Cyber Countdown

by Terence Flynn

  “I’ll be right there.”

  Dimitri arrived five minutes later, followed by the two FBI agents. Rick briefed them on how they were going to take George into custody.

  “George is a fugitive who was under house arrest in Virginia until he escaped. He’s in the Royal Terrace Suite on the top floor of the hotel. We believe his son Chris was kidnapped and is being held somewhere in this area. I’ll contact hotel management and notify them that George is a fugitive. We’ll then go up to his suite with management’s assistance and take him into custody.”

  “Is he armed, Agent Tanner?”

  “I doubt it. George is sixty-five years old and isn’t considered dangerous, unless you’re playing poker with him. I just notified hotel management that they had a fugitive in their hotel and that we’re going to apprehend him. They’re on their way up to check our credentials and the arrest warrant.”

  “I assume you’ll announce yourselves first,” Dimitri said.

  “Yes, and if George doesn’t open the door, hotel management will open it with their key.”

  After a hotel employee arrived, they all took the elevator to George’s suite. Rick knocked on the door.

  “George Solomon, this is the FBI. Open the door.”

  George opened the door and raised his hands.

  “Four armed young men for little old me. You flatter me, Agent Tanner.”

  “Stop with the humor, George. This isn’t the least bit funny. I need to know what’s going on. If I’m not satisfied with your answers, I’ll immediately take you back to DC, and your house arrest will be terminated. You’ll be assigned to a solitary cell in a real prison without any possibility of bail.”

  “Please, Agent Tanner, you can’t do that,” George pleaded. “My son was kidnapped. If I don’t meet with the kidnappers, they’ll kill him.”

  “What do they want, George?”

  “I don’t know. I was told to come up to New York City and stay at the Plaza Hotel. They said they’d contact me via the disposable cell phone in the limousine they arranged for.”

  “Did they pick this hotel, or did you?”

  George smiled faintly. “They picked the hotel, but I upgraded my room to this suite.”

  “You have two options, George. You can either be escorted back to DC, or you can meet with the kidnappers. If you choose the second option, we’ll monitor your location and communications via a wireless microphone. You’ll need to have them confirm their guilt. We’ll then arrest them and get your son back. Which option, George?”

  “Can you conceal the microphone so they won’t find it?”

  “Yes, but we’ll need something you’ll have on you, such as a piece of clothing,” Agent Miller said.

  “Will a dress shirt work?”

  “Yes, that would be perfect.”

  George went to the bedroom and got one of his shirts. Agent Miller examined it. “This will work. I’ll have it back to you in an hour.”

  “Okay, George, tell me about the communications you’ve had so far with the kidnappers. Start with the limousine service’s name.”

  “I don’t know the name.”

  “How do the kidnappers communicate with you?”

  “The cell phone they provided in the limo.”

  “I need to see the phone, George.”

  “Here, it’s in my pocket.”

  Rick examined the phone.

  “Yeah, that’s what I thought. It’s a burner. Dimitri, go to the garage and get the state and license plate number from the limo.”

  “No need, Rick. I remember the number and it had DC plates.”

  Rick sent the plate number to the FBI to find out who it was registered to. He also called Director Brockner to tell her that George was in custody and had agreed to help them get the kidnappers.

  “Who do you think is behind all this, Agent Tanner?”

  “I don’t know, George. You have lots of enemies. The timing suggests it might be someone involved in the recent cyber attacks.”

  “I only funded and managed the recruitment of the Chinese hackers. That’s all. I knew that VSI was involved, but I had no information on who at VSI was involved or how it was being done.”

  “So you sabotaged VSI? How could you do that, George?”

  “That wasn’t my intention. They said there’d be no long-term damage and no one would get hurt. I was only interested in the political damage to that godforsaken corrupt regime in China.”

  “Who are they?”

  “I have no idea. They offered a service I needed to achieve my goal, and I bought it. I buy special services all the time. May I ask how you plan to protect my son and me when I meet the kidnappers?”

