Page 97 of Stuart Woods' Golden Hour

“Aretiredhighly trained agent.”

“Which means I’m also experienced.”

“Or rusty. But if you want me to stay here, I’ll stay here. However, if something happens to you, do not blame me.”

“I promise. How are things there?”

“Meeting in an hour with a friend who will be helping with surveillance. We should be up and running by this afternoon.”

“Reliable as always.”

“I do what I can.”

“And it’s appreciated.”

That afternoon, the press tourflew to Zürich, Switzerland, the last stop on their junket before the film festival in Berlin.

On the van ride from the airport to the Baur au Lac hotel, Teddy received a message from Kevin Cushman.

Bad news. Call me.

Kevin was a computer expert known on many online platforms as Warplord924, who had become one of Teddy’s go-to sources when his particular skill set was needed. Teddy had asked him to break into BLS’s computer system and locate the company’s client list.

The conversation was not one to be had in front of the others in the van, so Teddy waited until he was alone in his hotel suite to ring Kevin.

The hacker answered with a mumbled, “Hmmm?”

“Are you sleeping?”

Kevin yawned. “No. Well, maybe.”

“What’s the bad news?”

“Hold on.”

The sound of movement filled the line for several seconds, then came the crisp snap of a soda can being opened and Kevin taking a long drink.

After a smack of the lips, he said, “Okay, that’s better.”

“The news,” Teddy prompted him.

“Right. So, this BLS place isn’t fooling around. Their cybersecurity is, like, NSA level.”

“If I recall, you’ve hacked into the NSA before.”

“True. But it took me almost a week. I’m not sayingthat’s how long this will take, but you did say you wanted it ASAP. And I’m guessing that in this case your definition of ASAP and mine aren’t going to be the same.”

Teddy frowned. He’d been afraid that might be the case. “Can you give me an estimate?”

“No clue, man. I could break through in the next hour, or it might take days.”

“Keep at it,” Teddy said. “And let me know as soon as you get in.”

“Your wish is my command.”

The line went dead.

If it took days for Kevin to get Teddy the client list, more agents could die. Plus, there was the very real possibility that even after Kevin hacked in, he might not find it.

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