CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Monday, June 26
Standing next to Hank in the bathroom, Stazi applied her mascara as he finished shaving. They had passed the point of taking turns and simply worked around one another. It had become evident that if they wanted to have relations in the morning and get to work on time, then they were going to have to share the bathroom.
“I’m going to check the GPS disc after you’re done with your makeup,” Hank commented as he wiped his face clean.
“I think it’s fine.” She ran her fingers over the nearly invisible disc and pressed it against her skin. “It makes me feel like an operator.”
Leaning over, he kissed her head. “You are, honey.”
“I know you’re just saying that because I made you incredibly happy this morning.”
Taking her hips in his hands, he turned her toward him and brushed her hair off her face. “You make me feel that way every morning with or without your mouth on me.”
Pushing at his chest, she smiled. “Let me go so I can finish getting ready. The director of the museum is going to stop by today for a progress report on ‘Madam Pompadour.’”
“How is the woman holding up to the scrutiny that you’ve been putting her through?”
“The old girl hasn’t cracked yet. The painting looks like it’s authentic and may actually serve as a model for other paintings as we move forward.”
“So, when the transcripts come back from the audio on your ring today, we’re going to hear nothing but art speak?”
“Yes, and maybe some exciting museum gossip, if you’re really lucky.”
“A man can dream. I’ll go get dressed then we can grab some breakfast on the way to work.”
“Are you getting tired of yogurt and fruit for breakfast?”
“If I say yes, will you be mad?”
“Of course not. I try not to eat very much in the morning and I should’ve realized that you need a bigger breakfast.”
“I’m twice your size and I work out almost every day, so yeah, I’m a bear that needs to be fed.”
“I’ll be ready in fifteen minutes.” Turning toward the mirror, she frowned. “I can’t get the picture of Galina Firtash out of my mind.” She tipped her head up and shrugged. “It’s weird seeing someone who looks so much like me.”
“I wonder what Firtash thought when he saw you at the gala. It must’ve been like seeing a ghost.”
“After you showed me the pictures, all the conversations with him made a lot more sense. I knew he wasn’t attracted to me as a woman, but he was certainly interested, and knowing it was because I’m the doppelgänger for his daughter makes me feel a lot better.”
“He could still go off the rails, so let’s not assume his intentions are harmless.”
“Ever the optimist.”
“Being realistic is not being a pessimist. I’ve seen the worst of humanity and it’s not something you ever forget.”
“I know.” He kissed her head and then walked out of the room. As she finished applying her makeup, she thought about what losing a child did to a person and how it might change them irrevocably. How that was ultimately going to play out in Dmitry’s life would be revealed soon enough.
***
The morning had gone well and the committee had gone over the results of the computer analysis of “Madam Pompadour.” No one wielded a paintbrush or a pen in quite the same way as anyone else and the brushstrokes or markings were often considered as individual as a person’s handwriting. The mathematical technique called the wavelet analysis allowed them to evaluate the painting, telling them everything they needed to know about Modigliani’s brushstrokes. Art experts always talked about a painter’s lines, and the wavelet technique made math out of the metaphor.
The tech who evaluated the painting told them that the mathematical distribution of lines gave them a set of numbers that characterized each picture. Those numbers created coordinates and if a painting was authentic, it would line up closely with another painting done by the artist. It was a little confusing, but she got the gist of it.
As far as she was concerned, this was just another tool that could be used when evaluating a painting and she was happy to have as many as she could. The director was pleased with their progress and they were going to move forward to the next step. It was her job to summarize the findings and then share them with the other groups that were working around the world. But before she did that, she needed to grab some reference books from the School of Art library, which was on the opposite side of the building.
Tired of being inside, she decided to walk along Columbus Drive to get to the library. She’d been cooped up in the workrooms for several days and she needed some sunshine before she tackled the reports.
Slinging her purse over her shoulder, she walked out of the workroom and thought about calling Hank. But before she could do it, her phone buzzed and she saw that her mother had texted, telling her to call. They hadn’t had a decent chat since she’d gotten home from Rome and she knew she couldn’t put it off any longer. Once she had cleared security and walked outside, she decided she could catch up while she walked over to the art school.
The sidewalk that bordered the museum building was busy and she wondered if the school was having some sort of event. Glancing across to Butler Field, she tried to see if something special was happening. Not seeing anything, she decided to call her mom and update her. Just as she was about to place the call, a group came up behind her and she was jostled. Someone caught her arm before she tripped and then she felt something sharp pierce her neck. Looking up, she saw Ivan the Terrible’s awful smirk just as her world went black.
