by Leona Lee
“Just as soon as I can get a flight out.”
“But you can’t go just yet,” Lisa replied.
“Why not?”
“Aren’t you even a little curious as to who set you up?”
“Well, of course, but I’m no detective.”
“No, you aren’t,” Chloe replied. “Just come home.”
As Sarah continued to talk to her friends, she felt better. While they may be more than two thousand miles away, she always knew that she could count on them for moral support. After she got off the phone, she called the airlines to make a reservation. There was a redeye out that night. Swearing to herself, she realized that she still had clothes at the dry cleaners.
Walking into the bathroom, she looked in the mirror. Her face was red and puffy from crying. After scrubbing her face, she didn’t look much better so she jumped in the shower. Donning a pair of jeans, sweater and a coat, she went downstairs to hail a cab.
The dry cleaners was less than a block from VIC Enterprises and Sarah hoped that she wouldn’t run into anyone as she headed to the door. Just as she was about to enter, she spotted Marcus jogging across the street. Turning around, she watched him look over his shoulder repeatedly before heading toward an alley. Curious as to where he was going, she crossed the street and peered down the alley, which was empty except for some large dumpsters and a sign indicating a back entrance to a bar. Walking down the alley, she went into the bar. Not particularly crowded at this time, she hugged the wall as she looked around.
She found Marcus sitting in a corner booth talking to someone. Walking toward the main entrance, Sarah worked her way down the aisle careful not to let Marcus see her. Grabbing a menu, she slid into the booth next to them and pressed her back to the wall. Holding the menu up in front of her, she leaned her head against the booth hoping to hear what was going on.
“It was smart of you to frame that little bitch.”
“Sarah isn’t a bitch.”
“She refused to take money from me. No one turns me down. Ever.”
Sarah realized that Marcus was talking to Dmitri, as she began to fume. He was the leak! Marcus had worked for Vitaly for years; she couldn’t believe that he would betray him like that. She wondered how much money it would take for someone to destroy a friendship like that. Grabbing her phone, Sarah hit the record app and hoped that they talked loud enough for her to pick up part of their conversation. Lisa would be so proud of her detective work.
“At any rate, it’s done. I’ve managed to manufacture the necessary digital footprints to point everything at her. That little meeting you had with her tipped it against her and Vitaly is fuming. He won’t bother looking elsewhere as he’s convinced it’s her, which is a good thing, as I’m not sure how well those footprints I left will hold up to heavier scrutiny.”
As the men continued to talk, Sarah held the phone toward them. As their conversation drew to a close, she realized that they were getting ready to leave. Quickly sitting upright, she pulled her hood tight against her collar to hide her hair length as she kept her head down pretending to text.
Chapter 6
Sarah had been home for a week when human resources contacted her. She needed to stop by security to drop off her badge and sign some paperwork. Sighing, she agreed to come by that afternoon. As she pulled into the parking lot, she checked Vitaly’s parking space and was relieved to see it empty. Walking into the lobby, she headed toward Ivan’s office. Finding it empty, she prepared to drop her badge on his desk when he walked in.
“Sarah,” Ivan said cautiously as he looked at her.
“Ivan,” she mimicked. “I understand that you have something for me to sign?”
Nodding his head, Ivan handed her exit paperwork as she quickly scanned it. Grabbing a pen, she signed it before handing it back along with her badge. As she prepared to walk out the door, she turned and handed him a thumb drive.
“What’s this?”
“A recording of a conversation between Marcus and Dmitri Nardiv. It’s a bit hard to hear, but maybe someone in IT can clean it up.”
“And how did you come by it?” Ivan asked.
Shrugging her shoulders. “I had to run some errands before I left New York and I saw Marcus acting suspicious so I followed him into a bar. He was sitting in the back talking to Dmitri, so I tried to record the conversation. Maybe you’ll find something helpful on it.”
