Page 22 of Croatia Collateral

Instead, they were heading into the lions’ den of world players who wouldn’t hesitate to kill anyone who got in the way of their goals.

The more Dax had learned about the Nexus Collective, the more he realized just how dangerous the mission would be.

“Want to go over the players again?” Giva asked into her headset.

“Sure,” Dax replied. “You can start.”

“Dieter Strüngmann, German, owns one of the largest Global transportation empires. A shutdown on any front could impact the world economy.”

“He’s self-made, started out in the mailroom of a trucking company, and worked his way up,” Dax added. “Bought the company, invested in shipping and air cargo movement.”

“Divorced twice. One ex-wife moved to Mexico and was killed by a Mexican cartel. The other ex-wife crashed on the autobahn.” Giva leaned her head back against the headrest and continued. “Two children, grown. His daughter lives in an undisclosed location, rumored to be in the Canary Islands. He's grooming his son, Fredrich, to take over the business.”

“Hammer said that Swede ran a search on Fredrich’s current whereabouts,” Dax said. “He’s back at their corporate headquarters in Munich and isn’t expected to attend this meeting of the minds.”

“Your turn,” Giva said.

“Vitaly Rabinovich,” Dax said. “Russian Oligarch. In exchange for his support of the President of Russia, he received huge contracts that made him a wealthy man. It’s believed the President of Russia charged him to use his tech company to employ the most skilled hackers to break into energy grids of countries all over the world. All the president has to do is point his finger, and Rabinovich can crash grids in countries like the UK, France, Canada and the US.”

“Except he’s lost favor with the President because he let one of his other ventures get out of hand,” Giva said. “A bio lab in Siberia that was cooking up weaponized viruses. It was shut down, but no one knows if the viruses were destroyed.”

Dax hadn’t liked the sound of that one.

“Let’s hope he didn’t bring a virus with him to Dubrovnik,” Giva said.

“No kidding,” Dax agreed. “From the sound of it, those viruses would make the pandemic of 2020 look like a case of the sniffles.”

“Marco Galeotti,” Giva prompted.

“Italian,” Dax said. “Shipping magnate with real estate all over the world and links to the Italian mafia. There’s another Russian. What was his name? Yuri?”

“Yuri Kagalovsky,” Giva offered.

“Oh yeah. I knew that.” Dax scrubbed a hand over his face. “Another oligarch. He controls forty-five percent of Russian oil exports and weapons production.”

“Which brings me to my favorite, Hochi Yamaguchi.” Giva’s lips pressed into a thin line. “She’s a piece of work. All proper Japanese businesswoman on the surface. Rumor has it she killed her father to take over his business and his connections with Yakuza.”

Dax nodded. “Japan’s version of mafia. Which brings us to Evan Maas,” he said.

Giva leaned her head toward him. “For the next couple of days, that will be you.”

“He certainly meets the global wealth criteria as one of the wealthiest men in the world.” Dax frowned. “But why him? From all the data Swede presented, there wasn’t anything connecting him to mafia organizations or cartels.”

“He’s been vocal about wanting to affect change in areas historically mired in strife. He has been known to go after what he wants no matter what it takes,” Giva said. “His timing is impeccable. He swoops in and snaps up corporations in countries that have suffered economic collapse or destruction of infrastructure. As the dust settles, he sends in building contractors and buys up real estate and failing corporations for pennies on the dollar. Then he turns them around and sells them at huge profits.”

“What do they all have in common?”

“A lot of money,” Giva answered.

“And the desire to make more,” Dax said. “And at what cost? The invitation Swede intercepted gave the general location, Dubrovnik, Croatia, and the time when the specific location would be sent.” His brow creased. “And that one other phrase that has everyone worried.”

“It is time,” Giva said softly.

“Time for what?” Dax asked, not expecting an answer. That was why they’d embarked on this dangerous mission. Something was about to happen, care of the Nexus Collective. It would be up to Dax, Giva, Fearghas, Peter and Dmytro to identify it and de-escalate.

He opened the electronic tablet they’d loaded with the images of the players in the game and studied the many photos of each to better recognize them at any angle.

Fearghas made his way from the cockpit to where Giva and Dax were seated and plugged in his headset to be heard over the roar of the engine. “We land in Split in ten minutes.” He looked from Giva to Dax and back. “You know the drill.”

---