Firewall (34 page)

She kept her gaze fixed on me for several moments while waiting for the penny to drop. It finally did. She saw it in my face. "I don't wish to state the obvious, Nick, but why else do you think Valentin would pay you three million? Tom must die."

I was almost lost for words. "But why? I mean, why don't I just get him out at the same time?"

"That's not an option, Nick. Tom will very quickly be coerced into helping them with Echelon. As we both know, he can breach the firewall. We know they have at least some of the software. We know they have Tom, and probably also the Think Pad As soon as it all links up, what's in his head, what's in his pocket, what's in the van…"

She shuddered. "If the Maliskia get access to Echelon and add it to their Moonlight Maze capabilities, they will have all the ingredients for catastrophe. It will affect not only Valentin's vision for the East, but bring the West to its knees.

"Look, Tom has the Think Pad He has the ability to use it. The risk is too great. What if you are killed or taken before finishing the task? Even if you did rescue him he would still be in the country, and the possibility of capture by them is a risk Valentin is not willing to take. It is simply better that Valentin sacrifices Tom and the opportunity to access Echelon himself than risk the Maliskia having it.

No one, Nick, can afford for the Maliskia to have Echelon."

I was still finding this hard to accept. "But why not just tell the Americans? Val was going to tell them about the Finns' house."

"Unthinkable. What if they take Tom and he explains exactly what has been going on? Nick, I don't think even you would want that, would you? Tom would go back to prison for life and you'd be in the adjoining cell."

Bending down and placing the briefcase in her bag once again, she seemed to be rounding up. "I'm sorry, Nick, but I have many things to do now, as you can appreciate. We'll meet tomorrow at Stockmann, eleven a.m. in the cafe. That is the soonest that I'll be able to get more information. One thing is certain, after that you must leave as soon as you can. If the Maliskia have got Tom to cooperate, every hour counts."

I looked at her and nodded. "This new information, is it coming in on the 6:30 a.m. train from St. Petersburg?"

She didn't bat an eyelid. "Yes, of course. Nick, I want to apologize once more for what has happened. It was just that if you'd known exactly what was going on "

"I wouldn't have done the job in the first place?"

"Precisely. I must go now." She busied herself in standing up and fastening her coat. "I think I need about fifteen minutes."

I nodded. I'd get another tea while she got clear of the area, then I'd go and find out exactly where Estonia was and how the fuck to get there.

27

Thursday, December 12 1933 Ten minutes before she was due to arrive, I settled into a corner seat at the Cafe Avec in Stockmann. On my way over I'd stopped at an Internet cafe and checked out the Moonlight Maze story on the Sunday Times Web site. It was genuine.

The "Avec" seemed to refer to the fact that you could have your coffee with a shot of anything from the bar, from Jack Daniels to local cloudberry liqueurs. The locals were knocking them back like there was no tomorrow.

Placing two coffees and two Danishes on the table, I put a saucer over the top of Liv's cup to keep it hot.

The cafe was just as packed as when I'd been there with Tom. I'd spent a lot of time thinking about him last night, lying in my cheap and, more importantly, anonymous hotel room. The sad fact was that stopping the Maliskia from combining Echelon with their Moonlight Maze operations, and getting the money for doing it, was more important than Tom's life. Then I pictured him leaping to my defence after we'd come off the fence. Killing him was not going to be easy.

I had even considered going to the consulate and calling Lynn on a secure line, but then I realized I was losing sight of the aim, which was money. If Lynn knew, that would be the end of it. All I would get was a pat on the head if I was lucky. This way I got to pocket 3 million, plus I did democracy a good turn. It was bullshit, of course.

The trouble was, it even sounded like bullshit.

After my tea stop with Liv yesterday I'd gone straight down to the harbor to check out the ferries to Estonia. Its capital, Tallinn, seemed to be the destination for an array of roll-on, roll-off ferries, high-speed catamarans, and hydrofoils. The faster craft made the fifty-mile journey in only an hour and a half, but the girl at the ticket office told me there was too much ice floating in the Baltic and too much wind for them to make the crossing in the next few days. The only ones that could handle the conditions were the old-fashioned ferries, and they usually took over four hours, and because of the heavy seas they would now take even longer. Story of my life.