  “We’ll monitor all communications via a wireless microphone. If either of you is in danger, we’ll intervene. If you see anything you don’t like, then use a word or phrase we’ll recognize as an alarm signal.”

  “How about Virtual Security?”

  “That works. I’m going to leave Agent Casella here in your suite. Agent Miller will return shortly with your shirt. Any questions?”

  “Yes. Shouldn’t I have a weapon for protection?”

  “No, they might search you.”

  George agreed with Rick, but he knew that he wasn’t going in unarmed. He had learned how to hide his weapon of choice and had been trained by Russian experts in how to use it.

  Rick got a call from the FBI about the limousine and was told it was registered to MC Enterprises, LLC.

  “Can you determine the corporate owners?” Rick asked.

  “We’d need a court order, and we can’t get that until tomorrow.”

  “Forget it. That’s too late,” Rick said.

  Agent Miller returned with the shirt and briefed George.

  “The new buttons on your shirt are wireless microphones, and they’re activated by the sound of voices. You’ll need to remove your overcoat when you meet the kidnappers. If you don’t, your coat could block the sound. The microphones have three hours of battery life.”

  As George was putting his shirt away, his burner phone rang. He answered and grabbed a pad of paper on which he wrote a time and a location: ten the next day in Fair Lawn, New Jersey.

  “Did you recognize the caller, George?”

  “No, Agent Tanner. It was a man who said the limousine driver had the address and would drive me.”

  “That complicates things, but we’ll be able to follow you from a safe distance with the GPS tracker. We’ll be watching in the lobby when you leave tomorrow, but don’t acknowledge our presence.”

  Rick looked at Dimitri. “We’ll be armed, but I have no authority to tell you what to do for self-protection. It’s up to you, Dimitri.”

  Dimitri smiled. “I know that, Rick.”

  Rick returned to his room and was in bed when his phone rang.

  “Hello, who is calling?”

  “This is Nadya Murin. Am I talking with Rick Tanner?”

  “You are, Ms. Murin. What can I help you with?”

  “I just got a call from Davis Fielding, an investment manager for our company. He said the name of the company whose account was put on hold is Big Man, LLC, out of New York. They provide concierge professional services. James told me you wanted this information.”

  “The company was called Big Man? Are you certain?”

  “Yes, I am.”

  “Did Mr. Fielding know the name of the owner?”

  “He didn’t. However, Mr. Fielding said one of the owners of Big Man came to his office and threatened him if the hold on their accounts wasn’t removed. He said it was a woman.”

  “Did he describe her?”

  “Yes, he said she was very attractive, medium height, dark hair, and in her late twenties to early thirties.”

  “Thanks, Ms. Murin.”

  Rick thought the woman could be the missing Theresa Killian.

  The next morning, George had breakfast in his room and asked the limo driver to have his car out front by nine fifteen. Ri
ck and the two FBI agents rode with Dimitri in his car. Each of them had a radio so they could listen to George’s conversation with the kidnappers.

  The black limousine drove to New Jersey, where it pulled up to an ordinary-looking house. George exited the car and followed the driver to the front door. The door opened, and George and his driver were let inside. Dimitri saw the limousine and parked behind the house, where it couldn’t be seen.

  George was immediately searched after he entered, but nothing was found. He took off his coat and asked to see Chris.

  “Your son is here,” said one of the men sitting at a table.

  “Who are you?” George asked.

  “I’m Marat.”

  “Why have you kidnapped my son, Marat?”

  “No one was kidnapped,” Chris Hoffman said, as he entered the room. “We just want to discuss the accounts that you put on hold.”

  “So that’s what this is about,” George said, as he sat at the table across from Marat. “You want the money from your insider trading?”

  “Yes, we want the money we earned.”

  “You didn’t earn it, Chris, and neither did your friends. What you did was illegal. How did you know about the cyber attack?”

