Chapter 6 - Two Keys
Vera woke inside a moving vehicle.
Her wrists were bound.
Nikolai sat opposite her.
Blood marked his temple.
“Are you hurt?”
“That was going to be my question.”
“Answer mine.”
“I’m fine.”
His eyes closed briefly.
Relief.
Elias was not with them.
Neither was Dmitri.
“Where are we?”
“Vale’s men.”
“How do you know?”
“The man driving used to work for Helian.”
Vera tested the restraints.
Nikolai watched.
“What?”
“You’re remarkably calm.”
“I’m furious.”
“Yes. I can tell the difference now.”
Despite everything, she smiled.
The vehicle stopped at an underground facility.
Sebastian Vale waited.
He looked nothing like a monster.
Silver hair.
Expensive suit.
Grandfatherly smile.
That made him worse.
“Vera Sullivan.”
She said nothing.
Vale looked at Nikolai.
“And Anton’s son.”
“Disappointed?”
“Curious.”
Vale placed Vera’s stolen music box on a table.
Her breath caught.
“You stole it.”
“No. Gregor did.”
“So Gregor works for you.”
“Gregor works for money.”
Vale opened the false bottom.
Inside was a strip of microfilm.
“The ledger.”
“Then you don’t need me.”
“I need the encryption key.”
Vera laughed.
“I don’t remember my childhood.”
“You remember more than you think.”
He placed photographs before her.
Bellweather.
A school.
A lake.
A greenhouse.
Images struck her memory like lightning.
Elias laughing.
Daniel shouting.
Smoke.
A woman pulling Vera through a tunnel.
Vera froze.
The woman was not Margaret.
“Who was she?”
Vale smiled.
“Now we’re making progress.”
Nikolai watched Vera carefully.
“Don’t give him anything.”
Vale sighed.
“Romantic loyalty. Very inconvenient.”
Vera looked sharply at Nikolai.
Vale noticed.
“Oh, she doesn’t know?”
“Shut up.”
Vale smiled wider.
“Mr. Voss has been paying off your mortgage for two years.”
Vera stared at Nikolai.
“What?”
Nikolai’s jaw tightened.
“Your father left debt under a false identity. A collection company discovered you.”
“You paid it?”
“Yes.”
“Without telling me?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because you would have refused.”
“That is not an explanation.”
Vale chuckled.
“It is if you understand men like Nikolai.”
Vera ignored him.
“Why?”
Nikolai looked directly at her.
“Because the idea of you losing your home bothered me.”
Her anger faltered.
Vale clapped slowly.
“How touching.”
Nikolai turned murderous eyes toward him.
Vale ordered Vera taken to another room.
She fought.
Nikolai fought harder.
Four men were required to restrain him.
“Vera!”
“I’m fine!”
The door closed between them.
Vale entered later carrying the microfilm.
“You want your brother alive?”
“Yes.”
“Your father?”
“Yes.”
“Nikolai?”
Vera said nothing.
Vale smiled.
“That silence answered me.”
He placed a keyboard before her.
“Decrypt it.”
“I can’t.”
“You will.”
Hours passed.
Vale showed her photographs until memory returned piece by piece.
Finally Vera understood.
Daniel had taught her a childhood gardening game.
Flower names corresponded to numbers.
Rose. Iris. Lily. Violet.
The ledger key was hidden in the planting pattern of Greenhouse Nine.
But Vera lied.
She entered the wrong sequence.
The computer rejected it.
Vale studied her.
“You’re lying.”
“Then apparently I inherited something useful from my father.”
Vale struck the table.
Not her.
His control was thinning.
Then alarms sounded.
Gunfire.
Vale swore.
Vera smiled.
“Nikolai.”
Vale grabbed her arm.
The door exploded inward.
Dmitri appeared.
Behind him came Elias.
“Little V!”
Vale dragged Vera toward another exit.
Then Nikolai emerged from the smoke.
His white shirt was bloodied.
His tie gone.
His expression terrifying.
Vale pressed a gun to Vera.
“Stop.”
Nikolai stopped.
Vera looked into his eyes.
She trusted him.
That realization frightened her almost as much as the gun.
Vale backed toward an elevator.
“You take another step and she dies.”
Nikolai lowered his weapon.
Vale smiled.
Then Vera drove her heel down on Vale’s foot and dropped.
Nikolai fired.
Vale disappeared behind the closing elevator doors.
The bullet missed.
Nikolai reached Vera.
His hands moved over her shoulders, face, arms.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Vera.”
“I’m fine.”
He pulled her against him.
For one second she felt his entire body shake.
Nikolai Voss had been afraid.
For her.
Then Elias shouted from the computer.
“You need to see this.”
They gathered around the decrypted fragment Vera had accidentally opened during her false attempt.
One account appeared.
VOSS, NIKOLAI.
Millions had been transferred through it.
Vera slowly looked at him.
Nikolai stared at the screen.
“I’ve never seen that account.”
Elias whispered, “Then somebody has been committing crimes in your name for fifteen years.”
A second file opened automatically.
It contained one scheduled transfer.
Tomorrow.
May you like
Recipient:
DANIEL SULLIVAN.
