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The transfer went smoothly, and his contact departed without a further word. Boris lay down on the back seat, and the driver pulled out of the building and stopped nearby. He wasn’t sure why the driver had stopped but figured he might have been checking to see if they were being followed. Boris started to sit up when the driver waved him back down.

Shortly thereafter, the car edged forward. Boris estimated that they were at the end of the ramp, about to turn onto the road, when the car slowed and stopped again. Before he could wonder why, the door opened and bright light shined in his face.

A man’s voice said in perfect Russian, “Boris Plotnikov, we are so pleased to meet you. I have an invitation for you from the president of the United States. He’d like you to visit our fine country.”

Boris sat up, shocked. He didn’t say anything…he couldn’t. He’d been duped, betrayed.

“What’s the matter?” the man said. “Cat got your tongue? I understand that Sergei has a lot to share with you about his adventures. I’m delighted to report his operation didn’t go quite as he’d hoped. If you ever see him again, you might want to critique him on his email practices. If he isn’t more careful, someone might hack into his account and use it to misrepresent him. That would be unfortunate indeed.”

“You hacked Sergei’s email?” he said incredulously. “This is a set up?”

The man didn’t answer and, with some help from the driver, pulled Boris from the car, expertly searching him. They marched him to a nondescript executive jet that was waiting on the tarmac. His bag was tossed in before he was unceremoniously hustled up the ramp.

“You can’t do this,” Boris blustered. “I’m a Russian citizen.”

Once on board, the man announced, “Oh, we’d be happy to escort you back to Russia, but I’m afraid you wouldn’t take two steps onto motherland soil before you were dead, and not by our hand. So, instead, we’re bringing you to the United States of America, where you’ll live, but not comfortably. In fact, we’ll be certain to make sure you’re not comfortable for a single day for the rest of your life. How does that sound, Mr. Plotnikov?”

As they strapped him into the chair and handcuffed him, his emotions changed from shock to anger. Yes, he’d made a mistake, but it wasn’t because he’d taken the risk. The risk that all great men must take to reach the pinnacle of society. His mistake had been to trust others to do their job and do it well. He’d provided them every tool and resource they had needed, and yet they had still failed him.

Now, he’d have to pay the price for their incompetence.

“I’m willing to pay you whatever you want if you’ll just let me go.” He hated the desperation in his voice, but he’d do what he had to.

“You couldn’t pay me enough,” one of the men said with contempt. “You’re not worth the dirt on my shoe.”

“How dare you,” Boris shouted. “I’m one of the richest men in the world.”

“Interesting that you should mention that. I just received a personal note to pass on to you from an Elvis and Xavier Zimmerman. Do you know them?”

His heart pounded and sweat beaded on his forehead. He was suddenly breathless, like a hand had wrapped around his throat and was squeezing. Still, he played it as cool as he could. “I know of no one by those names.”

“Well, apparently, they know you. Would you like to read their note?”

“Absolutely not. I don’t read English, and even if I did know them, I wouldn’t be interested in what they’d have to say.”

“I don’t mind translating for you. In fact, I insist.” He unfolded the note and started to read.

“Dear Boris,

We can’t begin to describe how enthusiastic we are that you’ve decided to visit the United States. We’re confident that you’ll find the accommodations here unlike any that you’ve ever experienced before. We do hope that you brought your computer with you. It would be a great disappointment to so many people if you did not.

Why, you ask? First, it will allow us a teaching opportunity on the merits of proper cybersecurity practices. You’re already aware of the perils of poor email security practiced by your colleague Mr. Sergei Sokholov. Our initial research revealed that you also may be employing less-than-sufficient password security with your financial accounts. For example, many of your bitcoin wallets all employed the same password. Tsk, tsk. You have to be careful or someone could use that knowledge to drain your accounts and you wouldn’t be the wiser until you needed the money. Sergei was certainly upset when we told him his accounts were mysteriously emptied while he was off trying and failing to commit mass murder on your behalf.”

The hand around Boris’ throat grew tighter by the minute. They knew too much. He’d been careful, very careful. Yet his world was unraveling, and he was unable to stop it.

“Anyway, once we get to explore your laptop, we’re confident we’ll be able to rapidly exploit your simple security practices and repossess your ill-gotten gains to help restore most if not all your ransomware clients. Whatever funds are left, I assure you, will be put to good use for national security purposes.

We want to thank you for offering us this singular opportunity to finish what we started a couple of years ago. The US government offered us first crack at your laptop, and we couldn’t be more delighted to accept. We just wanted you to be the first to know. So, sit back, relax, and enjoy the flight to America. We promise you, it’ll be the best part of your next thirty years.

With all appropriate regard,

Xavier and Elvis Zimmerman”

The man folded the letter and stared at Boris with an amused gleam in his eye. “How unfortunate you won’t have any money to bargain with in prison. I’ve heard that it helps, but I wouldn’t really know. I’ll have to check back in with you in a couple of years to find out…if you’re still alive, that is. Now relax, we’ll be departing shortly. We look forward to welcoming you to US soil.”

For the first time in his adult life, Boris put his head in his hands and wept like a baby.

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