‘Cheers, Elodie,’ he toasted her. ‘Have you been in Dubai long?’
‘I came with Shen when XPC opened up. It seems like just yesterday. I really like it here. And you?’ She had a soft, throaty voice with a hint of a French accent.
Leo was surprised that Shen hadn’t told her of his arrival to replace Scotty. She must know what happened, he reasoned, it’s the kind of thing you’d tell your partner. New SVP from California working for me and all that. ‘Just five weeks,’ he replied, ‘and it seems like five years.’ He laughed, in case she didn’t understand his English sense of humour.
‘Is working for Shen that bad?’ she riposted.
‘Not really, but we’re real busy, so it’s good to take a night off.’
‘You chose the right place to cool out.’
‘Which part of France are you from?’ he asked.
Shen intervened, ‘Close, Leo. Elodie’s Belgian actually, from Brussels.’
He avoided making an obvious Brexit joke, and instead asked, ‘Is French one of your languages, Shen?’
‘Un petit peu,’ the Chinaman answered with a self-deprecating smile.
Leo chatted with Elodie and asked her about her life and travels. She was an interesting woman with a great sense of humour, and he almost missed the intro to his song. He was about to excuse himself to go over to DeeJai’s podium when she looked over his shoulder and said excitedly, ‘Angela, chérie, you decided to come after all.’
Leo couldn’t believe it. His mystery woman was standing right next to him, hugging both Elodie and Shen and shaking hands with Daniel, obviously a good friend of them all. ‘Hello Angela,’ he said, before they could introduce him, ‘it’s good to see you again.’
She kissed his cheek, ‘Hi Leo. It’s time for our dance.’
This time, after another exhausting exhibition of frantic gyrations, Angela agreed to have a drink with them. Leo was impressed to see that Elodie was also a good dancer, affecting a jive style with Shen which he found cool to watch. He’s not bad either, he noticed. Strange combination of contradictions, that guy. His boss ordered a bottle of Laurent Perrier and they sat in the bar. It was quite empty since everyone was on the dance floor; DeeJai had upped the volume, so they ended up shouting at each other across the table. After a few minutes of this, Angela stood up and announced she was tired.
‘Me too,’ he said. ‘Can I take you anywhere?’ She was wearing a shirt and shorts over leggings and it was a very warm night. He figured she was dressed appropriately for the bike.
‘You have your car here?’
‘My Harley. But the back seat’s really comfortable. And I’ve got Led Zeppelin on the music system.’
‘We’ll take you in the car, it’s more relaxing,’ Elodie interjected, while Shen went over to the bar to pay the bill.
She thought for a moment, ‘No thanks. It’ll be my first time on a Harley.’ She winked at Leo.
Angela rented an apartment in the Dubai Marina, between the club and Jumeirah Beach, where Leo lived. The sensation of her face pressing against his back, and her arms around his waist, made him wish the five-minute ride was much longer. It was twelve-thirty when they rode up to the building and he reluctantly helped her off the machine.
He walked her to the entrance and she kissed his cheek. ‘Thanks, Leo. That’s a really cool ride. Will you be going to the club again, now that DeeJai’s leaving? No more “Stairway to Heaven”.’
‘That depends,’ he replied enigmatically.
‘On what?’
‘Whether you’ll be there.’
‘You don’t know anything about me,’ she said. ‘Do you want to come up and find out all my dark secrets?’
He hesitated. He did want to get to know her better, she was an intriguing and captivating woman, but Ed was expecting him at six in the morning and he had to read the evening’s test results before the meeting. ‘I’ve got an early start,’ he replied reluctantly. ‘Can I take a rain check and call you later in the week?’
‘Sure. Don’t wait too long.’
She gave him her number and he put it in his phone. ‘You want to tell me your full name?’
‘Angela da Sousa, that’s it.’ She gave him a chaste kiss on the cheek. ‘Drive carefully. Goodnight, Leo.’
