Page 47 of France Face-Off
“Yes. Two hours ago.”
“I thought you had software to protect the pipeline from cyber-attacks,” Alex said.
“I do, but my source is withholding delivery.”
“Why?”
“For a bigger payoff.”
“How many cubic feet are you losing every minute?” Alex asked.
“Too many. I must get the software that runs the distribution back online, immediately.”
Alex shook her head. “Or you’ll be found out for the fraud you are?”
“He will have more to lose than his dignity,” a female voice sounded from across the room.
Natalya Zotin emerged from the shadows, wearing the royal purple dress she’d worn to the summit meeting earlier.
Baranovsky’s face blanched. “How…?”
“How did I get here before you?” She laughed. “You forget, I have my own jet. I can go anywhere in the world whenever I want. My plane is faster than anything you can charter with government money. I knew where you’d go as soon as the grid went down. All you had to do was give me a percentage of what you’re siphoning off, and none of this would have happened. The delegates would have eventually signed off on the Nord Stream two project, and you’d have made even more money while keeping the gas flowing, both to the EU, and to me, because I hold the key to the ransomware.”
Alex glanced from Natalya to Baranovsky, sick that she hadn’t seen through Natalya’s façade. “So, Sergei is stealing gas, and you want in on it?”
Natalya snorted. “He’s not stealing anything right now. No one is getting natural gas out of this substation until the ransom is paid. And the ransom is fifty percent of what Sergei skims off the top and half of what he’s put back in his Swiss bank accounts.”
Sergei’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t need you or your key to the ransomware.” He held up his hand. “I have the key.”
Natalya’s eyes flared so briefly Alex almost didn’t catch the movement. Then she laughed. “You have nothing. My people have changed the parameters since the Federovs pirated a copy of my software. You have nothing.”
“We’ll see about that.”
Natalya’s glance went to Alex, and her lip curled up in a sneer. “You have the old software. Why did you bother to bring the Federovs’ daughter here?”
“I might still have use of her. I understand the Federovs were keen on using biometrics. If they have any security in place, I might need the girl.”
“I should have supervised the burning of the house myself. Everyone and everything was supposed to burn to the ground.”
Alex’s face heated with the anger burning deep inside as the final key to her mother and father’s murders became clear. “You were the one who ordered my home to be destroyed with my mother and father inside,” she stated.
“They trespassed on my system and stole something that belonged to me. I made them pay for their transgression.” The woman stood taller, her chin lifted high. “You were supposed to die with them, along with the pirated copy of software I paid for. They had no right to take it. And neither did you.”
“You’re pure evil.”
Natalya laughed. “All’s fair in love and blackmail.”
This was the person who’d pulled the trigger on her parents. The bitch seemed proud of the murders she’d orchestrated as if their lives had meant nothing. Alex drew in a deep breath, let it out and then lunged for Natalya, her claws out. She’d almost reached Natalya when two men stepped out from behind the woman and grabbed Alex’s arms.
She fought them, kicking them in the shins and groin, but they didn’t let go, stubbornly maintaining their grips on her arms.
“You killed my parents,” Alex hissed through gritted teeth. “I will avenge them.”
Natalya raised her arm. In her hand, she held a .40 caliber pistol, and she aimed it at Alex’s face. “Not if you’re dead.”
Chapter 12
When the plane landed at the airport near Greifswald, Germany, Striker could barely wait for the steps to be lowered before he leaped to the ground.
