CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Monday, September 25th
Lucky walked next to Grif and wondered why he was quiet. He’d already had several cups of coffee along with two chocolate croissants, so his caffeine and sugar levels were optimal. “What did you do yesterday?”
“Pub crawl with a couple of friends.”
“Anyone I know in the group?”
“Not sure, we haven’t worked together for a couple of years, so I haven’t kept track of where our friend groups cross.”
“When you’re done with the attitude, let me know.” Hearing him let out a long sigh, she looked up and noticed his face was scrunched up. “Just get it out, Grif, so we can move on.”
“I’m finding the fact that you’ve found love a little hard to deal with. I know we’ll never make one another happy long-term, but seeing you fall in love is not something I’m enjoying.”
She took his hand and squeezed it. “I understand. I’d probably have similar feelings if our situations were reversed.”
“At least Sam is a good guy.”
“You think so?”
Grif stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and lifted his sunglasses off his face. “Do you have questions about that?”
Looking down, she shook her head. “No, it’s just that I’m in that drunk first phase of love and I’m not sure my judgment can be trusted. Not that it matters because I’m not letting him go.”
“You’ve known the guy for a year and worked together, so I think the amount of data you’ve got should be giving you a firm answer either way.”
“I know, it’s just my cynicism fighting my optimism and nothing more. In a way, I’m afraid it’s too good to be true and his perfect behavior isn’t going to last.”
“You’ve already seen him be an ass, so you know it won’t. But maybe the positive will balance out the negative and you’ll end up with something you can live with.”
“That’s true and, as far as I can tell, he’s the one for me, despite the fact he’s domineering and bossy…or maybe it’s the reason we work. He doesn’t back down and let me run the show like I’ve always done, and I guess that’s what I’ve been waiting for. He accepts me as I am, and I think it’s allowed me to open up and be myself without feeling like I have to prove my worth.”
“I think he’s made you soft, and something in him has inspired you to put your swords down and drain the moat. As far as I can tell, that’s not something to take lightly.”
“You’re right, Grif, because my soft gooey center isn’t as scared of light as it used to be.”
They turned the corner and approached the glass building that housed the bank and she looked up. “Thank you, I know that wasn’t an easy conversation.”
“Ultimately, I want you to be happy and if that stupid fed is the one to do it, then I better get over myself and just accept it.”
“I’m trying to do the same thing because, believe me, this falling in love business isn’t for the faint of heart. As exciting as this is, it’s also the scariest thing I’ve ever faced, and accepting what’s happening hasn’t been easy.”
“I don’t think it’s supposed to be, but it’s probably worth it since he’s likely your only shot at happiness.”
Groaning, she opened the glass door and held it while Grif walked past her. “And you were doing so well.”
He slung his arm over her shoulder and pressed the button for the elevator. “Let’s go finish securing the system and see if we can figure out if Wouter is in cahoots with the Bratva or just a greedy banker.”
“Maybe he started out with good intentions and then was seduced by the profit he would make from all the transactions flowing through his bank.” They stepped into the elevator and were on the third floor within a minute and were soon ensconced inside the IT room.
“Possible,” Grif answered as he set his bag down.
“Or is he being threatened and has no choice but to comply?”
“The program I wrote to cull all the transactions and track them tells me he’s probably a greedy businessman who didn’t realize the risk he was taking by doing business with Vazov.”
“Sam told me that Vazov has his own bank, so why would he need another to backwash his funds through? If he can illegally transmit money without involving anyone else, then why is he using Wouter?”
“Maybe the sheer volume of transactions is too much for one bank to handle.”
“How many transactions are running through Societe Generale now?”
Rolling his chair forward, he pulled up a screen and whistled. “He’s already initiated over five hundred today.”
“Bingo,” Lucky said as she picked up her phone and texted Sam the information.
“What does it mean?” Grif asked as he scrolled through the spreadsheet that was populating.
“I have no idea because my knowledge of how to launder money is about zero, but that many transactions have to mean something.”
“Unfortunately, my money laundering know-how is non-existent too, so I’ll be absolutely no help.”
She checked her phone to make sure the text went through and when she saw that it had, she grabbed a chair. “I let Sam know what’s going on, so if it comes up as a red flag, he’ll let us know.”
“Doesn’t seem like it’s going to be a typical Monday.”
“Yeah, I’d have to agree with you.” Leaning back in her chair, she studied the ceiling and wondered what they were in for.
***
Sam and Owen sat in the conference room of the legat office in the embassy and continued to analyze the data that the team in Brussels had put together on Vazov to see if what they produced in the states matched up. In theory, they were all supposed to be looking at the same information, as it was the Intelligence’s Branch responsibility to integrate intel across the organization. But as with most things, practice didn’t always follow theory.