Ivan held the thumb drive in his hand as he watched Sarah leave. He had never once thought that she was guilty. While he didn’t approve of his boss getting into a relationship with her, he’d had enough interactions with her to know that she wasn’t the type to commit espionage. Of course, it helped that her background check produced nothing out of the ordinary.
Curious as to the contents, he sat down at his desk and inserted the drive. The conversation was garbled and difficult to hear. Picking up the phone, he called up to IT to have someone come down to assist with cleaning it up. As he waited, he contemplated what he might find. While he had always considered Marcus opportunistic, he never imagined that he would commit espionage. Vitaly paid him too well.
* * * * *
It took the better part of two days, but when they finished cleaning up the audio file, there was no question as to who the leak was and that Sarah had been intentionally framed. More than once, Dmitri Nardiv expressed his displeasure at Sarah’s adamant refusal to accept his offer, which he considered quite generous. Not that she would know since she refused to hear it.
Since Vitaly was still in New York, Ivan texted him to contact him on video chat when he had a private moment. Two hours later, Ivan’s chat notification beeped indicating that Vitaly was waiting.
“Hey, boss,” Ivan said as Vitaly turned toward the monitor. “How goes New York?”
“Difficult. We’ve been cleaning up the mess Sarah made and it looks like we lost both contracts. Marcus has been working to bring in another client.”
“So, you are certain that it was Sarah, then.”
“Of course, it was her laptop….”
“Which she said that she had left at the office. Did you ever stop to think that maybe she was framed?”
“Why would I? All the evidence pointed to her.”
“But yet, you didn’t bring her up on charges. Why is that?”
“Marcus didn’t think it was a good idea.”
Maybe because the evidence would collapse, Ivan mumbled to himself.
“Ivan, what is all this about?”
“I am in receipt of an audio file that I think might be of interest to you.” As Ivan played it, he watched Vitaly’s emotions shift across his face from shock to outrage.
“Where did you get it?”
“Sarah dropped it off when she came in to sign her exit paperwork. She saw Marcus behaving suspiciously and followed him into a bar. She managed to record part of his conversation with Nardiv. It was garbled and it took some doing, but as you heard, we were able to clean it up.”
Putting his head in his hands, Vitaly rubbed his cheeks. “My god, I’ve been such a fool. After everything it took to bring Sarah back, I completely fucked it up by jumping to conclusions. How will she ever forgive me?”
“I don’t think that she will. But the bigger question is, what are you going to do about Marcus?”
“Oh, I have an idea that will not only take care of Marcus, but possibly generate a shift in contracts from Nardiv over to me, but I’m going to need help and I don’t know whom I can trust.”
“I’m all ears.”
As Vitaly laid out his idea to catch Marcus and Nardiv, Ivan couldn’t help but think about Sarah. Despite everything, she had still stepped up and did the right thing. She was all right in his book, but maybe it was best that she stayed away from Vitaly. While he respected his boss and everything that he built for himself, he was clueless when it came to having a good thing standing right there in front of him.
Chapter 7
Rather than looking for another job, Sa
rah elected to apply to graduate school. She had managed to save up enough money, plus the unemployment that HR approved would allow her to take a couple months off before starting in a Master’s program. While normally, the MBA program would already be full, her graduate supervisor called her immediately when a student had to drop out due to a family emergency. Sarah planned to start in Spring and her professor had already emailed her several links to articles to give her a jump start.
As the holidays approached, Sarah and her friends were excited to drive down to the central valley to spend it with her family. The Jenkins family was well known for their holiday extravaganzas and Christmas was her father’s favorite holiday. Her aunt had already sent her several pictures of the various Christmas trees that had been erected in the different buildings, each with their own theme.
As Sarah put the last of her things in a bag, her phone rang. Without looking at the caller id, she answered the phone.
“Sarah, it’s Ivan.”
“Ivan? What can I do for you?”
“There’s been an accident. Vitaly is in intensive care at Mountain View hospital.”
