The boss looked at her once more. “All unfortunate circumstances, Agent Ivanova, I assure you. It pains me to see such a fine, loyal agent of the SVR in such a position, but I’m afraid my priorities are not with you. I must have Sundown back.”
He knew Elena was SVR and he had taken her from a CIA agent’s house. This man was not fucking shy, that was for sure. He had no doubt he would do just about anything he wanted and the worse bit was that he could and would get away with it.
“And Ivan Anisimov, what is he, a causality of war?” Dmitry asked, his voice steely. Just thinking about Ivan’s tragic ending made him extremely pissed off. It had been a meaningless waste. “Or was he just another unfortunate circumstance?” Dmitry added, staring hard at the man, not allowing him to break eye contact.
He had to give him some credit. He didn’t shiver or back down like others had done, including Sean, when faced with his cold stare.
Sean moved forward, more than likely to hit him again. If the cretin touched him he would rip the man’s arm out of the socket. The look he shot him reflected the thought, and Sean’s steps faltered slightly.
“Don’t,” the boss warned. He turned back to Dmitry. “War is hell, and the cost of freedom is paid for in lives. Regrettable but also unavoidable. Unfortunately, you drew the short straw. Yes, you were expendable. Just a pawn in my game. But you proved to be resourceful. I’ll not underestimate you again. Now you will retrieve Sundown for me. Once I confirm it’s all there, you and your sister are free to go.”
He barely contained his anger at how cavalierly the man spoke of Ivan’s murder, as if his friend’s life was worth nothing. He glanced in Elena’s direction, noticing that she also struggled with her temper.
“What are my guarantees that we’ll be let go? We’ve both seen your faces. I know your name,” he said, looking at Sean before returning his cool eyes back to the boss. “And yours will soon come to me, have no doubt about that. How do I know you won’t just shoot Elena like you did Ivan?”
“You don’t, now do you?” Sean said. “You do as the boss asks, or I’ll put a bullet in her brain myself. Are we clear?”
“Although Mr. Henry here lacks diplomacy, I’m afraid he’s quite right. There are certain times in a man’s life when there are no choices to be made. That there is only one road you can travel down and that you must obey the rules of which are supplied to you. Believe me, Mr. Ivanov, when I say that in my tenure as a general, there have been many times when I have watched men, women, and children alike murdered for the sake of progress. I have ordered such deaths and I will again if you push me to do so.”
Something in his eyes that told Dmitry he wasn’t bluffing. Elena offered him a shrug when he glanced in her direction. The trust in her eyes at any decision he would make almost brought him to his knees.
Elena, how the hell do we get into these messes?
“Elena?” he asked, verifying what she wanted him to do. They were heading into dangerous territory and he wanted them to be on the same track.
Elena made herself more comfortable in her chair. When she spoke, it was in a resigned voice. “Just do as they ask, Dmitry. Like the man said, you don’t have any other choice.”
He could tell she knew Lucas would come for her, that he was probably tearing up all of Virginia, D.C., and Maryland searching for them. He had probably found the GPS by now, and knew Dmitry would find a way to notify him if he got the chance. He had to get a message to Lucas. It would be the only way for them to survive. He knew the men surrounding them were enforcers and that he and Elena wouldn’t be leaving the house alive no matter the promises they received. He knew Elena trusted in him and his abilities to get the message across without being seen.
He nodded, making his way to the computer, and sat down in the chair provided. He raised his hands, revealing the handcuffs. The boss shook his head.
“The handcuffs stay on. You’re an experienced man, Dmitry, you can make do with what you have. Just for your information, I have with me my assistant, Harrison. He is very good with computers also, though not quite in your caliber, but I doubt many are. If I suspect you are trying to mess with me or Sundown, I will have him review your work. I’m sure you realize the penalty for such an action.”
The boss glanced over at Elena, making a not-so-subtle hint. She crossed one leg over the other and let out a scoff full of contempt. The action would have worked better had her wrists not been handcuffed.
“I understand.”
“Good. I assume you’ve made provisions to remove the tag? I think we’re all in agreement that we’d like to keep DoD out of this.”
Nodding, he turned his attention to the monitor. He began typing, his fingers almost blurring as they moved speedily over the keyboard. He moved into cyberspace and found his last footprint and retraced his steps, uploading the program he’d created the night before. Even with his expertise, it was risky to implement. He’d already seen the DoD’s response time, but he had no other choice and hoped since he was only retrieving a small part of the file that they’d lose his thread when he moved on to the next and would have to start the trace over.
He was sure the Pentagon looked like a Christmas tree right now, with all their bells and whistles going off as he located the first part of Sundown and set it to download. He made short order of finding the first five parts in under ten minutes. The rest would not be so easy, considering he could only access the storage computers hard-drive when the computer was on, otherwise he would have to get creative and send a worm in through a back door to ferret out the file.
The fact that the file had been spread across hundreds of different locations around the world would make it extremely difficult. He had to work on a time restraint, attacking the same time zones at once before moving on. He set about creating the program to do just that, leaving him some time to work on his other quandary.
