Cipher

by Robert Stohn

  “What’s the plan?” Dmitry asked.

  “It’s time to call Sheik Abdullah,” Boris said. “It’s time to unload this list.”

  “What about making a copy?” Dmitry asked.

  “Let me worry about that. For now, we need to get him here for the exchange. We need to let him know that we have the list.”

  Dmitry grabbed the phone back and dialed the phone number for Sheik Abdullah, listened to the phone ringing, then handed the phone back to his brother. “Here you go,” he said.

  Boris grabbed the phone and listened to the tone as it rang on the other end. Sheik Abdullah promptly answered.

  “Hello Boris,” said the Sheik.

  “Hello Sheik Abdullah,” Boris said. His telephone demeanor was a 180-degree turn from that with which he spoke to Viktor with.

  “Has it been a week yet?” asked Boris. He smiled to himself. He knew he was early.

  “You already have the list?” the Sheik asked.

  “Did you not think I would get it so fast? Maybe not at all?” Boris asked.

  “I had my doubts,” the Sheik said slyly over the phone.

  “Well, the list is ready. When can we meet?” Boris asked.

  “How many names?”

  “All of them,” Boris said very slowly.

  “You have all of the names?”

  “3,486 field agents. That’s three billion four-hundred eighty six million dollars,” Boris said.

  “Done,” the Sheik said almost mater-of-factually. “I will be there in 36 hours.”

  “We’re at the Istanbul port,” Boris said.

  “I expect that I will arrive by helicopter again, which won’t be a problem, will it?” asked the Sheik.

  “No problem at all.”

  “Good, I’ll see you in 36 hours,” said the Sheik.

  “See you then.”

  Boris clicked the phone shut and smiled at his brother. “Are you ready to make almost four billion dollars brother?”

  Dmitry smiled. He finally got to see his brother happy. “I’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time,” he said. “Glad to see you happy.”

  “I’ll be happy when our little problem is taken care of,” Boris said. “No more loose ends. Do you understand?”

  “Yes. We’ll take care of it. Don’t worry… we’ll take care of it.”

  *****

  Jonathan and Jennifer sat in the back of the dark sedan helmed by Agent Steiner. In the front passenger seat was Agent Jenkins. They were enroute to a rendezvous point in the heart of the city where they could be debriefed further on what they knew, and receive training for what was to come. Little did they know that the man who had failed twice to kill them was tailing not too far behind; little did they know what else was in store for them. They sat through the early afternoon traffic and quietly spoke to one another. They looked around at the scenery as they made their way past the front of the Aya Sophia and back towards the city center.

  Looking out onto the ocean and the islands on the horizon beyond, Jonathan was still mesmerized by the beauty of Istanbul. “This place is beautiful,” he said to Jennifer.

  “I’m glad you like it,” she said smiling.

  “What do you guys think of it here?” Jonathan asked the two agents in the front.

  “Mesmerizing,” said Agent Jenkins. “I’ve been here before and so has Agent Steiner, but it never ceases to amaze me. But, I’ve also seen other parts of the country. We were on an assignment down in Antalya, which is a prime vacation spot in the country. You should see it there,” Agent Jenkins said.

  “I love Antalya. We used to take summer vacations there when I was a little girl,” Jennifer said.

  “So, where exactly are you guys staying?” Jonathan asked.

  “A part of town called Nisantaş. Not too far from the first hotel you stayed in when you first arrived in town, Jonathan,” said Agent Steiner. Jonathan looked at them with suspect. They apparently knew about that too. He wondered what else they knew about that they weren’t disclosing.

  They arrived at the new hotel that Jonathan had checked into in the city center, and the two agents bid them farewell and told them they would meet again in the morning. Jonathan and Jennifer walked into the hotel and headed back towards the room. They both hadn’t eaten and were feeling hungry, so they decided to head to the restaurant inside the hotel. They had checked in under assumed names – something that was easy to pull off in a city like Istanbul with a small bribe – so they felt relatively safe.

