Page 82 of Dead Fall

Kozar, the Ukrainian Intelligence official who had accompanied them on the overnight train from Poland, had done Nicholas a huge favor. In addition to getting him set up in his own accessible office, he had teamed him with one of the brightest stars in their agency. He assumed her job was to keep an eye on him, but he liked having her around.

She was a twenty-one-year-old hacker extraordinaire named Yulia. Behind the keyboard, she went by the nom de guerre Valkyrie.

Yulia was fast and unbelievably intelligent. She spoke three languages—Ukrainian, Russian, and English. She wanted to learn anything Nicholas was willing to teach her; anything at all that would help her better serve her country.

His small stature wasn’t off-putting to her. Neither was his rather checkered past. And like Kozar, she loved dogs. In a word, she was perfect.

They got along instantly, and their bond was only deepened when, worried about the comfort of Argos and Draco, who were relegated to the cold concrete floor, she sourced two foam mats and brought them into the office.

“I’m sorry,” she said as she entered the office and handed Nicholas a bowl and spoon. “This was all they had. Beef borscht. A Ukrainian classic.”

“Don’t apologize,” Nicholas replied. He had just fed the dogs and was looking forward to getting some food himself. “Borscht reminds me ofmy youth. Besides, how many soldiers at the front tonight won’t get a hot meal at all?”

“You are right. I need to practice more gratitude.”

He smiled. “It’s all about perspective. Did you hear the one about the Ukrainian soldier who was being interrogated by a Russian officer?”

She shook her head.

“The Ukrainian looks down and sees that the officer has only one boot. He asks, ‘Did you lose a boot?’ ‘Nyet,’ the Russian replies. ‘Ifounda boot.’?”

The young woman laughed. “Perspective.”

“It is the key to everything.”

“Speaking of which,” she said, changing the subject, “am I going to get a preview of your presentation? I know our digital team is looking forward to it.”

“You do,” he answered, holding up two fortune-cookie-sized pieces of paper. “There are the two case studies. Which one do you want to tackle first?”

On one, he had written the provocative wordsNaked Pictures (of my wife). On the otherCome Fly with Me.

The way he was holding them, only he could see what he had written.

Yulia reached out and took one.

“I already regret this,” she said. “No, I don’t want to see any naked pictures of your wife.”

Nicholas chuckled. “Don’t worry. A, I’m not married. B, we’re using someone else’s wife. In fact, several others.”

“I am not following you.”

“Blackmail is especially powerful because it plays upon a person’s shame and embarrassment. As you know, part of the reason I am here is to teach you and your colleagues how to uncover and leverage blackmail material against the Russians. Tonight, however, I’m going to show you how to put a different twist on it. This operation exploits a different, albeit adjacent emotion: humiliation. And humiliation is as corrosive as acid when it comes to morale.”

Yulia placed her own soup on the desk and pulled over a chair. “This sounds fantastic. What’s the other surprise?”

The little man smiled. “We’ll get to that. First the humiliation.”

They both paused to take a couple of bites of soup, which was quite good, before Nicholas continued. “As you know, the moment Russia invaded Ukraine, I began crafting several different digital operations. The first one we dubbed Operation Pinup.”

“?‘We’?” she asked.

“I came up with the idea and got it rolling, but the Ukrainian Cyber Resistance deserves the credit for being so successful with it.”

“When did you team up with the Cyber Resistance?”

“Almost as soon as the war broke out,” he replied.

“So, what’s Operation Pinup?”