  “You might say that I’m very close to the person who designed and programmed the patch that caused the attack,” Chris answered.

  “Did you kill Philip, Chris?”

  “I’ve never killed anyone, George. I have friends that can do that. Unfortunately, Philip was working in the lab at the wrong time. He saw a printout of some test code on the Backfire patch that I worked on and realized what was going on. Philip new it was the work of Theresa’s team, since they were in charge of patches. He said he was going to confront Theresa, which would have ruined everything. I told her, and she took care of it.”

  “It’s hard to believe that any woman would kill for you, Chris.”

  “She didn’t do it, George. It was someone else.”

  “It’s the same thing. You’re all guilty of killing a great man who many people loved and respected. That includes me. Did you also kill Senator Thompson?”

  “You were responsible for his death, George. When you called your contact after your meeting with the senator and told him that you wanted to cancel the project, he contacted us. We had no choice, so she also had the senator removed. That killed the senate bill and allowed our project to continue. She also put a contract out on you, when you put a hold on our accounts. When we realized there was no way to get to you while you were under house arrest, we staged my kidnapping.”

  “I know that Theresa enjoyed the finer things in life, but it’s hard to believe she would do all that for money, Chris. On the other hand, I know you’d do anything for money.”

  Chris glared at his father before saying, “I guess I’m like you in that respect, George. She also came to visit me in Germany while I was there.”

  “So that’s where Theresa went when she disappeared.”

  Chris smiled and said, “She visited me at my home in Munich because she knew I was depressed after my meeting with you at the Ratskeller. Unfortunately, she caught me in bed with Klaus. He got jealous and angry when he found out who she was, and he attacked me. My injury and bruises are real. Klaus could’ve killed me. She had no choice; she killed him with a butcher knife. We’ve had a relationship for a long time. She loves me, which is more than you ever did.”

  George smiled and said, “You’re gay, Chris. I’ve never seen you with a woman.”

  “I’ve played on both teams, George.”

  “How’d you two come up with this plan?”

  “She saw an article about your relationship with VSI and hatred for the Chinese and their cyber attacks on American businesses. We used that information to plan it together. She wants to talk with you face-to-face. You’ve never met any of my lovers. Here’s your chance.”

  “Yes, I’d prefer talking to the person in charge. I can’t believe that the Theresa I knew would do this, or why she’d have any interest in you.”

  Chris smiled and said, “Why don’t you ask her about that, George? I’ll bring her in, so you can talk to her yourself.”

  George was stunned when he saw a beautiful woman walk into the room with Chris, and it wasn’t Theresa.

  “Hello, Mr. Solomon.”

  “Who are you?”

  “My name is Anya Chubais, Mr. Solomon. I’m the CEO of Big Man.”

  “So you’re the one that planned all this. You look too innocent to hatch such a diabolical plan. What’d you ever see in Chris?”

  “Chris is very nice, and he always treated me well. I knew he had issues, but I seem to be drawn to men like that. Unfortunately, his issues were more than I could deal with, but we have remained friends and occasional lovers. He’s a brilliant engineer, and he helped with a great many problems on this project. We want the money that we earned and that you’re keeping from us, Mr. Solomon.”

  “So Theresa wasn’t involved?”

  “Theresa was involved, but not in a manner she’d have approved of. She introduced me to Chris a number of years ago.”

  “What happened to her?”

  “The same thing that’ll happen to you if we don’t get our money,” Anya said angrily. “I have killed before to make this happen, and I have no problem doing it again.”

  “You’re a psychopath, my dear. You belong in a mental hospital.”

  “You shouldn’t condemn me without having walked in my shoes. I was very young when I saw my brothers and friends slaughtered by the Chechens. My father, who’s sitting across from you, knew I had the temperament for killing, and he taught me the skills. I was a natural, and no one believed a pretty but demure young woman like me was capable of it. But I actually enjoyed the excitement of it. The blood and gore were no more than I’d already seen in medical school.”

