Cipher

by Robert Stohn

  “You sure?” Dmitry asked.

  “I’m sure.”

  Chapter 22

  Jonathan and Jennifer entered the hotel and sat down in the lobby. They didn’t notice Viktor nearby in the car, watching them, but the agents tipped them off as to his presence. He had parked just outside the lobby and tipped the valet to keep a close watch on them. He thought he was being inconspicuous; he thought he was hidden and out of site, ready to strike at a moment’s notice. He smiled to himself as he watched and waited for them to reemerge.

  “What do we do now?” Jennifer asked.

  “Now we wait. They should be down any moment.”

  “Then what?”

  “Then we stick to the plan,” Jonathan said.

  “Okay.” She reached over, grabbed his hand, and squeezed it again. He could sense the nervousness in her frail grip. He could feel her cold sweaty hands as they trembled in anticipation of what was to come.

  “It’s going to be okay. I promise.” He looked at her with nervous unease.

  “I know. I trust you.”

  “Do you have it with you?” he asked.

  “Yes. It’s in my pocket,” she said. Pointing to the small bulge in her blue jeans.

  “Is that really it?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Let me see it,” he said.

  She whipped it out of her pocket and handed it to him. It was an exact duplicate of the black USB cipher drive. Jonathan cupped it in his hands and looked down at it. It was such a small and almost harmless looking device. “You mean this is what it looks like. This is what they’re after?”

  “Yes,” she said.

  “But it looks so… so…”

  “Harmless?” she asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “I know, but it’s not. You know what this is. You know exactly what this is.”

  “How did you do it? Weren’t you afraid that they would find out?”

  “Of course. But, like I said before, it’s for security. And there’s another one in a safety deposit box. This one isn’t the real thing. This one is just the chipset without the cipher ingrained in it.”

  “What do you mean?” Jonathan asked.

  “It doesn’t have my algorithms on it. This is just the shell, but we won’t tell them that. We’re not going to tell them that,” she said.

  “Do you want me to hang onto it?” Jonathan asked.

  “Yes. You hold it. You keep it,” she said. She slipped the slim USB drive into his front pocket, leaned forward, and gave him a quick kiss on the lips, just as Don Cicerone and his goons reached the lobby.

  “Look at what we have here,” he said, as he walked up with his mini entourage. Jonathan remembered Vinnie from New York, but it was his first encounter with Tony. He was shocked to find that he was even more overweight than the Don himself.

  “Hi,” Jonathan said, quickly standing up. Jennifer joined him.

  “Hey,” she said sheepishly.

  “It’s good to see you here doc,” said the Don.

  Jennifer looked at the ground and didn’t respond. Jonathan was still busy observing Tony’s triple chin that seemed to be stained with some sort of white sauce. He pointed to Tony. “You’ve got some stuff… here… on your chin,” Jonathan said. He wasn’t sure why that was important at the time, but he wasn’t sure how else to break the awkwardness of the moment.

  “Where? Here?” Tony asked, as he tried to wipe away what was there.

  “Yeah. It’s gone,” Jonathan said.

  Don Cicerone looked on with incredulity. “Hey… yo… who cares?” he asked.

  “Sorry,” Jonathan said.

  “Now. About the cipher drive,” Don Cicerone said.

  “Medviek has it,” Jonathan said.

  “Who?”

  “Boris Medviek. The Russian who’s been causing all of the chaos in the news. I told you I would explain it to you in person, and there it is,” Jonathan added.

  “Where is he kid? Where is this Medviek character?”

  “On a yacht. Here in port. The other side of the bridge, but we need a plan,” Jonathan said.

  “The plan is, we go in there and start blasting,” Vinnie said.

  “It’s not going to be as simple as that. This guy is sophisticated. He has money, guns, and the bodies to take us all out,” Jonathan said.

  “We’ll see about that,” Don Cicerone said. “What do you think, doc? What’s your take on all of this?”

