Harry froze. He had no idea what to do, nor what to say in response. How could he cause resistance to a man with clear purpose and fresh mind, but with the behavior of a lunatic?
‘These are your options, but I can offer you another option, my option. You know, I always give people a choice. Assist me and come with me. Odd as it may sound, I need your help. I won’t do anything extreme if you join me. I promise it will be worth it. You know that I keep my promises.’
These were the words the Englishman wanted to hear the least. Despite that, seconds later he found it in himself to overcome his fear and give an answer.
‘But how? How do I help you? I don’t even know if I can,’ the young hacker expressed his doubts in his own abilities. ‘Tell me what I have to do so that all this nightmare is over with.’ Harry tried to guess what he could be of aid with, but failed to come up with anything.
‘You think I’m not keeping tabs on you? You’re way too talented, I wouldn’t let you slip away. I saw you meet Konrad Redeberg, I kept tabs on you and listened to your conversations and yet you thought you were free like a bird. I also saw how you came into money out of the blue and even started flashing it around.’ The guileful ex-military knew everything about him, even what he ate. ‘You laundered his money and now I need you to do one last theft so that his money land in my pocket.’
‘But how? He’s a powerful man, if not the most powerful. He’ll find us and kill us both if I do that. Whether I help you or not, I’m a dead man either way,’ said the Englishman, his gaze dropping to the floor.
‘He won’t find you, I can promise you that and I’ll guarantee that with my own life if I have to. Should you agree to help me, you’ll turn his entire world around and he’ll no longer be a threat. Do you understand now? The world as you know it is soon to vanish and that will happen even sooner than you expect. You can’t even begin to imagine how soon.’
The Balkan’s words were very powerful, but were they enough to convince the young man?
‘Come with me to Tehran. I’m organizing something big there and I need people like you. I’m not military anymore and what I’m doing is hazardous and risky. The reward will be much more than me leaving you alone, trust me. Put something on and let’s go, I’ll explain everything on the way to the airport.’
Harry stood up and started dressing. The young man knew that Milev was a bit crazy, but he was also aware that he was a man of his word. A very long time ago, when fate had crossed their paths for the first time he was forced to trust the Bulgarian once again and if he had not done it, he would not have been free now and, for all he knew, maybe even alive . . .
Almost eight years had gone by since the day in question–the time when Dimitar was part of the intelligence operations. “Hack-end” was launched precisely because of hackers who attempted to hack NATO’s defense system. Despite the gravity of the actions that had been undertaken no villains were apprehended. All of them went into hiding as though there was a mole among the prosecutors. “Failure” was not the word the upper echelons wanted to hear. They wanted clear results and they would not call off their actions until the evildoers got apprehended. To prove that they were in fact doing some work, the teammates on “Hack-end” decided to take it out on the entire computer fraud circle regardless of the scale of the crimes that had committed. They quickly pulled up arrests of people who committed any sort of illegal activities on the Internet. That is how Rogers’s case got into Milev’s hands. One day a non-suspecting young Englishman was going to meet one of his nightmares. The Bulgarian and the Quick Response Force came to the place. Here is what happened right outside an ordinary city building . . . Dimitar, still young, yet experienced enough, was acquainted with the target and on the drive to the site he ruminated: He’s just 18, is it worth it . . . Then something changed inside of him.
‘Everybody wait until further notice,’ he said, holding his hand up in an attempt to calm down the fierce commandos who had just jumped out of the APC.
The squad was ready to storm the small block of flats and tear everything down. At that point the Lieutenant set his mind to a dose of heroism that the rest knew he had galore. He stepped over the threshold of the construction alone, ordering his men to stand still and were they to hear shooting, they had to plunge into action. After he walked through the entrance, he continued up the stairs towards the third floor. He found the targeted flat and once again adopted an approach that most people would consider insane. He pressed the doorbell as he liked to do right before an operation and waited. The door opened and a boy of about fourteen showed up at the door.
‘Who are you looking for?’ the boy asked shyly.
‘I’m looking for Ryan, is he here?’
‘Yes, he’s here, shall I call him?’
‘Call him, I need to talk to him.’
The child went into the flat to call the criminal while the military officer waited. Not a minute had passed when a boy of medium height, short haircut and glasses hiding eyes blue as the sky. An especially smart young man who was on the brink of ruining his future.
‘Here I am, what do you need me for?’
‘My name is Dimitar Milev, Lieutenant and detective, may I come in?’
‘How can you prove to me you’re a military officer?’ the boy answered wittily.
‘Here, look, everything is all right,’ the Bulgarian said and pulled out his badge with a photo with an inscription saying he was a NATO employee. After Ryan made sure of the man’s credentials, he let Milev in. Before they sat down anywhere, the young man posed a question.
‘I invited you in, now tell me what you want, what are you doing here?’
‘You don’t know why I’m here and you have absolutely no idea why a NATO employee is paying you a visit?’
‘Not the least bit,’ the youngster went on just as haughtily.