There were, for example, electronic transmissions, which were often referred to as signals intelligence that had been collected from local satellites that indicated regular communication between Vazov and Yolkin had been going on for more than a year. He’d never seen it in the U.S. database and he wondered how the oversight had occurred.
Digging into it, he realized there had to be a connection between the two that they had yet to identify. Julia hadn’t come up with anything, but he bet if Lucky got on it, she could. After all, she was the one who had found Firtash’s connection last spring and that had made cracking the case possible.
Theo walked in, took a seat, and slid two thick reports across the table. “That’s Europol's latest intelligence on the most active and lethal pakhans operating today. As you both know, the organization is considered the hub of European criminal information and, for a fairly new organization, they do a decent job. As far as I can tell, there aren't any surprises and the theories we’ve been throwing around regarding Vazov are right on.”
Owen stood, walked over to the window, and crossed his arms. “What will it take to have enough information to bring the man in? We all know he’s doing a ton of nasty shit and we’re in possession of a decent amount of evidence to tie him to all sorts of crimes. How big does the smoking gun have to be before we take action?”
“We’re here at the pleasure of our host nation and, so far, we haven’t found the cooperation we need to make a move. It’s almost like they want us to have pictures of him in the middle of Grand Place selling armaments to the KLA before they’ll authorize a joint op to take him down,” Theo replied as he tapped his fingers on the table.
Sam sat up and knocked his knuckles on the table. “Maybe that’s our move. Lucky told me she thought she found Vazov’s kassir running a side hustle on the Dark Web. If, in fact, that’s true, why don’t we run him down and see if we can bring the rats out into the light of day?”
“As appealing as that is, we don’t want the bookkeeper unless we can turn him and get intel. We want Vazov tied to something that will not allow him to make bail when he’s brought in,” Theo said as he crossed his arms.
Owen returned to the table and took a seat. “When the intel comes in and the op is authorized by all the appropriate parties, will the Federal Police allow HRT to run a joint operation?”
Theo nodded as he checked his phone. “We have an agreement that allows us to work with our counterparts in making the arrests. As accomplished as the Federal Police are, they’re no match for Tier One operators.” He glanced over at Sam and shrugged. “We all know the capability of HRT, and if someone like Vazov is going to be captured and arrested, it makes sense to bring in the very best to make sure nothing goes wrong.”
Sam looked down at his tablet and, though he felt the usual twinge of regret that he was no longer on the team, it didn’t steal his breath as it had in the past. There was no hot knife plunging into his heart at the thought of missing out on the takedown, and no rapid increase in his heartbeat. In fact, he felt incredibly calm and…happy.
Such an inane word for such a tremendous emotion.
But there it was, he was happy with his life and didn’t want to change much about where it was headed. The only thing he’d like to see occur in the next couple of weeks was for Lucky to let down the last of her barriers and admit how she felt.
She was his love story and he wanted her to feel the same way about him because the last three weeks they’d spent together had him writing her into everything he did, everything he saw, and every dream he had for the future. The fact that his future was potentially filled with an enormous amount of happiness told him the end of his career on the front lines wasn’t the end of him.
Theo’s phone buzzed, and he checked it. “Looks like the folks in Intelligence have made their way into Vazov’s network. The Trojan that Lucky installed worked and they’re now monitoring all his communications.”
“This could be it,” Sam said as he glanced over at Owen.
“It’s about time we caught a break,” Owen said as he opened his laptop. “I’m going to see if IB has anything new on Yolkin.”
“Good idea,” Sam replied. Picking up his phone, he texted Lucky and let her know they were getting close. When she didn’t respond right away, he figured she was busy. “Let’s pull up the map and see where his house is located because if intel develops quickly, we’re not going to have much time to plan the arrest.”
Theo nodded and started typing commands into his tablet. “Good idea.”
Once the map and images came up on the large screen, Sam walked over and started mentally running possible scenarios through his mind of how the op could play out. When his brothers from HRT arrived, he wanted to have at least five for them to choose from.
***
Lucky and Grif were working side by side in the IT room when loud voices erupted in the hall. Looking over, she signaled to Grif to bring up the cameras. When the images appeared, she felt her heart almost stop.
The man who’d she been stalking for months was just a few feet away.
Leaning forward, she studied his image and felt a cold chill run over her body. “What’s he doing here?”
“Nothing good,” Grif replied as he enlarged the image. “He’s losing his shit, though.”