  “I just want my life back,” she said. She looked down at the ground. It was the one man who had made her life miserable for years. She had sworn she would never see him again, and there she was standing right in front of him in her own country. She was disgusted by it all but knew there wasn’t a thing she could do. She had put her trust into Jonathan, the agents, and the plan. If it all went south, she was dead, and Jonathan would probably be as well.

  “You’ll get it back. This is the last thing I need from you,” Don Cicerone said.

  “Here’s the plan,” Jonathan said. “There’s a car outside this hotel. Inside of it, is a man named Viktor. He’s tried to kill us twice before. He works for Medviek. We need Viktor to get access to Medviek.”

  “So we go out there and start blasting?” Vinnie said again. Jonathan looked at him with disgust. He had brought along a man with a single-track mind. There was no arguing with him; he was going to start blasting at the first opportunity he could get.

  “And cause an international incident in the middle of one of the busiest squares in the city? No. That’s not how we go about this,” Jonathan said.

  “So, what’s your bright idea kid?” Don Cicerone asked.

  “We need to work together on this. Look, Medviek knows that you’re the one who commissioned the work at Advanced Biogenics; right?” Jonathan asked.

  “No, I don’t know that. How would he know that?” Don Cicerone asked.

  “Well, he’s the one who broke in and stole the thing from there. He must have gotten wind it was in development. How else did he know when to go and where to strike?” Jonathan asked.

  “That’s something I don’t know yet. I’m still working on that,” Don Cicerone said. He gave Jennifer a long stern look, as if to tell her she was far from out of the woods just yet.

  “Well, that’s my take on it,” Jonathan said.

  “If we need to use Viktor out there to get to Medviek,” Vinnie said, “then, how do we do that? Do you think Medviek cares if one of his hired hit men lives or dies?”

  “No, but he will care if he thinks that we have a copy of the cipher drive,” Jonathan said.

  Jennifer gave him a long look, as if she were about to slap him in the face. He could read her mind, but it was part of his plan; it was the only way to get out of it scot-free.

  “What do you mean?” Don Cicerone asked.

  “What if I told you that we have a copy of the cipher drive,” Jonathan said.

  “I wouldn’t believe you,” Don Cicerone said.

  “Well, let’s just say for all intensive purposes, that we do have a copy.”

  “Prove it,” said the thick-necked Italian mob boss.

  Jonathan slipped his fingers into his pocket and produced the tiny device from his pocket.

  “Voilà!” Jonathan exclaimed.

  The three Italians stood there staring at him. Don Cicerone looked at Jonathan in the eyes as if he was going to reach over and strangle him, take the cipher drive, and bolt.

  “Where the hell did you get that kid?” Don Cicerone and his goons started to walk towards him when Jonathan lifted up his shirt briefly to expose the gun hidden in his waist.

  “Not so fast,” Jonathan cooed silently. “Do you want to make a scene here?” Jonathan added.

  “Look at this. Kid’s got some balls don’t he?” said Tony. “Let’s blast him right here.”

  “No. Not like this,” Don Cicerone said as he reached out two pudgy hands to stop them dead in their tracks. “Explain kid, and fast.”

&n
bsp; “Okay. Here’s what we do. We get out there and tell Viktor we have the cipher drive, and that we’re also armed. We make him take us to Boris. Then, we improvise,” Jonathan said. He looked at Jennifer as if to try to make her feel more at ease, but she was shifting her weight from one leg to the other as if she was preparing to run for her life.

  “Improvise?” asked Vinnie.

  “Yeah. Improvise. You know, make stuff up as we go?” Jonathan said with a sly grin on his face.

  “This isn’t a game kid. If you had that cipher drive the whole time, then you’re going to get a cap in that skull of yours as soon as you’re not paying attention,” Don Cicerone said.

  “No, I haven’t had it the entire time.”

  Don Cicerone looked over at Jennifer. “You made more than one? Why you sly little…”

  “Hey,” Jonathan barked, “No need for any of that!”

  “It’s okay, Jonathan,” Jennifer said.

  “No, it’s not okay,” he yelled, catching the attention of people walking through the expansive hotel lobby.