‘Are you Ryan Hamilton, turned 18 last month? The boy that met me at the door must be your little brother, Remi Hamilton? Father unknown, mother currently working as a shop assistant in a tech shop?’
‘Yeah, that’s us.’
‘And yet, you don’t know why I’m here?’ the military asked again.
‘I don’t. And if you don’t tell me right away, I’m going to have to ask you to leave unless you want me to call the police.’
He was arrogant with the Officer and out of the blue a powerful slap followed as a response–it echoed throughout the entire flat. Hamilton nearly fell back, staggering. He clutched the left side of his face and his eye started overflowing with tears.
‘Sit down! Now!’ the calm tone of Milev’s voice turned into a commanding one after the slap, but the boy decided to act tough and remained on his feet and a wave of spite built up inside of him as he stared at Milev fiercely. The General suddenly took his favorite double-edged sword out of the scabbard, set it on the table next to them and pushed the youth forcefully to the side so he could sit on the couch behind the lad. ‘Stop playing angry, sit down and stay still, don’t you dare move! I won’t tell you the story of this dagger, it’s an ugly one to here, yet there’s a moral, too, but still . . . Therefore listen because I won’t repeat. I can see it, you’re full of anger for me, you want to jump on me, but please don’t, I don’t want to have one more thing weighing on my conscience. For the record, there’s a squad of commandos downstairs and just like me they don’t spare anyone. You have three options. The first one is to try to run away where I will give them a signal and they’ll catch you. You will serve at least ten years. The second one is to try and take the knife from me and get into a fight. I don’t recommend it to you–while you reach out to grab it, I’ll already have stabbed it into your shoulder. You’ll get arrested and this time you’ll serve a minimum of fifteen years. Your third option is to break into a run, hide in the kitchen, get a knife and defend yourself. I won’t attack you, I’ll give the squad a signal and they’ll get in. I will tell you to put the weapon down and, if you don’t do it, they will open fire on you and y
ou’ll get killed.’ After these heavy words the young Hamilton boy started wheezing in fear and stupor.
‘And all that just because I hacked the system of the store my mom works at so I can get a free computer?’–he mumbled and teardrops started rolling down his cheeks.
‘Too bad for you. Here’s where I step in. I understand you applied for a business school and I don’t want you to waste your life. I know you’re smart and ambitious, but I don’t want you to wind up in prison, your potential doesn’t stand a chance in hell to shine through in such a place. You have a forth option and it is to do as I say. Do you agree?’
‘I do,’ the young Englishman nodded and his face flushed in embarrassment even more.
‘I will go downstairs and I want you and your brother to go to your neighbors, you’ll press the doorbell and you’ll ask them to stay in their home until your mother comes home. Do not go out. I’ll come later looking for you. When that happens, you’ll do what I tell you so you can get out of there. Am I clear?’ the Lieutenant cried, scolding the boy again and wishing to slap him once again. ‘You have ten seconds to go pick your brother. On the way to your neighbors’ you’ll explain to Remi what he’s expected to do. Good, I’m leaving now.’
While Milev turned around to go down to his squad, Ryan ran to his brother’s bedroom. He stormed in, scared. Without giving it a thought, he grabbed his brother by the arm.
‘Come with me, you don’t have time even to think, let’s get going!’ he cried.
Remi saw his brother was scared to death as if he had had seen a ghost. Ryan only had time to take his mobile phone in case he needed to make a call. The Balkan was already climbing down the stairs and the two brothers left their flat and headed five doors deeper down the corridor on the same floor. As they ran the distance between the flats, the older brother explained hastily with a few words the situation to the little Hamilton. They rang the doorbell and their neighbor, a man of about 70, showed up at the door.
‘Hello, children. How are you?’
‘My brother felt sick, can we come in so he can drink some water and lie down for a while, we don’t have a key and mom is coming home in an hour?’ Ryan asked while at the same time little Remi started staggering and acting dizzy.
‘Of course you can, come in,’ the man invited them in. ‘Here’s a glass of water, come in the living room, you can both lie down here,’ the host said, welcoming them into the room. You can wait here, but if the situation gets worse, we’d call a doctor, right? Please!’
‘There’s no need, we just walked a lot and last had a meal early in the morning before we went out and it’s afternoon now,’ the older Hamilton dropped the next lie.
‘I’ll cook something now and in thirty minutes we’ll all be eating, I’m hungry, too,’ the naïve old man offered.
He went into the kitchen and without idling around he started cooking and there was no way he could hear, from that spot, the events that took place outside his front door. While the children managed to secure themselves a dinner, the Bulgarian military got downstairs to his commandos and started shouting.
‘Someone’s betrayed us, there’s no one in the flat. Half of you, go and look upstairs, the others, come with me quickly, we’ll search the perimeter, they might still be around.’
Milev did not fall short of lying either.
