by Robert Stohn
“Yes. He was the one that was going to turn state’s evidence on Don Cicerone. He was the one that you helped track down for him,” she said.
Jonathan’s faced turned bright red. He could feel the fire heating up in his face. Now he understood why she had been so timid and resistant of him initially. It was Jonathan who was responsible for her husband’s death.
“Oh my god,” he said.
“Yeah. I know.”
“You must hate me then?” he asked.
“Hate is a strong word,” she said.
“Did you know? Did you know who I was?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“And you didn’t say anything?”
“I was scared to,” she said.
“I didn’t even put two and two together,” he said.
“That’s surprising. You know, I was young and stupid when we met, and I’ve had to pay for his mistakes. When he turned state’s evidence, and after he was killed, they threatened me. They told me that I needed to do this project, or else. They were going to kill me, Jonathan. I was paid well for it, but when I realized what was being done, I wanted out. They wouldn’t let me out. I was scared out of my mind.”
“Which is why you came back here, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” she said.
“Wow,” Jonathan said. He sat back in his chair and put his hand on his forehead, as if he were just about to faint. “I feel like such a jerk,” he said.
“Yeah, well, you were doing your job. I guess I can’t really fault you for it. You were just doing your job. You didn’t know what they were going to…”
“I should have known. I shouldn’t have just marched straight into that situation. He was always such a good client… Don Cicerone that is… and… well…”
“Yeah, I get it,” she said.
“And now he’s on his way here,” he said. He clasped his hand on his mouth. “Why the hell did you agree to that? What are we going to do now?”
“Well, there’s something else that I haven’t really told you,” she said.
“Oh god, what? What is it?”
“It’s… You’re going to hate me when I tell you this…” she said.
“No I won’t,” he said.
“I have a copy of the cipher,” she said.
“What? The formulas?”
“No, the whole thing,” she said. “The chipset with the cipher pre-loaded on USB. The whole thing.”
“Holy shit.”
“Yeah.”
“There’s two of them out there?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“Do they know that?”
“No. I created a duplicate for myself. I kept it for protection. In case anything ever was to happen to me or to my family, I had to keep it for insurance purposes. No one else is supposed to have that. The power that it holds is tremendous. You don’t understand Jonathan; you can do anything with that cipher. You can hack into anything as long as you know what you’re doing.”
“Okay, all of this is starting to make a lot more sense to me,” he said.
“Are you going to say anything? Are you going to tell them what I just told you?”
“No, of course not.”
“Thank you,” she said.
“But what the hell are we going to do now? We had this whole thing planned out. Why didn’t you say something sooner? Why didn’t you just tell me all of it before?” he asked.
“I didn’t think I could trust you. I really didn’t. I thought you were here to kill me at first, but then when you saved me like that… I don’t know… It all just has happened so fast. It’s hard for me to trust people. I hope you can understand how much I’ve been through. This has taken such an enormous toll on me. I feel like I’ve aged twenty years in the matter of two,” she said.
If she had aged twenty years in the matter of two then Jonathan certainly didn’t notice it. She was still the most beautiful woman he had ever met, by far. “I guess I should feel good about that?”
“It’s just been hard on me… it’s been hard for me to trust people. Everyone that I’ve put my trust into has burned me… everyone other than my immediate family. Does that make sense to you? I’ve been on edge for so long. It’s been so frustrating. I couldn’t even begin to sit here and explain it to you,” she said.
“I understand. It makes sense. I guess I just… I don’t know what I…” Jonathan was fumbling for his words. He was searching for the right thing to say, but he didn’t know what to say at all. “You can trust me. I’m not going to burn you,” he finally said.
“I don’t feel like you would. But, then again, I didn’t feel like I would get burned any other time. I’ve been paying for someone else’s mistakes for years now. Do you see how they’ve had me in this noose for so long?” she asked.
“Yes. I can see. What I don’t understand is how Jenkins and Steiner didn’t make the connection between you and Tyler. Did you change your last name?” he asked.
“I never assumed his last name.”
“Still… I don’t see how they wouldn’t have made the connection.”
“I don’t know either. I guess they just didn’t say anything or they don’t know,” she added.
“They seem to be in the know about everything else. Maybe that was why they said you were lying to them. Maybe they knew and they’re just trying to hold onto their cards. Maybe they know even more than they’re letting on to know. Who knows with them,” he said. “They certainly acted weird in there, didn’t they?”
“Yes. I didn’t feel like they were on our side at all.”
“Neither did I,” he said.
“So, what do we do now?” she asked.
“Now, we just go along with their plan,” he replied.
“What if Don Cicerone… what if… what if he asks you to…”
“I’m not going to let anything bad happen to you,” he said. “Plus, we have insurance now. We have another cipher drive. We need to put our heads together. We need to come up with our own game plan.”
“What did you have in mind?”
