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Nikita said, “What about?”

“Somebody just tried to kill me. Just now. And it was somebody that was in Andrei’s house when I was there.”

“Stand by.”

Andrei came on, saying, “Nikita says you have had a problem. Does it involve my box?”

“No, sir. I don’t know what it involves. Two guys tried to kill me tonight, and they were babbling about a treasure. They used the name of the guy who was there when I met you a few days ago.”

Andrei said, “Go on. Tell me more.”

And Branko did, telling him everything that had happened during the night, leaving nothing out. When he was done, he said, “What do we do now?”

“Where is my box? Is it safe?”

Branko heard the words and realized it wasn’t him they were chasing. It was something else. He said, “Yes, yes, of course they didn’t get the box. I told you I’d make sure that was safe. Does that have something to do with this?”

“No. Go to Split. Get the team together. We’re close to initiation on the final target. When I send the gateway package, I want you to execute. Do you understand?”

Branko knew that wasn’t true. The men who tried to kill him kept mentioning a treasure. Andrei’s box didn’t hold papers, of that Branko was now sure.

He said, “What about the men chasing me? What do I do about them?”

“Nothing. I’m sending Nikita. He’ll take care of them. You just worry about two things: my box, and the next target.”

Chapter30

Dylan Hobbes followed Alexander Palmer down the hallway, surprised at how the trappings of the White House no longer overwhelmed him. Before, the short walk to the Oval Office had left him in awe. Now it was just another walk in an old building. He wondered how quickly the awe left the regular staff members, like Palmer. Hobbes was just visiting, while Palmer actually worked inside the administration. Did he think this was just another day at Burger King, or did he still feel the weight of the history of the building?

It was barely seven in the morning, and he’d been called last night to give an update on the quest for solving the ransomware. He was told the meeting had to happen early, before the president’s official schedule began, in order to protect the fact that it had even occurred, but in truth,hewas the one who wanted an update. He wanted to know if they’d captured or killed the ransomware team.

They entered the Oval Office and Dylan saw that it was a much smaller crowd today. Only President Hannister, George Wolffe, and the director of the CIA, Kerry Bostwick, were present, all three bent over a desk looking at a tablet.

He heard President Hannister say, “So we know it’s them. Now all we need to do is find the cell.”

Alexander said, “Sir? Dylan Hobbes is here.”

All three looked up. President Hannister said, “Tell me youhave some solution to the ransomware. It’s ticking down to zero and George here got another threat.”

Hobbes said, “Threat? What else could they do?”

Wolffe smiled and said, “They say they’re going to release sensitive documents they’ve secured. Executives of the organization, their pay, their connections to other companies inside our organization. That sort of thing.”

“That doesn’t sound so bad. I mean, it’s not like you guys are Apple or Sony. What threat could that be?”

Kerry said, “You’ve been read on. You’ve worked at TAO in the NSA. What would happen if the commercial infrastructure you used was put out on the open web? Could you do anything again? Even if it wasn’t a bombshell?”

Hobbes saw the threat immediately. He’d been thinking like a civilian, not like the spook he had once been. If Blaisdell Consulting—and all of its connections—were put on the web, they’d all have to be burned to the ground. Destroyed, and even that wouldn’t protect them from the future, as the names associated with every entity would now be available on the web forever.

And he saw something else: Defeating the ransomware was no longer the problem. Killing the team was now the issue, as they would have the information from the company whether they paid the ransom or not, something that the National Command Authority couldn’t allow. He smiled inwardly.

Perfect.

President Hannister said, “So have you made any headway on the ransomware encryption?”

“No, sir. I haven’t. It’s not an easy thing to break, and might take another week, or up to a month. I realize you don’t have that time, but it’s just a fact. Although what I just heard meansyou need to get these guys physically. Get their hard drives. Get everything they have. The ransomware is no longer the big issue, correct? Did my information help?”

Nobody said anything for a moment, then George Wolffe said, “Yeah, that’s right. Your information proved to be correct. We penetrated an apartment we found, drained a MacBook laptop, and it was from the ransomware guys. But we’ve lost control of them.”