Page 37 of Belgian Betrayal

Lucie continued. “I learned how to navigate computers quickly and discovered I could make more money hacking than working for a legitimate technology company. I focus on the Russians in charge of the murder of Ukrainians. I make them pay for killing my parents.”

Catya’s chest tightened, and her eyes burned for the tears she refused to shed.

“I heard what happened to your parents,” Lucie said softly. “I’m sorry. I know how it feels to lose people you love.”

“Thank you,” Catya whispered. “I, too, want those people to pay for what they did.”

Lucie nodded. “I’ll do the best I can to get this disk open. Hopefully, it will help you find the people who need to pay.”

Catya nodded. “Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.”

Lucie glanced back at the monitors. “Thanks, but there’s not much you can do at this point. I just have to keep running the programs, hoping we hit a password that works to open the files on the disk.” She ate another piece of the chicken and smiled around the chunk of food in her mouth. She chewed and swallowed. “As soon as I know anything, I’ll let you know. In the meantime, you might want to rest. Bruges sounds like it won’t be easy. Dmytro thinks you’ll be outnumbered.”

“We will manage,” Catya said. “Each of us has been trained in special operations. We know how to handle situations like this.”

“I hope so,” Lucie said.

“Do you really think you can get into this device?” Catya asked.

“I haven’t found a database I couldn’t get into yet.” Lucie lifted one shoulder and let it fall. “Sometimes, you just have to sail out of the storm, circle around and try again for a fresh perspective.”

Catya looked across to Fearghas. Wasn’t that where she was now? She’d sailed out of the storm of emotions she’d been feeling in Athens to get a fresh perspective of what she’d had with Fearghas. Now that they were back together, did she feel any differently?

He chose that moment to glance her way, his gaze softening when he realized she was looking at him. Fearghas’s lips pulled upward on the corners.

Though he didn’t say anything, she felt warmer and more optimistic than when she wasn’t with him. Was it possible to have a relationship with a man when your own life was in constant jeopardy? Had it been wrong to choose to leave without giving him a say?

“I wish you luck,” the younger woman said. “I will do my best to help you find the people responsible for what’s happening.”

“That’s all we can ask,” Catya said. “Did Dmytro explain how helping us could put you in more danger?”

The young woman nodded. “I will be okay. My posts don’t track back to my IP address. My location is safe. They would have to know me and my intentions to come after me.”

“I hope you’re right,” Catya said. “They’ve been able to find me and Atkins, even after we destroyed our electronic devices that can be traced.”

Lucie shook her head. “You’re more of a known entity than I am. No one but Dmytro knows I exist. I will be okay. It’s you and your friends, including Dmytro, I’m worried about. If cracking this disk helps protect you and him, I’ll do everything I can to get in.”

Catya found herself believing in the young woman. She prayed she was right and as good as Dmytro had advertised. They were running out of time.

They ate the meal Dmytro had produced and cleaned up the dishes and the little kitchen.

So engrossed in what she was doing, Lucie ate only half the chicken and mashed potatoes.

The hours passed. The purple-haired young woman’s intense frown deepened the closer they came to the hour they had to leave in order to make it to Bruges with enough time to get there a little early.

Catya paced the floor.

Atkins moved to sit beside Lucie. She explained to him what she’d tried to break the code. So far, nothing had worked. They didn’t know any more about what was on the disk than when they’d started.

As they neared the designated time of departure, Lucie worked feverishly over her keyboard. Finally, she sat back, shaking her head, her shoulders sagging. “I’m sorry. I got through the password, but the data is encrypted. It will take a lot longer to decrypt.”

She popped the disk out of the docking station and handed it to Atkins. “I wish I could have done it by now. I did copy the data, but I don’t know how long, or if, I can decrypt it. I will keep trying with the copy.”

“You did good,” Dmytro told Lucie. “We just didn’t have enough time.”

“Even though I couldn’t get into the data on the disk,” Lucie said, “I was able to add an executable Trojan which will be triggered when someone opens the disk. The Trojan will send a code back to me. I should be able to track their IP address.” She stood and stretched her back. “I’m sorry it wasn’t enough.”

“You warned us there was no guarantee you could get in during this short amount of time,” Catya said. “Thank you for trying.” She turned to Atkins. “We have the disk. We need to get to Bruges.”

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