Love Is for Tomorrow (12 page)

“There’s someone else accessing the network here,” Priya whispered.

“Priya, I hope it’s remote,” Bekkend said. “There is another problem.”

“What problem?” Priya said reluctantly whispering and looking around to see if someone had walked in after her. The buzzing of the servers drowned her whisper.

“A white van just pulled up in front of the building. Four guys just got out,” Bekkend informed her. She felt as if he was watching her computer symbol, just like she stared at.

“I have to go silent for a while,” she whispered.

Her eyes wandered to the corridor next to her, separated only by a glass wall.

The unknown user was still there.

A message popped up, making her jump.

The download was finished. She didn’t stay a second longer. She rushed to the stairs and began her descent. Her steps thundered in the underground car park. She headed straight back to the DC tower. Its illuminated gates were a beacon.

They didn’t open when she came into range. She fumbled with her card. Someone sighed as the glass doors glided open. Priya dashed inside. Her heartbeat thumped in her ears as if in slow motion.

One, she turned.

Two, she stared into the darkness.

Three, the gates began to close.

Four, she was safe.

***

Antoine watched his boss. He had no clue what she was thinking. He and Kovac had been summoned to her office. Kovac looked as clueless as Antoine was about this meeting.

“Let’s get straight to it,” Rose said as soon as the door closed behind them. “The massive data breach which you might have missed while in Monaco meant Priya was able to access some CIA files. That is where the good news ends.”

Antoine wondered what could be so bad.

“Bad news is, there’s an archive about Dwayne Carter.”

“That’s the bad news?” Antoine said. For once Antoine felt that he was one step ahead of Rose. He looked across at Kovac who had his,
I told you so. You can’t hide anything from Rose -
look on. Antoine realized this might be the right moment to tell Rose about Paris. “Ah Kovac,” Rose said, “Dwayne Carter is—”

“I know,” came Kovac’s reply.

“Good then you can also help me understand this,” Rose said.

Antoine stood there stunned.
How could it get worse and why is Kovac involved?

“Why is your picture in Dwayne Carter’s file?”
  Rose said slapping down Kovac
’s picture on her desk. “Yes, the current file has a picture of Kovac’s face, wearing his favourite black leather jacket in Paris.”

“Well, that’s something,” Kovac said, crossing his arms and throwing Antoine a blaming look. “Wanted by the CIA.”

“Which leads me to one question…,” Rose said, “how did it get there in the first place?”

Antoine felt his jaw harden. For every lie, there came a time when it was too late to still roll with it. There came the time of truth, however bitter that might be.

“My best guess, mistaken
identity  from our time in Paris,” he said.

“Tony,” Kovac warned him.

It was too late for that. As far as Antoine knew, Rose was the only person he could trust. He might as well confess to her.

“We ran into unidentified agents.”

“What case were you on?” Rose said.

“I wouldn’t call it a case,” Antoine confessed. “Let’s just say there was a little reunion that got crowded. We ran into unidentified agents.”

Turning to Kovac, Antoine continued, “I guess I was right about who they were.”

“Well at least I know what caused three corpses to be fished out the of the Seine,” Rose said. “If I had known I would have gotten the list of people at the funeral. Did you find out anything about the agents?”

“I’m on it,” Antoine said.

Rose gave him a poisonous look. Shaking her head, she sighed. “I can’t allow anything to interfere with our current mission. You should have told me sooner, Antoine. “Truth is like fire, it cannot be hidden under dry leaves.”

Kovac shrugged. “You can’t even hide
Schnietz
under dry leaves.”

Rose clenched her jaw.

“It’s my life we are talking about here,” Antoine said. “I messed this one up, I know. But there is a bomb in play and we should focus on it. No more secrets from now on.”

“Agreed.” Kovac rushed in to say, delighted that the focus had shifted.

“Agreed,” Rose said.

Antoine used the opening to go on the offensive. “Do you want to tell us your history with Tanya, because it feels like you have dealt with her before. It seems we all have a secret or two.” 

“All I ever got about her was her name,” Rose said. “Priya’s hack picked up some minor things about her.”

Antoine was not convinced but Rose changed the subject.

“Khabib mentioned the fortress of Belgrade. Bellic was using a storeroom in its cellars. Assuming the painting is there, we can get Khabib. Priya will be watching traffic cams and get a tail on Khabib as soon as he arrives in Serbia.” She looked to the Serb. “This is your city. If anyone has the best chance to get him there, it’s you.”

“Kalemegdan,” Kovac said. The display table showed an aerial view of the fortress. Kovac zoomed in on certain entry points.

“I know this place well. He won’t try to break in there by day. We need breaching charges, some fast wheels and guns with suppressors, and sniper support to cover our extraction. By that I mean Smith.”

“We need Khabib alive,” Rose said. “Expect close quarters. Khabib has a long rap sheet. I am going to send your sidekick with you. Hopefully this time there will be less of a body count.”

“Hey we are not the ones planning to detonate a dirty bomb,” Kovac said.

“Regarding that bomb,” Rose said. “I hope they are still far away from it.”

