by Estelle Ryan
He was losing focus and I needed to know what had caused the terror in his eyes. “Why did you call?”
Nikolai took a deep breath, then rolled his shoulders and straightened. “Lev Markov called me three hours ago. He’s devastated. He said that he never intended for this to get out of control like this. He admitted he naively thought only a few key people would be affected.”
“What the bleeding hell are you talking about?” Manny leaned forward, his frown deep.
“I need you to know that I’ve known Lev almost as long as I was friends with Aleksei.”
“Aleksei Volyntsev?” Daniel asked.
“Yes. But Al and Lev were closer. I didn’t spend that much time with Lev, but I knew that Al held him in very high regard. When Lev phoned, he begged me to make sure everyone understands why he did what he did. He never imagined that so many people might be affected by his actions.”
“What actions?” Manny nodded his head impatiently. “What did Markov do that has gotten out of hand?”
“Lev was exiled from Belarus because he was too rich and had too much influence in high society. Russia didn’t like it, because Lev has always been extremely liberal. He was never a supporter of communism and when Belarus gained its independence from Russia in 1989, he was delighted.
“By then he already had two moderately successful businesses. Within five years, those two companies grew to multi-million-dollar companies and he expanded into Western Europe. It was around that time that Russia took note and leaned on the president to get rid of Lev.
“Pyotr Grekova, the current president, was friends with Lev even then. He was also on the then-president’s staff and was able to intervene. Lev agreed to leave Belarus as long as he could take his businesses with him. It was ultimately Russia who had to sign off on this, since they were the ones who wanted Lev gone.
“Russia agreed and Lev took his family and left Belarus. That was eighteen years ago. He has not been back since then. Even though Russia no longer has as strong a hold on Belarus as it had immediately after the end of the Soviet Union, Russia still controls most of what happens in that country. Lev is unlikely to return to the country of his birth in his lifetime.”
“And he wants to go home.” Colin looked down from the ceiling. “So he hired Fradkov to set Russia up. If Russia was involved in an international scandal that made all the NATO countries ready their militaries, it would be easier for the current Belarussian president to take steps to move away from such a controlling power.”
Nikolai nodded. “That is almost exactly what Lev told me. He had two reasons for hiring Fradkov to frame Russia. His strongest motivation was to return to his home country. He longed to once again walk along the river on the farm where his grandparents lived. The second reason was to help his very good friend, President Grekova.
“He knew that Grekova wanted to be less dependent on Russia, but was powerless to change anything. With Russia on the defensive for their alleged actions, he could discredit Russia to Belarussians who would not give the West any consideration.”
“Oh, wow.” Francine tilted her tablet for Manny to see what she was working on. “Lev Markov most definitely had the cash to fund such an ambitious political project.”
“Is this right?” Manny looked from the tablet to Nikolai. “Lev Markov is worth ninety-three billion dollars?”
“It sounds about right.” Nikolai crossed his arms tightly over his chest. “That kind of money can warp a man’s mind. I honestly didn’t think it happened with Lev. The times I’d met him with Al, he always seemed so down to earth. The two of them met at an art exhibition soon after Lev had come to France.
“Their relationship started very strained. Al was working for the country who had taken Lev’s home away from him. But it was their shared passion for the arts that kept them together. It was also this that brought me to the friendship. I’d admired Lev’s ability to move on and make the most of his life outside of Belarus. He seemed genuinely happy.”
“This idiot hired a psychopath to destabilise a country, but didn’t think it would affect many people?” Manny uttered a rude noise. “How can you admire someone like that?”
“I didn’t know about any of this.” Nikolai blinked a few times as if to gain control over his emotions.
I pointed at his forehead, forgetting for a moment that he couldn’t see exactly where I was pointing. “Your expression is revealing intense grief. What happened?”
“Last night, all three of Lev’s children were murdered.”
“Oh, my God.” Francine slapped her hand over her sternum. “That’s horrible. What happened?”
