Russian Law (Law Series ) (Volume 1) (15 page)

Elena
turned back to face Lucas. He was watching her closely, too closely. She could
feel a blush rising from her neck and she wondered if he had noticed her
watching the dancers and what it was that he was thinking. She sat back in her
seat and away from the glare of the light above the booth in an effort to hide
her heated face. She had already embarrassed herself enough what with her
crying fit earlier. She didn’t need Lucas to see her blushing as well.

“We
don’t have to stay here, if you’d like to go someplace else?” he offered.

Elena
shook her head. “No really its fine. I don’t mind. I just don’t understand to
allure.”

Lucas
shrugged. “You and me both.”

She
raised an eyebrow. “Really? You don’t find this,” she searched for the right
word. “Appealing?”

Lucas
gave the room a sweeping glance before turning back to her. “No, I don’t. I
prefer to use my imagination.”

He
looked at her hard, holding her gaze and she felt her body warm and it wasn’t
from the warm atmosphere in the sordid establishment. She forced herself to
look away and luckily the waitress was on her way back with their drinks. Best
to let that moment they just shared slide on by.

The
waitress returned and Elena dug into her purse pulling out money and handing
the woman several Russian Rubles. The waitress moved away to take more orders.

“Getting
back to what we were talking about,” she picked up her glass and took a sip,
“what does my being Nikolai’s wife have to do with anything?”

“He
would have trusted you,” Lucas stated simply.

She
frowned at that, Nikolai played things close to the chest. If he didn’t want
you to know something, torture couldn’t drag it from his mouth.

“I
don’t know about that, for all you know Nikolai could have
suspected
me.”

Lucas
shook his head, immediately disregarding what she said. There was no way anyone
could suspect Elena of any wrong doing. She wore her heart on her sleeve and
every emotion was plain to see on her face. Like before when she had been blushing.
He had almost leaned across the table to give her something to blush about.

“No
he would’ve trusted you,” he sounded so confident in that fact.

She
looked at him in surprise. “Why are you so sure about that?”

He
looked into her cool grey eyes and replied, “Because I trust you, I doubt good
old Nikolai would’ve thought differently. You’re an honest woman Elena, one who
wouldn’t give up her morals for the chance at money or power.”

Lucas
saw her eyes mist over and cursed himself, he watched as she took another sip
of her drink trying once more to conceal her feelings from him. Her diamond
wedding ring stuck out proudly from her finger. She must have loved Nikolai
very much. To wear his ring months after his death announcing to the world that
she still considered herself to be married, to belong to him always. He
wondered what it would be like to have someone so devoted to the memory of him.

He
watched as she brought her hand up, through the bright white light above their
booth and suddenly he went still. His eyes narrowed and locked on her finger,
following her hand as it went back down to the table as she replaced her glass.
No, he thought. It couldn’t be that simple but he knew without a doubt it was.
They may be worlds apart but he and Nikolai were both schooled in the art of intelligence.
He looked up from Elena’s hand and back at her face. She wore a look of concern
and he realized she must have been talking to him.

“Sorry
what did you say?”

Elena
frowned. “I said is everything alright?”

He
nodded. It soon will be he thought. He looked at her ring again. “Your wedding
ring may I see it?”

Her
eyebrow arched, she was probably wondering why he wanted to see it but she
didn’t ask. She slid the ring off her finger and handed it over to him. Like a jeweler
he studied the rock from each angle, scrutinizing it. Up close he could see
that the stone was not actually a diamond, which he had guessed previously and
why he had asked for the ring. Satisfied he put it on the table, raised his
glass and smashed down hard on the ring, the rock falling loose from its
mooring.

Elena
jumped up. “What did you do that for?”

She
snatched up her ring and the faux diamond. He thought he heard her swear under
her breath. She looked downright murderous and thought it best to explain and
fast.

“Elena,
it’s not your ring.”

Her
eyes widened and shocked, looked down at the two pieces in her hand. Lucas
reached up and took the stone from her palm and held it to the light. He saw
her eyes change and she sat down heavily in her seat.

She
breathed, “Oh my God is that a...”

She
let the sentence trail off.

Lucas
completed it for her, “Data crystal? I believe so. I can just make out some
markings inside. Nikolai must have switched your ring.”

She
shook her head. “How, when?”

She
thought back to before Nikolai was murdered and couldn’t remember any time that
he would have a chance to copy her ring. He must have taken it off her while
she had slept. She remembered him placing his hand over hers the nights leading
up to his death. She understood now that that was him training her hand to get
used to be touched prior to when he would switch her ring. The sneaky bastard
had been planning it for a long time and she felt stupid that she hadn’t had a
clue. What else didn’t she know about her husband, what other secrets were out
there?

“Sometime
before he died, he must have known the information he had was dangerous, he
didn’t tell you because he didn’t want them to target you.”

She
sat there fuming, her face flushed with anger. “It’s so frustrating. Who are
‘them’? I’m sick of calling them by ominous names. We should know who they are
and what their agenda is. If only my freaking agency would pull their heads out
of their asses long enough to see what’s going on.”

Lucas
couldn’t stop his eyebrows from rising high towards his hair line. When Elena
erupted it was tantamount to Mt St Helen’s. He wondered if she was a Scorpio
but didn’t want to risk his life or his anatomy by asking. He watched as she
let out a deep breath, her chest rising and falling heavily from the exertion
of her outburst. Her red face returned to its normal shade as the flames were
put out. It was quite fascinating to him how she could contain such fire
burning inside of her and wondered if it spilt over to other areas of her life
as well.

