Operation Heartbreaker

by Thomas, Christine

  “Elena had to die,” Sergej started quietly, looking at his son, “because she was also part of Special Skills. She was one of the first test persons.”

  After that declaration she needed a moment to digest all of this. She starred at Sergej in disbelief until Julie tugged at her sleeve.

  “It’s true,” she whispered. “Her name is on the list of subjects, Elena Janowski.” She looked at Sergej. “That was her maiden name, right?”

  Instead of answering, he took a sip of tea and closed his eyes.

  Ally internally shook her head. Why in the world had Elena gotten involved in this? What had she hoped to gain?

  “They recruited her while she was doing a voluntary year at the Smithsonian,” Julie continued.

  The Smithsonian Institution was a research and educational institute in Washington D.C. If Elena had been enlisted she must have had special skills with focus in sciences. Ally’s eyes fell on Viktor, who looked pretty upset. His hair was messy and the expression in his eyes had darkened.

  “She was,” Julie swallowed, “an exceptionally gifted doctor, right?” It was directed at Sergej, who was rubbing his forehead.

  Finally, he slowly nodded. “Elena was working at the AmClinic in Sankt Petersburg,” he said quietly. “I was admitted there after I…” He stopped, but Ally didn’t understand.

  “He was poisoned,” Viktor said in a calm voice. “Dioxin,” he added as if this made it clear.

  Sergej threw him a grim glance, then he turned to Ally. “I had a dioxin concentration 50,000 times higher than normal.” He pointed at his face. “That’s the result.”

  So that’s why his face was scarred. Slowly the loose puzzle pieces came together. Viktor’s mother had been part of the project. She was probably dreaming of super healing powers or something like that. Maybe she intended to do well. Every test person had a reason for joining–they all had been dreaming of something. After all, she had no idea what the government had promised them in turn.

  Ally’s mind was spinning. If Elena had a gift for healing, her son was also gifted. And that would mean… Her eyes met with Viktor’s.

  “You saved your father.” She didn’t say it like a question.

  If possible Viktor’s expression darkened even more. He’d gotten up from the bed and was pacing the room. “They broke into our house in Sainte-Maguerite,” he squeezed out through gritted teeth. “They killed our men, the chef, the house keeper, and maids–everybody in the house. Then they tortured my father for hours. He’ll never be able to walk again without help.”

  Ally and Julie stared at him with their jaws ajar.

  “After it had become clear that he no longer had the pen drive they left him to die. When I found him he was more dead than alive.”

  Julie grabbed Ally’s hand, who was thankful to her friend for doing so.

  “Is that why you left Ukraine?” Julie asked. “Because you weren’t safe there any longer?”

  Ally was glad for the change of subject. She couldn’t think of a reply or anything intelligent for that matter. How did one console a person who had lost his mother and whose father had nearly been tortured to death?

  Sergej was fanning the air with his hand as if trying to chase away a fly. “The poison attack had nothing to do with any of this. I’ve got my folks back in Kiev to thank for that. Originally I had intended to go into politics but my opponents had other plans.”

  She better left that uncommented. Ally cleared her throat. “Let me sum it up. Your son is one of the offspring of the SK members, just like Jean and I.” Her eyes wandered to Viktor. “Do you know anybody else?”

  “We know of further offspring that were found by the CIA. The exact number is unknown,” he said quietly and leaned against one of the bed posts opposite her. “But we assume there must be more. We don’t know who they are–what they are.”

  If the test persons hadn’t been unable to reproduce, and that was clearly refuted by their own existence, it was quite possible that there were further offspring. Most of the SK Soldiers hadn’t had a steady partner, but that didn’t mean that they hadn’t had sex.

  Was it really possible that there were more like her and Viktor running around out there? Teenagers that were capable of doing stuff that made them different from others? Just thinking about how she’d felt when her gift alias defect had shown for the first time made her feel sick. Even though David hadn’t told her the truth, he’d been by her side. The unknown SK children weren’t that lucky. They were alone, without any idea what was wrong with them. They had to think they were mental, at least not normal in any case. Which was basically right: They were everything but normal.

  “Okay then,” she got back on the subject. “Just like me, Viktor is a product of the CIA, who killed your wife.” And her mother. “You vow vengeance, steal the stick, which in turn is swiped by Cole, and now you want it back–to do what?”

  “It’s not that simple,” Sergej said.

  “But it is,” Julie chirps in. “I don’t want to spoil the good mood, but why do you think you can take on the CIA this time? They’ve flayed you alive before, maybe you won’t survive next time.”

  When the room filled with silence, Julie looked around in discomfort. “I’m sorry, but I think we should approach the matter pragmatically.”

  “I made a mistake the last time,” Sergej grunted. “It won’t happen again.”

  Who was ever planning making mistakes, Ally thought, but kept it to herself.

  “When I stole the pen drive I didn’t know what I held in hands. My snitch had only told me that it was a medium containing top secret information about the president and a secret project. Only when…,” he paused and corrected himself, “when being interrogated by the CIA I realized what kind of weapon I’d lost.”

  Ally suppressed a shudder. Interrogation? Well, that was a way to call it.

