Byzantine Gold (11 page)

“Why is Atakan armed?”

“Pardon?” Charlotte asked, stalling, surprised by the sudden switch in topic. She’d heard the question and didn’t like it. Was Saska trying to be sly by asking mundane archaeological questions first and then slipping in the real question she wanted answered on the chance she’d catch Charlotte off guard? Or, did she always think in leaps of subject matter? Charlotte’s suspicions leaned toward sly.

“He wasn’t armed on the previous sites when I was there,” Saska said.

“I’m afraid I can’t help you. I’ve no idea. Whatever the reason, it’s a Ministry matter.”

Saska looked skeptical. “No offense, but I don’t believe you when you say you don’t know.”

Unfazed by the journalist’s doubts, Charlotte eyed her back, keeping her attitude one of detachment. “No offense taken. Believe or don’t believe me. I don’t give a rat’s ass.”

Saska blinked, apparently unused to non-butt kissing candidness from her interviewees. “I’ll ask him. Obviously, there’s something dangerous about this site,” she said behind a presumptuous little smile. “I want to find out what. A bit of danger adds spice to my story.” She closed her notebook. “Think about it...it’d be like an underwater
Indiana Jones.
”

Charlotte tamped down her irritation at Saska’s confidence. She thought for a moment and then shifted to a more neutral tone.

“Indiana buys a wetsuit. I can see the potential.” She’d have liked the idea more if the danger didn’t involve Atakan’s life.

Chapter Nineteen

Charlotte checked Refik’s office first. When she didn’t find Atakan there, she asked Derek if he’d seen him. Derek told her he was in the dining room with another man who had just arrived. Charlotte hurried in that direction.

“Iskender.” Charlotte kissed him on both cheeks, happy and relieved to see him. “Last time I saw you your hair was touching your collar. What happened to the rock star look?” she asked, checking out the buzz cut.

His hair was short when he was part of the rescue operation to save her at Tischenko’s compound in Sevastopol. Over the months since, he’d been a guest at their home many times and his hair had grown long. Atakan kept his the same all the time, combed back and just long enough to stay in place. Charlotte liked longer hair on men and suggested he let his grow. Image conscious, he said no. 

“I keep it short during the summer. It gets too sweaty and sticks to me in the heat, spoiling my dashing appearance,” Iskender said.

“Of course, I should’ve known.” Iskender prided himself on being the charmer in Atakan’s unit.

Atakan pulled a chair for Charlotte over to their table.

“Let me grab a bottle of water. I had one on the shuttle, but I’m still parched.”

Charlotte took a bottle from the top of a wide metal wash tub filled with ice. Part of the recently replenished stock, it was only lukewarm. Too thirsty to care, she took several deep swallows before she rejoined them.

“I thought you were coming armed. Where’s your gun?” She looked from Iskender to Atakan, “And yours?”

“They’re both locked away. Later today, we’re going to the military base to practice,” Atakan answered.

“I know the odds are slim, but have you discussed a defensive strategy on the off chance Tischenko does come here?” she asked.

The two men exchanged a quick glance.

“No, not yet,” Atakan said. “We plan to start with the perimeter of the camp and search for any vulnerable areas. I’ve done this already, but a second pair of eyes always helps.”

“I’d like to walk the low hills behind us. If...
if
he shows up here and considering the weapon he used in Paris, we need a plan in case he uses a rifle,” Iskender said.

It disheartened her to hear him repeat what she and Atakan discussed when they first saw the site location. Nick didn’t say it was impossible to protect against a sniper shot when she asked him. He said he couldn’t advise her without seeing the environment, which gave her a tiny amount of hope.

“But the Ministry still thinks the attempt is most likely going to come in Istanbul?” she asked.

“All possibilities are on the table,” Atakan answered.

The familiarity with Istanbul over Cyprus and the close proximity of more men available from his unit there made her feel better. It wasn’t really pertinent. At the end of the day, the location didn’t matter, only that Atakan was the target.

Nick said his sources had the ability to hack Tischenko’s computer, if she obtained the necessary information from Atakan. The chances were slim, but there might be a clue on his hard drive from websites Tischenko visited, something the Ministry might’ve missed.

“Has the Ministry finished their forensics on our computers?” she asked Atakan.

“Yes, yours was the one hacked. They emailed the final report yesterday.”

“How’d he do it?”

“He came in through the back door via an open port.”

The information stumped her. What website had she visited where he found an open port for any length of time? How did Tischenko know what sites she commonly went to on the internet?

“What open port was used?” she asked.

“The most likely-MIAR. It’s logical you’d have their software. While you’re on the site the port is left open. The open connection allowed him inside where he can read your hard drive and siphon the data he wants.”

“I’d like to read the Ministry report.”

“There’s nothing in it that I haven’t explained.”

“I’d like to read it anyway.”

“Ministry reports are confidential.”

“I understand, but I’d like to see the summation. My computer was compromised. Please Atakan, it’s only fair.”

“Charlotte—”

“Please.” If Atakan discovered she turned the information over to Nick, he’d be pissed. The act might not be necessary. If the report indicated the Ministry was going down the same investigative route as Nick’s sources then she’d not involve him further. But, if the Ministry took a different approach, and it looked like Nick’s sources might find other clues then risking Atakan’s anger was worth it.

“All right,” Atakan agreed. “I won’t forward it. You must read the file on my computer. I don’t want electronic evidence I violated policy.”

“Thank you.”

Atakan turned to Iskender. “This remains between us.”

“I heard nothing. My ears were temporarily blocked from the flight here,” Iskender said, his expression blank. Then his expression changed to one of concern. “Does the rest of the team know about Tischenko?”

