The Project

by I C Cosmos

  He shrugged and took the trail back to the hotel, running until a phone vibrating in his pocket slowed him down. His bots detected camera action on Helen’s floor. Santini’s team was in front of her room, working on the door lock. They pushed the door open, and that was all Nic could see. He sped up, having only a few minutes left to get to his car and disappear before Santini turned the place upside down.

  His car was near the exit of the parking lot. Nic slipped in and drove slowly away with his lights off until he reached the road. Two SUVs rushing up the mountain forced him to slow down and move over to the shoulder but paid no attention to him. There was only one narrow road going from the top of the mountain to Nuoro, and Nic braced himself for being stopped by a roadblock.

  He let out a huge sigh of relief when he reached the town and entered the highway to Olbia, but his mood was darker than the ominously clouded night sky above him. No silver lining, not a star twinkling.

  All the risk of being discovered for nothing. He had counted on reuniting with Helen and assumed she’d go along with his plan. Now he wasn’t sure she’d even consider it.

  The Paris encounter popped in his mind. After the shock of seeing her there wore off, he assumed she had been in Paris for the same reason as he—getting high-quality fake papers. But maybe it was something more sinister. Maybe the rumors that she had turned and worked with the terrorists were true after all. What he observed was a well-executed operation, and Helen got away. On her own.

  Tears streamed down Nic’s cheeks.

  Losing Helen was unbearable.

  Washington, DC

  The library

  Raw excitement pulsed through the air. Even the Transparency Stations glowed brighter, fueled by their owners’ unbridled hunger to rule. The Consortium was completing the master plan for Operation Total Power. No stone was left unturned to strengthen their position, every advantage leveraged, every weakness hedged.

  Each step of the operation was perfected and finalized only when every member agreed with the chosen strategy. They wouldn’t enter the global arena unless they were guaranteed undisputed dominance. The Consortium was writing history.

  Humankind was about to enter a new era that would be like nothing ever experienced before. An era that would bring the Consortium unprecedented wealth and power. An era that would start with an earth-shattering event, an act of cyberterrorism that would unite everyone left behind and put the Consortium in charge.

  A collective gasp filled the library as Andreas interrupted the session.

  “Santini’s people attempted to bring Helen in. But she seems to have disappeared.”

  “Disappeared?”

  “Without a trace.”

  “That’s impossible.”

  “That’s what Santini reported. Her things were in her room, but she wasn’t. Wasn’t anywhere in the hotel. Her car was in the parking lot.” Andreas’s chilling message was followed by stunned silence.

  “Someone abducted her,” Moira concluded.

  “It must have been Nic.”

  “We must protect our activities.”

  “The Russians have been contacted.”

  Andreas raised his hands and halted the chaos. “Crawford just submitted an update,” he said while scanning his Transparency Station. “It’s a video from the hotel’s security camera. Crawford claims Santini’s people abducted her.”

  All Transparency Stations lit up, showing a poor-quality video of two people dragging a third person dressed in black in between them.

  “It’s not clear it’s her.”

  “Definitely inconclusive.”

  “What’s Crawford up to? We must have him followed.”

  “If he’s right, Santini’s playing games with us.”

  “Wants more money.”

  “Unacceptable.”

  “We have to verify he has her.”

  “She’ll raise hell if he roughed her up.”

  “She’ll be eliminated.”

  “Better yet, she’ll be eliminated, and we will blame the cyberattack on her.”

  “On her and Nic.”

  Excitement returned to the library, and the Consortium resumed the planning session, ambitions unscathed.

  PART 4

  Collin

  Monte Carlo, Monaco

  A safe apartment

  “Wow!” Omar stood up and walked to the window. “This is the best sunset I’ve seen here.”

  Helen looked outside. The bright orange sky was reflected in the sea, transforming it into a piece of art, looking like her favorite Turner’s in the British Museum.

  “Spectacular. Let’s take a break for a while,” she said.

  They had worked nonstop since the morning, debriefing, comparing notes, adding events to Collin’s timeline. Then Collin left to meet Bobby and Lynne, and Helen and Omar set out chasing intel on Operation Total Power.

  Helen slept only a few hours, but she felt energized by their progress, happy to be part of the team. Happy to be alive.

  Being in a condo on the top floor of a Monte Carlo high-rise and watching the sunset hues glisten over the water felt like a dream. Helen shivered thinking how close she came to being captured by Santini. Her mind replayed the run through the forest in Nuoro and the nightmarish moment when she made a split-second decision to jump into the SUV without being able to verify who was in it.

  Helen recalled strong hands pulling her in, light flashing nearby, and then being in total darkness, the car speeding away. She had lain on the floor of the SUV, overwhelmed by a fear that Santini had gotten to the rendezvous point first and she had run into his trap.

  Then the strong hands helped her off the floor, and a deep, pleasant voice said, “You are OK now. Great job.”

  Still trembling inside, Helen put her backpack on the floor and slowly pulled off her balaclava, overcome by gratefulness.

  “Thank you for fetching me,” she said, amazed to hear her voice sounding like she was chatting at an afternoon tea.

