Cipher

by Robert Stohn

  “I think you know why I’m here, Medviek,” said Don Cicerone. Vinnie and Tony were also pointing their guns at Medviek, who had his own gunmen trained on the group. “I want the cipher drive, and I want it now. It belongs to me,” he barked, while holding the gun steady at Medviek’s head and grabbing Viktor by the neck.

  “Boss, I’m sorry. I’m…” Viktor was pleading with Medviek to forgive him, but there was no way out. He brought trouble to the boat and he brought it in a big way. But, what Boris didn’t realize was that sniper rifles were trained on the upper deck, just waiting for the word to take the shot. Both Jennifer and Jonathan knew the word they would say in order to initiate the order. It was part of the plan they had concocted with the Agents.

  “Everyone please, just hold on a second. Let’s just all put the guns down,” Jonathan said. “Let’s talk this out. Let’s figure this out. Nobody has to get hurt,” Jonathan said. He was just trying to distract everyone. He was trying to make cooler heads prevail but nobody was biting. He knew that was a lie, because someone was most certainly going to get hurt. He looked in Jennifer’s eyes and she knew what he was thinking, but with all the guns trained on one another, it was too risky.

  “Nobody has to get hurt?” Boris asked. He started laughing uncontrollably. “Nobody has to get hurt? Who the hell do you think you are?”

  “Honestly, nobody. I’m just doing my job. That’s all.”

  “Your job?” Boris walked closer to him, his gun trained on Jonathan’s head, while the three Italians kept their guns pointed at Medviek. He didn’t seem to flinch at the fact that everyone was pointing guns at everyone else. He still felt like he was invincible. He felt like nothing could hurt him.

  “Yes, just my job,” Jonathan said silently.

  “And what is your job silly little man?” Boris gave out a sinister laugh as he waved his gun around. Everyone followed the gun with their eyes, as if at any moment everyone was going to start shooting.

  Jonathan observed the tattoo alongside Boris’s neck. It was of an old symbol for Soviet Russia. He could see it in all its detail as Medviek walked closer to him. Jonathan was almost staring down the barrel of the Russian’s gun. He started stepping away as Boris stepped closer, guns still following one another.

  “Hold it right there,” Don Cicerone said. “Listen to me you piece of Russian trash. This has nothing to do with him. The problem you have is with me, and if I don’t get my cipher drive back right now, everyone on this boat is going to eat it, including you.”

  He stopped dead in his tracks, and turned to look at the Don. “Oh yeah?” Boris asked. Now he walked towards Don Cicerone, who was still holding Viktor tightly by the neck, creating a barrier in front of him. It didn’t stop Boris from keeping his gun trained directly at Viktor who was standing in the way.

  “I should just shoot you right now,” Don Cicerone said.

  “Go ahead, make my day, as you all say in your Hollywood movies,” Boris said, mocking the group. “You’re on my boat. You don’t tell me what to do. I tell you what to do. You think you can just come on here and muscle me around? You have another thing coming if you think that,” he barked.

  After Boris was finished barking at the Don, four of Medviek’s goons had appeared who now had the group surrounded. Jonathan had put his gun in his waist, but as he eyed Jennifer who could almost read his mind, he decided against reaching for it. He listened to the chatter in his earpiece.

  Agent Jenkins: “What’s the status?”

  Sniper 1: “Suspects have the group surrounded. The Sheik is heading towards the helicopter.

  Sniper 2: “I have the shot. Permission to fire?”

  Agent Jenkins: “No. It’s too risky. We haven’t gotten the signal yet. They haven’t said the code word.”

  NSA Director Edwards: “Snipers, you stand down until we give the orders.”

  Sniper 1: “But, sir?”

  NSA Director Edwards: “I said stand down.”

  Jonathan and Jennifer listened in closely. They knew it was going to be too difficult for them to get the shots off without them getting hurt. They were at odds with what to do. But, then Jonathan got an idea. He looked over at Jennifer as if to tell her to play along. Jonathan stepped back from the group and so did Jennifer.