  They sat down in the restaurant inside the hotel, which was virtually empty because it was partway through the lunch and dinnertime rushes. “So, how do you feel about tomorrow? Are you ready?” Jonathan asked.

  “To be honest, I’m really nervous,” Jennifer said. “What about you?”

  “I am too but I trust the agents. I don’t think we can pull this off without their help.”

  “Yeah, you’re right. But what if something goes wrong? What if something really bad happens?” she asked.

  “We’ll deal with it. If something really bad happens, we’ll just have to deal with it. There’s nothing else we can do. If we don’t get these guys, we’ll have to watch our backs forever. I really don’t want to have to be on the run, being chased by shadows, do you?” Jonathan asked.

  “No, of course not.”

  “So, it’s settled then.”

  “What’s settled?” she asked. She picked up the menu and looked at it absentmindedly.

  “That we’re going to do it. That we’re going to go through with it. We don’t have any other choices.”

  “We always have choices, Jonathan,” she cooed.

  “I know that. What I meant is… oh never mind…”

  “I know what you meant. You’re trying to be supportive. You’re trying to make me not worry. I appreciate it. I really do,” she said. Her blonde hair fell in front of her eyes as she looked down at the menu. Jonathan wanted to reach over and brush it aside. He wanted to reach over and pull her face close and kiss her, but he didn’t.

  “Why did you really come back here? Why did you come all the way back to Istanbul? I know you grew up here, but it’s so far away from everything you once knew. It’s so far away from your entire life the way you once knew it. It’s so far away from Virginia. Don’t you miss it at all? Don’t you miss being back in the states?”

  “Sure I do. But there were a lot of reasons why I came back. Aside from family, this is where I grew up. The states was home, but it was temporary, and I was burnt out. I was really burnt out. I worked my butt off for two years on this research project, and now it’s come around to haunt me. Now I’m running from my past,” she said.

  The waiter appeared and took their drink menu. They decided to order a bottle of white wine to start with, along with some appetizers. She ordered for the both of them. She spoke way too fast and her Turkish was impeccable. Most of the conversation was lost in translation for him, but he was happy she was there to order for the both of them.

  “What do you mean running from your past?” he asked. He looked at her as though he didn’t understand.

  “Jonathan, there’s so much that… so much that you just don’t know… that you just wouldn’t really understand.”

  “Try me?” he said.

  “Not now. Maybe another time. I really just don’t want to get into all of this right now. I really don’t…”

  “I understand. It’s been stressful. I know that. It will be okay. Things will get better. We’ll get through this. We’ll get through this together,” he said with conviction. He reached over and grabbed her hand after the waiter poured off the first couple of glasses of wine.

  “I know,” she said. “One way or another, we’ll get through this.” She squeezed his hand and it sent electricity running through his body. He couldn’t profess just how he felt about her; he couldn’t believe it himself. In such a short period of time, he had managed to develop these feelings for her. Now, he didn’t want to
leave her side. He didn’t want to let her go. He couldn’t let her go.

  “Can I ask you something?”

  “Sure,” she said. “What is it?”

  “I guess I’ve been wanting to ask you this, but haven’t really gotten around to it. I guess I didn’t really find it appropriate before,” he said, taking a big swig of the white wine in his glass.

  “Yes?” she asked curiously.

  “Why did you take that job? I mean, did you realize what you were actually doing? I know we talked about this, but when I was thinking about it in my mind, it just didn’t make a whole lot of sense. Was it only for the money?”

  “There were a lot of reasons, money was one of them. Yes. I can’t deny the fact that the money was very alluring. But algorithms and applied mathematics is a passion of mine. Imagine being paid really well for what you loved doing in life. Could you imagine that?” she asked.

  Yes, Jonathan certainly knew what that was like. He was living it at that moment. “Okay…”

  “Imagine that for a moment. Wouldn’t you jump at it? Wouldn’t you jump at the opportunity to do that?” she asked.