***
Hank finished his last weight rep in the gym and then checked his phone and noticed Stazi’s tracker was showing her a mile away from the Art Institute. He hit refresh on the locator app and waited until it updated her location. Looking across the gym, he saw Jason walk in and gave him a nod.
His phone beeped, indicating it had updated, and he saw that the blinking light that represented Stazi’s location was moving rapidly away from the museum and heading south on Lakeshore Drive.
Which was not where she should be.
They had made an agreement that if she was going to leave the museum, she was to tell him. Checking his call log, he saw nothing and there were no recent texts from her. “Fuck,” he mumbled. He dialed her immediately and the phone rang several times before he got dumped into voice mail. Trying again, he prayed that no one had gotten their hands on her.
No answer. He left her a quick message and then signaled to Jason to follow him. Jogging out of the room, he headed toward Lucky’s office. “Stazi is not where she’s supposed to be and I have a bad feeling.”
“I’ll call Maddox and we’ll meet you in Lucky’s office,” Jason said.
“Roger that.” Sliding to a stop in the doorway, Hank held up his phone. “Check Stazi’s tracker. My phone is indicating she’s moving south on Lakeshore.”
Lucky swiveled around in her chair and frowned. “I pray to God it’s a glitch.”
Hank watched her fingers fly across the keyboard and let out a breath. When a city map came up on the wall monitor, he walked over and let out a stream of curses. “She’s in a car. No other explanation for the speed at which she’s moving.”
“It works in real time, so yeah, you’re absolutely right.” She walked away from the surface hub and sat down at the row of computers set up along the far wall. “I haven’t had any alerts from the audio ring she’s wearing. Which tells me none of the keywords I wrote the program for have been used.”
“Maybe no words were spoken before they snatched her and drugged her.”
“Possible.” Lucky pulled up the program for the ring and read through the summary report quickly. “We haven’t had a transmission in over thirty minutes. Which means either it’s not working or it’s been destroyed.”
Jason, Maddox, and Brandon walked into the room and Hank motioned them over. “It looks like someone got ahold of Stazi.”
Brandon stepped over to the wall and pointed to the flashing light. “Yeah, I can’t see any reason why’d she be heading west on Highway 55.”
“Call Sam and see if he can come over,” Hank instructed Lucky. “Let’s see if he’s got men on Firtash’s warehouse.”
Lucky grabbed her phone. “There are a thousand places they could be heading, but the warehouse or Midway Airport are good possibilities.”
Feeling a hand land on his shoulder, he looked over and saw Jason give him a grim smile. “Nothing is going to happen to her.”
“Absolutely, man. Once we get her located, we’ll organize a snatch and grab and be out of there before anyone knows what happened.”
Maddox joined them. “Piece of cake.”
“Not knowing who it is that has her and what they want puts us at a tactical disadvantage and I fucking hate disadvantages,” Hank ground out.
Lucky got off the phone and walked over to join them. “Sam is coming and he’s in contact with his men who are scouting the warehouse. They don’t have any signs of activity so far and they’ll keep us updated.” She started to leave but stopped in the doorway. “I’m going to pull my five best people off their projects and have them start pulling feeds for the CCTV cameras and monitor the Shodan map. We’ll have Firtash’s exact location and see where the top henchmen for Sergey Belikov are. I haven’t been able to tag Sergey yet because he uses burner phones, but I have two of his brigadiers tagged, so hopefully, they’ll lead us somewhere valuable.”
“I’m going to get the new drone ready so we can deploy her as soon as we pinpoint Stazi’s location,” Brandon added. “I have new gadgets to attach to it that could prove to be useful. Anything else you want me to do?”
“No,” Hank replied. “We don’t know what we’re dealing with yet, so let’s stay loose so we can react the minute we get a final location.”
Maddox slapped Hank on the shoulder. “I’m going to get our gear ready.”
“I’ll join you,” Jason said. “I want to make sure I’ve got what I need if we have to breach Firtash’s home. Concrete is a bitch to get through and I don’t plan on wasting a minute.”
“Thanks, man.” Hank turned back to the map and watched Stazi move along the highway. Where the fuck were they taking her? Was she hurt or scared? A cold river of anger filled his head and he took a moment to just let it be. If he denied the emotion it would just come back when he was least prepared to control it. The moment they had a location and they left the building, he needed to be operational and use every second of his combat experience to get Stazi home safely.
Closing his eyes momentarily, he thought of the smile she’d given him as she walked into the Art Institute this morning and vowed he was going to see it again before the day ended.