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“Then maybe you should repeat what I just said to Martin and Lawrence, who gave up this number for Tom Boyadjian. They could relay to Mr. Boyadjian what we’re telling you. Stay away.”
“I’m looking for Celeres Services, C-e-l-e-r-e-s, on the Internet, on my computer, and I’m not finding anything,” the man said.
“You won’t, at your level,” Letty said. “Final warning: Stay away.”
She hung up and Kaiser laughed: “That was nice.‘You won’t, at your level.’He thinks we’re some black ops group working for the CIA.”
Cartwright nodded. “When they talk to this scout, she’ll tell them that they’ve got a bad problem: moving down a narrow hallway either from the elevator or the fire stairs. If we see them, they’re dead. There’s a good chance they’ll stay away.”
“I hope,” Letty said, shaking her head. It was all too... tentative. “But let’s get out of here anyway. I like John’s idea of a fort.”
Boyadjian drove a milefrom his home before he called Step and told him about the call from Letty. “If she’s telling the truth, your guys are gonna get shot to pieces. There’s a chance we’re talking about the CIA’s special activities group. Shofly says any attack at the hotel will be tough. The attackers would have to run down a long hall from either stairwell, if they come up that way. The elevator’s a lot closer—turn left coming out of the elevator—but they’re still in that hallway.”
Boyadjian gave Step a few more details, and Step passed them on to Volkov.
“What we know is that there is a girl with a pistol guarding the rooms, and that she would also have to step into the hallway to repel an attack. Is that correct?” Volkov asked.
“That’s what we know, but we don’t know exactly who is inside the rooms. This Celeres Services—we don’t know them. Boyadjian said the only reference he can find is to a personal guard of Romulus, the founder of Rome.”
“Typical overblown name choice for a private security service. Nothing to worry about,” Volkov said. He thought for a moment, flicked fingers at Step. “I have three good, experienced men. One will stay with the car, two will attack the room. They kick the door, throw a flash-bang, go in, burn out these pests, go down the stairs. One minute, no more, from entry to attack, another minute for the attack, one more on the stairs, to the car. Three minutes and gone.”
“And if it doesn’t work so well?”
Volkov shrugged. “I will get more men. Lots more where they come from.”
Step stared at him for a moment:Lots more where they come from. That was true, but even a GRU agent wouldn’t say it out loud, not if he was really in control. Something was going on with Volkov.
“How is the war?” he asked.
“There are apparently some... difficulties, which will soon be resolved,” Volkov said. “Don’t believe the American television. We are on schedule, but we—you and me—are being pressed on the trains. Pressed hard.”
“If you do this, be sure you remove this girl,” Step said. “These two girls and the fat man. They’ve been thorns in my side. They have forced me to close my business for now and they are attacking our trains. You have to take them.”
“We will,” Volkov said, his face gone grim. “The removal of these people will be a benefit for you. Perhaps you will send me a small gift when it is done.”
“A bottle of fine single malt Scotch,” Step suggested.
Volkov: “I was thinking one hundred thousand American dollars: no hundreds, nothing larger than fifties. In currency. No need to mention it to the apparat; I will use the money to protect the motherland.”
Step felt the pain, but smiled, best he could, and said, “Of course you will.”
If they didn’t stop the attack on the trains, Step thought, Volkov might be taking up residence someplace warm and obscure. A hundred thousand would top off what he’d undoubtedly already stolen.
Twenty-Five
Letty could feel the stress building with the coders as night came on: the coders were all smart and knew something was up with the people who carried guns. On top of that, they were now probing the Russian computers, trying to figure out what was going on there. In its own way, that was as intense as the talk about a possible Russian attack in the hotel.
Letty told her gun people, “We have to move fast. If the Russians come at us, there’ll be bodies and cops and we can’t let the cops start jacking up the coders. They’ve got work to do. If the Russians don’t come right at us, they’ll still try to find some way to mess with us.”
They all agreed and called Sovern down to Letty’s room and told him what had happened. “We’re going up to your motel in Santa Ynez. Fast as we can.”
“We got to take at least one of the printers, be best if we couldtake all of them,” Sovern said. “We need to print a lot of stuff. I’ll get people packing up.”
“Don’t worry about leaving stuff, we’ll get it back later. But don’t leave any paper,” Cartwright said. “Quick, quick, quick.”
Longstreet: “Don’t panic them.”
“They’re already nervous,” Sovern said. “They look at Kaiser and they think, ‘This guy’s a starship trooper. Why’s he here if we’re not in a war?’ That’s what they’re thinking.”