  “Look. We do as the kid says,” Don Cicerone said.

  “We’re going to listen to this little putz?” Tony asked.

  “Yeah. We are. For now. We need to get that other cipher drive, and I want this Medviek’s head on a platter so let’s march,” Don Cicerone said. “Let’s go kid. Lead the way,” he added.

  Jonathan led them all outside, keeping a close eye on the Italians and the Russian hit man in the car. Viktor saw them coming and pretended not to pay attention. It was laughable to Jonathan. They walked up to the car and knocked on the window. Viktor looked like a deer in headlights. He rolled down the window as Don Cicerone stood there with his two goons by his side while Jonathan and Jennifer stood off to the side. As Don Cicerone stood at the passenger window, the two goons got into the backseat of the car, pulled out their guns, and pointed them at Viktor.

  “I think we have ourselves a little problem,” Don Cicerone said to Viktor.

  “Problem?” asked Viktor. His eyes darted to the rearview mirror and then to the backseat where the two thick-necked triple-chinned Italians sat with their hands on their triggers.

  “Not so fast,” Don Cicerone said as Viktor tried to reach for his gun. He opened his suit jacket to reveal his own gun. “I think three to one you might have a problem.”

  “What do you want?” Viktor asked. “I don’t want any trouble.”

  “You’ve already got trouble,” Don Cicerone said. “Now, it just depends on how much more trouble you’re going to get.” He smiled after he said it and Viktor could see his the three gold crowns in his front teeth. He knew he was in trouble.

  “Please. I’m just doing my job,” Viktor said.

  Don Cicerone motioned for Jonathan and Jennifer to get in the car as he climbed in the passenger seat. “It’s going to be a tight squeeze,” Don Cicerone said as Jennifer climbed onto Jonathan’s lap in order to cram into the back of the dark sedan.

  Don Cicerone whipped out his gun and pointed it at Viktor. “Now drive,” he said, gritting his teeth as he said it. “Take me to Medviek now.”

  Viktor was bumbling his words. It was the first time Jonathan and Jennifer had seen him like that. The once stone-cold killer was now shivering in his pants. Jonathan had to smile to himself for a moment at that thought. He had to revel in the power that the small group now held.

  “I… I… I can’t,” Viktor said.

  There were now four guns pointed at the Russian hit man. Jonathan pulled his out as well. They all stared at him, waiting for the next move.

  “Pick up the phone and call him now. We have something that he wants,” Don Cicerone said.

  “You do?” Viktor asked, as if there were a bright light to the whole situation.

  “Tell him we have the cipher drive. The only other cipher drive in existence,” Jonathan said.

  Viktor picked up the phone and dialed Dmitry’s number as all four guns moved closer to Viktor’s chest and back, as if to tell him he had better watch his mouth on the phone.

  “Put Boris on the phone,” Viktor said. There was silence for a moment.

  “Da?’ Boris said from the other end. The entire car could hear the conversation on speakerphone.

  “I have some… some news,” Viktor said.

  “What is it?”

  “I have the doctor… and I have the cipher drive…”

  “What do you mean you have the cipher drive?” Boris said.

  “I have the second cipher drive and the doctor. She wants to speak to you in person,” Viktor said. He was fumbling his words but doing a good enough job on the phone not to spook Boris.

  “There’s another cipher drive? That’s not possible.”

  “Yes,” Viktor said.

  “Come to the yacht right away. We’re at the dock. Hurry up because I have an important appointment arriving in one hour,” Boris said. He was referring to the Sheik’s arrival via helicopter.

  “Okay. I’m on my way,” Viktor said.

  “Viktor?” Boris barked into the phone.

  “Da?”

  “What about the friend? The detective? Jonathan Grace? Where is he?” Viktor went silent for a moment as Don Cicerone jabbed the phone into his stomach.

  “I have them… both of them…”

  “Perfect. You’re not that useless after all, are you?”

  “I’m leaving now. I’ll be there in 30 minutes,” Viktor said.

  “Goodbye.” Boris clicked the phone shut.

