Infiltration

“You can see, Lutrova, you don’t have many options,” Bolan said. “You can take a risk with us, spill everything—”

“And we mean everything,” Hampton interjected.

Bolan continued without missing a beat, “Or you can take your chances with your friends in the RBN. But you should know, if you don’t already, that whoever you’re working for has the means and connections to make you dead very quickly.”

“We put you in protective custody, you might have a chance,” Hampton said, taking Bolan’s lead. “But you’re definitely a dead man if you go inside the system.”

“And what do you wish in return?” Lutrova asked.

“Everything,” Bolan replied.

“Which is?”

“All information you have about your comrades in the Russian Business Network, including why you entered the country illegally and why they want to kill you.”

“I keep telling you, I don’t know—”

“Don’t play games, Lutrova,” Bolan said, putting an implicit edge in his voice. “You’ve already spilled the fact you’re in bed with the RBN, and I know all of your qualifications.”

Lutrova sneered. “Like?”

“You were formally trained at the Moscow Power Engineering Institute, top of your class. After that, you dropped off the face of the earth for ten years. For the past three years, the RBN cybercrime network activities have increased a hundredfold or more. And then you suddenly show up here and now.”

Hampton folded his arms. “So once more, what’re you doing here?”

Lutrova took a deep breath and a hint of resignation appeared in his expression. “I was sent here by Yuri Godunov. You know this man?”

Bolan scanned his mental files but couldn’t recall the name.

“What about Godunov?” he prompted.

“He is perhaps one of the greatest leaders we have ever known. He is connected to people in nearly every country, and extremely elusive. There is nothing you can do to stop him now.”

“What’s the angle?” Hampton asked.

“What do you mean by this angle you speak of?” Lutrova asked in turn.

Bolan put both palms on the table. “He means what’s Godunov’s plan?”

“Mr. Godunov does not reveal his plans to me. I only know that he sent me to break into the New York banking sector. I was ordered to fly in through Boston, and once here I was to then take a rental car to New York. I was to meet him there. But now that you have taken me, I am a liability to him. He will come after me and kill me, and there is nothing you can do to stop him.”

Bolan couldn’t be sure they were getting the truth. He’d have to run Yuri Godunov’s name through Stony Man Farm’s data banks to get more intelligence. If anyone could come up with something on Godunov, it would be Aaron Kurtzman and his team. Meanwhile, he would be forced to sit on Lutrova—keep the Russian computer hacker on ice—while he waited to find a way inside Godunov’s organization.

“Let’s take a break,” Bolan suggested to Hampton.

When they were outside the interrogation room, he stated, “I don’t like it.”

“You think he’s lying.”

“On the contrary. I think he’s completely legit. Lutrova might be a cybercriminal, but I know the type. He’s scared and with good reason, and he’s looking to make a deal.”

Hampton sighed and leaned against the wall, the resignation obvious in his tone. “I don’t have any deal to offer him, Cooper. I’m a government hack, just like you, and the policy on terrorism is strict. It looks like we’re going to have to turn him over to the boys from Homeland Security.”

“You let me worry about that.”

“You’re not really from its Intelligence, are you?” Hampton inquired with a smile.

Telling Hampton anything more than absolutely necessary might compromise Stony Man’s security. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust the Customs official, but the plain fact of the matter was that this kind of red tape was what made Bolan’s job harder. He’d have to get clearance to take Lutrova with him. They would go straight to New York so Bolan could find out exactly what was going on through other means best left unexamined. If the Executioner tried to get chummy with Hampton, or left Lutrova under the protection of U.S. Customs, Godunov’s people would try again and that would only leave Hampton in a predicament. No, he’d have to keep tabs on Lutrova and take him to New York.

“Who I am or work for isn’t important,” Bolan said. “I’m with intelligence and that has to be good enough. I need to make a phone call. That call is going to generate another call, and I’m betting within the hour you’re going to be able to get this completely off your hands.”

“What are you saying?”

“Lutrova has to come with me.”

“Where? To New York?”

Bolan nodded.

“No offense, Cooper,” Hampton replied, coming off the wall now, “but I’d have to say that’s going to be pretty dangerous. If you are nothing more than an intelligence analyst, which I highly doubt based on the handiwork I just saw out there, you’d be committing suicide.”

“Again, that’s my worry. Not yours.”

Hampton shrugged. “Well, I can’t say as I like it, but I have the sneaking suspicion it isn’t going to make much difference what I think. I’d bet somebody in a much higher pay grade is going to make the decision for me.”

“That would be a safe bet.”

Bolan turned to leave and Hampton said, “Hey, Cooper? Just watch your ass out there. If these guys tried once, no doubt they’ll try again.”

“That’s what I’m counting on,” Bolan replied.

CHAPTER THREE

After Yuri Godunov finished listening to the report from the head of his internal security team, he slammed a fist on his desk.

Their operation, his operation, had taken an ugly turn, and Godunov wasn’t certain how to get it back on track. Thus far, his plans to slip Bogdan Lutrova into the country right under the noses of U.S. Customs had gone off without a hitch. What he hadn’t expected was the destruction of the four men he’d dispatched to liberate his premier hacker.

“This is what I pay you good money for, Volkov,” Godunov had told the mercenary leader known at large as the Wolf. “You were responsible for taking care of this for me. What went wrong?”

The Wolf cleared his throat. “I’m not sure. We weren’t expecting to meet that kind of resistance. I’ve been informed that our team was put down by one man.”

“One man?” Godunov’s expression turned apoplectic. “You mean four of your best men, trained by some of the finest methods I could buy, weren’t able to take out one man? You must be misinformed!”

“I’m not, sir, I can assure you. I verified the information as soon as it came to me.”

That was probably true. The Wolf had spies inside every major U.S. law-enforcement agency, not to mention plenty of civilian workers on the payroll. That kind of network took vast resources, and those resources were quickly diminishing. That was one of the main reasons for Godunov’s plan to crack one of New York’s largest financial institutions, Chase Manhattan, and pilfer everything he could before they got wise to his plan. Along the way, he expected to pick up quite a bit of information on those individuals who were financing the RBN’s activities.

Godunov’s organization spread far and wide. He didn’t head up the RBN—such a position could only be held by one who could walk the real halls of power back in the mother country—but Godunov occupied a prime position. He took his orders straight from the head of their worldwide society of profit and mayhem. Godunov then filtered that down to the hundreds working for him. Of course, he knew that a lot of them marched to their own drummer. Most he’d even caught skimming profits. But there was plenty of wealth to go around. As long as his superior didn’t miss it, Godunov was willing to look the other way now and again. It wasn’t as if he had a big choice, however. The RBN employed thieves, and that meant he had to expect his workers to steal here and there.