Zero Day

by Jan Thompson

  “How did they escape so quickly?” As soon as Yona asked, she knew the answer. “Underground tunnels, maybe?”

  “We’re checking all tunnels. I’ll go see what they find.” Hadassah exited the van to talk to her counterpart about that.

  Yona knew they had a big problem on their hands if Reuel escaped.

  The tug-of-war between Reuel and Ulysses over the newly resurrected VPN could spell trouble.

  “Ideally the two would duke it out and take out each other,” someone in the van said.

  Obviously, they had been briefed. “But we don’t live in an ideal world. This world is a mess.”

  They said no more to Yona.

  Hadassah returned. “No tunnels. They were all sealed up. Reuel probably left in a vehicle.”

  “So he knew you were coming.” Yona wondered if anyone intercepted the homing beacon. “May I ask how you knew to come get us here?”

  “Kelvin’s homing beacon reached the CIA. They called us because Reuel is our problem.”

  “Since when was the CIA ever a hands-off organization?”

  Hadassah shrugged. “We got you.”

  “Where are the others?” Particularly, Yona wanted to see Kelvin.

  “The CIA has them.”

  “All three?”

  “All three.” Hadassah put up a gloved finger. “Don’t go out there. They’ve left.”

  Oh.

  Chapter 20

  Standing trial in a foreign country had crossed Kelvin’s mind once or twice after the FSB dropped him off in Prague. Left to die, so to speak. Even Russia didn’t want to have anything to do with him anymore.

  Dying hadn’t been in his time in Prague. He was convinced of that when nobody came to kill him in the months he had been hiding in the abandoned building.

  Don’t everybody come at once!

  Mossad and the CIA came at the same time, along with Aspasia.

  Kelvin wondered what Aspasia was doing these days. Had she found Ulysses? Had both of them been arrested?

  Kelvin smiled to no one in his jail cell in Prague, awaiting trial for knowingly working for terrorists. Well, he hadn’t known it at first, and when he realized who Molyneux was, he had no way to get out of the situation.

  The US Embassy had appointed him a bilingual lawyer who could argue his case in court. He was familiar with some of the projects that CIA informants did in Europe, so he tried to paint Kelvin as someone who worked undercover for the CIA, got caught in a bad deal, and then tried to worm his way out of the mess with various malware, hidden codes, backdoors, and whatever else he could throw at the enemy’s network.

  It could all work out in the end.

  He wondered why the CIA had handed him over to the Prague Police. Perhaps there was political pressure. Perhaps they wanted to protect CIA assets on the ground and in the surrounding countries.

  Kelvin knew that his jail time would decrease if he could deliver Aspasia and Ulysses to the International Criminal Court.

  However, they might lie, and that wouldn’t help.

  The proof was in the pudding.

  According to his attorney, the CIA and Mossad had taken apart the basement computer room. Kelvin had given them the root password so that they could take over the system.

  He still didn’t believe that Ulysses had given up the network so easily.

  Something was amiss.

  But he couldn’t put his finger on it.

  All he could do now was pray that God would help him through this, no matter what he deserved.

  I ask that You’ll be with me wherever I go, Lord.

  Right now, he was stuck here for the fourth week. He had asked for an English Bible, pen, and paper. Most of the time, the pen remained unused and the paper blank.

  Throughout the first week, he spent time reading Paul’s epistles.

  In the second week behind bars, he started reading Genesis. He thought that maybe he could read through the Bible and see how far along in jail he would be when he reached the last chapter of the Book of Revelation.

  He might get out of jail sooner if…

  A thought crossed his mind.

  “Why didn’t I think of that sooner?” He started scribbling on the paper they gave him.

  When his attorney visited him that afternoon, he handed the paper over to him for delivery.

  And he prayed with all his heart that he was right.

  Chapter 21

  Dmitri walked with a cane that looked like it could be a weapon. Yona didn’t want to find out, but he kept brandishing it like a sword. He probably didn’t need the cane.