I took a sip of coffee as I sat looking at the long words in a Finnish newspaper and scanning the escalator. I was going to use the Davidson passport to go into Estonia, but had booked the ferry ticket in the name of Davies. Giving the name slightly corrupted always adds nicely to the confusion. If stopped for it, I'd just say it was the mistake of the people who did the ticketing. After all, English was their second language, and my cockney accent could be quite hard to understand when I tore the ass out of it. The method wasn't foolproof, but it might just muddy the waters a bit. I was sure the Firm would still be looking for Davidson now that he was connected with Liv and Tom. I didn't care how much they might have worked out, as long as there wasn't a picture of me to go with it, and thankfully the one in Davidson's passport wasn't much of a likeness. The mustache and rectangular glasses, plus makeup to change the size of my nose and chin slightly, worked quite well. If put on the spot, I'd say that I used contacts to read now and liked my new clean-shaven look.

I'd learned makeup from the BBC. Plastic noses and eyebrow sets are not what it's all about. As I dunked a corner of the Danish into my coffee, I couldn't help a smile as I remembered spending four hours making myself up as a woman for the final session of the two-week course; I'd thought the shade of lip gloss I'd chosen particularly suited me. It had been a laugh spending the day shopping with my teacher "girlfriend" Peter, who was dressed up in quite a fetching blue number, especially when it came to going into women's rest rooms. I didn't like having to shave and wax my legs and hands, though. They itched for weeks afterward.

An insistent electronic burst of the William Tell Overture came from somewhere behind my left shoulder, followed by a brief moment of silence, then a burst of Finnish from an elderly lady.

Everybody in this country had a cell phone-I'd even seen small kids wandering around holding their parents' hands and talking into a dangling mike-but no one settled for the standard ring. You couldn't go five minutes in Helsinki without hearing The Flight of the Bumble Bee, snatches of Sibelius, or the James Bond theme.

I sat, dunked, and waited. I had the passports tucked uncomfortably under my foot inside my right boot, and I had $1,500 in hundreds, twenties, and tens in my left.

As for Mr. Stone, he was well and truly stuffed away in the bag at the railway station. The P7 and extra barrel were still with me and would only go into the railway bag at the very last minute. There was no way I could take the weapon with me to Estonia. I had no idea how heavy the security was on the ferry journeys Liv's head appeared first as the escalator brought her up toward me.

She was looking around casually, not specifically looking for me. The rest of her body came into view, wearing the black, belted three-quarter-length leather coat over her normal jeans and Timberland-type boots. She had a large black leather bag over her shoulder and a magazine in her right hand.

She spotted me and headed for the table, kissing me on both cheeks. Her hair was back on top form and she smelled of citrus. An English-language copy of Vogue landed on the table between us, and we bluffed away with the how-are-you? smiles as she settled into her seat.

I put her cup in front of her and removed the saucer. She lifted it to her lips. Either it was cold or tasted past its best, because it went straight back down on the table.

"The Maliskia are located near Narva."

I returned her smile as if enjoying the story. "Narva?" It could have been on the moon for all I knew.

"You'll need a Regio one-in-two-hundred-thousand map."

"Of which country?"

She smiled. "Estonia, northeast." She put her hand on the Vogue.

"You'll also need what is inside here."

I nodded.

Her hand was still on the magazine. "It's from this location that they have been running Moonlight Maze; and now that they have Tom and the Think Pad it's where they will also be attempting to access Echelon. They move location every few weeks to avoid detection, and after what's happened here they will be moving again very soon. You'll need to act quickly."

I nodded again and her hands came together on the table as she leaned forward. "Also inside is an address. You'll meet people there who should help you get explosives and whatever else you need. The best way to Narva is by train. Hiring a car is more trouble than it's worth. And Nick" she fixed her eyes on mine "these people in Narva, do not trust them. They're totally unreliable, the way they conduct their drugs trade is disrupting business for all of us. But they're the closest Valentin can offer you to support on the ground."

I gave her a smile that let her know I wasn't born yesterday.

"Also remember, do not mention Valentin at all when dealing with them.

There must be no connection between him and any of this. None whatsoever. If they make a connection, the deal will be off, because they will simply kill you."