  “Snowball!” yelled Jonathan. Everyone turned and looked at him, but only he and Jennifer knew what that meant.

  “Snowball!” yelled Jennifer almost in unison with Jonathan. It was the code word. Everyone looked at one another too confused to understand what was going on. Had they heard them?

  “Snowball!” Jonathan yelled it again, and again as he backed away. Boris moved towards Jonathan again this time pointing the gun at him.

  Agent Jenkins: “We have the command. Go. Go.”

  Sniper 2: “I have the shot. Sir?”

  Agent Jenkins: “Take out the Sheik’s body guards. We can’t let him leave.”

  Sniper 1: “Permission to fire?”

  NSA Director Edwards: “Fire. Fire. Permission Granted.”

  As Jonathan and Jennifer heard the chatter on the earpieces, they dove down to the ground as the shots were fired. Two quick shots took out the Sheik’s bodyguards, leaving him stunned. As the shots rang down in front of the helicopter, the pilot quickly powered the chopper’s engines and the propellers started spinning. The loud propellers made it difficult to hear anything anyone else was saying.

  Boris looked stunned as four more shots rung out and all of the armed deckhands were taken out, and the Italians stood there stunned. In the commotion, Viktor broke away from Don Cicerone and ran towards the railing of the superyacht, jumped atop, and hurled himself off and into the ocean. Don Cicerone, seeing this, pointed his gun towards the water and stared unloading, firing his weapon into the dark blue waters. His two goons kept their guns trained on Medviek, who was now unprotected.

  Seeing this, Jonathan knew it was his only chance. He bum-rushed the Russian as Dmitry took out his gun and pointed it towards Jonathan. As he was about to fire, Vinnie and Tony started unloading their weapons into Dmitry. The whole deck sounded like a fireworks parade as blood was spattered everywhere. Jennifer, grasping her still hurt shoulder, watched as bodies hit the polished wood decking of the superyacht with thuds.

  “No! Jonathan!” she yelled at him as he rushed towards the Russian. He slammed Medviek to the ground as Jonathan hit him with all the force he could muster up. Then, he jumped on top of him and they struggled on the deck, punching one another as Boris’s gun was kicked to the ground. Jennifer was helpless and all she could do was watch. “No! Please stop!” she yelled. “Please!”

  She reached down, grabbed the gun in her hands, and stood up slowly. She looked down at the two of them and yelled one more time: “Stop!” The pair stopped wrestling on the deck and Jonathan broke free and stood up slowly, backing away. Boris started to get up as well and Jennifer yelled at him. “No! You stay right there,” she said as she pointed the gun directly at him.

  “Jennifer, put the gun down,” Jonathan said.

  “No, he won’t stop coming after us until we’re dead. It’s either him or us, Jonathan,” she said, gritting her teeth. She was seething with anger. All of the stress and the anxiety had all boiled over until it had erupted in a fit of rage, and now she was the one calling the shots. She was the one that was holding the gun and had the power. She was the one who had the option of ending someone’s life if she chose to. She was no longer going to be a pawn in someone else’s chess game. “I’ve had it!” she yelled again.

  “No!” Jonathan yelled at her as she fired a shot right next to Boris’s head. He had spun out of the way just in time and grabbed her leg, sending her to the ground. She screamed and yelled as he pulled at her to get the gun.

  “You little bitch!” Boris yelled.

  “No!” Jonathan yelled again. This time, the Italians came forward and stood over the Russian, kicking the gun out of his hand just before he had a chance to unload the bullets into J
ennifer.

  “You stay right there,” Don Cicerone said, pointing the gun straight down at him. In the commotion, the Sheik had jumped into the helicopter just as it was taking off, and the group turned their attention to the chopper as it whirred to life, sending wind whipping across the entire upper deck.