  They had just come out of a meeting, and going into another meeting.

  Yona felt like she was being recruited into some clandestine operation beyond what Mossad usually did. She hadn’t decided if she would work for Dmitri, but the free flight from Prague to Vienna, a safe place for her to stay and rest, and a high-paying job all enticed her to no end.

  “You remind me of someone’s daughter,” he had said for the last two weeks since Yona arrived in Vienna.

  Yet the elderly gentleman hadn’t disclosed who she reminded him of.

  The hallway was opulently decorated in an old world baroque style. The calm colors belied the fact that this was Dmitri’s operational center in their mission to destroy all traces of MedusaNet, also known as Telemachus.

  “You’d want to know that Kelvin is doing well in prison.” Dmitri opened a door that led to another hallway. “His trial is in two days.”

  Yona noticed that Dmitri was wearing medical gloves. Not leaving fingerprints?

  “Thank you for the information.” Yona was appreciative, but she didn’t think it was anyone’s business whom she was interested in.

  Besides, he could be incarcerated for a very long time.

  Nothing would come of it.

  “I’ve sent him my best lawyers,” Dmitri added.

  “Thank you.”

  They entered a meeting room. They were alone.

  “When he comes out, I want him to work for me in Europe.”

  “Why are you telling me any of this?” Yona asked.

  “I don’t want you to lose hope.”

  “I have God. Jesus is my hope. With Him, I never lose hope.” Yona knew she was coming on strong with her statement, but there it was.

  “God is my hope too.” Dmitri motioned for her to pick any seat she wanted.

  Yona sat down away from the door.

  Dmitri followed her. “Kelvin asked about you. He was concerned.”

  “About what?” Yona hadn’t spoken to Kelvin since they were both at Reuel’s castle.

  “He thinks you’re going after Ulysses to get Reuel back.”

  “You are too,” Yona said. “So are Dario and Leland.”

  “Leland’s in the machine room with Cayson back in Atlanta, but yes, we’re all going after Aspasia and Ulysses.”

  Yona heard voices outside the conference room. Someone laughing alone.

  She turned to Dmitri. “If you see Kelvin again, please tell him not to worry, but pray to God instead.”

  Dmitri nodded.

  Yona did not recognize the woman entering the room as she put away her phone. She was carrying a tablet in her other hand.

  “Espy, come meet Yona Epstein.” Dmitri got up from his seat to retrieve a remote control from a side cabinet.

  The woman came around the table to shake Yona’s hand. “Esperanza Diaz-Mendenhall. Nice to meet you.”

  “Same.”

  “Espy runs Mendenhall Security. Today we’re going to test a joint operation,” Dmitri said. “If it works out, I’m selling my security company to her.”

  Yona raised her eyebrows.

  “I’m retiring. My farm animals need me.” Dmitri looked away at the wall. “My daughter needs me.”

  “She’s thirty-three, at least.” Esperanza smiled.

  “I haven’t been there for her since birth.”

  “I’m sorry. Must be hard. I’ll take goo
d care of your Sentinels, Inc.” Esperanza sat down. “And you’re still going to be our advisor.”

  “What are you going to call the new company?” Yona asked.

  “Watchfire Security.” Esperanza looked at Yona. “You Mossad?”

  “Former. I retired.” Yona guessed that Esperanza probably knew that and more.

  “Dmitri speaks highly of you,” Esperanza said.

  “We just met two weeks ago.” Yona glanced to find Dmitri chuckling.

  “We might have,” he said. “But I’ve known about you for a long time.”

  “Since when?” Yona asked.

  “Issachar and I go way back.” Dmitri sighed. “Before he turned.”

  “Did they bury him a second time?” Esperanza asked.

  “His body was never found.” Yona found that unusual as well. She had been the only witness outside of Reuel’s circle. Perhaps Issachar was still alive. Who knew?

  “How’s Kelvin?” Esperanza’s eyes were still on Yona.

  See, she knows too much.