“Okay. Here’s what we’re going to do…”
They spoke about the details of their plan. They sat there strategizing, thinking of all the other options. They thought about all the different contingencies that they could come up with. Jonathan realized that she was much smarter than she had led on. He realized that there was so much more to her than meets the eye. And, there was a lot too look at when it came to her appearance, that was for certain. But, there was also a depth to her. There was a depth to her that he hadn’t found in anyone else. Maybe he was attracted to the desperation in her. Maybe he just wanted to help her heal her past wounds. Whatever it was, it was strong. He felt compelled in fact, to help her. He was drawn to her like steel to a magnet. It was undeniably strong.
Chapter 21
Don Cicerone and his goons stepped off the private jet in Istanbul, Turkey, just 16 hours after having gotten off the phone with Jonathan. They quickly cleared immigration, paid for their visiting visas, and entered the country. The three Italians were completely out of their element. Gone was the New York City backdrop that they were so accustomed to, only to be replaced with the uncertainty of a foreign environment. Their gaudy thick gold chains and black tee shirts were stereotypically tacky. But they were none the wiser and they couldn’t have cared less. They were there for one purpose and one purpose only – for the cipher. After years of investing his time and money into the lab for development of the cipher, Don Cicerone was anxious to get it back into his hands.
He was anxious to possess the power of the small device. He couldn’t think of anything more. It kept him up at night thinking about various ways he would use it for his own personal gain. But he knew he couldn’t do it on his own. He knew that the cipher drive needed more than just a willing person to insert it into a computer – it needed a skilled technician. His motivations were for more than just the cipher drive; he was also after Dr. Cobalt. She was the one t
hat knew how to use the cipher drive and implement it in ways that seldom few could dream of. But, without the cipher drive, he had nothing. His first goal was secure the cipher drive, but the second was for Dr. Cobalt. If he couldn’t get Dr. Cobalt, then no one would.
He walked through the airport terminal with his goons, Vinnie and Tony, as they made their way towards the airport exit and into the awaiting-luxury-sedan. He thought about Jonathan and the doctor as the car pulled away from the airport. It was all he could think of as they were quickly whisked off towards a hotel in Taksim Square, a central square in Istanbul. Don Cicerone picked up his phone and quickly punched in the last number that Jonathan had called him from.
“Kid?”
“Don Cicerone? Are you in already?” Jonathan asked.
“Yeah, we’re here.”
“Great. We only have a few hours,” Jonathan said.
“A few hours for what kid?”
“A few hours until the exchange.”
“Stop speaking in riddles, kid. What do you mean?” asked the Don, clearly agitated by the direction the conversation was taking.
“I’ll explain when you get settled in,” Jonathan said.
“Meet us at the hotel in Taksim Square in one hour,” barked the Italian mob boss into the cellphone.
“Okay. Will do.”
“Oh, and kid?”
“Yeah?”
“You better not screw this up. I can’t tell you how important that cipher drive is to me. I need to have it back in my hands, no matter what the cost. Don’t even think you’ll do anything but help me out here. Remember, I gave you this opportunity. No one else did. No matter what you’ve heard about the cipher drive from anyone, it still belongs to me. Don’t be getting any screwy ideas, do you hear me?”
“Yes, of course,” Jonathan said.
“Where’s the girl? Where’s Dr. Cobalt?”
“Here, with me,” Jonathan said. He gave an uneasy look at Jennifer.
“Perfect. Don’t lose sight of her. Make sure she comes with you.”
“Okay,” Jonathan said, clicking the phone shut.
He looked at Jennifer after the conversation. He realized that there was more of a motivation to locate her than he had originally suspected, but he didn’t want to spook her. He didn’t feel the need to upset her more than she already was at the time. He could see it in her eyes. He could tell just how nervous and afraid she was. He wanted to protect her and comfort her. He wanted to be everything he could to her, but he knew there was only so much that he could do. The cards were going to fall where they would. Soon, time would only tell just how things would work out. He hoped and he prayed that they would work out in their favor.
“What did he say?” Jennifer asked.
“He said to meet him in Taksim Square in an hour. They’re checking into the hotel soon and we need to be ready to go,” Jonathan said.
“Have you talked to Agent Jenkins? Are they all set and ready to go?” she asked.
“Yes. I just sent her a text. Everything is all set,” he said.
“Jonathan?” she said, leaning forward to grab his hand.
“Yeah?”
“I’m scared.”
“I know. Me too. It’s going to be okay. We’re going to get through this. I promise you. I won’t let anything bad happen to you,” he said.
“How did we get ourselves wrapped up in this situation? How did we find ourselves in this dilemma?” she asked.
“I don’t know, but we’re in it and we’ll deal with it. There’s nothing else we can do. There’s no sense in worrying yourself sick now about all of it.”
“I know,” she said, “but I can’t help it. It’s just in my nature.”
“What are you so worried about? He’s here for the cipher drive. He’s not going to hurt you,” Jonathan said, but he wasn’t entirely sure if that was true.
“I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” she said.
“Why would you say that?” Jonathan asked.
“I don’t know. Maybe it’s because I’m the one who created it, and I’m one of the few people in the world that can harness its true potential.”
“You mean, the way in which Medviek is doing?” Jonathan said in an attempt to break the ice, but the joke went over her head.