  “I know your type, Ms. Chubais,” George said haughtily. “Putting a contract on me was stupid. Your emotions got in the way of making good business decisions. You’ll always fail.”

  Rick watched Dimitri as he kept repeating, “How could she do this?” while Anya was talking. Rick remembered Anya from the FBI raid that arrested her with Dimitri. It was obvious that Dimitri wasn’t prepared for what he was hearing. Anya had used him as her personal tool for the murders of Philip and Senator Thompson with no regret.

  Suddenly, Dimitri burst from the car and sprinted toward the back of the house. Rick and the other agents followed, watching him slowly move through the foliage toward the front of the house.

  Rick knew that the conversation in the house had created a distraction: no one inside the house saw them. He sensed an approaching climax.

  George looked hard at Anya. “Will you let Christopher live if I remove the hold on your accounts?”

  “Argue for your own life, George,” Chris said. “I’m in no danger here.”

  Anya smiled. “If you agree to release the hold on our accounts, Chris will go free unharmed.”

  Chris was startled by the response. He looked at Anya pleadingly. “Is my life really in danger after all I’ve done?”

  “Chris, you’ve always been so naive. Did you really think I came to Munich because I loved you? I needed you to bring George here.”

  “You ungrateful bitch. Without me none of this could’ve happened!”

  George moved closer to the edge of his chair and worked his right foot out of his shoe.

  “Shut up, Chris,” George screamed. “I’m your father, and I’m trying to save our lives and prevent any more damage to Virtual Security.”

  Christopher turned to George with a puzzled look. He was about to say something when Dimitri crashed through the front door. He immediately shot two men before taking cover behind a large sofa. Almost simultaneously, Rick and his men came through the back door and shot another two men. George flipped the dining room table on Marat, and using his knife, fatally severed Marat’s aortic artery. Anya screamed—“Papa!”—then turned, as she pulle
d a gun and fired several rounds into George Solomon’s back, and two more into Chris as he ran to help his father.

  Rick ran toward Anya and was getting ready to fire. Anya aimed at Rick and pulled the trigger, as Dimitri ran into her line of fire, and was hit twice in the chest. Rick fired back at a stunned Anya, both rounds exploding through her head, painting the wall with her blood and brains.

  “Call an ambulance,” Rick yelled to Agent Casella as he knelt next to Dimitri, who was lying on his back and barely breathing.

  Dimitri looked up at Rick.

  “This is my final act,” he whispered. He closed his eyes and died with a peaceful smile on his face.

  29

  Kim was exhilarated by the possibility of freedom for him and his family. He also knew that he needed to prepare his mind and body for what was coming in a few hours. After doing some hapkido exercises to loosen his muscles and break a sweat, he then took a long, hot shower and sipped some hot ginseng tea. It was a routine he had used in the past on difficult assignments. This was going to be the most difficult assignment he’d ever have, since the lives of his entire family were at stake.

  He got dressed in his black jeans, sweatshirt, jacket, and black slip-on tennis shoes, the same outfit the rest of his family would wear. There was a crescent moon and the skies were cloudy, so black camouflage face paint would not be needed. They all met in the lobby at five and went to the garage.

  The admiral drove to the boat owner’s business office and parked. Kim asked his mother and sister to wait in the car. The admiral greeted the owner.

  “Hello, old friend. How’s the fishing business these days?”

  Kim was struck by how similar the boat owner and the admiral looked, and then he realized why.

  “Hello, cousin. It’s been a few years. Everything is in the boat, so you can leave any time. Did you bring the anesthetic?”

  “Yes, I have it my pocket. Don’t worry. We’ll tie you up and make it look like you resisted.”

  “What’s going on, Admiral?”

  “My cousin is repaying a favor he owes me. He has agreed to provide his boat, but he insisted that it look like he was overpowered and drugged. His son will come by in four hours looking for him and will report it to the authorities. We should be long gone by then.”