One of the many problems he had was in not knowing where the hell he was. Not knowing the area. He hadn’t been able to visualize a map as they had driven along the Beltway. He was going to need a location to get the cavalry to come save the day. That, and he would need a brilliant idea as to how to let Lucas know where they were without alerting the boss. He would have to be sneaky and overly cautious. They were dead if he was found out.
Bringing up the command box, he flicked through the computer’s internal hard-drive and found the IP address for his present location. Using the numbers, he infiltrated the service provider’s database and came up with the address. It barely took any time from infiltration to success. He had done so many hacks of this caliber that the entire process could have been completed blindfolded.
The house was registered to the DoD. So far, so good. That was the easy part. The residence was obviously a safe house set up by the government for witnesses and prisoners alike. That was good news as far he was concerned. They would be less inclined to kill them there. They wouldn’t want to have to rinse blood out of the carpet; this bought them some time.
I hope.
He glanced at the innocuous round viewer on the top of the monitor. He had an idea. It was just sneaky enough that he might get away with it. He set up the webcam to record and sent a live link to Jim’s computer at the CIA. He remembered the address from earlier when he had tried to locate Elena’s phone. Moving quickly, he embedded a code that would push through whatever barriers the agency might have.
Chapter 26
Lucas paced back and forth across Jim’s office, occasionally looking at the screen of the computer. He trusted Dmitry, knew he would find a way to contact him. The man was smart and resourceful and wouldn’t allow a setback to stop him from getting word out.
After the GPS hadn’t moved in over an hour, he’d started to worry. Fuck that, he’d been downright scared and still was. He’d sent an agent to the last place Dmitry’s GPS had placed him—a 7-Eleven. The agent had returned with a pile of clothes, the outfit Dmitry had been wearing.
He’d almost put his fist
through the wall and would have had Jim not caught it in time. True fear and panic swelled inside him. He needed to do something—anything. He was a man of action and not designed for sitting on his ass waiting, imagining all the terrible things that could be happening to Elena at that very minute. He continued to pace in order to keep himself occupied, and to keep from tearing up Fitzgibbon’s office in futile rage.
If anything happened to Dmitry, he could kiss Elena goodbye, for there was no other reason to keep her alive. The only thing they had to go on was that when Sean had called he had been heading north on the Beltway. Except, there was a hell of a lot of north. The Beltway crossed state lines into D.C. or continued on into Virginia. He felt impotent, unable to do anything to help the woman he loved. He’d waited eighteen months for her and now some bastard was using her as a pawn in a very dangerous game.
Would he ever get a break? He regretted allowing so much time to pass, not wanting to push. They’d let time slip through their fingers. Time he desperately wanted. No woman had ever completed him or tied him in knots like Elena.
The only woman he wanted. The only woman he’d ever loved.
He’d been so close to having it all. He couldn’t lose her.
He ran his stiff fingers through his hair. He was extremely frustrated, because of the situation and because he finally felt they both knew where they stood. Last night had been a turning point in their relationship. They had both put their hearts on the line and declared their feelings. He wanted nothing more than to be at home lying next to her in bed, replaying the events of the previous night over and over.
Last night…he almost groaned aloud at the vision dancing in his head. Elena so deliciously naked on his bed, him taking her not once but twice, making her cry out in pleasure, giving to her everything he was and more. Promising her his life and his heart as they made love. Now here, nineteen hours later, he had already lost her to some murdering prick.
His body cooled. Debilitating fear racked his body. It had happened only once before in Russia when Alexei Dimitrovich had kidnapped Elena, deciding to use her as insurance. He hadn’t allowed Alexei to hurt her then and he certainly wasn’t about to let Sean do that now. They were on his turf, in his country, in his city, and they better be prepared for the consequences. When he found them, he wasn’t about to let them go easily, and so help them if they harmed his Elena because he could not be held responsible for his actions.
Fitzgibbon’s computer beeped, and an incoming video-stream dialog box appeared. Jim frowned, and Lucas stood behind him as a live video feed access request appeared. Jim was about to disregard the message when Lucas stopped him.
“Wait.” He looked at the sender’s name: Roulette01. He smiled. It had to be Dmitry.
Eighteen months ago, after Dmitry had dropped him and Elena off at Moscow’s Leningradsky train station, he’d said to Lucas, “Remember, if anything happens to her, you are going to have firsthand knowledge of playing Russian roulette, only they’d be more than one bullet, clear?”
They had been alone when Dmitry had given him the warning; even Elena had no idea what had transpired between the two men. She had been standing outside the vehicle at the time and he’d never spoken a word of it to her. Dmitry wouldn’t have shared that with anyone else.
He accepted and the live feed popped up immediately. His assumption proved correct when he viewed the webcam footage. It was Dmitry, his head hiding the rest from view. He looked straight into the camera, giving them a diminutive nod, before he looked to the right and pulled away from the monitor, allowing the webcam to get a shot behind him.
Another man came into view, a man he recognized immediately. The air rushed out his lungs. This was not good, not good at all.
“Is that—?”
The man in the frame was a well-known and well respected man whom Lucas had once liked. He regretted that now. Rage boiled up inside him, the feeling of being betrayed in his mind. This man had indeed betrayed him, and the American people. Betrayed and endangered.