  “Pleasure. I am Collin, by the way. And this is Omar, our cyber whiz.” Collin pointed to a guy who looked like a college freshman. Not a day over twenty, Helen thought. A prodigy? She assessed him curiously. They could use a touch of genius to knock out the Consortium…

  Helen gasped as a car closed in on them. Collin’s phone pinged.

  “It’s OK. They are ours.” Collin put his hand on her forearm briefly. His phone pinged again. Helen reached into her backpack and took out her phone.

  “We are clear now,” Collin said. “But someone followed you all the way from the hotel. A pro, but they managed to get an image of him.”

  Collin turned the screen toward her.

  “Oh my.” Helen studied the image, thousands of thoughts rushing through her mind. “It’s Nic. We used to work together on the Project.”

  “Is he dangerous?” Collin asked.

  “I don’t know. But he could be in danger. He knows too much. Wish we could connect with him.” Helen scrolled through her app and shook her head. “Nothing. But my devices were shut down during the hike. I didn’t want an incidental beep to give away my location.”

  “Speaking of your devices, Omar is dying to find out how you bounce the pesky visitors trying to sneak in without invitation. And so am I.”

  “Not bounce, eat them alive,” Omar said.

  Helen laughed. The cybersecurity talk broke the ice, and by the time they reached the small air base in the southern part of Sardinia, both Collin and Omar had Helen’s cyber shield installed on their devices.

  Helen had been barely breathing when they landed back in Nice, afraid that the Consortium would track them down, but they had been whisked to another SUV directly on the runway and driven to Monte Carlo without any trouble.

  How many favors had Collin had to call in to keep her escape under wraps? Helen wondered, humbled. It was brilliant of him to return to Monte Carlo, betting on everyone’s expecting she’d head in the opposite direction.

  Still, Helen di
dn’t dare stand near the large windows or join Omar out on the lovely balcony running across the length of the condo. You never know who’s looking…

  She was safe at the moment but couldn’t stay in Monte Carlo forever. She had received several orders from the Consortium, which she ignored. Sooner or later they’d figure out she wasn’t kidnapped…

  Helen frowned, contemplating their retaliation. The audio recordings she had listened to so far made clear that when push came to shove, the Consortium opted for the iron fist; forget the velvet glove. She had to stay ahead of them.

  One step at a time, Helen reminded herself, and studied her to-do list, deciding what to attack next. The websites targeting TP that Bobby had mentioned looked worth investigating, as they had intriguing “insider” information. A ping interrupted Helen’s thoughts. Omar rushed in from the balcony.

  “A new audio’s in,” he said.

  Helen let Omar extract the file, leading him step by step through the process.

  “Ready to listen?” he asked.

  Helen nodded, her heart in her throat. The first minutes of the audio sounded like an open phone line without anyone speaking. A few sighs, a couple of muffled coughs. They’d heard extended periods of this on the previous tapes and hadn’t yet figured out what it meant. People reading documents? Working on the computerized decision-making system Nic had mentioned?

  Several gasps brought the audio to life.

  “Santini’s people attempted to bring Helen in. But she seems to have disappeared.”

  “Disappeared?”

  “Without a trace.”

  “That’s impossible.”

  Helen and Omar looked at each other, allowing themselves a small moment of triumph. They had won the first round. But the battle was far from over. Helen bit her lip when she heard that “the Russians have been contacted.” Fighting ruthless Russian hackers on top of everything else wouldn’t be a picnic.

  “They thought the guy in the video is you,” Omar said, grinning.

  “It’s inconclusive,” Helen said.

  “Yeah. But it confused them.”

  The video from the hotel’s security camera was puzzling. Why would Santini’s people drag one of their own out of Helen’s room? Her explanation was that he either became suddenly ill, which was unlikely, or that they fought over the cash and credit cards she left behind and one of them got knocked out.

  Whatever the reason, the video helped turn the Consortium against Santini. Divide and rule… Another small victory, Helen thought as the recording continued.

  “We have to verify he has her.”

  “She’ll raise hell if he roughed her up.”

  “She’ll be eliminated.”

  “Better yet, she’ll be eliminated, and we will blame the cyberattack on her.”

  “On her and Nic.”

  “Let’s resume our Total Power planning session.”

  Silence followed, and then the recording stopped.

  “Oh man.” Omar looked at Helen, eyes wide with concern.

  “We knew they were up to something, and we knew they were after me, Omar,” she said firmly but trembled inside. Cyberattack. Was it the launch of Operation Total Power? Anguish settled in Helen’s chest.

  What are they planning? Where? When?

  Collin walked in carrying three pizza boxes, a wide smile animating his face.

  “Got us some dinner, guys. Bobby’s on board. Lynne will go on a shopping spree tomorrow and get you a new wardrobe—” His smile disappeared. “What’s wrong?”

  “We’ve extracted a new audio,” Helen said.

  “It’s pretty graphic,” Omar added.

  “Play it for me.”

  Monte Carlo

  “Hm. First, how are you?” Collin asked Helen when the tape stopped.

  “Alive and kicking,” she said.

  Omar gave a half a chuckle and stopped himself. A tiny grin played around Collin’s mouth.

