Tanner then put up another slide, and I recognized the unattractive heavyset man as the second suspect I’d pulled out of their file. “We agree with you that Viktor Kozahkov is a very likely suspect. He lives in Toronto, does a fair amount of weapons dealing, and he’s got some close ties and connections to the biggest guns in the Chechen mob.”
I eyed the director. Her convincing argument didn’t match the wave of doubtful energy coming off her. “What’s bugging you, then, about making Viktor for the drone thief?” I asked.
She shrugged. “This heist seems way above his sophistication level,” she said. “Viktor’s smart, but we didn’t think he was this smart, and he’s never been more than a midlevel player in the weapons-dealing trade, buying caches of weapons in bulk and selling them in smaller bundles for more money. Stealing the drone just feels like it’d be out of his league.”
“Maybe he had help,” Dutch said.
Tanner nodded. “Maybe,” she agreed, but her tone suggested she was still unconvinced.
She then clicked to another slide and up came the photo of one seriously mean-looking dude. A large, rotund man with beady little eyes that were cruel and cunning came onto the screen. I sat back in my chair and shuddered.
“This is Vasilii Boklovich,” Tanner said. “If you’re right, Ms. Cooper, and Viktor Kozahkov has either stolen the drone or come by it from another source, then he will no doubt attempt to auction it off through this man.”
Gaston took over the conversation again. “Boklovich is the man to know if you have a weapon of either great quantity or great value to sell. He’s tied in to all the major terrorist organizations around the globe and has been known to host special auctions where these things eventually go to the highest bidder. We’ve wanted him for years, but he’s proved especially elusive.
“Several intelligence reports suggest that he’s hiding somewhere in Ontario province at this time. The first two agents we sent into Toronto were tasked with discovering if Boklovich had the drone in his possession yet, because one way or another we’re certain it will end up with him at auction.”
I shuddered again when I remembered what had happened to those agents. One look at Boklovich’s photo told me that if he’d discovered they were agents, he’d dealt with them swiftly and cruelly.
“In the final report they sent back before their deaths,” Gaston continued, “they made it clear that Boklovich did not yet have the drone, and there’s been no chatter yet about an auction or something as valuable as the drone and Intuit up for sale. So, either Viktor Kozahkov is dragging his feet, or whoever has the drone hasn’t made contact with Boklovich yet.”
I frowned, wondering how Dutch’s cover was going to help get back the drone. Gaston answered that question next. “Two years ago, Richard Des Vries purchased an old vacant warehouse near the water in downtown Toronto. Since then he’s been renovating the building, turning it into a high-end condo complex with eight luxury units, which we knew he was getting ready to sell, keeping the largest unit for himself of course.
“We believe his venture into real estate was a calculated one. Europe and the Middle East have been heating up for Des Vries—he’s made some serious enemies in the recent past—and we know he badly wanted in with the Chechen crowd in Toronto. The Chechen Mafia dominates the weapons-trading market worldwide to a large degree.
“Des Vries, however, is an outsider. He was born in Holland and making alliances with the Chechens would prove difficult. The drone’s disappearance actually gives us an angle to work.”
Tanner took over again. “What we’re proposing is to have Agent Rivers assume Des Vries’s identity, move into the condo in Toronto, and make contact with Kozahkov. If Kozahkov reveals that he has the drone, then we’ll set up surveillance on him until he attempts to move it. If Kozahkov doesn’t have the drone, then we’ll use him to get you two into the auction.”
Dutch shifted in his chair. “I’ve been poring over the file on Des Vries, and his assets don’t make him wealthy enough to bid on the drone.”
“Oh, he won’t be bidding on the drone,” Tanner said. “He’ll be providing something else even more valuable.”
My interest was piqued when Tanner motioned to Gaston again to explain the plan. “We’ve set up a very carefully timed leak through very specific channels we know are being monitored by Boklovich,” he began. “We’re going to acknowledge that one of our drones has been stolen, and that it was carrying a prototype of a very sophisticated weapon, and while that is a cause for concern, we’re not overly upset because the prototype had a fail-safe.”
