Charles Brokaw - The Lucifer Code

Cleena paid the man and tipped him well enough, but not so well that he would remember her, and got out. She stepped into the flow of human traffic and looked around.

‘Sevki,’ she said.

‘I haven’t seen anyone yet.’ Sevki sounded frazzled and she felt badly about asking him for so much.

‘None of the monks?’

‘Not one.’

‘I don’t think they let me go alone because they trusted me.’

‘They probably thought you were going to lead them into a trap.’

Cleena grinned at that. The thought of the monks being afraid of her rocked her world a little. They were smug with their holier-than-thou attitudes. But they weren’t the ones she was intent on trapping.

‘You’ll see someone soon. Just keep a close watch over me.’

‘Always. But you know, I really have to protest this course of action.’

‘Again?’ Cleena pulled open the café door and entered the darkness. She slipped her sunglasses off and surveyed the large room.

Patrons occupied most of the three or four dozen computers scattered around. Nearly all of them were involved in online gaming or surfing porn sites. Sometimes they did both.

‘Yes – again,’ Sevki said. ‘You didn’t listen the first few times.’

‘It wasn’t a few.’ Cleena went to the front desk and negotiated for a computer. She showed one of the fake identifications Sevki had arranged for her and paid cash, English pounds.

‘It wasn’t enough,’ Sevki countered. ‘These guys you’re playing with, they’re out of your league.’

‘I got drafted into this.’ Cleena sat at the table and swiped the card she’d been given through the data reader. The computer powered up and allowed her access. ‘If it had been up to me, I’d still be playing in the minor leagues.’

‘I know.’

‘These aren’t the kind of guys who will simply let you fade away once everything is said and done. You know that.’

Sevki sighed. ‘I know.’

‘All I can do is increase their cost to play. The same way we did when you stepped wrong round the Russian Mafia.’ Cleena felt badly about bringing that up, but she also felt she didn’t have a choice.

‘I know. I still owe you for that.’

‘No, you don’t.’ Cleena took a deep breath. ‘But I could use help now. I can’t do this by myself. If I can’t be safe, I want my sister to be.’

‘She will be. Are you at the computer?’

‘I am.’

‘Then go to this IP address.’

Cleena did, and once there, she downloaded all the programs and applications Sevki had waiting. The computer protested just for a moment, then the warning screen for the firewalls quieted and went away. Within seconds, Sevki had the machine slaved to his own.

‘We’re set up,’ Sevki said a short time later.

Tension knotted Cleena’s stomach. She forced herself to pick up the phone handset on the table and slot it into the USB port. In seconds, the internet phone connection linked up. She dialled the number she’d been given, then settled back to watch the front and back doors. If she was right, and she felt certain she was, things would happen very quickly. She just had to make certain they didn’t happen to her.

The phone rang.

When CIA Special Agent in Charge James Dawson heard the strident ring of the phone on the nightstand beside the bed in his hotel room, he held up a hand to the young woman straddling him. She stopped her wild gyrations but continued a gentle rocking that held him right at the brink.

He checked the number and saw he didn’t recognize it. There was only one person who could possibly be calling him from a phone he wouldn’t have the number for. He flipped the phone open confidently and ran his free hand over the sweat-slick body of the young woman atop him.

‘Ah, Miss MacKenna,’ Dawson greeted Cleena. ‘Just when I had almost given up on you.’

‘Your goons at the Hagia Sophia nearly did their job too well,’ she said.

Genuine puzzlement nagged at Dawson. ‘I wouldn’t know what you’re talking about.’

‘I didn’t think that you would. But their attack created a problem.’

Some of Dawson’s confidence oozed away. ‘Is the professor all right?’

‘He is. But only just. And not for the lack of trying on the part of your hired help.’

‘I must protest, Miss MacKenna. I don’t know what you’re talking about.’ Dawson didn’t know what she was talking about, but she seemed awfully sure of herself.

‘Did they tell you that the professor found a scroll?’

That caught Dawson’s attention. ‘What scroll?’

‘I don’t think it’s the main one,’ she continued. ‘Everyone here seems a bit disconcerted that it hasn’t turned up yet. But they also seem convinced that the professor will find it soon enough.’

‘Good. When he does, you’ll be out of this situation. So will your sister.’

‘My sister’s already out of it.’

Dawson grinned at that. ‘I’m aware that your sister has dropped from sight, but I have a great many people at my disposal who are really good at finding people who try to lose themselves.’

Her voice hardened. ‘I wouldn’t try to do that if I were you.’

‘You do pose a challenge,’ Dawson said, ‘but you’ll never be in any position to carry out any of your threats.’ He paused. ‘Why are you calling me now?’

‘To negotiate.’

‘You have nothing to negotiate with.’

‘I know where the professor and the first scroll are.’

‘But you don’t know where the main scroll is.’

‘Once you have the professor and the scroll he has now, you should be able to find it.’

‘What do you want?’

‘A ceasefire. Between you and me. The deal is this: I give you the professor and the first scroll, and you forget about my sister and me.’

Dawson glanced at his watch. Enough time had passed that the electronics teams tracing calls into this phone should have a location.

‘I’m in the middle of something here,’ Dawson said, smiling up at the young woman. ‘Can I call you back?’

‘I’d rather be the one doing the calling.’

‘Fine. Then call me back in an hour.’ Calmly, Dawson closed the phone. It rang immediately. ‘Tell me you got a location.’

‘We did. She’s at a cyber café in the harbour. We’ve got a team en route.’

‘Have them stay back. I don’t want her to see them until it’s too late. No one makes a move until I clear it. Understood?’

‘Yes, sir.’

Dawson folded the phone and placed it once more on the nightstand. He reached for the young woman astride him. Rather than proving distracting, the phone call had reinvigorated his sex drive. He looked forward to proving to Cleena MacKenna that he was the most dangerous man she’d ever crossed paths with.

Cleena stared at the computer monitor. ‘Did I keep him on long enough?’

‘You did,’ Sevki said in her ear. ‘I managed to trace the signal back to the United States. It was tricky, because they used a lot of satellite cut outs. Government issue, heavily encrypted.’

‘I get it. I’m supposed to be impressed.’

‘Unfortunately, you’re not informed enough to be duly impressed with what I’ve just done.’ Sevki sighed as if stricken.

‘So who is it?’

‘The Central Intelligence Agency, if I had to guess.’

A wave of fear vibrated through Cleena. Even though she’d suspected CIA, hearing it spoken out loud was frightening. In her arms deals, she had sometimes brushed up against intelligence operatives. Always before, she’d cut her losses and run.

‘Not people we want to be trifling with,’ Sevki pointed out.

‘I know.’

Sevki whispered a curse. ‘But you’re going to anyway.’