“Refik showed his picture and told them to report to me if they see him, but he didn’t go into details. At this point, I don’t want to raise alarms,” Atakan said.

Iskender glanced across the room and waved to Saska, who entered and joined Nassor, sitting alone at another table. “You might have to or someone could let the lion in the den without realizing the danger.”

Chapter Twenty

Kusadasi, Turkey

“You found everything I requested?” Maksym took the pharmacy bag from Rana.

“Yes, Comrade Tischenko.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Too
Old Mother Russia
?”

Maksym sighed. He’d told her several times he was Ukrainian not Russian. He’d fought with their army, yes, but wasn’t Russian by birth. Young Rana didn’t grasp the difference. He explained even when the Ukraine was part of the Soviet Republic the Ukrainian people considered themselves separate.

“Yes, too old world.”

He unloaded the bag on the galley counter and read the labels to make certain she got the order right. He opened the new supply of bottles. He shook out four of the twelve MGN-3, rice bran based capsules he’d take and four of the supplements, washing them down with Putinka Vodka. The mega-vitamin and papaya pills he swallowed one at a time with another vodka chaser.

“You take many pills,” Rana said and jerked her head away after a sniff of the vitamin bottle. “I hate pills.”

“I’m not crazy about them either, but sometimes they’re necessary. What time do you start work?” Maksym asked as he unzipped her shorts and helped her step out of them.

“Five.”

He slid her T-shirt over her head and led her by the hand into the master cabin. “Plenty of time.”

Giggly Rana wasn’t sophisticated like the women he usually preferred, but she was pretty with big tits and a nice figure. She’d hidden him in the restaurant’s storage room while the police and the man Maksym suspected was a Ministry agent following him, searched. He handed her fifty Euros for her effort and promised her fifty more if she’d come to his boat later. She’d laughed and flashed him a girlish smile. She told him he didn’t have to pay her for sex. She enjoyed sex and would happily fuck him for free. He hadn’t expected such willingness. That evening a small motorboat brought her to his yacht. She gave one of the best blow jobs he’d ever experienced, which was another pleasant surprise. But, truth be told, he doubted the existence of a bad blow job.

Since he couldn’t chance being seen in town again, she agreed to take money for running his errands. In bed that afternoon, she’d asked why he couldn’t go into Kusadasi again. Why couldn’t he visit her at the café where she worked?

“I wouldn’t have gone into town the day we met if I hadn’t had an appointment that I needed to keep in person.” 

“Then, why come here?”

“Like I said, I had an important meeting at a special place. I’m not a welcome visitor to Turkey. If they knew my whereabouts, I’d be arrested.”

“You are telling me, you will leave soon.”

He nodded. “I plan to go tomorrow.”

Rana looked crushed. She shouldn’t care. He never needed close attachments, now least of all. For reasons he couldn’t explain, he wanted to believe the look on her face was sincere. Maksym vacillated whether to stick with the timeline he planned or make an exception.

Atakan’s death could wait a short time more.

“But, I am staying a bit longer, for you.”

“Take me with you.”

“No.”

He’d left her sulking among the rumpled sheets. Her sexual enthusiasm tired him. Afterward, he’d just wanted to shower and relax on the top deck listening to music.

That was a week ago.

“I’ve a surprise.” Maksym slapped Rana on the butt and then walked naked into the guest cabin. He returned with his arms full of bags from the Charisma Hotel, a five-star resort on the water.

“While I remain here, I want you to wear these when you visit me,” he said, setting the bags on the foot of the bed.

Rana squealed as she opened each and laid the clothes out, touching and stroking the outfits as though they were made of gold.

“I guessed at your size.” Lighting a Gitanes, he inhaled deep and blew the smoke out slow. As he did, he tried to recall the scent of the pungent French cigarettes he enjoyed. He’d lost his sense of smell gradually over the last few months. His sense of taste had begun to fail immediately after. He mourned the loss of both.

“I thought you’d get arrested if the police saw you. Yet, you went shopping.”

“The hotel’s boutique staff sent an employee to the boat. She brought different pieces with her.”

“Maksym, this is too much. You are so kind to me, there must be thousands of Euros worth of clothing.”

“It’s only money.”

On her previous visits, he’d observed how careful she was with her clothes. She’d fold them neatly and place them on a chair or make sure they were straight when she hung them up. All were cheap and poorly made. But seeing how she handled them, he suspected they were her nicest things. She wore them for her visits with him. He wanted to see her dressed in the expensive outfits the women in the luxury hotels wore. Hotels Rana, who grew up in Kusadasi, had never seen the inside of and probably never would.

Rana crawled off the side of the bed leaving the new clothes undisturbed. She wrapped her arms around his neck and clung, kissing him and mumbling thank you.

“Please take me with you,” she begged again. “We’ll sail away from Turkey, away from the danger to you. One of the Greek Islands perhaps, Mykonos or Santorini, some place we can move free.”

Over her shoulder, Maksym smiled. A fleeting pang of bitterness shot through him. He didn’t have the heart to tell her he couldn’t go to those places either without fear of eventual arrest. By elaborate means with a fake passport, he’d managed to enter France from Latvia, a major risk for him. Kusadasi was a bigger one. He’d rolled the dice twice and got lucky. But one sharp-eyed EU Interpol agent on vacation in Mykonos or Santorini and his luck would end. A chance he could ill afford to take. He still needed a very lucky third roll to get to Atakan.

“I’m sorry. Lovely as it is, your dream can never be. I have an old score to settle elsewhere. I waited years to exact my revenge and you cannot be there.”

Rana leaned back and made pouty lips at him. “Revenge is an evil thing.”

“But exquisite when enacted right.”

“I am a good thing. See.” She dropped to her knees, taking him in her mouth.