  Listening to the recording the second time wasn’t as bad as Helen anticipated.

  “Actually, there is some new intel on this tape,” she continued.

  “Yes. Kudos for retrieving it, guys.” Collin nodded approvingly. “Let’s get some pizza, take a break, and celebrate being alive and kicking. And then we’ll hit ’em.”

  He was right, Helen thought. Life was too short not to be celebrated. Helen raised her glass. She liked Collin.

  “Thank you again for rescuing me.”

  “We totally threw them off.” Omar’s fist hit the air.

  “Interesting that they automatically blamed it on Nic,” Collin added.

  “According to the tapes, they seem obsessed with him.” Omar ran his fingers over his jaw.

  “And he was in the neighborhood,” Helen said, wishing she knew why Nic had followed her but hadn’t contacted her.

  “But as soon as they saw the video, they accused Santini of wanting more money,” Omar pointed out. “They are a pretty spiteful bunch if you ask me.”

  “Yeah. And now we know that Frank gave them the video. Oh my—” Helen gasped. “I should have thought about this earlier. We should try and find out where Frank sent the video.”

  Omar reached for his laptop. “By the way, I traced what Frank does with our reports. He saves them in a file on his computer, typically after opening our email, which is perfectly OK. But as soon as our emails come in, the reports are automatically copied to his dod-box. A blatant violation of the department’s rules.”

  “So Frank works for the Consortium and someone is framing him. Unless he became totally careless.” Collin sat back and clasped his fingers behind his head.

  “His cybersecurity people should know better,” Omar said, not looking up from his screen.

  “Which leads to another thing that’s bugged me since I discovered that Frank’s computer was compromised,” Helen said. “How can we report it?”

  “That’s taken care of.” Collin relaxed. “I’ve done that already.”

  Alarm bells rang in Helen’s head. What if the people Collin talked with got back to the Consortium?

  Collin must have seen the alarm on her face. “No worries.” The corners of his lips lifted in an easy grin. “I don’t run a clandestine operation. Frank crossed the line the first time he asked for collaboration with my team. My boss has been on top of it since then. Making sure we are in the clear.”

  “In that case, we should probably install the cyber shield on his system as well. Or hers,” Helen said, wondering who the person in charge was.

  “A good point.” Collin sat back, looking deep in thought. “Jeez…definitely a priority.”

  “Another priority is to get on top of the Consortium’s communications. The data from their decision-making system, of course, but also their regular communication,” Helen said.

  “The rogue units?” Collin asked.

  “We’ve got that pretty much under control. But they didn’t use them in Nuoro. Maybe they have a new device I can’t detect. Or just phoned.” Helen shrugged her shoulders. It bothered her no end that she had had no warning of Santini’s goons closing in on her hotel in Nuoro.

  “Let’s get to that later. Tell us more about the rogue units, please,” Collin asked.

  Helen did.

  “At first, I assumed the units were stolen from the factory in China, but now I think the Consortium designed it that way. They use the ‘rogues’ to take care of their dirty business but make it look like someone else did it,” she concluded her mini briefing.

  “And that’s what Santini uses, yes?” Collin asked.

  Helen nodded. “Not all the time, though.”

  “Can you trace all Santini’s messages?” Collin looked hopeful.

  “Yes. They are recorded and saved. Why?”

  “Because Santini is a right hand of Ralph Gibson, whom we put behind bars some time ago. Santini carries out Gibson’s orders, although we’ve blocked all known communication channels between the two of them. So far we haven’t been abl
e to figure out how the orders slipped through. Gibson terrorizes people and I—”

  “On it.” Helen’s finger’s hit the keyboard. No one was going to terrorize people if she could help it. “You see, I was tracking his unit only during assignments.” She scrolled through lines of data. “Got something here, I think,” she said, excited.

  Omar and Collin looked over her shoulder.

  “He communicated with an unknown unit several times a couple of weeks ago. Let me zoom in.”

  “Can you get the location of that unit?”

  “Give me a sec…Colorado?”

  “Yes!” Omar jumped up.

  “Oh my!” Collin gave Helen a hug.

  “Wait, guys. Let me tag the unit so that you can listen in and verify we got Gibson.” But Helen knew already they were on target. Santini and the Colorado man were talking about the profits from the rogue units.

  Monte Carlo

  Collin’s room

  “Oh, WOW! That’s wonderful news.” Alex’s happiness bounced over the phone line like a cheerful song. “Thank you so much for telling us. Perry will be delighted.”

  “So am I.”

  Collin’s heart couldn’t get enough. Moments like these kept him going. Alex Demarchelier and her husband, Perry Lowell, had helped Collin’s team catch Ralph Gibson. But Ralph had powerful connections and a network of loyal goons willing to execute his orders. Being in jail barely slowed down Ralph’s business, which ranged from financial scams to proliferation of weapons to terrorizing his adversaries.

  Alex had worried for months that if Ralph found out about her and Perry’s role in his arrest, they’d become his prime targets. Telling Alex that Collin’s team had taken over Ralph’s secret communication channel removed a dark, heavy cloud from her and Perry’s life.

  “We have to have a dinner together when we are in the same town somewhere,” Alex said.