“Oh my god, what happened?”
“He appears to have been driving too fast and missed a curve. When they found his car, the EMTs were surprised that anyone was still alive. I just thought that you should know.”
“Thank you, I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
As Sarah got off the phone, she looked up to see Mia standing in her doorway. She had heard her side of the conversation. “So, what are you waiting for? Go!”
Driving to the hospital, Sarah had to force herself not to speed. She was frantic to get there as quickly as possible. An accident? How could that be? Despite his tendency to speed, he was always a careful driver. She couldn’t believe that he was in an accident.
While she hadn’t seen or heard from him since that day in New York, her feelings for him hadn’t changed. She had just come to accept that she was indeed in love with him when he accused her of espionage. At the time, she was glad that she hadn’t told him as she didn’t think she could handle the added humiliation of having her love thrown back in her face, but now she wished she had. Clearly, life was too short to spend it worrying about pride.
Pulling into the hospital parking lot, she found a space and ran inside. Not even bothering to ask for a room number, she looked at the map and headed up to the ICU. When she got off the elevator, she was faced with a large closed door. Turning the other way, she started walking toward a nurses’ station. Before she got there, she heard her name. She turned to see Ivan walking out of the ICU as Sarah ran toward him.
“Ivan, is he?” Sarah couldn’t quite finish the question as she looked at him.
Grabbing her arms, he hugged her. “So far, yes, he’s still alive. Come, we need to talk.” Taking Sarah by the hand, he pulled her into an empty family room. Sitting her down, he joined her as he rubbed the back of his head.
“Much has happened since you gave me that thumb drive.”
“Were you able to clean it up?”
“Oh yes. And it launched an investigation that included every member of Marcus’ team. It seems that they were all on Nardiv’s payroll.”
“But how could that be? I spent the weekend with Cindy. She couldn’t possibly.”
Nodding his head, “You leaving your laptop at the office was a bonus for Marcus and when he found it, it was her job to keep you busy that weekend.”
“So the dinner and the spa day?”
“Were all to keep you from going to the office.”
“What about Clara?”
Shaking his head, “As far as we could tell, she wasn’t involved, but we didn’t take any chances and she has been released from her internship.”
Sarah sat there as Ivan detailed what happened since cleaning up the audio file she gave him. He told her about Vitaly’s idea to catch Marcus and Nardiv in the act and his surprise at finding out how far the corruption went in his organization. With the help of the Union representative with the New Jersey Port Authority, they were able to cast a wide net, which snared Nardiv as well as several members of the NJPA.
This caught the attention of the federal government. As of now, Nardiv was shut down pending investigation into all aspects of his business. This opened the door for VIC Enterprises and Vitaly swept in securing most of Nardiv’s clients as new business.
“Which brings us to the last couple of days,” Ivan stated as he sighed. “Vitaly thought that he might have been followed on more than one occasion, so he started varying his transportation. Sometimes he would use his driver, other times, he would drive himself.”
Grabbing Ivan’s hand, Sarah looked at him. “So, you think that this wasn’t an accident?”
Shaking his head, “I spoke with the responding officer at the accident site. He said that there were no skid marks on the road.”
“What does that mean?”
“That his brakes may have been cut.” Sarah gasped, as she covered her mouth. Jumping up, she started to run out the door, but Ivan stopped her.
Tugging at his grip, “Ivan! Let me go! I have to see him. I have to tell him-”
“Sarah, sit down. I have to finish.” Perching on the edge of the seat, Sarah stared at Ivan willing him to hurry up.
“I never believed that you had anything to do with this. And it was that audio file that set the ball rolling. If it wasn’t for you, there’s no telling how long this could have gone on.”
At Sarah’s impatient look, he held up his hand.