EIGHTEEN
London, England
Monday, 5 July 2017
‘Tsunami? An interesting nom de scène, but not, I hope, an apposite one. The original meaning is a “Seismic sea wave”, but since the 2004 catastrophe which took more than a quarter of a million lives, a new definition has been created. I believe it is, an arrival or occurrence of something in overwhelming quantities or amounts. Did you know, Ilona, that the natural phenomenon which struck Indonesia is thought to have had the energy of 23,000 Hiroshima-type atomic bombs? A mere wave from the sea! And they say that we are responsible for what happens on our planet. Such human arrogance.’
It was Monday morning and Dr Hugh Middleton was back from his conference, which he’d categorised as ‘ineffectual and pointless’. Ilona had just played him General Chillicott’s telephone message and he had decided to put on his erudite face, as he often did.
As usual, she didn’t respond, and he asked, ‘Have you ever heard the name mentioned before?’ He knew her contacts in the east were second to none.
‘Never. I talked to Ilya, at the Ukrainian Security Service, and he’s never heard it either. He’s going to do some searches, and thinks it’s likely that such a word will crop up somewhere. They’ve got so many files on the Russian Security Service that if anyone can find it, he can.’
‘Please drop Billy a note to thank him for his informative revelations and give him my regards.’
‘I think it would be better if you spoke to him yourself. He didn’t sound very happy with you.’
Middleton swung round in his chair. ‘What did he say?’
‘He thinks there’s something more than a casual commercial interest behind your interest in Lee-Win and Leo Stewart, and he doesn’t like secrets.’ She refrained from seconding Chillicott’s opinion.
‘I see. Very well, I’ll speak to him and assuage his fears.’
She was about to leave the room when he said, ‘By the way. There was something else I thought of over the weekend, when I was attempting to ignore the banality going on around me. Can we find out anything about the senior people at XPC? There may be a clue there somewhere, if we’re in luck.’
Once again, her suspicions were aroused. ‘Hmm. Interesting idea. I’ll get onto it as soon as I have a moment away from these new contracts.’ She changed the subject. ‘Business is booming, I’m delighted to say.’
‘It is indeed, and it’s a terrible indictment of the state of international Internet security. In a few years these governments will be looking back at this period, saying, “Why didn’t we actually do something about the situation then, instead of paying lip service by commissioning more and more expensive reports from people like IGIS?”’
‘Hugh, please stop complaining about how good business is. Sometimes I think you would prefer failure to success.’
‘You’re right, and I apologise, I have enjoyed both and the latter is infinitely preferable. Long may it continue.’
London, England
Emma said, ‘I haven’t spoken to Leo for a while. Too busy trying to finish my bloody book, I haven’t got a minute to spare. How is he? He’d have called me if there was anything special.’ She and Jenny were in Jo Greenwell’s office for their regular Monday editorial meeting of Thinking Woman Magazine, and her sister had mentioned her call with Leo.
‘He seemed fine, no problems. But he sounded very busy, he’s just hired a new man from the UK, a Liverpudlian called Ed Muire. He likes him.’
‘I’m pleased to hear it, I know he’s up against a tough deadline and he’ll need help to deliver on time. I’ve got the same problem, mother and son, both in the same boat.’
‘Except you can’t hire someone to help you wri
te your book. How’s it going?’
‘I’m about fifty pages away from “The End”. It doesn’t sound a lot, but I’m finding it harder and harder to get the words on paper. I think I’m running out of ideas.’
‘Nonsense. Your last one was the best so far, the sales proved that. Biggest success since the one about Leo. Oops, sorry, shouldn’t have said that.’ She looked around, but no one was paying attention.
‘Don’t worry, that’s past history now, Leo’s twenty-three and there’s no more possibility of him or me having a problem. And no one’s interested in what happened in South Africa seven years ago. By the way, what did you call him about?’
‘Oh, I don’t really know, no special reason. Just making sure my nephew’s happy down there in the desert.’
‘Thanks, sis.’ Emma squeezed her sister’s hand and they went back to their meeting with Jo, Jenny hoping this time her dream was just a dream.
Washington DC, USA
‘I believe I owe you an apology, Billy,’ Hugh Middleton said. It was Monday afternoon and he’d called the general as promised.
