Trojan

by Brandon Clark

  “Hello?”

  Dana froze. The voice on the other end was a man’s, and he sounded like he was either from the Eastern Bloc or had just run a marathon.

  Dana stabbed her thumb on the red “end call” button before she could find out.

  Her heart started pounding in her ears; she pressed the accelerator and darted forward.

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Of all places for a clandestine meeting, a grocery store probably would not have ranked highly on most people’s lists. But the limited sightlines afforded by the tall aisles and the highly public nature of the store worked well for somebody who was not worried about being seen but wanted the safety of a crowd.

  That was the thought anyway.

  Haley pulled the ball cap down lower on her face and plucked another can of green beans from the shelf. She checked her watch, praying that Dana hadn’t gotten held up more than a few minutes.

  As she continued shopping, making sure to stay close to the canned goods section, she tried to formulate her next move.

  Without her cell phone, she felt naked and unarmed. She laughed, realizing the lunacy of feeling protected just because of a phone, but there was no denying how she felt. She knew there was an extra at Dana’s place, but she didn’t want to risk going back there in the middle of the operation. Beyond giving Ms. Petrew, Dana’s ancient but sweet-as-honey neighbor who had agreed to watch Jacob, the fright of her life, she knew if she saw Jacob, she’d want to stay with him instead of finishing the job.

  She didn’t have enough cash to buy a new one, and she didn’t want to use her credit cards in case Bradley was still watching her activity.

  She could try to steal one, but she’d never been the best pickpocket. And even if she did, she’d still have the issue of trying to break the encryption and format the thing.

  She sighed. There wasn’t anything she really could do except hope Dana had an extra.

  At least she still had her laptop.

  She looked at her watch again and realized there were only five minutes before the rendezvous window would close. She started heading toward the front when she heard a loud, male Russian voice coming from the checkout lines.

  “Where do I find soup?”

  Vlad’s voice was unmistakable, even for someone who had only heard it a few times.

  Haley ducked back and strode quickly down the aisle, earning a few disapproving glares from parents attempting to corral large shopping carts filled with sugary cereals and screaming children.

  She turned the corner and risked a glance back toward the front of the store.

  Vlad was looking at one of his accomplices, motioning for him to go to the right, and Haley quickly darted behind the aisle’s end display.

  Her mouth was dry, and her mind raced through the possibilities of how he could have found her.

  She shook herself.

  There would be time to figure out how he found her later, but for now, she had to get out.

  To her left was the meat department and a swinging set of double doors that no doubt led to the loading dock in the back area. If she went out that way, she’d only have to avoid the employees, who were more likely to wonder what she was doing than to actively stop her.

  But Dana could arrive any second, and if she walked in while Vlad was standing up front, she was dead.

  A horrible thought came unbidden to her mind.

  Vlad had come in the front. Dana was late.

  She could already be dead.

  Haley shook herself again,

  She ignored the back door and started making her way along the outside edge of the store. She perused the meats and poultry section, trying to look like a typical soccer mom just picking up groceries for the family dinner. Resisting the urge to pull her hat lower, she continued her circuit and tried not to look back. As she neared the bakery section, she risked another glance over and saw that Vlad had position two of his men by the doors. One was casually reading a magazine, and the other seemed to be fiddling with a vending machine, though he was clearly more interested in watching the store then getting a beverage.

  Another of Vlad’s men walked up and down the cross-aisle between the checkout lines and the standard aisles, like he was looking for something in particular and just couldn’t seem to find it. Vlad himself was nowhere to be seen.

  Haley stopped at the bakery and rang the small metal bell to get the baker’s attention.

  A kid in a hairnet and apron, with the worst acne Haley had seen since Napoleon Dynamite, looked up from a display he had been rearranging on the other side of the bakery and smiled.

  “Hi,” he said. “How can I help you?”

  Haley motioned him over, putting a finger to her lips.

  The boy frowned but complied.

  “I need you to help me,” Haley said.

  “Of course,” the boy said. His name tag said his name was Evan. “Do you need a cake or—”

  “My ex-husband is a piece of work,” Haley said. “I got out, but he sent some goons after me.

  You see that guy standing by the vending machine?”

  Evan looked over her shoulder then back to her, his eyes wide.

  “I need to get out that door.”

  “I can get you out the back,” Evan said. “We can just act like you’re looking for something?”

  “I can’t,” Haley said. “My kid and his babysitter are out by the car still.”

  “Do you want me to call the police?”

  “We don’t have time,” Haley said. “I just needed a distraction, maybe ten seconds.”

  Evan bit his lip and looked back at the guy by the vending machine.

  “I have an idea,” he said. “I hope you’re not too attached to that shirt.”

  Haley tried to release the tension in her shoulders as Evan took out a cake from the refrigerator in the back. There was no message on it, and Haley was glad that he hadn’t tried to waste time making it look fully authentic. If his plan worked, no one was going to see it.

  They walked towards the checkout, him asking questions and trying to act like she was a customer.

  As they neared the front, Haley’s heart threatened to break a rib.

  This was stupid. Reckless. Would probably get her killed.