Nikolai rubbed his hand over his mouth a few times. “They were executed. There was no attempt to make their deaths look like accidents or suicides. It was clear these were assassinations.”
My mind immediately went back to Otto’s lifeless body next to me in the restaurant. I grabbed Colin’s hand and focused on his fingers tightening around mine.
“They killed his son in London, his other son in Minsk and his daughter in Paris. All three were shot in the head.” Nikolai pressed his fist against his mouth for a few seconds. “Lev called me as soon as he got the news. And I sent my family away immediately.”
“Tell us exactly what Lev told you.” Manny’s jaw muscles were tense, his hands fisted in his trouser pockets.
“Lev contracted Fradkov to put Russia in an extremely compromising position. Fradkov was quite excited about the idea, but demanded complete autonomy in executing the plan. Lev was pleased with this, because it would give him deniability. He didn’t want any of this to come back to him. He also paid the ten million euros up front without any question.”
“Ten million?” Francine asked.
“That was only the deposit. Fradkov was to receive another forty million as soon as things started falling apart for Russia.”
“Holy saints.” Manny shook his head. “That’s a lot of money. A lot of motivation.”
“Lev didn’t mind spending it if it meant he could go to his homeland. And he has the money.” Nikolai shifted in his chair. “But he didn’t know that money would buy so much trouble. He didn’t know that Fradkov had his own agenda.”
“What agenda?” Daniel asked.
“He wouldn’t say. All Lev told me was that he contacted Fradkov about a year ago. Their original plan was to frame Russia in an indisputable manner so all the NATO countries would push back. Lev would then get President Grekova to side with NATO. Lev knew it would take time before he could return to Belarus, but he was willing to wait. He just wanted Russia to lose power in a country it had no business controlling.”
“Well, things certainly didn’t work out as planned.” Vinnie walked back to lean against the doorframe separating my viewing room from the team room.
“Lev realised this after the radiation poisoning a few months ago.” Nikolai shook his head. “He said that he’d spoken to Fradkov, wanting to back out, but Fradkov wouldn’t. Lev said that he’d never met a man who had scared him as much as Fradkov. And that’s when he asked Al for help.
“Lev thinks that Al wasn’t careful enough when he looked into Fradkov. Lev warned Al that Fradkov has people everywhere. Maybe Al didn’t take it seriously enough. Maybe Al was very careful, but Fradkov found out anyway that Al was looking into him and whatever he was planning.”
“So Fradkov poisoned Al with polonium-210.” Colin nodded. “Easy way to get rid of a threat.”
“You didn’t know any of this?” Manny’s tone conveyed his scepticism.
“Not about this.” Nikolai shook his head vigorously. “Not about Lev’s plans, not about Fradkov and this plot to set Russia up or any other plots.”
“You’re truthful about not knowing about Lev and Fradkov, but then you hesitated.” I wouldn’t need to replay this. His hesitation had been quite obvious. “What do you know?”
“I didn’t know about Fradkov’s plot.”
“That’s true.”
; Nikolai sighed. “But I knew something was going on.”
“Speak.” Manny slouched deeper in his chair.
“Roman, my assistant, has quite the knack for finding out all the gossip. It doesn’t matter if it’s personal, professional or political, these rumours always find their way to Roman. And he tells me.
“About two months ago, he told me that he heard rumours that some man was exchanging paintings in Lev’s Strasbourg house for forgeries. I immediately told Al who told Lev. Back then, he promised us it was impossible. The exhibition paintings he had in his house were under twenty-four-hour protection. When I asked him about this now, he told me it had been Fradkov. Apparently, he’d threatened Lev’s business and family and also promised to reveal Lev’s conspiracy against Russia if Lev didn’t turn a blind eye while Fradkov entered the secure room with the paintings. Lev said he didn’t have a choice. He also said that all the paintings were inspected before they were shipped and there were no red flags. All the paintings were accepted as authentic.”
Manny shook his head. “Idiot.”