Her hands went back together. "Also in there is a" she hesitated, trying to find the right word, but didn't come up with one that satisfied her. In the end she shrugged "letter from a friend, the same one that has the contacts in Narva. It will ensure you get what you need from these people, but only use it if you need to, Nick. It was obtained at great personal expense to Valentin and shouldn't be abused."

I asked the obvious. "What's in it?"

"Well, it's a bit like an insurance policy." She smiled rather bleakly. "A Chechen insurance policy. I told you before, he likes you."

I didn't need to ask any more about it. I'd see it for myself soon.

For now there were more important matters. I needed the answer to the bayonet question again. "How many people are there on site?"

She shook her head. "We don't have that information, but it will be more than last time. This is their most important asset, which is why it's in Estonia the geography is the best defense system there is."

Something else needed answering. "How will you know I've been successful?"

"You're worried that Valentin will not pay without proof? Don't. He will know within hours how isnoconcernof yours. You will get your money, Nick."

I leaned closer. "How do you know Tom?"

"I don't, Valentin does. When Tom was caught at Menwith Hill it was Valentin he was working for. You British never discovered that, however, because your threats to him could never compare with the one Valentin was capable of delivering."

"Which was?"

Her expression invited me to use my imagination.

In my mind's eye I saw Tom, curled up in the back of the car after he'd had the facts of life explained to him by the interrogation team.

"Was Tom trying to access Echelon for Valentin at Menwith Hill?"

She nodded. "When he was caught, he told British Intelligence only what they thought they needed to know, then told the courts what they told him to say. It was all very simple, really. Well, for everyone except Tom."

"And how did you know of my connection with Tom?"

"Valentin has access to many secrets. After your encounter in Helsinki, he wanted to know a little more about you. It was easy enough to order that information from the Maliskia, thanks to Moonlight Maze. Even more incentive to get in there and destroy that capability, don't you think?"

Fucking right. I didn't like the sound of any of it.

Liv patted the magazine with her hand. "Read it. Then all we know, you will know. I must go now. There are so many other things to do."

I bet one of them was to report back to Val's go-between and tell him that I was on my way to Narva.

Liv and I smiled at each other like parting friends, kissed on the cheek, and did the farewell routine as she replaced her bag on her shoulder. "I'll check the station every day, Nick, starting Sunday."

I touched her sleeve. "One last question."

She turned to face me.

"You don't seem too concerned about Tom. I mean, I thought you two were, you know, close."

She sat down again slowly. For a second or two she toyed with her coffee cup, and then she looked up. "Meaning I had sex with him?" She smiled. "Tom is not someone I'd seek a relationship with. I had sex with him because he was weakening and very unsure about what was expected of him. Sleeping with him was… was" she searched for a good expression, then shrugged "insurance. I had to keep him committed to the task. He's the only one who could do this sort of thing. He is a genius with this technology. He had to go with you. That is also why you must carry out your new task as quickly as you can. His capabilities must not be available to the Maliskia."

She stood and turned with a small wave of the hand, and I slouched down in my chair, wishing I'd had that information a few days ago. My eyes followed her as she headed for the escalator and slowly disappeared.

I took a small white envelope from inside the magazine Liv had left behind. It looked as if it was made for a small greeting card; it certainly didn't look as if there was much inside.

I stayed put for a while, not bothering to touch it, and drank her lukewarm coffee. After about ten minutes I piled the cups, saucers, and plates onto the tray.

Walking away from the escalators, I made my way through the warm clothing department and into the rest rooms. Safely in a stall, I opened the envelope. Inside were three scraps of paper of various sizes and quality. The first was a Post-it, on which was an address in Narva by the look of it I was after a guy called Konstantin plus a long and lat fix. The Post-it was stuck to half a ripped sheet of cheap and very thin Xerox paper, with about ten lines of Cyrillic script written in pen. This had to be the Chechen insurance policy, because the third item was a sheet of wax paper on which was a penciled cross and, toward the bottom left-hand corner of the sheet, a little circle. All I had to do was line up the longs and the lats on the right map and bingo, the circle would be around the location where Tom and the Maliskia were supposed to be.