Part of the squad went to the apartment and the rest began searching the area along with the Lieutenant who played a part that deserved an Oscar. The entire operation was a failure and no evidence against the criminal was obtained. About half an hour later the Quick Response Force left. Only the main player remained under the pretense he was going to collect more evidence from the flat. So he did, he went to the two major “pieces of evidence”. He came to a halt in front of the door, pressed the doorbell and seconds later the same old man appeared.
‘Are the brothers Hamilton here?’ the detective asked.
‘Who are you?’ the host inquired.
‘A cousin of theirs, I’ve come to see them,’ the military stitched up a story in a flash.
‘All right, I’ll tell them,’ the man said and did what he considered the proper thing to do–to let the boys know. ‘They’re waiting for you outside, you have to go home.’
Then the two lads got startled. Was it Dimitar or their mother? They had no way of knowing. They headed to the door and the man saw them off. It was Milev who stood there and beckoned them to go out.
‘Well, you accomplished the task, good for you. Now comes the most important part. I spoke to your mother, she’s waiting for us. I’ll put you in a Witness Protection Program. You’ll have a place to live in and your names will be new, but everything will happen in exchange for something I need you to tell me.’ The brothers exchanged surprised looks, both having no idea what he wanted from them. ‘Ryan, if you answer me one question today, you’ll be a free man with a new identity. That applies to your entire family. Who wants to harm NATO’s security? Tell me you can help me.’ Hamilton knew many such people and could point the officer in the right directions despite his fear of the possible consequences for his family. For the first time in his life he trusted someone blindly.
‘I think I have a few guesses, but I’m not sure they’re accurate.’
‘Good. I’m listening,’ the detective encouraged.
‘Come here, I’ll whisper it in your ear, I don’t want anyone to hear, it’s dangerous even for my brother to know.’
In that moment the two men stepped to the side and Ryan gave the uniformed man two names. The boy barely made a sound, but the names were perfectly understood.
‘You’re free now. But remember this–you owe me and I’ll find you so you can pay your debt.’ He slipped a note into the hand of the young hacker saying where and when his family had to meet Milev’s people who would handle them from then on. After that the stranger disappeared down the stairs. The older Hamilton did not like those words the least bit, but there was nothing he could do. Everything developed so fast and the things that happened were about to change his life to the core.
That unwanted encounter put Ryan at a crossroads with a new name and new identity. Harry Rogers or the Rogers as they were subsequently called changed everything around themselves. All they knew was that they had helped the detectives find their targets. Milev took advantage of the commotion and lack of clarity around their meeting. That information helped him apprehend the real criminals which took him higher up the ranking ladder, having one more person in his debt . . .
The time for the ex-military to collect his long-owed debts had finally come. Only a genius had it in himself to gather people and put in action a plan to attack the largest supply warehouses in the world with the intention to steal cosmic equipment. Probably destiny smiled more often to the brave and the clever.
The two men were sitting side by side on the flight to the Iranian capital. All that time the computer genius wondered what the heck he should do. He was occupying the seat next to a man he was heavily in debt to and who, at the same time, induced a lot of fear in him. One way or another, he had no choice, he had to suffer the consequences of things he had once busied himself with. In his turn, Milev used the time to explain the details of his plan. Harry was so embarrassed and absorbed in thought that he wanted to open the porthole to jump out the window. On the edge of his nerves, he arrived at the airport in the Arabic world. He had changed his whereabouts from Mill Hill to Tehran and he could hardly realize it. From a world of aristocratic manners and outlook he found himself in a completely different land. Everything the young Englishman had been through so far coupled with the stress of what was to come surged unstoppably through him.
‘We’re already here. We’re going to set ourselves up in a hotel first; then, later in the day, we have an important meeting,’ Milev instructed.
They got into a taxi that took them to one of the elite hotels situated in the calmer part of the city. When they got there, they hired two rooms and went upstairs to l
eave their luggage.
‘Come on, go get some rest. Before you do that, though, I want to tell you that I will be grateful if you manage to help me as much as I helped you years ago,’ Milev shared with unexpected kindness in the voice.
Harry was surprised to hear that, he just wished the Bulgarian a good night and went to his room. It was an early morning, around eight, but since neither of them had slept, they decided to take some rest and to set off refreshed for the important meeting that was scheduled for seven p.m. The Englishman did not know a thing about that meeting–only that he was to be introduced to the people he was going to work with from then on and that his patron was going to notify him when it was time to leave the hotel.
Later that day Omar was sitting in his office, thrillingly anticipating the next meeting with Milev and Alice. The clock struck seven and a tad before the thought of leaving and giving up waiting crossed his mind–his work hours were over half an hour ago–a familiar silhouette appeared at the door. Alice had arrived first.
‘I was just about to go, you’re very much late.’
‘I’m right on time, I’ve even come a bit earlier since Dimitar is not here yet. My arrangement with him was to come after your work hours are over,’ Miss Springer replied.
‘All right, we’ll wait for him. And you–ready with the task?’
Dawn of Hope- Exodus Page 16