She
sat in silence, her thoughts running rampant inside her head. She looked down
at the gold wedding band and crystal lying on her palm.

“How
– how did you know?” she asked.

She
focused on the one thing that wouldn’t make her scream in frustration. She had
had too many shocks recently that soon she would no longer be accountable for
her actions and then God help anyone in her way.

“The
wedding photo in your apartment,” he explained. “The sun shined directly on
your diamond casting a rainbow of colors, just then when the light was on your
ring – nothing.”

She
nodded. “I must have been wearing this ring for over six months and I never
noticed.”

He
once more lifted up the crystal, placing it under the light. He had heard of
data crystals but they weren’t widely available - at least not yet. Give it a
couple of years and they will be the next hot thing. Lucas had an idea of how
they worked, had watched the technology gurus at Langley showcase their design.
He vaguely remembered something about each piece of data being ingrained onto
multiple 3-D holographic sheets. He should have paid better attention.

“Do
you think you can read the data?”

Elena
frowned. “If it is not too damaged, yes.”

Lucas
squinted at the crystal. “Well we won’t be able to read this at any internet
café.”

Elena
agreed, looking over at the crystal like it was some mathematical problem. “No,
we’re going to need some high tech stuff. I know someone who can help.”

“He
doesn’t work for SVR does he?” Lucas asked.

“No.”

Lucas
gave it some thought. He looked her in the eye reading her face like a book. “Do
you trust him?”

Elena
nodded. “Explicitly.”

He
stood up. “Okay then, that’s good enough for me. Let’s go.”

Chapter 16

Special
Agent in
Charge James Fitzgibbon was not in a good mood. He should be home right now
with his wife Maggie eating her succulent roast turkey dinner but instead he
was in his plain office that over looked a damn parking lot of all fucking
things trying to calm down the Russian Director. He wasn’t appreciated nearly
enough as he should. When this was all over he was taking Maggie on a nice long
vacation to the Bahamas’ or some such place she was always gushing about.

What
the hell have you gotten yourself into now Gates?

James
leant back in his chair. Lucas had gone out and had killed a Russian agent. Not
only had Lucas shot and killed one SVR agent and escaped into the night. He had
taken another along with him as he took off through the streets of Moscow
resisting arrest and tearing up the place. On the last count he had stolen one
car and evaded the authorities endangering their innocent citizens.

He
ran his fingers through his hair. Lucas was known to be rather spontaneous in
his pursuits but something didn’t sit right with this investigation. It hadn’t
from its inception. But why had he taken his liaison officer with him. Was she
in on the plot or whatever the hell was going on? Or was she helping him? It
could only be one or the other knowing Lucas. Jim prayed it was the latter. The
man could use all the help he could get. He had to find some way to get in
contact with his man, find out his side of the story before they had an international
incident on their hands.

He
picked up his phone and dialed the number off by heart. He hated cancelling on
Maggie, she was always so patient with his job and took a lot in stride. Even
after she slaved so long to create the delicious meal that would be cold by the
time he got to it. Maggie wasn’t going to like it when he told her he wouldn’t
be home for dinner, but he had work to do and that came above all else. Besides
Maggie liked Lucas, she would understand.

He
hoped
.

Chapter 17

It
took them over an hour to reach the area of Belorusskaya-Radialnaya, even after
Lucas had used his gadget to unlock another car, this time a dark blue Ford
Focus. It had still taken him and Elena forever to navigate through the night
traffic and get them to the apartment complex Elena’s computer friend lived in.

Elena
pulled the coat more securely around her body and together they walked up to
the small speaker box mounted on the wall beside the front steel door. Elena
pressed the button he assumed corresponded with the correct apartment above.

They
only had to wait a minute before a wide-awake voice came wafting out. “Da?” was
the response.

“Dmitry
it is Elena,” she spoke in English, probably for his benefit. “I have a
computer problem for you.”

If
the recipient, Dmitry, thought it strange she was speaking in English, he
didn’t voice his opinion. A buzzer sounded angrily as if protesting the time of
night. Elena opened the heavy door to the complex and started towards the
elevator. Lucas noticed briefly the niceness of the apartment building. Clean
teal carpet lined the floor and the painted walls were done in tasteful beige
and were lined with framed black and white professional panoramic views of
Moscow.

The
elevator door opened on level three and Lucas followed Elena down the hallway
and they turned around a corner. A man still dressed in jeans and a polo shirt
as if the time was two in the afternoon as opposed to two in the morning, stood
in the doorway of an open apartment. His face widened with a smile when he
caught sight of Elena.

“Elena,”
he embraced her before allowing her and Lucas to enter. The apartment was the
same as the hallway, beautifully rendered and stylishly designed. It was a long
way from IKEA, Lucas thought as he took in the polished mahogany furniture. The
only difference Lucas could see between the fancy corridor and the trendy
apartment was that the residence was obviously occupied with a man. There were
empty beer cans and pizza boxes on the coffee table, an odd sock or two lying
about and about twenty thousand dollars worth of computer equipment taking up
most of the space in the large open room directly ahead of him.

Dmitry
turned to Elena, his English flawless, “I’ve heard all about you on the police
band, wanted by SVR and all that.” He shook his head, mock scolding her. Lucas
could see that Dmitry found the whole thing quite hilarious.

Elena’s
hands went automatically to her hips. “Dmitry, you know you’re not supposed to
have a police band, what if you get caught?”