“Vitaly felt like a real horse’s ass when he found out that it was you who broke all this open. But he’s a prideful man and after how he treated you, he didn’t see how you would ever forgive him. He has a terrible history with women and Marcus linking you to the leak made it really easy for him to jump to the wrong conclusions. And while that doesn’t excuse his behavior, you were both played.”
Taking a deep breath, he took both of Sarah’s hands as he looked at her.
“The accident was bad. As I said, when the EMTs responded to the scene, no one expected anyone to be alive and I think that was the point. Whether it was one of Nardiv’s people or possibly someone from the NJPA, Vitaly was not expected to walk away. And he hasn’t.”
Sarah began to tremble, as he tightened his grip on her hands. “He has massive internal injuries, several broken bones, as well as some burns. For his safety, the doctors have him in a medically-induced coma to give his body time to recover. We won’t know anything anytime soon. You need to understand that before you go in.”
“So. So, he might not recover?”
Nodding his head. “The doctors have hope. He’s young and healthy and at least he was wearing his seatbelt. But this will be a long process and should he wake up, he may not be the same person. The injuries to his head were extensive.”
Swallowing hard, Sarah squeezed his hands. “May I see him?”
Releasing her hands, Ivan stood up as he helped her to stand. Walking with her toward the ICU, he punched in a code that would give her entrance.
“Visiting hours is over, but given the gravity of his condition, we’ve been told that so long as we are quiet, we may visit.”
Sarah went up on her toes to kiss his cheek.
“Thank you, Ivan. Thank you for everything.” Turning, she walked inside as the door closed behind her.
Unsure which way to go, she looked around. There were twelve beds in semi-private rooms enclosed on three sides with the fourth open to a nurses’ station. About to ask which room he was in, she spotted an overly dressed woman exit one of the rooms.
Walking toward her, Sarah noticed how tall she was. With platinum blonde hair and far too much makeup, her leather pants and silk blouse did not seem that out of place in comparison. As the woman was about to walk past her, she paused.
In a thick Russian accent, “You are Sarah?”
Nodding her head, Sarah put her hand out to shake. “Yes, I’m Sarah Jenkins.”
Pinching Sarah’s fingers lightly in a mock handshake, “I am Nadia Chekov. You have come to see my Vitaly?”
Nodding her head, Sarah was unsure how to respond as Vitaly had told her that they were divorcing. Smiling tightly, Nadia picked up on her thoughts.
“Do not worry. We are not married now. But we have known each other for so long that a part of me will always care for him.”
As Nadia headed toward the exit, she turned back to Sarah. “We both love him, but it is your love that he needs now. Take care of him,” she said as she pushed the exit button and walked out.
Sarah turned toward the room Nadia had come out of and walked toward it. She resisted the urge to run. She would have loved this to be some sort of elaborate ruse and desperately hoped that what she would see wouldn’t be as bad as she was made to expect. As she got to the entrance, she paused. Closing her eyes, she pictured him on their last plane ride to New York. Smiling. Laughing. Taking a deep breath, she parted the curtain and stepped inside.
Since it was late, the room was dimly lit, as a lone body laid cast in the glow of the lights from several machines. Sarah was surprised at the amount of noise coming from the machines, as she wondered how anyone could sleep through all that clicking and beeping.
Walking toward him, Sarah looked down at him. He had more bandages than skin showing, as tubes and wires connected to various parts of his body in an intricate pattern that only a doctor could appreciate. Seeing the empty chair, she moved it to the far side of the bed before sitting down. His right hand had an IV tube running from it, but other than that, it appeared relatively uninjured. Rubbing his hand, she covered her mouth to keep from screaming. This was all too much.
A voice clearing announced the arrival of a nurse, as Sarah quickly stood up. Waving at her to sit back down, the nurse checked codes on the machines and took vitals. Before she left, she looked at Sarah.
“I know that it looks bad and we can’t make any guarantees, but give him time. Sometimes people pull through. Don’t give up hope just yet.”
As she turned to walk away, she paused. “And talk to him.”