  Jonathan and Jennifer listened into the chatter on their earpieces as more commands were being yelled in their ears.

  NSA Director Edwards: “Does he have the laptop? Does the Sheik have the laptop?” he asked in a hastened manner.

  Sniper 1: “I have a shot. Should I take out the bird?”

  Jonathan: “He does not have the laptop. Repeat. He does not have the laptop. Laptop is secure.”

  NSA Director Edwards: “Snipers, stand down. I repeat. Stand down. We don’t want to cause an international incident.”

  Sniper 1: “Yes sir.”

  Sniper 2: “Yes sir. Understood.”

  The EC155 chopper lifted off the deck of the superyacht and made a thunderous noise as it turned and hovered away from the yacht, disappearing into the distant horizon. The Sheik was gone, but the list was safe. And, as Boris lay on the ground, the Italians approached him closely, ready to unload their weapons when Agent Jenkins and Steiner showed up and told everyone to put their guns down.

  “Put your guns down. Everyone. Now,” Jenkins said forcefully.

  “Now, people.” Steiner reiterated the call to put down their weapons.

  As the Italians turned their backs on Boris, he took his one and only chance to run. He bolted from the deck and into the depths of the yacht, quietly disappearing out of sight.

  “You let him get away,” Don Cicerone said to them.

  “He’s not going anywhere. Don’t worry,” Agent Steiner said. “There’s no where he can run.” They followed Boris down to the lower level and into the bowels of the vessel. He had gone missing. They left the group out on the upper deck and it was pure carnage. There were bodies everywhere.

  Jonathan got up and walked over to Jennifer. “Are you okay?”

  “Yes, I think so,” she said.

  Jonathan reached down, grabbed her by her good arm, and lifted her up. “That was scary,” he said.

  “Tell me about it,” she replied. “Oh my god, Jonathan, Boris still has the cipher drive. We have to follow him.”

  “You mean this cipher drive?” he said, pulling out both cipher drives from his pocket.

  “But? Wait… how did you? I don’t get it…” Jennifer was confused, somehow Jonathan had retrieved the cipher drive and was holding both of them in his hand.

  “On the ground, when we were wrestling together. I managed to slip it out of his pocket,” he said, smiling. “That’s why I bum rushed him. He probably thinks he still has it with him.”

  “How did you…How did you do that?” she asked as they walked off towards the stern of the yacht.

  “Impressed?” he asked.

  “Yeah, just a little,” she said smiling at him. He threw his arms around her waist and pulled her in closer for a kiss. His lips melted as he felt the electricity of her body near his.

  Jonathan pulled back and looked into Jennifer’s eyes. “Hey, we’re not out of the water yet,” he said. They could hear commotion coming from one of the lower decks. They could hear yelling and screaming. Jonathan could hear people running across the superyacht, even from up there.

  “What’s going on down there?” Jennifer asked. Jonathan could see the fear in her eyes again.

  “I don’t know, but we should go see,” he said.

  Chapter 25

  Boris had made his way to the lower level in an attempt to board a speedboat, which was anchored to the side of the yacht, but the two agents had him cornered. Jonathan and Jennifer appeared just in time to see all of the commotion and yelling. They saw Boris run behind a pillar and Jenkins barked at them to stay back. Just as Jenkins was yelling at them, Boris fired two shots, just narrowly missing Jonathan and Jennifer, but the slug traveled until it hit Steiner in the chest who had just rounded the corner and was running towards the Russian.

  “No!” Jenkins yelled. “Get down!” She tried to call to Steiner but it was too late. He had already been hit and had fallen on the deck of the boat in a pool of blood. Jenkins cursed and stood up discharging her weapon as she moved towards Medviek. “You bastard!” she yelled as she unloaded the weapon, hitting Boris in the shoulder, the arm, and the leg.

  “Stand down! Stand down!” NSA Director Edwards could be heard barking orders over the earpiece.