  “Yes, of course. Being here right now is exactly that, but didn’t you think for a moment that what you were doing could be used to harm people? I mean not directly, but indirectly. It’s essentially a hacking device or a universal key that could give you access to any system in the world.”

  “Of course I thought about it, but it wasn’t just my work, it was also the chipset. It was cutting edge stuff; the wave of the future. In 10 or 20 years from now, those chipsets are going to be the foundational CPUs used in artificial intelligence. I guess that even though I knew what I was doing might be used for some bad, that the allure of working on a project like that just drew me in. Does that make sense to you?” she asked. She took a big swig of her wine and polished it off before Jonathan could even finish his, then she topped both glasses off.

  Jonathan looked at her as she topped off the wine and her hair fell in front of her face again. That blonde hair that he wanted so badly to just move to the side away from her face. Her pale blue eyes locked with his soft brown eyes as soon as she looked up. She caught him looking at her with intent and it didn’t bother her. There was something about him that drew her in as well. She knew she was being sucked in. She didn’t want to be; she didn’t want to develop feelings for anyone else, but neither did he. They were both damaged, but in different ways.

  “It makes sense… I guess… I just… I don’t know. I was just curious, that’s all. That’s all it really was, just some curiosity,” he said. But he wanted to say so much more to her. He wanted to tell her so many more things, but he didn’t. He stopped short of doing that. But as the wine was polished off and a new bottle arrived along with the food, Jonathan was building up his nerves. He hadn’t felt this nervous around a girl for years; not since his late wife. He didn’t think he could feel anything for anyone again; he really didn’t think he could.

  “How’s the food?” she asked.

  “Incredible. Absolutely incredible. I never would have imagined how amazing everything could be here. And, you know, I do want to say one other thing,” he added.

  “What’s that?” she asked with a sly smile on her face.

  “I’m happy to be here. I’m actually very happy to be here. I know that we’ve been through a lot in a short period of time together, but I’m glad I took this job. I’m glad I had a chance to meet you.”

  “I am too,” she said, smiling again, except this time it was a genuine smile. He could feel the sincerity in her voice. He could feel her actually meaning that, and it almost knocked him on his back. He was floored. He couldn’t believe it. He couldn’t believe the way he was feeling for her.

  They continued their conversation over wine, and after the third bottle was completed and the dessert was devoured, they headed back to the hotel room. On the way, they held hands and walked side-by-side. It sent butterflies in his stomach, and she raised her eyebrows and preened her hair the entire way back to the hotel room. He knew she was flirting with him. He could sense that she was actually flirting with him.

  He opened the hotel room by slipping the key into the door and they fell onto the bed together. They locked in a heated embrace. He couldn’t believe what was happening. He couldn’t believe the way he was feeling. Her soft lips met his and he thought he had slipped into a dream. He wrapped his tongue around hers as they danced together to a silent sonnet in their mouths and it was wonderful. He couldn’t have thought of a better feeling than that very moment. He flipped her over on the bed and was on top of her, kissing her. It was passionate and his mind was racing at a million-miles-a-minute. He could feel his heart beating in the back of his throat as his tongue continued to lock with hers.

  He broke the embrace momentarily and looked at her in her eyes. He was on top of her looking into her eyes and he held the back of her neck with his right hand, just behind her ear, and kissed her lips softly. He felt like he was back in high school again. Her lips were so perfect. Her eyes were so perfect. He got lost in another kiss. He felt like he could have kissed her for hours on end. There was nothing he wanted more than to kiss her like that, from the very first moment that he met her. Everything that had happened – everything that they had been through – had brought them to that very moment. And it was in that very moment that they became lost in one another. Two souls who not too long ago were nothing but strangers, had intertwined their spirits with one another.

  He held onto the back of her neck as he kissed her passionately. He still couldn’t believe that it was happening. He pulled back again and she kissed the side of his face making her way to his ear. She breathed lightly into his ear and whispered, “I’ve wanted to kiss you like that for a long time now.”

  “Really?” he asked.