‘Oh, Ilona told you what I said about the XPC enquiry?’
‘Exactly. Apparently you suspect me of some infamous, ulterior motive in my research into the company and in connection with young Master Stewart.’
‘Either that, or you should have been a clairvoyant. There’s more suspicious circumstances surrounding that outfit than a bunch of hyenas around a wounded antelope.’
‘Quite remarkable, I agree, but I assure you, purely coincidental. It’s simply a consequence of our conversation about Leo last month. When you told me that he was urgently summoned from California to Dubai to replace a predecessor who died of poisoning, my protective instincts were aroused. I am a great believer in cause and effect and in my humble opinion, a suspicious death followed by an unusual event deserves investigation.’
‘Well, looks like your instincts might be right on the button, this time. This Tsunami character is closely linked to the Soviets, and I’d like to know what the involvment is with Lee-Win and XPC. Are you doing any more investigating on your end?’
‘I have asked Ilona to look into the XPC senior management. If we can’t find anything at the top, we may succeed further down the pyramid. I promise to reveal whatever we discover, if and when we do so. Are you content with that?’
Chillicott seemed mollified by the apology and they ended the call in agreement. Middleton put down his phone. I hope this matter doesn’t end badly for Leo Stewart, he reflected. Or for me.
NINETEEN
London, England
Tuesday, 6 July 2017
‘I think we’ve had a stroke of luck with XPC.’ It was ten o’clock on Tuesday morning when Ilona Tymoshenko went into Dr Middleton’s office with a printout in her hand.
‘From your ex-colleague in Kiev?’
‘Ilya Pavlychko, yes. He’s a bloodhound once he gets on the trail of someone or something. He hasn’t found any trace of General Chillicott’s Tsunami character, but he’s got a lot on XPC.’
‘And what has Pan Pavlychko sniffed out that may interest us?’
‘He was following up your suggestion actually, so well done your lateral thinking. We already know that Lee-Win is the beneficial owner of XPC. In terms of local management, there are six registered officers in Dubai. I’ll discount their lawyer, the CFO and COO and one SVP, none of whom are involved with Leo Stewart or his area of work. That leaves: Tom Connor, the CEO who hired him, he’s an American from Boston; Shen Fu Liáng, the Executive VP who Leo reports to, he’s a Chinese national from Shanghai; and Daniel Oberhart, a Swiss SVP from Zurich who was with MicroCentral.’
‘An American, a Chinaman, a Swiss German and an Englishman! It sounds like the beginning of a typically English joke. I hope it has an amusing ending.’
Yesterday he was in his erudite mood, today it’s slapstick. What’s going on in Hugh’s mind, Ilona wondered. She ignored the interruption and went on, ‘Oberhart was one of the rising stars with MicroCentral, his father was founder of the business and he’d been there for ten years since he left university. I understand Lee-Win had to give him a substantial golden handshake to get him to Dubai.’
‘Does his family still retain a large stake in the Zurich company?’
‘They were bought out by Hai-Sat, a Chinese hedge fund, four years ago with a $3 billion valuation, but I understand they kept a minority shareholding. His father is still chairman.’
‘Hmm, interesting. The son of the chairman and a substantial shareholder of a large competitor owned by Chinese investors came to XPC, itself owned by the Chinese, when they were developing a revolutionary new encryption technology. Then, just when they are preparing to launch the product on the market, the senior programmer dies of poisoning. Most intriguing, don’t you find?’
‘Perhaps, but I think the man who interests us most is Shen Fu Liáng, and I’ll explain why.’ She read from the printout. ‘According to Ukrainian intelligence, Shen was the second of two brothers born to a family in Chengdu in 1978 and 1980. Unfortunately, he was born after the one child per family rule was introduced by Song Jian in 1979. His father, Qiang, was Chinese and his mother, Olga, was from Minsk in Belarus, as you know at that time part of the Soviet Republic and still today a close partner of Russia. Quiang was governor of Sichuan Province, an important and presumably corrupt and wealthy government official. Because of his lofty status, he could have kept both sons, but he decided to show an example by giving up one of them. He chose Shen, and shortly after his birth he was taken to be adopted by Olga’s family in Minsk. His adopted name was Grigori Vedeneyev.