“Roman told me about another interesting rumour. A few weeks ago, he came to me and said that there are a lot of grumblings in the Kremlin about some conspiracy to either slow down or put a complete stop to the peace talks between Russia and the EU.”
These were the talks President Godard and Isabelle had attended in Brussels a few days ago. The same talks Isabelle feared any scandal connected to her or the president would damage. A scandal that could’ve come out had someone found the fictitious transfers from the offshore account in her name to Daniel’s account.
“Roman also heard that the Kremlin was extremely happy that they’d managed to turn some spy.”
“What spy?” Manny asked.
“Roman didn’t know whether it was CIA, MI6 or any other agency. He only knew that Russia was paying this man a lot of money to get rid of Fradkov. And yes, Roman was quite sure it’s a man.”
I thought back to our visit to Nikolai’s office and my impression of Roman Kuvaev. “How much do you trust Roman?”
“I believe this information to be true, but I don’t trust Roman to keep any of my conversations, actions or even visitors confidential. He’s the kind of man who’s only loyal to himself. He’s said enough to make me doubt his loyalty to Russia. He would pretend strong nationalism, loyalty if that would get him promoted, but not because he truly cares for Russia.”
“Not like you do.” It was clear on his face.
He nodded. “I love my country. This is really hard for me. I can understand why so many officials are willing to pay personally to fund this spy.”
“The Kremlin is not paying this spy?” Manny asked.
“They are. But Roman said quite a few officials offered bonuses on top of the fee if Fradkov is killed.”
“What’s the bet these are the officials under Fradkov’s control?” Francine tapped her finger on her lips. “If Fradkov is gone, they will also be free.”
“Bloody hell.” Manny rubbed his hands over his face. “I just hope we can stop Fradkov before this turns into a world war.”
“What else did Lev tell you?” I asked.
“That’s it. I’ve just betrayed my country by telling you all of this.” The corners of his mouth turned down. “But I don’t know if anyone else can be trusted at the moment. Not to do the right thing. It seems like everyone has a dog in the race. I’m counting on you to look at the bigger picture. Please don’t let there be any more bloodshed than there’s already been.”
“Do you need our help, Nikolai?” Daniel asked.
“No. I will clear out here and go to my family. You won’t hear from me again. Not soon anyway.”
Manny and Daniel tried to convince Nikolai to remain contactable, but he was resolute. I didn’t know why Daniel didn’t see the stubborn expression around Nikolai’s eyes and mouth. He was not going to put his family’s or his life in any more danger. He ended the call.
I turned to Colin. “There aren’t any dogs or races that I need to think about, right?”
“What?” Colin’s frown quickly turned into a smile. “No, love. That was just an expression to say that Nikolai was worried about everyone’s motivation being self-interest.”
“Talking about self-interest.” Manny lowered his chin and stared at Colin. “I saw you drooling over the paintings. How many are real?”
Colin rolled his eyes. “Of the sixty-one we brought from Fradkov’s panic room, only thirty-two are the original artworks. Add that to the six that we got from his house the first time gives us thirty-eight original Renaissance masterpieces that should be on that plane. Thirty-eight. My God, the value is just hard to imagine.”
“What about the others?” Daniel asked.
“Good forgeries, but they would not have passed muster.” Colin looked at me. “They would easily have been identified as forgeries.”
“Doc?” Manny studied me. “What do you think about this?”
“If you’re talking about Nikolai’s revelations, I think it gives us better insight into the catalyst for Fradkov’s plan. The profile I built on him makes me doubt that the money is his only motivation—significant as the amount might be. Not only is this kind of political game an exciting challenge for Fradkov, it would also give him the perfect opportunity to find new ways to gain control over more key people.”
“And he’s willing to go to extremes to eliminate anyone from stopping his plan.” Francine rubbed her arms. “Killing a man’s children is beyond cold.”