  “According to Dmitri, he’s hanging in there. I haven’t seen him myself.”

  “Not once?”

  “No. I don’t see any reason to do so.” Yona tapped the table with her fingers. “My goal here is to find Aspasia and Ulysses. Their testimonies could help reduce Kelvin’s sentencing.”

  “I agree.” Dmitri pushed a button on his remote. A screen came down from the ceiling in front of them. “Let’s get started.”

  Esperanza swiped her tablet. It connected to the larger screen. She showed a few slides of burning buildings. “Tel Aviv, five years ago. Molyneux’s handiwork.”

  Yona remembered. “I was there, helping out wherever we could.”

  “We never met,” Esperanza said. “It was tough for your country.”

  Yona nodded. “For every country in Molyneux’s path. Glad she’s in prison now.”

  “For the rest of her life. But it took a while to catch her. Years.” Esperanza played a news clip.

  Yona watched a tour bus burn in Vienna.

  “This was five miles from here,” Esperanza explained. “One sunny December day three years ago, my team and I were still hunting for Molyneux.”

  Dmitri offered the ladies bottled water. “Cold, pure spring water.”

  Yona thanked him. “She might be gone, but her remnants are still around.”

  “I can’t believe Ulysses took over MedusaNet,” Esperanza said.

  “And renamed it Telemachus,” Yona reminded everyone.

  “He was in Project Pericarp, wasn’t he?”

  Yona nodded. “I was an observer. I didn’t interact much with him then. I didn’t know about Aspasia until she showed up in Prague last month.”

  Dmitri rubbed his temple. “I mentored Ulysses. I brought him into the project as an independent contractor. I vouched for him. Everything he knew, he learned from me.”

  “It’s not your fault.” Esperanza’s voice was cold.

  “Ulysses had five heart attacks by the time he was fifty-five. You’d think he’d take it easy, but no.”

  Yona felt sorry for the poor man. “He was so deep in the project that he decided it was worth throwing away his entire life to take over a crime syndicate?”

  “A global terrorist organization. He thinks there’s glory in there somewhere.” Dmitri shook his head.

  “Yeah. It happens. People can change for the worse,” Esperanza said. “Kelvin is the guy I don’t understand. He was the system administrator at Binary Systems. He wasn’t in Project Pericarp directly.”

  “He knew all about it, though,” Yona said. “They heavily used the Binary Systems computers and networks. Kelvin was the one in charge of those systems. He kept them running twenty-four-seven. Everyone knew him. If we needed computer help, we’d go to him. He was our tech support.”

  “And no one had any idea that he was also a hacker by trade,” Esperanza said.

  “A burned-out hacker who found system administration more his type of work.”

  “Yet, when Aspasia hired him, all he did was hack.”

  Dmitri laughed. “Money can make people do anything, Espy. Money.”

  “And money has brought Ulysses back to Vienna.” Dmitri drank more water. “Our contacts told us that he has called several of Molyneux’s associates who were left high and dry after she went to prison. He wanted them to know they can be back in business again.”

  “Ulysses doesn’t know how I look or who I am,” Esperanza said. “I’m meeting him at a coffee house. It shouldn’t be hard for me to put on a Spanish accent, considering I was born in Barcelona, and worked for years in Madrid.”

  “What’s my role?” Yona hoped she hadn’t flown all the way here just to sit behind a monitor.

  “You sit behind a monitor with me,” Dmitri replied.

  What did I say?

  “And sip coffee—or tea, whatever your preference—while we watch Espy there handcuff Ulysses.”

  “They won’t let us do that in broad daylight.” Esperanza laughed.

  “I’d like to be closer to the coffee house,” Yona said. “Maybe I can help somehow.”

  “You want to sit in a crammed van all day long in the sunny month of June?” Esperanza asked.

  Yona nodded.

  “It’s going to be very hot.” Esperanzas swiped her tablet again. “Ninety degrees this entire week. No rain.”

  Yona nodded again.