  Chapter 23

  The black EC155 helicopter held low to the ground as its thunderous propellers resonated over the sea on its distant approach with Boris Medviek’s white superyacht, which glistened in the high summer sun. The chopper had been fitted with the latest stealth technology, making it completely transparent to radar. Coupled with the low flying altitude, it went entirely unnoticed by all Air Traffic Control Systems. Sheik Abdullah leaned in as the EC155 approached over windless skies to get a better look at the yacht as it sat anchored at the port of Istanbul. He picked up his phone and dialed Medviek.

  “We’re on final approach,” said the Sheik as Medviek answered the line. The chopper circled around twice to ensure that the area was clear of any authorities. The sensitivity of the material being transferred would have national governments on high alert across the entire globe. The Sheik knew the importance of the transaction, and he knew he could never be too careful. He knew all too well that things could go very wrong.

  “I can see that you’ve circled a couple of times. Nervous are we?” Boris asked.

  “One can never be too cautious,” replied the Sheik.

  “That’s very true.”

  “And the list?”

  “Right here,” said Boris.

  “Perfect. I will speak to you momentarily,” said the Sheik. And with that, he clicked off his phone, and held onto the window railing as the chopper began its final decent onto the massive vessel’s helicopter landing pad. Boris walked towards the landing pad with several of the yacht’s deckhands, along with Dmitry. As the chopper wound down its engines, the propeller came to a stop and Sheik Abdullah disembarked onto the yacht along with his security personnel. The ex-military hired guns were neatly clad in black suits and dark sunglasses. Boris walked up to shake the Sheik’s hand as the propellers came to a stop.

  “Very good to see you,” Boris said.

  “It’s very good to be here,” said the Sheik. “I have waited patiently for this day for quite some time now,” he added.

  “Yes, I know.”

  They walked towards the upper deck seating area and took their spots at the table, which had been pre-arranged for the Sheik’s arrival. Plates of cheeses, fine wines, and an assortment of other food and drink adorned the luxuriously appointed outdoor dining area.

  “Please sit,” Boris said, motioning the Sheik to the table. Boris sat opposite him, and the others took their seats at the table. Dmitry sat between the Sheik and Boris. />
  “Thank you. Once again, you’ve proved to be a very gracious host,” said the Sheik.

  “It’s all my pleasure. I am thrilled to have you back here,” Boris said.

  “What, no women this time?” asked the Sheik, smiling.

  “Of course. But I thought we would handle our business first, then get to the pleasure part.”

  “That sounds like a good plan.”

  “So, tell me, did you face much difficulty obtaining that list?” asked the Sheik.

  “You know how heavily guarded that list is,” Dmitry said.

  “Yes, of course,” replied the Sheik.

  “Then you can only imagine the lengths that we’ve gone to in order to secure those names,” Boris said as a glass of sparking water was poured for him.

  “Can I offer you any white wine your highness?” asked a deckhand as he made his way around to the Sheik.

  “Normally I wouldn’t drink an ounce of alcohol. But this calls for a bit of a celebration and I’m willing to bend the rules just a little bit. Red wine please. I’m not a fan of white wine,” said the Sheik, smiling from ear-to-ear.

  “Right away,” said the deckhand.

  “You do realize that we’ll have to verify the list at random,” said the Sheik as he took a sip of his red wine. “Excellent wine,” he added.

  “I’m glad you approve,” Boris said.

  “Of course you may verify any of the names on the list,” Dmitry said.

  “We will have to choose two dozen at random for verification,” said the Sheik.

  “No problem,” Boris said. “I would tell you that you could verify the entire list, but it wouldn’t be prudent of me to allow you to do that before the transaction is completed.”

  “Of course. I understand. Two-dozen names will be suitable. How many names have we on the list.”

  “All of them,” Boris said.

  “All of them?” the Sheik asked.

  “Yes. All of them.”

  The Sheik coughed as he swallowed down the wine, as if he actually couldn’t believe what was being said. “I didn’t think you were serious about that before,” he added.