“Aleksei Volyntsev sent me another email.” Daniel waved the new smartphone Francine had given him. “I checked my second work email and there is an email from him. He sent it the day before I got on the plane.” He looked at his phone. “He said he was worried about his safety and his health. He thought he was poisoned and that he was most likely going to die. And if anything happened to him, I must look into Ivan Fradkov.”
“Why did you not see this email earlier?” Manny asked.
“This address is only used by my superiors. Whenever there’s an email about a sensitive or top-secret issue, I receive a coded SMS. Only then do I check my email. I got that SMS for the first email. Most likely because one of my superiors gave Volyntsev my email address and knew I might not check that address unless prompted. But I didn’t receive an SMS for the second email.”
“Got it!” Francine did a little dance and winked at Daniel. “It wasn’t too hard finding your second email account. At least not too hard when I looked for accounts with only numbers in the address.”
“Supermodel.” Manny sounded tired. “Stop hacking law enforcement agencies.”
“Pah!” Francine froze. Her smile disappeared, replaced by an expression I seldom saw. “I just got an email from Joe.”
“Hacker Joe?” Manny asked before I could. Although I would not have referred to the man who’d sent Otto to Francine as ‘Hacker Joe’.
Francine didn’t answer Manny. Instead she pushed her way past Vinnie and ran to her computer.
Chapter TWENTY-ONE
“Come on, Joe!” Francine’s corrugator supercilii muscles pulled her professionally shaped eyebrows together. “Don’t do this to me.”
Manny moved closer, but wisely didn’t say anything. I was standing with everyone else behind Francine. She was typing frantically on her computer, her breathing fast, her body tense. I looked at her computer monitor again, even though I knew that I would not understand any of the codes running across the screen.
“No!” Francine typed for another thirty seconds while uttering phrases that made even Vinnie raise his eyebrows. Finally, she brought both her fists down hard next to her keyboard and screamed in frustration.
“Speak.” Manny pulled a chair closer and sat down next to her.
“If I ever find this piece of shit, I swear I’ll harm his family jewels so badly, he’ll curse me every single time he has to pee.”
“What do a man’s family jewels have to do with his
ability to urinate?” My shoulders dropped when the men groaned and the women laughed loudly. I had once again interpreted some ridiculous expression literally. At least my question had lessened the tension in Francine’s body. “Don’t answer that. Rather tell me why you are so angry.”
“I was trying to get Joe to come in and talk to us, but he refused.” She gestured angrily at her computer. “Then he got all pissy and logged off. After he told me that I’d just have to make do with what he sent me and that he was bowing out.”
Colin squeezed my hand. “He is withdrawing from hacking.” He frowned and looked at Francine. “Did he mean he was retiring from hacking completely or just from talking to you?”
“Hacking. He said he’s done with it.” She leaned back in her chair and rubbed her temples. “Because of Fradkov. He’s so scared of Fradkov that he has set himself up with a new identity and will never be found. And believe me, Joe is a brilliant hacker. No one will find him if he doesn’t want to be found.”
“What did he give you?” I asked.
“Huh?” She blinked a few times. “Oh. Yes. He gave me a frigging mile-long list of IP addresses. And no, girlfriend, it’s not really a mile long. I’m just pissed off, so forgive me if I exaggerate a little.”
“You seldom exaggerate ‘a little’.” I sighed when her mouth dropped open in faux outrage. “Your hyperbolic statements are at best unbelievable and at worst fantastical.”
“Yeah, yeah. I love you too.” She rolled her eyes. “Joe told me that he’s been working for Fradkov on and off for the last three years. The money has been spectacular, which made it easy for him to look past the things Fradkov was doing.”
“As if this Joe isn’t committing crimes.” Manny pushed his hands in his trouser pockets. “Tell me more about the IP addresses.”
Francine turned to her computer. “Joe said that Fradkov is planning something huge this evening and that these addresses will lead us to the what, where and when. He didn’t have time to look into that. And he said that he’s not really interested in looking into that. He didn’t start hacking to save the world, but he couldn’t sit back and let all these cities get blown up.”