As she stared at his face on the screen, she realized she was seeing the true embodiment of evil for the first time in her life. His dead eyes were like nothing she’d ever seen, and it made her wonder what had made him give up his humanity and become a monster. “Should we call security?”
“Let’s see what happens in the next couple of minutes; Wouter doesn’t look scared so maybe this isn’t unexpected.”
“You’re right; he looks resigned like he knew it was coming.” Lucky watched them walk into Wouter’s office and close the door. “Is there a camera in there?”
“No, but he’s got audio.” Sliding his chair over to another screen, he typed quickly and then the audio was streaming into their earbuds.
“I wish I spoke French,” Lucky said as she heard the angry exchange of words. “As soon as the conversation is finished, let’s send it over to Sam.”
“I bet this has to do with all the transactions that have been flying through the system,” Grif remarked as he leaned back in his chair.
“I’m assuming you scrambled the audio in this room.” When he raised an eyebrow and said nothing, she knew it was a dumb comment. They had long ago set up a routine when they entered a new location and it started with disabling any audio and video that was present in their workspace.
They’d had a bad experience on one of the first jobs they’d taken, and it had taught them to trust no one, especially the people who hired them. The other thing they did was make sure everything was encrypted on their own devices, so their communications were secure. When they’d been in the Gulf, they learned every move they made was being surveilled and that made them go the extra mile to ensure no one ever picked up anything they didn’t want them to. Not only for their own personal safety but for the security of their business. The programs they wrote were invaluable and the last thing they needed was for someone to try and steal their brain juice because, in the end, that was their only resource.
“I’m going to copy the reports that are being generated for Vazov’s accounts and you can send them over as well because, for all we know, the dates and amounts may tie into something they’re investigating.”
“Good idea.” Tapping her nails on the desk, she waited for Vazov’s tirade to wind down, so she could send it to Sam. Her sixth sense told her something was about to happen, and she hoped it would be enough for one of the agencies to finally act.
***
Julia walked into the conference room and waved a bunch of papers. “Holy shit storm, we got him.”
Sam turned from the screens he’d been studying and saw the agent’s ecstatic expression. “Got who?”
“Where are Theo and Owen?”
“They went out to grab some lunch and should be back any minute.”
“This is what we’ve been waiting for,” she said as she pumped her fist.
Owen and Theo strolled in with bags from a local sandwich shop and set them down on the table. “What’s going on?” Owen asked.
“The techs in IB picked up a series of texts between Vazov and Besiaj regarding a deal that involves armaments for the KLA.” Julia flipped through the papers in her hands. “The backdoor that Lucky created allowed the IB team to take over his laptop and encrypted phone along with all the other electronic devices that connect to the network. They picked up the texts this morning and I’m praying it will be enough.”
Sam sat forward in his chair. “Holy shit.” Hearing his phone buzz, he checked it and saw that Lucky had texted and told him to check his email immediately. “Can you pass me my laptop?”
Owen brought it over and lifted his shoulders in question. “What’s up?”
“Lucky just sent me something.”
“Is she at the bank today?”
“Yes.” He opened his email and scanned it. “Vazov lost his shit and was yelling at Martin Wouter for thirty minutes and they captured the audio.” He clicked on the attachment and began listening to the conversation. Once he was halfway through, he stopped it. “He’s threatening Wouter and telling him he won’t get out of their ‘deal’ alive and has no choice but to cooperate. I’m going to send this over to the techs, so they can translate it and transcribe it.”
“What language are they speaking?”
“French, so as soon as I send this over I’ll listen to it again and translate it for you guys.”
Julia sat next to Sam and drummed her fingers. “If we’re lucky, there will be some mention of the arms deal.”
Theo paced back and forth and then stopped. “I feel like these two things are enough to send this up the chain of command and get the wheels moving. There’s no ambassador in residence, so I’m going to let the Deputy Chief of Mission know what’s going on and then get the director in the loop.”
Sam saw another email come through and he opened it. “Lucky sent over a report with all the financial transactions associated with Vazov and the accounts he holds over at Societe Generale.”
“This thing is coming together,” Owen remarked. “Send me a copy of the financial reports, so I can start piecing them together with the intel the techs are pulling off his network.”
Sam sent it over and then sent another copy to the team. “This is it, we’re finally going to nail the son of a bitch.” After he was done sending copies to everyone, he took a moment to send Lucky a text: Amazing work, honey. So proud of you and appreciative of everything you and Grif have done. I love you and can’t wait to see you tonight. He hit send and decided that confessing his feelings over text was probably a good way for her to start getting used to the idea because it was going to take her a while to accept it. She was it for him and there would never be another, so the sooner she understood that the better.
Hopefully, she didn’t hate the idea.