  But the shots were too little too late. He was running. Boris had made his escape, running across the dock, and tumbling over the railing and into the awaiting speedboat, which roared its engines as it kicked up enormous amounts of water, spun around, and sped off. He was gone. Before anyone could say or do anything else, he had disappeared.

  “He’s getting away!” yelled Jonathan, but it was too late. Jenkins was weeping as Steiner gasped for air.

  “That bastard,” she said, between tears. Jonathan and Jennifer walked over to her and tried to console her.

  “I’m so sorry,” Jennifer said. She kneeled down and placed her hand on his head. “I’m so, so sorry.”

  But, Steiner gasped for air and spit up blood. He tilted his head to the side and he was still breathing. “Oh my god! Oh my god! He’s alive. Steiner? Steiner, are you with me?” Jenkins asked.

  Steiner looked her in the eyes and cracked a half smile, and Jenkins burst into further tears. “You’re alive. I thought you were dead.”

  Jonathan looked over at Steiner lying there. “Hang in there. You’re going to be okay. Just hang in there,” he said.

  “Someone call an ambulance!” Jennifer yelled.

  “You’re going to be okay, Steiner. You’re going to be okay,” Jenkins said. And as an ambulance arrived and left with Steiner, Jenkins stood with Jonathan and Jennifer.

  “I can’t thank you enough,” Jonathan said.

  “I’m just happy we made it out in one piece,” Jenkins said. “I was just doing my job.”

  “Is he going to be okay?” Jennifer asked.

  “Yeah, I think he’s going to be fine. He’s going to have some battle wounds, but he’ll recover,” Jenkins said.

  Jennifer looked at her and gave her a big hug. “Now what?” Jennifer asked.

  “Now, we destroy this cipher drive,” Jenkins said.

  “We do?” Jennifer asked.

  “Yes, we do,” Jonathan said.

  “You do have the cipher drive right?” Jenkins asked.

  “Yes, it’s right here,” Jonathan said. He pulled out the replica cipher drive from his pocket and the chrome edge of the USB cipher drive glistened in the hot summer sun.

  “I’ll take that,” Jenkins said, holding out her hands.

  “Here you go. Happy to be rid of this thing once and for all,” Jonathan said.

  “Me too,” said Jennifer. “Me too…”

  *****

  “Kid, you did good,” said Don Cicerone back at the hotel in Taksim Square.

  Jonathan handed him the real cipher drive. “I think this belongs to you,” he said.

  Don Cicerone looked at the cipher drive in his hand, and then he closed his pudgy fingers around it. “Yes. It most certainly does.”

  “And how about our deal?” Jonathan asked. They were all seated in the lobby of the hotel, which was awash with sunlight.

  “Our deal?” asked the Don, who smiled at Jonathan.

  “Yeah. Our deal?” he looked at Jennifer with uneasiness. She could just see her telling him I told you so.

  “Oh I’m just pulling your leg kid. Vinnie, give him the briefcase,” said the Don.

  “Here you go,” Vinnie barked in his deep Italian tone. “Here it is.” He pushed over the black leather briefcase and Jonathan slid it onto his lap and held it there. He unclicked the two locks and opened it up, peaking inside. His eyes widened as he saw the stacks of hundred dollar bills that lined the interior.<
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  “It was a pleasure,” said the Don.

  Jonathan smiled back, quickly closed the briefcase, and locked it back up. “Pleasure was all mine,” Jonathan cooed as he reeled from the shock of having nearly a million dollars in his hands.

  “What’s next for you two?” the Don asked, looking directly at Jennifer this time.

  “Wherever the day takes us,” she said, reaching over to grab Jonathan’s hand.

  “Hey, look at these two lovebirds,” Tony said. He chuckled and all the Italians laughed along with him.

  Thank you

  I sincerely hope that you enjoyed reading this story just as much as I enjoyed writing it. I would appreciate it if you could take a few moments out of your day to leave a review on Amazon. Thank you.

  All the Best,

  Robert Stohn