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.
The RBN operations remained large only because Godunov had learned to be extremely cautious. The network survived through an infrastructure comprised of thousands of small front companies, many only on paper. A growing list of financiers actually invested in these companies, and as long as their “stock options” were showing steady returns—with the occasional bonus—they didn’t ask a lot of questions. But times were tough, with the world economy being what it was. That had forced Godunov to find more creative ways of getting money, and so they needed to get information on the funds of those anonymous financiers, so they could access those funds without attracting undue attention.
That was the plan Godunov had assigned Bogdan Lutrova to put into action. Now, though, it seemed that four of the Wolf’s team members were dead, and Bogdan had appeared to drop off the map.
“What’s your recommendation?” Godunov finally asked the Wolf.
“I could not make one until I have more information. Certainly, we need to find our…asset.”
“Indeed. I will leave that in your hands. But don’t screw this up again, comrade, or I will hold you personally responsible. Do you understand my meaning?”
There was a pause before the Wolf answered, “I do.”
Godunov bid him farewell by dropping the receiver into the cradle and muttering, “Incompetence. Sheer incompetence.”
He sat back, rubbed his eyes and sighed. Now he would have to play a waiting game. What he couldn’t understand was why they had moved Lutrova and, moreover, done so in secret. Such a move typically involved a considerable amount of time and bureaucracy, but the Customs officials had somehow managed to make it happen quickly. The bungled attempt of his men to liberate Lutrova meant they had shown their hand early. While faithful, and capable of following his script to the letter, Lutrova might see the cause as lost, and roll on their organization, figuring he could cut a better deal for himself by cooperating with the U.S. authorities.
What bothered Godunov most was the talk of this mysterious stranger the Wolf had spoken about. Godunov thought he’d worked every angle, but such a development could signal that the Americans had been onto their plans from the beginning. Either way, it didn’t matter, since Godunov hadn’t pinned all their hopes on Lutrova. He could implement a fail-safe if absolutely necessary, although he hesitated to do so unless the circumstances became dire. Such a fail-safe would involve ordering the Wolf to do whatever was necessary to find Bogdan Lutrova and terminate his life. There could be no loose ends—everything would need to be tied up neatly so as not to risk exposing the RBN leadership to scrutiny.
For now, all Godunov could hope was that it wouldn’t