  “The data on the memory stick is encoded,” he continued, “Even the ciphers themselves are encoded. We were working on a decoding program when the Secret Service found me.” Sergej shook his head and uttered: “I had no idea.”

  “What do you intend to do with the list if you get it back?”

  “I’ll make its contents public,” he simply said.

  “Public?” Ally and Julie asked simultaneously.

  “Da! As soon as the code is deciphered a copy of the contents will be sent to every newspaper in the US.”

  “You don’t have to break the code any longer,” Julie interjected. “Ally’s father has done so already. You only need the stick as a proof, since it holds the digital fingerprint of the president and his co-perpetrators. Everything else is merely formality.”

  “Do you have a copy of the list?” Sergej’s icy eyes appeared like steel in the semi-darkness of the canopy.

  Julie lifted one corner of her mouth. “You’d like to know that, wouldn’t you?”

  Ally cleared her throat and glanced warningly at Julie. She had made a decision.

  “Alright, I’ll bring you to Cole,” she said to Viktor and got up. “On one condition.”

  He enquiringly lifted his eyebrows.

  “The two of you work together.”

  “That’s brilliant!” Julie hit her forehead with the palm of her hand. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of that. Basically, both of you want the same.”

  “Could be,” Sergej replied in Viktor’s place and sat up straighter. “But one can’t trust this Cole guy.”

  “Oh, really, but you are a reliable partner, are you?” Julie asked.

  “Of course!” Sergej yelled, his breast billowed with indignation. He was probably alluding to the infamous honor among thieves, but to be honest, Ally didn’t give a damn.

  She’d prefer it if he and Cole would form a team, after all they had a mutual goal: To make the background of the Special Skills-project public and force the ones who’d pulled the strings to take responsibility. And what’s better than a trial where the entire scope of the crime was unfurled and the f
acts were rehashed? Once the story was out there was no going back. Apropos.

  “Did you pass on info about the secret research project to the media?” She asked Sergej.

  That’s how it must have been. She was starting to understand the headlines that had been poisoning Mitchel’s election campaign for weeks now. Maybe she should have read one of the articles instead of counting the clicks on her blog.

  “I wish I’d done so, princess, but we have to assume it was your dad who arranged that. Good move, by the way. This way he increases the pressure on the president and brings him out of his den.”

  One could express it like that.

  “Okay then,” she said to no one in particular. “It’s your decision. What will it be?”

  Viktor exchanged glances with his father. “How do you know he’ll work with us?” Viktor finally asked, probably playing for time.

  “Because I’ll ask him to.“ She sounded more secure than she felt. Actually she had no idea how Cole would react to her visit. Let alone to her connection with the son of the man he’d stolen from.

  Sergej hesitated.

  “Why do you look so dour? You can count yourself lucky that my father stole the list from you.”

  “Interesting thought,” he grumbled. “And why, if I may ask?”

  “If the thumb drive had been in your possession the CIA would have found and taken it. You have Cole to thank for the list not being locked away in Langley.”

  The headquarters of the CIA was more secured than Fort Knox. Whoever wanted to enter their sanctum either had a death wish or was called Tom Cruise.

  “She’s right,” Julie said, who had also stood up and positioned herself next to Ally.

  “Do we have a deal or what?” Ally asked and put her hand akimbo.

  Once again father and son exchanged glances. Sergej cursed on the top of his lungs, then threw up his hands. “Fine with me.” He gestured with his chin towards Julie. “But this one stays here so you don’t get any stupid ideas, princess.”

  “No way!” Ally and Julie exclaimed simultaneously.

  “You have your conditions, I have mine.”

  “Without my friend there’s no deal!” This guy didn’t have all his marbles if he thought she’d leave him her friend in pledge.

  “Dad,” Viktor began. They exchanged a few words. Ally understood that Viktor promised to keep an eye on her. He knew that she wouldn’t take a single step without Julie. In the end, Sergej gave up. But he demanded that Ally at least told him where Cole was.

  “Langley, Virginia,” she replied after a brief hesitation.

  “Can you be a bit more exact?”

  Ally’s hand went into the pocket of her coat. She closed her hand around the pin and formed a fist. Since she’d located her dad before, the contact was established much faster this time. “McLean, at Pimmit Valley Park… Poplar Place.” She kept the street number to herself just so he wouldn’t get any ideas.

  Sergej faced at her for a moment with a look she couldn’t read. Then, as if in slow motion, a smile formed around his mouth, which she could interpret even less. As if he knew something that she had absolutely no idea of. Figured!

  “That’s good,” he said with a soft voice. “Then it will end where it all started.”

  What was that supposed to mean?

  “Da,” Viktor replied and picked up the phone.

  ~ * ~

  Quiet as a shadow Cole retreated behind the chimney, unscrewed and removed silencer and gun sight and put the precision rifle back in its case. He’d found out what he needed to know and there wasn’t much time left. One of David’s jets stood by, but there was still the possibility he’d be too late. He couldn’t be in two places at the same time and this was a matter he couldn’t delegate. It was personal.

  When his smart phone gave off the distinctive signal, he shook his head with amusement. Enemy movements. Well, well! Apparently he wasn’t the only who’d bugged Viktor’s hotel.