“That’s not even funny.”
“Sorry.”
Jennifer crossed her arms in front of her in the chair. “That was a stupid thing to say. You don’t realize what this cipher drive is do you?”
“I mean I get it,” Jonathan said.
“Do you really though? Do you really understand the potential of it? This is weapons-grade cryptography. With the cipher drive, I could virtually login onto a nuclear missile silo and bypass the security code, keys, and verbal authentications, and singlehandedly launch a missile. I could do that from anywhere in the world,” she said.
An ominous look replaced Jonathan’s earlier smile. “Seriously?”
“Yes, seriously.”
“Whoa. That’s heavy.”
“Yes, I know,” she said.
“I can see why he wants it back so badly.”
“You don’t even know the half of it.” She unfolded her arms and looked off to the side towards the ocean. Jonathan admired her profile. He admired her long slender neck, her raised cheekbones, and her silky blonde hair. He admired all of her.
“It sounds bad. Now I see why he was willing to pay a million dollars to get it back.”
“I’m surprised he only offered you only a million. It’s worth billions, maybe more, and I’m not even exaggerating. You could brake into any bank anywhere in the world and siphon off any amount of money. I don’t think Medviek really understands what he has,” she said.
“No. I think that he does. I just think that he hasn’t used it to its full potential yet. But, aside from bringing the whole world into a complete state of chaos and destruction, he’s probably been using it very efficiently,” Jonathan said.
“Well, it sounds like it.”
Agent Jenkins and Steiner appeared as they walked up to meet with the pair who had been waiting for them to arrive.
“Hey guys,” they said in unison.
“Hi,” Jonathan said.
“Hey,” Jennifer said, looking down at her feet.
“Are they here? Are they in town?” Jenkins asked.
“Yes,” Jonathan said. “Now what?”
“Now it’s go time,” Steiner said.
*****
Boris Medviek stood at the stern of his superyacht with his brother Dmitry. They watched as the ocean disappeared behind them as they steamed just off the coast of Istanbul.
“How many hours before Sheik Abdullah gets here?” asked Dmitry.
“Six.”
“Are we all set with the list?”
“Yes.”
“What if something goes wrong?”
“Like what?” Boris asked.
“I don’t know. What if?”
“We deal with it. What could go wrong? We have the list and we have the cipher drive,” Boris said.
“But we don’t have the girl. The doctor is still here somewhere,” Dmitry said.
“Now who’s fault is that?”
“Viktor’s of course.”
“And who decided to bring Viktor in on this?” Boris asked.
“I did,” Dmitry said. He looked off towards the sunset as they stood at their customary positions at the railing by the stern.
“You see that bird,” Boris said, pointing to the white seagull that was tracking the yacht closest.
“Yeah.”
“What do you think that bird is doing following this yacht so closely?”
“I don’t know. Looking for food maybe?”
“That seagull is an opportunist,” Boris said. “It’s not just looking for us to throw it food. That seagull, like the other seagulls nearby, is waiting for an opportunity. Whether it’s for the fish that come up to the water when the yacht passes over the ocean, o
r it’s waiting for something to fall off this yacht, it’s hovering close by, waiting for that opportunity.”
“Okay. What’s your point?” Dmitry asked.
“You see. Unlike his fellow seagulls that are flying off to the side and further behind, this seagull is flying almost right behind us. It’s almost predatory. It’s more than an opportunist. It’s waiting for the perfect moment until it can strike. Unlike Viktor, this seagull will succeed in its life.”
“So what you’re saying is that we need more seagulls like you?” Dmitry asked, laughing.
Boris shook his head. You don’t understand little brother. That’s okay. I don’t expect you to understand everything. What I expect you to do is deliver results. When you told me that the girl wouldn’t be a problem, I trusted you. I left it in your hands because I thought that you would be capable of taking care of this. This is the entire reason why we came here in the first place.”
“I understand brother. Again, I’m sorry.”
“If you weren’t my brother, you would have been swimming in the ocean with the fish by now,” Boris said. “Even if you are only my half-brother, you are still blood.”
“I know. Thank you. I’ll make it up to you.”
“I know you will,” Boris said.
Dmitry looked off into the distance as his cell phone rang. Boris looked at him, and Dmitry stared at the phone. “Speak of the devil,” Dmitry said. “It’s Viktor.”
“Well. What are you waiting for? Answer it.”
Dmitry picked up the phone. “Da?” He looked at Boris. “He wants to speak to you.”
Boris snatched the phone away from his brother. “What?” he barked into the phone.
“I’m following them now. They’re in a taxi getting out at Taksim Square. What do you want me to do?” asked Viktor.
“Keep following them. Don’t lose them,” Boris yelled into the phone.
“Okay.” He clicked the phone shut and handed it back to his brother.
“What now?”
“They’re on foot. They’re in Taksim Square,” Boris said.
“What should we do?” Dmitry asked.
“Send the message,” Boris said, holding onto the handrails and watching as the blue ocean disappeared into the background, and watched as the city of Istanbul came back into the horizon as they neared the docks again.