  “Really,” she said with the gentlest voice. She was like a little lioness lying there so perfectly. She really was perfect to him.

  He embraced her in a kiss again. He wrapped his tongue around hers and pulled her face closer to his with his hand. He had imagined that moment in his mind so many times over. He had pictured kissing her just like that over, and over again. It was so perfect; it was jut as perfect as he had imagined. He wanted to freeze that moment in time and save it forever. He never wanted it to slip away. He never wanted her to slip away.

  Chapter 18

  Boris Medviek sat in front of his laptop on his yacht, his fingers furiously gliding across the keyboard. He clicked the keys with purpose. He was on a mission. The glowing screen illuminated in the dark living quarters of the superyacht. It was the middle of the night. And as he sat there typing away, he realized what he was about to do. Amsterdam was just a test. He had tested the waters and he knew they were fine. He knew what he could do now. He knew what type of power he held in his hands. He was going to disrupt everything. He was going to bring the world’s financial markets to a screeching halt.

  He launched the UNIX browsers one by one, opening up infrastructure, financial, and communication portals. He was starting with Istanbul. He was going to cripple the city. Then it would be New York, Sydney, Los Angeles, and so on. They were on the hunt for him, and he was going to ensure that no one found him. He wouldn’t allow them to interrupt his plans. He wasn’t going to allow anything to come in the way of him and his goals. He continued typing furiously on the keyboard as the glowing screen spit back results to his commands. Line by line he hammered away. First, he was going to take out the power in Istanbul. Without power, they would have no means of communications. They would have no way to get him. He could do that. He could do more than that in fact.

  It was critical for him to use his satellite uplink on the superyacht. He needed the Internet connection constant. He couldn’t allow himself to go into the city and be disconnected. Soon there would be no power, no Internet, and no means of communications in Istanbul. But his satellite uplink would be unaffected. He knew that and he knew the city was go
ing to dive into complete chaos. After more clicks of the button, he sat back and watched the commands on the UNIX browsers spitting back one by one and he waited. He waited until he had access to the Istanbul power grid. It was just past 4am and there were 24 hours until his meeting with Sheik Abdullah. After that, he knew he could disappear.

  A few more clicks of the keyboard, and he sat back upright in front of his glaring monitor. He was in. The primitive security made him laugh. They couldn’t stop him, not without power or any other means of communications. He navigated through the Turkish infrastructure’s Website and sent override codes in. The power was going offline. He waited as the system generated more lines of code and he stepped outside onto the deck to feel the cool breeze of the evening air. The yacht was anchored at the dock and he looked out at the city and its lights. The yacht was self-sufficient, running on an onboard power generator. He was fueled up and ready for the crisis. He waited out on the deck until the city’s lights went out.

  As he looked out onto the horizon, he saw the streetlights going off one by one. Little by little, each section of the city lost power as the grid came offline. He knew that there would be panic, but it wouldn’t happen right away. He ran back inside to his laptop and took his seat in front of it. He watched as the commands streamed down the screen as his overrides for the power grid went into effect. He would only have a small window, but that’s all that he would need. He only needed one short day and he was going to disrupt the city and others by any means necessary. He continued with his task as his fingers glided across the screen. He would now interrupt the telecom companies in Istanbul. Once he flipped the switch all home phones and cell phones would stop working. Communications would be gone and he would be a ghost.

  He acted fast. He suspended the power grid shut off to the major telecoms by furiously typing in the UNIX browser screen. He needed to gain access and implant a virus before all power was gone. He slammed violently on the keys and his fingers glided across with an incredible quickness. He was analyzing, testing, debugging, and sending data at a lightning rate. He felt like he was part of the machine. He felt like he was one with the technology. The maniacal thoughts swirled through his head as he looked out at the partially lit city through the superyacht’s vast banks of windows and he smiled to himself. He watched as he gained access to the telecoms and initiated an all-out-attack with more pounding of the keys. The sun was still hours from rising, and he still had so much work to do.