‘The family stayed in Minsk, where the adoptive father, Akmal, was vice president of the Ministry of Energy, until the break-up of the USSR in 1992. They then moved to Moscow and he retired there, because of ill health. His widow and daughter are still in Moscow but Akmal died in 2000.’
‘Do you know the cause of death?’
‘There’s a newspaper cutting stating that he had been suffering from lung cancer. They all smoke like chimneys there.’
‘And what happened to Liáng after Akmal’s death?’
‘He was twenty then and went back to live with his parents and brother in Chengdu, and attended college there for three years. By now he had a Russian passport in his Belarus name, Grigori Vedeneyev, but while in Chengdu, he obtained a Chinese passport in his original name of Shen Fu Liáng. I’ve got copies of all of these documents.’
‘But he didn’t remain there either, I suppose?’
‘Correct. In 2003, he went back to his second mother and sister in Moscow until 20O8, and I can even tell you what he did there.’ She paused, but this time Middleton didn’t intervene. ‘He was employed, as Grigori Vedeneyev, by SITRA, the State International Trade Research Agency.’
His eyes gleamed behind his spectacles. ‘Which we know is part of GRU, the Russian foreign military intelligence agency.’
‘Exactly, he was with GRU in Moscow for five years then he was sent to Washington DC as head of the Russian Trade Delegation, also part of the secret service. He was there for four years, and then in November 2012 he went back to China and joined Lee-Win in Shanghai, as Shen Fu Liáng, of course.’
‘Which is when Tsunami was creating proxy companies, presumably for GRU, and shortly after the Delaware people set up the proxies for the acquisition of Lee-Win. A most provocative coincidence, one might think.’ Middleton was silent for a moment. ‘Did he come down to Dubai when XPC was set up?’
‘Yes. He was sent by Lee-Win from Shanghai as their board representative in 2014.’
Middleton looked at her in astonishment. ‘He’s the only person in touch with the Shanghai board?’
‘I don’t know. As CEO, Tom Connor should be the official contact with Shanghai, but he’s not on the Lee-Win board. Shen Fu Liáng is the only person in Dubai who is a board member.’
‘So, despite his title of CEO, Connor actually reports to Li�
�ng?’
‘I don’t know how it works in practice, but it’s certainly an unusual arrangement.’
‘And is he married, children, anyone else in his life?’
‘He’s unmarried, but I don’t know about any other relationship.’
‘Do you know if his Chinese parents and brother in Chengdu are still alive?’
‘I’ll have to check on that, it’s not mentioned here.’
‘And his adoptive father, Akmal. Was he a wealthy man?’
‘I can enquire, but as vice president of a Communist state organisation, I’d be astonished if he wasn’t extremely wealthy. If not, he must have been completely stupid.’
‘Quite, well reasoned. That means both his first and second fathers were probably wealthy and influential men. Please continue, Ilona, this is fascinating.’
‘There’s one more peculiar thing Ilya hasn’t yet found out.’
‘And that is?’
‘Between leaving Washington in May 2012 and joining Lee-Win in the following November, Shen Fu Liáng vanished off the face of the earth. For six months Ilya could find no information about him, no trace at all. He flew from Dulles International Airport to Paris Charles de Gaulle on 12 May then disappeared, turning up again at London Heathrow on 15 November to fly to Shanghai. In the interval, no one seems to know where he was.’
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
‘Nailed it!’ Leo Stewart had just finished the last in a series of tests of his rewritten versions of the upgrade and Internet upload programme suites for ACRE and Mark VII, and they worked. The instruction to switch on the connectivity module was also now incorporated. Finally, he’d investigated Ed’s concerns about the encryption algorithms and had found and rectified a rare error of logic in the basic formulae. He didn’t know if it came from Scotty’s original work, or had been caused by Sharif’s subsequent intervention, but it didn’t matter. He’d found it and fixed it and that was all that counted.
The Dark Web_The stunning new thriller from the author of The Angolan Clan Page 13