Lynne Heitman - The Pandora Key aka The Hostage Room

“There is a way,” he said. “But it is dangerous, and we must move carefully. You must think about whether you want to be involved with this man.”

“With Tishchenko?”

“Yes.”

We were very nearly touching noses at this point, close enough that I could see his pores. “Do you know him?”

“We have a professional relationship.”

“Then can’t you talk to him? He’s the one who started this. He took Harvey. He should recognize our right to come and take him back, shouldn’t he?”

“It does not work that way.”

I hesitated to ask the next question. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the answer. “Are you afraid of him?”

There was no hesitation from him. “I would be a fool not to fear him. So would you.”

“What would-” My tongue wouldn’t work right. My body, generally smarter than my brain, had already chosen its course. “What would I have to do?”

“We must go and see him. He knows where we are. It is best to go to him before he comes again.”

My chest, already tight, was getting to the point of shutdown. “What would happen if I said no?”

“He will come again, but this time he will come for us all.”

“Then what choice do I have?”

BO HAD OTHER BUSINESS TO ATTEND TO, SO HE TOOK off and left me pacing around the big house. I checked on Harvey several times. He never moved.

Timon had joined Radik for guard duty, so I didn’t have to worry about the house being safe. That left me free to devote all my energy to worrying about my meeting with Tishchenko. Before he’d left, Bo said he would set something up for the next day. The sooner the better, he said. Easy for him to say.

I went back to Harvey’s office and turned on his computer. It would take a while to get fired up. I checked my watch. I felt as if I’d lived three days in the past twelve hours, and yet it was just after midnight. I thought about calling Dan again but then remembered that Felix had left me two messages. It never bothered Felix to get a phone call in the middle of the night, so I dialed him up.

“Hey, Miss Shanahan. You’re up late.”

“We found Harvey. He’s home, and he’s fine, thanks to you. He was exactly where you said he would be.”

“That’s awesome news. Tell him I said hi when you get a chance.”

“I will. I hope you called because you found Rachel.”

“No, but I’m working on that. The medicine she’s taking is Thyroxine.”

“Great.” Apparently, the Walgreens firewalls were as porous as expected, at least for Felix. “What does that do?”

“Well, the thyroid hormones, thyroxine and triiodothyronine, are tyrosine-based hormones produced by the thyroid gland. They act on the body to increase the basal metabolic rate, affect protein synthesis, and increase the body’s sensitivity to catecholamines, which is, like, adrenaline. An important-”

“Felix.”

“It gives her thyroid a boost. Nothing serious.”

“Have you tried her husband yet?”

“I didn’t get this until a few hours ago. I think it’s probably too late for a real pharmacist to call, but I didn’t know what time zone he’s in because if he’s out west, then I could totally call him, or I could have two hours ago. I could call him in Hawaii if he’s there. But now it’s kind of too late to get him anywhere.”

“Sorry, but I couldn’t have helped you anyway. I don’t know where he is.”

“That’s cool. I’ll just call him tomorrow first thing.”

I watched Harvey’s desktop laboring to snap to. It reminded me that Felix had a T3 connection. “Are you at home?”

“Yes.”

“Can you do a quick search for me?”

“Sure, go ahead.”

“Look up something called the vors.”

“Like V-O-R-E-S? V-O-A-R-S?”

“I don’t know.” I used the heel of my hand to rub my left eye and then my right. “Throw some options into Google with Russia and Ukraine, and see what comes up.”

He started doing the Felix Thinking Song as he moved through his searches and scanned his screen. It was like being on Jeopardy. I got up and started to wander so I wouldn’t fall asleep. Felix didn’t seem ever to sleep. Before he went wireless, I used to find him by following the cables through his apartment. He didn’t own a desk, and he liked moving around to work, on the theory that some spots in his living space were luckier than others. The luckiest spot of all was the balcony. He was probably there, slumped in a chair so that all you could see from the back were the tips of his spiky hairdo peeking out. Dan had made him cut off the bleached tips he had sported in Miami. No employee of his was going to look like “some fucking birthday cake.” Even without the outward manifestation, Felix was still the accidental anarchist, the kid whose irrepressible enthusiasm and daffy hyperintelligence led him inevitably to places he shouldn’t be to do things no one was supposed to be able to do.

“This is really interesting shit, Miss Shanahan.”

Felix had never used to cuss until he started working for Dan. Since I had introduced them, I felt vaguely responsible for his corruption. On the other hand, the reason I had met him in the first place was that he was a gifted hacker.

“What’s interesting?”

“Vors v zakonye. It’s Russian for ‘thieves in law,’ and they’re the real power inside the red mafiya. Did you know that in Russia they spell mafiya with a y?”

“Thieves in law?” No wonder Bo hadn’t been able to translate. I didn’t even know what it meant in English.

“From what I can tell, they’re like, um, the Justice League of criminals in Russia.”

“The Justice League?”

“Oh, yeah.” His tone changed entirely as he gave his full attention to filling the void in my education. “To be in the Justice League, you have to be Superman or Batman. The best of the best. Not just a hero but a superhero. Green Lantern or the Martian Manhunter. You have to be smarter and stronger and more powerful than the bad guys. Except in this case, they’re, you know, the bad guys. The worst of the worst, I guess. Not the Justice League but-”

“The vors. I’m following you.”

“Vory. More than one is vory. They live by their own code. That’s why they’re called thieves in law.”

“What are their laws?”

“Um…”

I had made it to the kitchen, which was dark except for the dim light over the stove. The china cups, saucers, and teapot I had washed were still sitting on the counter, exactly as I’d left them.

“Well, it goes without saying that you can never rat out one of your brother vory, but you also aren’t allowed to work. In the old Soviet Union, if you got caught on any of the official work rolls, they’d kill you.”

I opened the cabinet where Harvey kept the china service and stacked everything away.

Felix went on. “You couldn’t serve in the army. Basically, you couldn’t serve the interests of the state in any way. The only way you’re allowed to make money is to steal it. Or play cards. Did you know the most revered criminals in Russia were the pickpockets?”

“I did not know that.”

“Me, neither, but it’s true. And here’s the really bad news. Since the Soviet Union fell, the Russian mafiya and the vory have gone global. They’re like Microsoft, spreading their brand of evil all over the world. They can’t be stopped.”

“Do you see anything there on tattoos?”

“Tons. Tattoos are a really big deal with these people. First of all, you can’t just get tattooed with something because you think it’s, like, really cool. You have to earn one before you can have it, and the more you have, the more respected you are.”

“Like Boy Scout badges.”