Page 86 of The Devil's Ransom

“Pike, this is Wolffe. The thinking has changed here.”

“Sir? What’s that mean?”

“The president is leaning toward this being a nation-state attack, and that keeping you in the field is a risk that’s not worth the reward. He’s turned off Omega authority.”

That was a head-spinner. I said, “What?”

“You heard me. We have a guy working this for us, grew up in the NSA TAO, then went to the new Cyber Command. He’s saying it’s not Dark Star, and that their declaration is a smoke screen to protect the country. He’s going to find out who did this, giving the president some evidence for retaliation.”

That didn’t smell right to me. I said, “Why is one guy dictating policy? He ‘used’ to work for the NSA and Cyber. What is NSA and Cyber saying?”

“They don’t know. They’re way behind the eight ball on this.They might have some assessment in a week or two, but they’re risk averse. The president is deferring to this guy.”

I said, “Does that sound right to you? You want me to stand down?”

I heard nothing, then said, “The Russian guy Andrei only wants money. He wouldn’t do this. It’s too big, inviting someone to come for him.”

“That’s what our expert says. You’re proving his point.”

I could tell he wasn’t sold on the president’s assessment and wanted me to convince him to continue. I threw everything against the wall, saying, “But there’s someone else in the mix. The American code-named Sphinx. And there’s the Badr Battalion running around here.”

“Badr Battalion? Who cares about them? And all you’ve got on the American is a code name. No help.”

“Sir, Branko can answer for both. Maybe he’s not involved anymore, but maybe he is. We’re running out of time to stop this thing. Do you want to just roll over and find out it was from the same group, when you could have stopped it? Fuck the president.”

I heard a breath on the phone, expecting a rebuke at my statement. What I heard was, “Can you operate without your usual signature?”

“What’s that mean?”

“It means I don’t want a bunch of dead bodies every time you go somewhere.”

That was a little aggravating. I said, “Hey, sir, I haven’t done anything like that on this mission. The bodies were from someone else.Yousent me on this mission. It’s not my fault people are dead.”

“Answer the question.”

I smacked my fist into the dash of our car, causing Jennifer to snap her head toward me. She had no idea what was being said on the other end, but even behind the steering wheel, she knew it wasn’t good. She shook her head, telling me to let it go.

I said, “Yes, sir, I can do that.”

“Then get on it.”

I looked at Jennifer, and she saw my grin. Into the phone I said, “So I’m on my own on this one?”

Wolffe laughed and said, “No, it’ll be my ass on the chopping block this time. Just don’t put it there.”

I said, “You got it. Give me the geolocation.”

He passed the phone to the computer guy, and I got a ping. It was now at a restaurant in a place called Mali Ston, a small town on the water about twenty minutes away. Really close.

I passed the grid to the team as Jennifer drove, saying, on the net, “Here’s the last known location. We’re going to close in and assess.”

Jennifer passed the town called Ston, with a giant wall made of rock encircling it, something from medieval times, and we continued for another few minutes, reaching Mali Ston—meaning little Ston, like a sister village—with the wall following us the entire way.

Knowing Jennifer had already done the research, I said, “What’s up with that wall?”

She said, “It’s the largest fortification still in existence here. Basically, back in the day, they were afraid of getting attacked, so they built a wall, like China did. It reaches from the town of Ston to Mali Ston, protecting the harbors of both. And it’s pretty cool. Want to walk it?”

I laughed and said, “I don’t think they’d let us.”

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