***

Moscow, Russia

Olga sat tapping her fingers on the table in front of her. The room was dark with a taste of history. Tense faces lined with wrinkles surrounded her. She already had so much on her plate, not to mention both the planning and burden of being part of Team Tanya. Their grey hair was testament to the life they’d led. These were the men who’d led the KGB through the Cold War and before the Berlin wall fell. She hadn’t been a top level official for long, so she usually kept her mouth shut and her ears open. She could learn a lot from them. Olga looked to Dimitri, who began speaking from the other side of the table.

“I have come to believe there is an imminent terrorist attack with target St. Petersburg. A mafia tie or Chechen separatists.”

Olga could not believe her ears.

“What is the source?” someone else said.

Could they know about her bomb? Her sure way to the top? Was Tanya hedging her bets?

“Credible, comrade,” he replied.

“How credible?”

Olga knew she had to take control before other people became involved.

“Very credible,” Olga said. “I know about it too, so that makes two sources. I’m onto it. My people are already tracking the transfer.”

Murmurs of surprise went through the room.

“Do you need anything?” Major Norin asked.

“No thank you sir,” she replied. “I will come back to you if I do.”

“Then I say we close this meeting,” Norin said. “Keep this between us. Next time Kovalenko, let me know about threats of this nature.”

“Yes sir.”

“Well then this meeting is closed. Olga report to me directly on any updates,” Dimitri said.

Olga left her seat and went outside with the others. Hands were shook and courtesies given. She ducked out as soon as possible and headed to the roof of the building.

She took out her phone and called a number she had reserved for emergencies only. 

“Tanya, I trust you are not double playing me. If not, there might be some people who are onto you.”

She paced the roof, waiting for Tanya’s reply. Maybe she couldn’t talk at the moment.

“I haven’t told anybody,” she continued. “I’m hoping Khabib is keeping his mouth shut.”

She looked around to make sure nobody followed her. She kept her voice low.

“There is a lot riding on the raid now. All eyes will be on me and I need to feed information to Dimitri.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

BANG AND BURN 

“Invincibility lies in the defence; the possibility of victory in the attack.” - Sun Tzu

Vienna, Austria

All of her closest loved ones had come. It was rare that every one of them had time to sit down at one table and have a meal together.

Rose took her son and daughter by the hand. She gazed at her husband Derek across the table.

“Before we pray today, an old proverb,” Rose said. “From our ancestors. It goes like this: When there’s no enemy within, the enemies without can’t harm you.”

“And whatever you might think, your own worst enemy is yourself,” Derek added.  

Rose nodded. Today she would clear her conscious.

“I’m praying for help to withstand a big threat,” she began.

Her family probably wondered about the particular words in her prayer. Rose had always tried to keep family and job separate. Now the past had caught up with them. Rose continued to listen to her children’s life and issues at school. They finished their meal and while her children had dessert she excused herself with her husband.

They walked to a side room and when they were a safe distance away Rose turned to her husband and said, “Tanya Sharipova. She has returned.”

Rose glared. Her husband cleared his throat, then composed himself.

“I thought we would never hear that name again,” he said. “All our leads ran dry, especially after you left.”  

Rose thought back to her time when she headed up the task force to hunt down Tanya after Tanya’s assassination mission in the UK. They never got her and Tanya got away with it.

“Let’s just say, without her, our careers would have gone better,” Derek said.

“I never seemed to be able to get into her mind.”

“You also never seemed to get her out of your mind. Promise me one thing, you will not obsess after her. With the MI5 full resources it was not enough and you cannot stretch your manpower too thin.”

“I have an agent who is friends with Death himself, another finer than any double O we had and hackers that make CIA firewalls look like first year school assignments.”

“I do not doubt your staff’s ability. I am concerned about chasing multiple targets. Yes,
whatever Tanya has planned is probably not good, but there is still a bomb on the loose. And we do not know how she thinks. Evidence showed she was the one responsible for the transport of nuclear material in our plutonium case in two thousand nine.” 

“After that, she disappeared.”

“Until now,” Derek said. “You’ll find her.”

Rose felt him hold her trembling hands and relaxed. With her husband’s support, she could face her nemesis.

Rose looked at her watch.

“My love I have to go. We have a mission starting soon. It’s our last lead on Tanya.”

***

Belgrade, Serbia

Under the cover of the night, Antoine and Kovac moved towards Kalemegdan Fortress from the riverside.

Smith went into position on the riverbank, taking the fortress into aim through his infrared scope. A fortress’ use was to be invulnerable from the outside. That this one was publicly accessible made it anything but. Entries were open until late night, giving them easy access.

“I have some fond memories about this place,” Kovac whispered. “Used to bring my girl here back in the day.”

He led Antoine down a compartmented passageway.

“Romantic,” Antoine said. The bench where Kovac indicated had a view of two rivers, the Sava and the Danube meeting at the confluence.

He ran over the soft grass, leaving no trace thanks to his sound suppressing boots.

Kovac signaled him to stay low, as they sprinted to a waist high and well-lit stone wall.

Antoine braced his hand on it and flicked his body over. Leaves crunched as dust kicked up. He pressed his back against the building and slid into cover next to an entry door.

Kovac took a step back and regarded it curiously.

“This shouldn’t be open,” he said.

“Well maybe we are finally going to have it easy. I see this as a good sign,” Antoine replied.

Kovac pushed the door open with his foot. The light was on inside.