“A fail-safe?” I repeated.
Gaston nodded. “We’re going to suggest that Intuit was designed to work only a handful of times before self-destructing, and as it typically takes hundreds of demonstrations for a competent computer programmer to reverse engineer a highly sophisticated device like Intuit, it would be useless to anyone who might want to buy it for mass production, or to use it beyond one or two missions.”
“Is that true?” I asked, thinking that if it was, I’d be pretty ticked off that we’d been suckered into such a dangerous mission when all they had to do was wait for the stupid thing to mechanically fail on its own.
“No,” said Tanner. “The rumor is not true. Intuit’s software will continue to work normally and could most definitely be successfully reverse engineered, but we’re counting on the rumor being taken seriously by Kozahkov, Boklovich, and the drone thief. If any of them buy into it, they’ll all be anxious to get rid of the drone quickly before the rumor can spread to every potential buyer willing to pay big money for the technology.”
“Ah,” I said, understanding the ruse.
“Agent Rivers will pose as Des Vries,” Tanner continued. “Once the two of you move into the condo, he’ll set up a meeting with Kozahkov to determine if Viktor has the drone. If he does have it, then Agent Rivers will tell the Chechen that he’s heard a rumor that Intuit will be useless past one or two demonstrations. If Kozahkov hasn’t yet heard about it, he’ll check, and after he verifies the rumor, he’ll be highly motivated to set up an auction with Boklovich. The minute Kozahkov attempts to move the drone, we’ll go in and nab it.”
“And if Kozahkov didn’t steal the drone and he doesn’t have Intuit?” Dutch asked.
“Then you are to offer him yet another story,” Tanner said. “You’ll tell Viktor that you’ve been able to acquire a copy of the actual software for Intuit straight from Professor Steckworth’s computer. Tell him that you’ve managed to get a clean copy on a disk that doesn’t contain the fail-safe mechanism and can be duplicated without all the difficulties that come with reverse engineering. The software will be like the goose to the drone’s golden egg, and Kozahkov will jump at the chance to help you sell it by promising an introduction to Boklovich in exchange for a percentage of the eventual sale. With Viktor’s help, you’re a shoo-in to get an invite to the auction where we know that Boklovich won’t hesitate to offer both the drone and the software for sale. Knowing him, he’ll offer them separately to help drive up the price for each.”
“Will you actually provide me with a copy of Intuit’s software?” Dutch wanted to know.
“Yes,” said Tanner, a bit stiffly. “We will give you an encrypted copy of it. We’ll also give you a password to allow you to get past the encryption should you be required to demonstrate that you do in fact possess the real software. But be forewarned, Agent Rivers: We’re certain that Boklovich will require proof that you possess what you claim to have, but by no means should you give him your password or an unencrypted copy. He’ll kill you the moment he thinks he doesn’t need you anymore.”
“Noted,” Dutch said.
Tanner nodded like she was satisfied with his answer; then she said, “Your mission will be to determine if Kozahkov has the drone. If he does, your part is largely over. If he doesn’t, then you’ll need to get Kozahkov to set up a meeting with Boklovich, have him agree to offer your software at the sa
me time he’s offering to auction off the drone and Intuit, and at the auction either steal Intuit back or destroy the device.”
I noticed she left out the part where she told us we’d also need to make it out alive. . . .
Tanner continued. “We’ve received two more pings from Intuit, and our best guess is that the device is still hidden somewhere near the Greater Toronto metropolitan area. By having Agent Rivers pose as Des Vries and live at the condo, we have access to a ready-made command center to run our operations out of without causing any unnecessary suspicion. It also helps us greatly that the condo building itself is currently unoccupied. Des Vries hadn’t offered any of the units up for sale yet, so it’s the perfect place to set up shop for us.”
I thought of something that worried me. “Do you know if Kozahkov and Des Vries have ever met?”