  But even knowing what was about to happen, she wasn’t fully ready when Evan pretended to trip and practically threw the cake into her face.

  Partially genuinely surprised and partly because having a full sheet cake smashed in her face wasn’t particularly enjoyable, Haley screamed.

  She was glad she could see anything because it felt like the entire store was staring at her.

  “I am so sorry,” Evan said. The kid needed to try out for the school play. “I just I slipped and —”

  Haley held up two hands to stop him. Then slowly started wiping the icing from her eyes and mouth.

  “Evan!”

  The manager was over to them in a flash. As Haley wiped her face, her vision cleared, though she could still see bits of icing in her eyelashes. She saw the larger man glaring over at Evan with murder in his eyes. Haley only hoped the note she’d left on the bakery counter would save Evan’s job.

  “Miss, I am so sorry,” the manager said, his face smoothing into a more sympathetic expression. “Please, we’ll get you another one, no charge, of course. I am appalled this happened. We will make it right, I promise.”

  Haley held up another hand to stop him from saying anything more and shook her head. She spun on her heel and walked out the door covering her face and pretending to wipe more of the icing off, not just from her face, but also her shirt and jacket.

  As Haley walked through the double doors, she heard a smothered laugh, and she glared over at the man by the vending machine as if she was genuinely upset. Then she stormed out into the parking lot.

  A car peeled out of the space and practically drifted up to the front of the store. Josef popped the locks and pushed the passenger-side door open.

  “
You coming?”

  Haley jumped in the car and pulled the door shut.

  She was thrown back in her seat as Josef hit the accelerator and managed to get her seatbelt on despite the g-forces tossing her around as Josef maneuvered out of the parking lot.

  “You had a party, and you didn’t invite me?” Josef said eyeing Haley’s cake and icing–covered clothing.

  “Trust me there wasn’t anything to miss,” Haley replied. “Where’s Dana?”

  “I thought she’d be with you,” Josef said.

  “We were supposed to meet here,” Haley said. “But the big bad Vlad showed up. I’m not sure where she is.”

  Josef’s eyes narrowed but stayed on the road. “Did you call her?”

  “Lost my phone,” Haley said. “I was sloppy and screwed up getting into the Customs building.”

  “We don’t know where she is?”

  Haley sighed. “No, we don’t.”

  Josef bit his lip but nodded slowly.

  “There’s a DS safehouse around the corner from the docks,” Josef said. “I think we may have an extra there.”

  Haley nodded. “You’ve got the helm,” she said with a smile.

  Josef laughed and patted the steering wheel. “Glad you agree,” he said. “And if you don’t mind, there are napkins in the glove box. Let’s try not to get icing all over Eric’s ride.”

  Haley chuckled and started cleaning herself up.

  She was preoccupied with the remnants of cake, that she didn’t see Josef glance down to make sure his Glock was still strapped securely to the holster on the driver’s door.

  Chapter Forty-Five

  Josef unlocked the front door and held it open for Haley to walk in. She couldn’t tell if the peeling paint was yellow or just ancient white, and the wood floor was uneven and creaked with every step. The narrow entryway opened into a larger living room that connected to the kitchen at the back of the house.

  “Safehouses really aren’t what they used to be,” she said, looking around.

  “It’s like they say,” Josef said. “Location, location, location. We’re close enough to the docks that we can get in and out, and it’s not the type of place where people rat on their neighbors.”

  Haley shrugged off her backpack and set it on the floor by the front door.

  “Something to drink?” Josef said. He walked in the kitchen without waiting for her to answer, and she heard the fridge open.

  “I’m good,” she said. “Where’s that phone? I can start flashing it.”

  “I’ll grab it in a second,” Josef said. “By the way, I was talking with the guy on a forum the other day. Mentioned that his favorite ‘evening delight site,’”—Josef held up his hands with a beer bottle in one and made air quotes—“had shut down because some hacker had encrypted the entire site. Wasn’t you by chance, was it?”

  Haley laughed. “It was,” she said. “I was trying to distract Vlad the last time we had a chance encounter.”

  Josef laughed. “That’s awesome,” he said. “You don’t happen to still have the encryption keys, do you?”

  Haley looked at him sideways. “Why?”

  “My buddy said he would be willing to pay big money for them.”

  “It has to be really big money to make me want to help the Volkags,” Haley said. “How much is he offering?

  “We didn’t get into specifics, but I’m sure it would be at least six figures. Does that mean you have them?”

  “I’ll have to look,” Haley said. “But they’re probably in here somewhere. But we’re in the middle of something here. Don’t you think we have other things to worry about?”

  “I’m just always looking for opportunities,” Josef said. “Got to have multiple irons in the fire, you know?”

  “Right,” Haley said. “Do you mind one of those irons being getting me that phone?”

  “Sure,” he said. “Trade you the encryption keys for the phone.”

  He smiled, but it didn’t really reach his eyes, and alarm bells started going off in Haley’s head. “This must be one hell of a payout.”

  Josef shrugged again. “Probably enough to set us up for a while.”

  “Who has that kind of cash?”