  “You got it then. Let’s go.”

  Chapter 22

  Vienna was all sunshine and no clouds that afternoon when Esperanza and one of her men—both of them wearing wigs and hats—went to the outdoor coffee house to meet someone they thought would be Ulysses.

  One block away, inside an utility van, Yona sat between two operators. On one screen were video images coming from the camera sewn into Esperanza’s vest. The other screen showed video from a camera that must have been on top of a pole or something.

  Yona watched the stranger sit down on the other side of the table. He did not look like Ulysses at all. Granted, Ulysses might have colored his hair, but the man was at least fifty years old. This guy’s hands were smooth and taut.

  “That’s not Ulysses.” Yona had to say it but she didn’t want to overstep her boundaries.

  “You sure?” One of the operators asked her to confirm.

  “I know it has been three or four years, but if I remember correctly, Ulysses had a jutted chin.”

  “He got a chin job?”

  “Maybe. But that guy’s eyes are smaller.”

  “Plastic surgery?”

  “Or he might have sent someone else,” Yona suggested.

  Everyone concurred with her.

  Really, she should not interfere in the operation. It wasn’t hers to begin with. She was only there as an observer, yet again.

  Still, she had worn her hiking boots and tied up her hair into a bun under a baseball cap, just in case she had to go out there for some reason.

  Through the two screens, Yona could see that the discussion was turning sour. The man was no longer smiling. In fact, he got up to walk away.

  He passed by a single woman sitting three tables away. Neither looked at each other.

  There was something about that woman…

  “Could you zoom into that woman sitting alone at the table? Floral dress? Brown hair?” Yona asked.

  One of the operators did.

  “Whoa.” Yona was out of the van before anyone could stop her.

  She saw Esperanza following the man down the street.

  Yona walked quickly toward the woman at the table, and sat down across from the woman. “Hello, Aspasia.”

  The woman didn’t reply.

  “Still looking for Ulysses?” Yona asked.

  No answer.

  “Did you know he just walked past you?” Yona remembered telling the operators in the van that she didn’t think it was Ulysses, but she was fishing now for confirmation.

  The woman looked startled a
nd almost turned her head. “Why are you here?”

  “We’ll talk later. He’s leaving the store right now.”

  They both got up at once.

  Aspasia was faster.

  The man started to run.

  Aspasia went after him. So did Yona, Esperanza and just about everyone in the operation.

  Esperanza sprinted by Yona. “Didn’t I tell you to stay out of this?”

  They nearly caught up with the man who suddenly pulled out a pistol—

  “He’s got a gun, Espy!”

  And he was pointing in Yona’s direction.

  Or was it at Aspasia?

  Yona tackled Aspasia and pushed her to the ground as she heard the sound of a single gunshot.

  Thousands of feet stampeded around them as Yona and Aspasia hid under a table.

  “You do this often?” Aspasia asked.

  “Only when I need a witness.” Yona realized she had no weapons. She had her cell phone with her, but she didn’t have Esperanza’s number.

  When the noise died down a bit, Yona peeked under the tablecloth. “Coast is clear.”

  She got out and pulled Aspasia to her feet.

  “He shot at me.” Aspasia was holding back tears.

  “It could’ve been meant for the rest of us.”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Besides, he didn’t look like Ulysses.” Yona saw that the local Prague police was helping Esperanza and Ben apprehend the man, whose wig had fallen off.

  “Oh yes. That was him.” Aspasia burst into tears. “After all these years, he shot at me.”

  She rushed forward to kick Ulysses, but a police officer held her back.

  “Fight him in court,” a tourist said within earshot.

  “I will!” Aspasia replied. She turned to Yona. “You said you need a witness?”

  “Yes.”

  “You got yourself a witness.”

  Chapter 23

  Upon the advice of Dmitri and Esperanza, Yona could not appear in person to support Kelvin in his court case. None of them could show their faces in public. If Dario were in town, he would have done the same.

  Poor Kelvin.