Page 40 of The Devil's Ransom

I would never tell the Oversight Council that, because the DOA authority was as controversial as it sounded—way, way outside any tenets of our own Constitution—but when DOA was given, that guy was dead. The Oversight Council could sleep peacefully at night thinking we’d done our best to bring him in alive. The teams knew the truth.

Wolffe said, “This is going very fast, and it’s straight from President Hannister. Like I said, he’s smoking mad about the ransomware attack and wants to send a signal to these groups. Covertly. There won’t be any press on it, but word will spread. I honestlydon’t know the end result, but I do know the beginning, and that’s you exploring the target package.”

I said, “Okay, sir. We’re headed to the bird right now. We’ll be landing at the Zagreb international airport in about seven or eight hours. I’m going to need a complete exfil package to meet us.”

“Why? Just hit the ground and roll out, then send the plane on its way to us with Jahn and the Taliban guy.”

Were these guys thinking through the problem?

“Sir, if I do that I’ll have to leave at least one team member on the bird, more likely two. We have one hostile and two recovered hostages. And I’ll need what’s inside the Rock Star bird. I can’t do this mission with half a team, and I’m going to need the bird. Although I suppose I could leave Amena to watch them. She’s pretty switched on.”

“Amena? What does she have to do with this?”

“She’s here as well. She was helping on the dig until you pulled us off. She’s going to need an escort, too. All the way back to Charleston. Kylie’s house-sitting, so that’s not an issue, but someone’s got to get her there.”

I heard nothing for a moment, and could almost see their heads billowing smoke.

Wolffe said, “Get going. We’ll have an extraction team there waiting. We’ll deal with Croatian immigration, but you’d better have the terrorist prepped for onward travel. I’m talking blindfolds and earmuffs.”

“And Amena?”

“I’ll handle it. Damn it. If I have to fly her back myself, she’ll be taken care of.”

I knew he meant it. He had a little history with Amena himself. She’d be okay.

I said, “One last thing: What happened with Carly?”

I heard nothing for a moment, then, “The police found her body about an hour ago. The embassy is working it. It’s being called a random attack. A mugging.”

He said nothing for a moment, then, “I’m sorry, Pike. I know she was one of yours.”

I appreciated the sentiment, but I would expect nothing less. We weren’t interchangeable robots sent to kill, and Wolffe knew that better than most.

I said, “Thanks. She was doing what we all do. Get Jahn back to the United States to make it right.”

“How’s Knuckles?”

Wolffe knew what Carly meant to him. I looked at the vehicle, seeing Knuckles typing through the dim glow of the dashboard lights, and said, “He’s good. He’s in the game. Send me the target package. I’ll look at it in the air.”

Chapter23

Sitting behind his computer, Branko heard Pushka come out of the bathroom, drying his head with a towel. Branko said, “You still put out? It wasn’t that big of a deal, and it was for Andrei.”

“Don’t give me that shit. Whatever you’ve got going on as a side gig for Andrei has nothing to do with me. I stroke the keyboards, that’s all. Except now I’m also paid to be a porter like I’m in Mumbai or something.”

“I’ll buy you lunch. Last night was a pain in the ass, I admit, but it was worth it, trust me. It paid the rent.”

Pushka was Branko’s lead penetrator inside Dark Star, and he felt that’s where his work should end. Dark Star itself was designed by Branko as a multilayered system like any other modern-day company, only it was solely designed to find and exploit targets. Even given his youth, Branko was a smart man, and a survivor. One who could gather both the capital needed for operations and the necessary people to execute.

One layer surveyed the marketplace looking for targets, analyzing the income and determining the pain threshold they could manage. Another layer then analyzed the computer network for penetration, and the final one did the work. Pushka was the final dimension. The guy who actually penetrated the network and installed the malware. As such, he hadn’t appreciated Branko asking for help.

Branko had come home late at night, driving his car from the airport to his apartment in Zagreb, the trunk from Andrei in the back burning a hole through his thoughts. He knew he had to do something with it, and storing it in his apartment was a nonstarter because of the maintenance people and management constantly coming into his place.

He didn’t do any computer work from this apartment, only using it as a sort of headquarters for his operations due to the location. Zagreb was overrun with various foreign intel agencies, and as such it would be the last place he’d use to conduct his attacks, but it was convenient when he had to travel—which he often did—so he kept the apartment as a staging base. It doubled as a place he could let his men, like Pushka, use when they wanted to come up and blow off some steam. It had become sort of a frat house for Dark Star.

He’d felt lucky when he’d shown up and found Pushka there. He had been running through his head where he could hide the trunk—stashing it somewhere secure that had no connection to him—and had kicked around an idea about burying the damn thing in the woods. When he’d seen Pushka at the apartment, he thought it was a sign.

They’d gone up to the A’è bar for some drinks on the terrace, and after he’d lubricated Pushka a little, he’d broached his plan.

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