  “You be surprised how much money there is in the adult entertainment business.”

  “Oh, I’m fully aware,” Haley replied. “I’m just wondering how this came out of the woodwork all the sudden. Last time I checked, you were hellbent on finding your dad’s killers.”

  Josef’s eyes narrowed. “I still am,” he said. “In fact, I’ve got someone in my sights.”

  He took a sip of beer. “I’ll grab that phone now,” he said. “If you wanted to pull that key for me, I wouldn’t complain.”

  He left the room without saying more, and Haley looked back in her bag, wondering if she should get out of the house while he was distracted. She shook her head, convinced she was being paranoid. After all, this was Josef. They’ve been through gunfights and been working together for several months.

  Just a bit jumpy from the day. That’s all it was.

  She went over and pulled her laptop out of her bag, sitting on the creaky old couch. She tried not to think about what stains the paisley upholstery was hiding and quickly got to work.

  “What’s the Wi-Fi?” she yelled at the stairs.

  “Don’t remember it off the top of my head.”

  Haley frowned and scanned for open networks. There was one, but it must have been several houses down since it was a weak signal.

  Since she wasn’t planning anything too bandwidth heavy, she connected. Pulling up her encrypted messaging app, she started to type an all-clear message to Dana when a new message popped up. Haley’s eyes went wide as she read its contents.

  Her head spun, and she reached out to brace herself on the cushions.

  The sound of Josef’s heavy footsteps on the stairs snapped her back to the moment.

  Holding her laptop in one hand, she scrambled up and grabbed her bag with the other.

  She was halfway to the door when he rounded the corner.

  “I’ve got that phone for—”

  Haley stopped, then slowly turned back to him. “You’re working with the Volkags?”

  The pleasant smile on his face fell, and he let his arm with the new iPhone drop.

  “What makes you say that?” His tone was neutral and calm, almost too calm.

  “That’s the chatter on the Darkweb,” Haley said. “DS-13 and the Volkags are working together. We both know that that’s not Eric’s MO, so I can only think of one other person with enough juice to make that happen.”

  “You think it was me?” Josef said. “Why would I switch sides now?”

  “Because you found out who killed your father.”

  This time Josef’s face transformed from the slightly disbelieving mask of innocence to fury. He tossed the phone onto the couch and reached behind his back with his other hand.

  It reappeared with the Glock. “And who would that be? Some Russians trying to protect their shipment?” He took a step towards her and raised the gun. “Or some hacker looking to make a quick buck by selling out an operation she didn’t know and shouldn’t have known anything about.”

  “I didn’t know it was—”

  “I don’t care,” he screamed. “I don’t care; it was just a job. I don’t care for the greater good. He was my dad. So if you think that I’m not going to hold you responsible, even if you weren’t the one to pull the trigger. You are dead wrong.”

  His face was red, and he nearly pistol whipped her as he gestured wildly with his arms. Haley felt bits of spit hit her face.

  “What would you have me do?” Haley said quietly. “It wasn’t personal, and if I had known you at the time, I wouldn’t have done it.”

  “Like that matters,” Josef said. “Your apologies won’t bring him back.”

  “Neither will killing me,” Haley said.

  “No,” Josef agreed. “But it will make me fee
l a hell of a lot better.”

  He raised the gun again and put it to her head. “But first, I need you to give me that encryption key.”

  In spite of the cold barrel on her skin, Haley laughed. “You’re just going to kill me.”

  “You underestimate how painful I can make your death,” he said. “And if you don’t, I’m going to kill that little brat of yours as well.”

  Haley’s grip tightened on the bag’s strap.

  “Leave him out of this,” she said.

  “That’s up to you,” Josef said. “You give me the key, I kill you, and it ends.”

  “Fine,” Haley said. “Get that thing out of my face.”

  Josef lowered the gun and eyed her warily. She held the laptop up so he could easily see. “It’s there in the files,” Haley said.

  She held laptop out, so he had to lean forward to see. As he did, the gun fell sideways.

  Haley lunged forward, smashing the edge of the laptop screen straight into the bridge of Josef’s nose.

  He cried out in pain and blood spurted into the air. Haley followed it up with another jab of her computer screen, trying to get his eye with the corner.

  His head twisted to the last moment, and instead, she caught him squarely in the cheek.

  Stumbling back screaming, Josef held his nose and tried to stop the bleeding. As he brought his hands up to his face, Haley swung her bag around and slamming it into the side of Josef’s head. He fell sideways into the wall hard enough that Haley heard the cracking of drywall.

  The gun clattered from his hand as he fell and landed at Haley’s feet.

  She dropped her bag to snatch the Glock and pointed it at Josef.

  “How could you?” she said, her voice trembling. “I tried to look out for you to teach you.”

  “You wouldn’t have had to if you hadn’t killed my dad,” he said.

  “I didn’t kill him.”

  Josef spit and a mix of blood and saliva landed on her leg.

  “Really?” Haley said.

  Josef started to stand.

  “Stay down,” Haley snapped.

  “We both know you’re not going to kill me.”

  He pushed himself up slowly. He staggered a bit and braced himself against the wall.