Tanner’s eyes swiveled to Gaston, and I didn’t like the look they exchanged. “We don’t know,” she admitted. “If they have, it was likely only briefly. We know that Des Vries has spent considerable time in Toronto, but on many levels Kozahkov is his competition, so it’s unlikely that the two would have spent much time mixing together in the same circles. It’s far more likely that they would have attempted to avoid each other.”
I glanced at Dutch, convinced that the uncertainty of her answer would set off alarm bells for him too, but he merely shrugged. “I know you’re worried,” he said, “but we’ll just have to take our chances with it.”
I didn’t like that one bit, but didn’t argue. Instead, I asked another question. “So what’s my cover going to be?”
Tanner clicked the remote again and a photo of Rick Des Vries popped up with his arm around two beautiful women, scantily clad. “Des Vries likes the ladies,” she said. “Especially blondes. We’re going to send you in posing as Des Vries’s newest girlfriend.”
“Does he have an old girlfriend I need to worry about?”
Agent Tanner smiled. “I’m sure he has several,” she said, flipping to another image of one particularly busty blonde dressed in a peekaboo halter top that was less peekaboo and more peekaboob. “This woman seems to be his most steady girlfriend. We did a thorough background check on her, and what we’ve found isn’t impressive. Both her parents were drug addicts, so she spent most of her youth in foster care, and repeated the tenth grade twice before dropping out of high school. She tried modeling, acting, and was a makeup artist on the set of Canada’s Flashpoint, but lately she’s been flying the friendly skies for Air Canada working the Prague-to-Amman junket to be closer to Des Vries. We’ve arranged it so that her flight schedule is booked with back-to-back trips for the next week, so you’re not likely to bump into her if she begins to worry about Des Vries’s absence and comes looking for him.”
“Does she know that Des Vries has been taken in by the Mossad?” Dutch asked. “I mean, she could have been working the flight he was on.”
Tanner shook her head. “We checked, and she wasn’t. Her work itinerary showed us that she was working her regular flight to Amman the day Rick was taken in by the Mossad.”
“Does anyone else know?” he pressed, clearly worried that word would get out.
Again, Tanner shook her head. “No one knows,” she stated. “Des Vries was taken off the plane in Israel by Mossad agents posing as paramedics, and at our request, the Mossad have been keeping his incarceration very quiet. As far as we can determine, no one should get wind that anything’s amiss with Des Vries for at least another week or two.”
I eyed the woman on the screen again moodily. Cup size aside, she was at least four inches taller than me and about ten pounds less. Clearly she needed a turkey sandwich, a soda, and a bag of chips.
“I look nothing like her,” I said.
“Don’t worry about it,” Tanner said easily, which of course only made me worry about it even more. “You don’t have to take on her identity, just portray the type of woman that Des Vries would be seen with: dumb, blond, and pretty. While Agent Rivers is working to locate Intuit, you can give your feedback on Kozahkov or any other suspects you identify directly to him. It’s actually a terrific cover for you, as no one would ever suspect Des Vries’s arm candy as being an undercover agent, which means that no one’s likely to perform an extensive background check on you.”
Great. Dutch got slick arms dealer, and I got flouncy bimbo. “Okay,” I said with a sigh. “I’ll do what I can.”
Tanner beamed at me. “Excellent. After this briefing I’ll have Dawn take you downstairs for your new wardrobe and a selection of blond wigs. Your identity has already been created, and we didn’t want you to worry about slipping up when introducing yourself. Your new name will be Abigail Carter, Toronto native.”
Tanner then tossed me a blue and gold passport and I opened it to a photo of me that had obviously been Photoshopped because in it, I had platinum blond hair and, shall we say, rather enhanced cleavage.
“What’s my occupation?” I asked.