  14

  Ally had never flown in a private jet before. Neither had Julie, which is why her friend threw a big fit when Ally informed her that she couldn’t come with them. Thanks to the time difference Julie’s parents hadn’t noticed her absence yet, because in Seattle it was still Sunday night. But she was expected home in a few hours. Julie would barely make it before her folks would land in Tacoma.

  In the end, Julie had to accept that she couldn’t help her friend at the moment. After a tear-filled good-bye she let Viktor’s chauffeur drive her to the airport. There, she got on the first Air France flight directed at home.

  Since Ally trusted neither Viktor nor his dad, she arranged with her friend that she’d send her messages via WhatsApp until she got home. Julie didn’t need to be told twice and took pictures by the minute: of the airport, of the check-in, of how she took off from the runway.

  That was a load off Ally’s mind. She’d never forgive herself if something happened to her friend. As soon as she were to land in Seattle, Julie would take a selfie with a current edition of the Seattle Times and send it to her. Only then would Ally give Viktor what he asked for. The trick with the newspaper she’d picked up from David and his man in San Diego.

  Speaking of…

  She had to deal with David. So she called him on her way to the airport and let him in on the new situation in general. She apologized for her bolt out and for going alone, but also informed him outright that she would take matters into her own hands now.

  David received her little speech in a surprisingly calm manner.

  “So, you’re forcing me to accept your decision,” was not the reaction she’d expected. She had the feeling he was scheming something as well, sort of. At the moment she couldn’t do anything but fob him off with a short “I’m sorry.”

  Maybe he was even relieved that she was leaving Europe and going back to the States. At the end of the conversation the old David showed again by telling her that she would have to make up the math exam she would be missing in school today.

  Was he for real?

  Finally, she called Jean Lacroix, much to Viktor’s annoyance.

  It had actually been Julie’s idea. Since she couldn’t watch her friend’s back any longer she’d convinced Ally that rear cover was a necessary evil. And who if not Jean would do for that? He’d been wired if he found out they were on their way to Cole. Ally hoped she could convince him during the flight to work with Viktor. That would be a tough one, but at least there was the possibility he would agree. After all, he would have been off the loop, if she wouldn’t have called him. And in case Viktor tried to get rid of her it would be good to have Jean by her side. She actually did have a queasy feeling getting on this plane with him. But this time her gift wasn’t to blame, but her own emotions who seemed to have a mind of their own when Viktor was concerned.

  Sure, he was sex on a stick and smelled amazing, and her treacherous heart did cartwheels when he smiled at her. And, yeah, it looked damn hot how his muscles pushed through the thin fabric of his shirt with every move. But it was more than that. If it was just about looks Jean wasn’t bad either. Maurice’s son also had beautiful eyes and a well-toned body, which he knew to dress in tight-fitting shirts. But with him she felt…nothing.

  Whenever Viktor looked at her, it simply took her breath away. The expression in his dark blue eyes held something hypnotic. Moreover, his proximity was like a shield protecting her from other peoples emotions, and that had an incredibly calming effect on her. She could finally relax and let go.

  He gave her a feeling of security as nobody had ever done before–not even David. She felt accepted and, well, somehow sexy. The way he looked at her was so…hungry, as if she were a desert, which he couldn’t get enough of. Maybe that was just his scam to get laid, but it didn’t feel like that. The problem was that her gift seemed to fail when it came to him. Sometimes she picked up the fraction of a thought, but it was like a phone conversation that kept being interrupted. Still, she felt strong by his side. He to
ok away her fears as if it were nothing.

  Her worries were one of the reasons she had to talk to her dad. She desperately wanted the other SK children to be found so they could be helped. Once this entire mess had been made public and the press was bathing in it, the government had to open a place the victims could turn to. Those children needed protection and security so they wouldn’t be collected by other authorities and used for their purposes.

  All of this was crossing her mind while waiting for Jean on the runway, whom she didn’t have to ask twice to accompany her. As soon as they’d boarded the Gulfstream, the doors were closed and the plane began to move.

  The aircraft had about twenty seats which they occupied only about a quarter of. Besides Viktor and his two body guards, Blondie and Goliath, only Jean and Ally were on board. The five of them shared two flight attendants who served champagne and salmon canapês.

  Ally could get used to this way of travelling. No annoying waiting time, no hassle about extra baggage, and no squabbling for window seats.

  She waived the alcohol and took orange juice instead. She needed a clear head when talking to Jean. But the soft humming of the engines and the tender rocking lulled her in. It didn’t take long before she had to suppress a yawn. When had she slept the last time? She couldn’t remember. Maybe that was the reason why her eyes closed and she fell into a dreamless sleep.

  She woke up with her head against Viktor’s chest, his arm wrapped around her as he was quietly talking to Jean. Well, talking wasn’t actually the right word–they were arguing. So much for getting Jean on their side. With one look at Viktor’s shirt she made sure that she hadn’t drooled all over him. She carefully sat up and stretched.

  “Bonjour!” Viktor greeted her and gave her his pirate smile. “Did you sleep well?”