“Leon Gallagher, the National Security Advisor to the President,” Jim said, the tone of his voice clipped.
He agreed. “Yes.”
Jim lifted his handset and began to dial a number when his computer beeped once more and an instant message appeared. Several words appeared on the screen, making out an address in Rockville, Virginia. He pinched the bridge of his nose as Dmitry followed up with more information telling them that he was in a government safe house and that Elena was okay and to get there quick. He finished the message with an approximate number of men involved. When Lucas brought in the troops, it would be easier to know how many they were dealing with.
He let out a sigh of relief. Elena was safe for now. The knot in his stomach lessened. On the phone, Jim arranged for a team of men to descend upon the peaceful street. He should be there before things turn sour. He didn’t trust the other agents not to fire at Elena and Dmitry. They didn’t know the two like he did, and he planned to keep them safe. For the rest of their lives.
It would be a tough assignment due to their penchant for trouble, but he was man enough to handle it. Although, it all depended upon Elena, and whether she was prepared and willing to leave everything she had ever known to join him. He prayed she would be up to the task. He moved toward the door, his hand unconsciously going to his weapon holster. He stopped suddenly as a thought entered his head, and he turned around and faced Fitzgibbon.
“I want you to do something for me, Jim,” he said. “I want to call in a favor. No, wait…make that two. The man owes Elena and me both.”
He explained what he wanted him to do before stepping out the door, mentally preparing himself for the mission ahead. He pushed away all worries, and went into agent mode.
He had a promise to keep.
Chapter 27
Dmitry covered his tracks. Not well, but as best he could under the watchful eye of the National Security Advisor Leon Gallagher. He recognized him now. Not just from television and the news, but from the list of men confirmed to know about Sundown that he’d perused before Lucas had called and interrupted him. He had been so concerned over Elena being taken that he had completely forgotten about going back and looking at it. At least he didn’t need to worry about that anymore. His answer was behind him waving a gun like a fanatic.
“You may want to watch him closely, boss,” Sean said, breaking the silence. The only sounds heard were the exhaling of breath and Dmitry’s typing on the keyboard. The tension was palpable within the room, and Gallagher seemed as tense as a guitar string. “He’s a wily one—pulls the wool over your eyes while you watch.”
That wasn’t hard.
The man was no Einstein, corrupted and living off his street wits. He wondered what Sean got out of his deal with Gallagher. How did he benefit? He thought about it until one word came to him.
Money. He shook his head. He couldn’t believe he’d been so stupid. There was only one reason Sean stuck with Gallagher, and it wasn’t for the good of the nation. There were only a few things a man like him could do for Gallagher, and it all came back to keeping his hands clean and his nose out of the business. Plausible deniability. Only this time, it went horribly wrong and it would be just like Sean to take advantage of it.
“Tell me something, just out of curiosity. How much are you selling Sundown for and who are the top buyers? North Korea, China, or the Middle East?”
Gallagher turned abruptly. “I am not selling Sundown,” he practically screamed. “I am trying to protect this nation. Show those fools in the White House that security is just an illusion, that it’s something that can’t be bought. You’d think they’d have known that by now.”
He could understand the man’s passion, how he wanted to protect the country he loved. But that didn’t excuse the way he went about showing the nation’s vulnerability. There was no reason to go this far. While trying to keep the United States safe, he had put them at risk. He shuddered at how the situation might have played
out, had they gotten someone else instead of Dmitry. For a brief second, he was glad they’d chosen him. He was in a position to help the United States, to stop other nations from forcing themselves upon the defenseless country. Then the thought dissipated to be replaced with seething resentment.
“Well, that’s too bad, Gallagher,” he said. “Because someone in this room is planning on selling Sundown. I wonder if that’s before or after they kill you.”
Gallagher shook his head, clearly not wanting to believe the truth. Sean turned bright red with anger.
“Impossible,” Gallagher snapped. “These men are paid by me. They do as I say.”
Dmitry wondered what reality this man lived in. “Well, maybe someone wants a pay rise or a bonus, Gallagher. Ever think of that?”
Gallagher shook his head, glancing at each of his employees. Dmitry could see the doubt fogging his mind, niggling inside his brain, making him question the loyalty of his men.
“Don’t listen to him, boss. The man is a liar,” Sean said. “He just wants Sundown for himself.”
“Then why would I send Sundown all over the world to keep it out of your hands? I believe I’d never heard of it until you came along and shot my friend.”
He wished he’d never heard of Sundown; it had caused him nothing but frustration. He had lost a close friend and put his sister at risk. That thought made his stomach churn.
He sent a surreptitious glance to Elena. She was still sitting with her legs crossed, an almost bored expression on her face, but he could see her mind working, plotting an escape if an opportunity presented itself. He knew others underestimated his sister and her many hidden talents, but he’d been knocked on his ass enough times to know she had skills, intelligence, and a bitch of a right hook.
“If you want proof, I can provide it,” Dmitry said. “I came across this website when I was looking for you, Gallagher. See for yourself.”
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