Tanner smiled tightly. “You don’t have one,” she said. “The less we have to fabricate, the easier it is to believe you are who you say you are, but we’ve managed to arrange for a cover story. An American named Robert Carter, now living in Canada and married to a very wealthy heiress, owes his country a favor, and we’ve called it in. He has grudgingly agreed to admit to an extramarital affair some thirty-odd years ago resulting in a love child named Abigail Carter. He’s recently set up a monthly stipend and is interested in keeping the story very hush-hush.”
“Ah,” I said, because what else could I say? I mean, they were trying to pass me off as a love child? What idiot was going to buy that? Still, there wasn’t much I could do about it, so I kept my mouth shut.
Tanner got back to the briefing. “To make the lure of the original software even more appealing and give legitimacy to Des Vries showing up in Toronto with it, we’ve made it look as if he knew all along that the drone was about to be stolen, and he let the real thief take the bait because he also knew about the device’s software glitch. Hence, when the drone went missing, it would cause us to double-down our security on the real code to the software, revealing where it was being hidden. Last night, we snuck Agent Rivers into Canada. Once there, we had him book a flight to Las Vegas, posing as Rick Des Vries, and made sure he was seen in the neighborhood of Dr. Steckworth’s home near Lake Mead.”
I turned to look at Dutch. “That’s where you were?”
He nodded.
Agent Tanner continued. “This morning we posted an internal alert to most of the federal securities agencies that there had been a major breach to a secure facility located in the area of Lake Mead.”
“There was?” I asked.
Agent Tanner shook her head. “No,” she said patiently. “There was no security breach. We just made that up because we knew it would be leaked. What we are attempting to orchestrate is a smoke screen. We want to create a bit of a paper trail to make it look as if Des Vries was able to steal a copy of Intuit’s code should anyone like Boklovich question its sudden appearance.”
“Ahh,” I said. “I get it.”
Tanner continued. “We’ll get you two into Canada tomorrow morning, and from there Agent Rivers will make contact with Kozahkov and ask for a meeting.”
The director then hit the remote control again, clicking to a gorgeous-looking building. “This is a photo of Des Vries’s condo in downtown Toronto. We’re working to change the security code to his alarm as we speak. You’ll have no trouble getting in, but I want to warn you that even though Des Vries is fairly small-time, we know this building has been monitored by the CSIS ever since they learned that it belonged to Des Vries.”
“CSIS?” I asked. I had no idea who or what that was.
Tanner explained. “The Canadian Security Intelligence Service. It’s the Canadian equivalent to the CIA.”
“Are they joining us in the effort to get the drone back?” I said.
There was a perceptive shift in posture from several members
of the staff in the room. “No,” Tanner said carefully. “We have not asked them to join in the mission because we cannot trust that someone within the CSIS won’t compromise Agent Rivers’s identity.”
I stared at her in amazement. “If they’re monitoring Des Vries, won’t they know you guys are around?”
Gaston answered my question. “We’ve mentioned to them that Des Vries was recently recruited to assist the CIA in a global investigation, and we’ve gained their permission to monitor Des Vries for a few weeks until he leaves the country again.”
“They agreed to that?” I was a little shocked the CSIS agents were willing to allow the CIA to tread on their territory.
“They have,” he said simply. “But it’s with the understanding that their surveillance will also remain in place. We already suspect the doorman at the condo may be a CSIS plant, and we also think Des Vries’s condo unit will be bugged, so use caution and stay completely in character until you’ve swept it for microphones and recording devices.”
Tanner then looked keenly at me and issued a warning. “Ms. Cooper, there is also something you should know about Rick Des Vries.”
Uh-oh.
“What?” I asked.
“He has a violent temper that extends to his women. We’ve obtained police reports from Amsterdam that suggest he put four former girlfriends in the hospital. One woman he dated for several years in the late nineties, Anna Wyngarden, went missing shortly after Des Vries scored his first big arms deal. She’s never been seen since and is presumed dead. It was Anna’s disappearance that finally forced Des Vries to flee his home in Holland when the police began closing in on him as the primary suspect in the case.”
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