Chapter 5 - The Snake in the Grass
(3,500 words)
The betrayal cut deeper than any knife.
"They're calling me a terrorist?" Josephine whispered, her voice cracking as she watched the news anchor describe her as "a radicalized medical professional assisting the Petrov syndicate."
"Kovac has the chief of police in his pocket, and the regional director of the FBI is on his payroll," Marcus explained, his teeth clenched in rage. "They're using the media to hunt you down legally so we can't hide you in public."
"This is insane," Clara said, entering the room with Nora. They had seen the broadcast on the television in their quarters. "Jo, what are we going to do? We can't run from the FBI!"
"We don't run," Konstantin said, standing up. He walked to a heavy mahogany wardrobe, pulled out a fresh black silk shirt, and put it on, carefully buttoning the cuffs. "We strike back."
"How?" Josephine asked, her anger finally replacing her fear. "They have the law, they have the media, and they have an army!"
"They have the law because they pay for it," Konstantin said, turning to her. "But paydays only work if the banker is alive to hand out the cash. Victor Kovac is hosting a private charity gala tonight at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Every dirty politician, cop, and judge in this state will be there. He thinks I am dead or hiding. He thinks he has won."
"You're going to walk into a room full of your enemies?" Nora asked, horrified.
"I am going to walk into a room full of my targets," Konstantin corrected. "But to do it, I need access to the VIP security system. And the only way to get that is through the museum’s internal network."
"And how do you plan on getting someone inside to hack the network?" Josephine asked.
Konstantin looked at her. The silence in the room stretched, heavy and meaningful.
"No," Clara said, stepping in front of her sister. "Absolutely not. You are not putting my sister in danger again!"
"She is already in danger, Clara," Konstantin said softly. "The FBI is on their way to every property associated with her. If we do not destroy Kovac tonight, Josephine will spend the rest of her life in a federal penitentiary—or a shallow grave."
Josephine looked at her hands. The dried blood was gone, washed away in the luxury bathrooms of the mansion, but she could still feel the weight of the gun she had fired in her kitchen. She thought of her father, dying on the kitchen floor while the system turned its back.
"What do I need to do?" Josephine asked.
"Jo, no!" Nora cried.
"Mom, they killed Dad," Josephine said, turning to her mother, her eyes fierce with a determination Nora hadn't seen since her husband was alive. "They killed him, and they got away with it for nineteen years. I am not letting them take my life, too."
Three hours later, Josephine was transformed.
The navy scrubs were gone, replaced by a stunning, emerald-green silk backless gown provided by one of Konstantin's high-end associates. Her hair was pinned up in an elegant chignon, exposing the delicate line of her neck. In her clutch purse, hidden beneath a velvet makeup bag, was a small, high-tech flash drive Marcus had given her.
"The server room is on the second floor, behind the European Art gallery," Marcus whispered to her as they sat in the back of an armored limousine parked three blocks from the museum. "You have exactly four minutes to insert the drive before the security guard completes his patrol sweep."
Konstantin sat opposite her. In his tailored tuxedo, he looked like royalty. He reached out and placed his hand over hers. His palm was warm, solid, and steadying.
"If anything goes wrong, you pull this," he said, slipping a small, silver pen into her clutch. "It's a high-frequency transmitter. My men will storm the building in ten seconds flat."
May you like
"Don't let them go wrong," Josephine said, looking into his icy blue eyes.
"I won't," he promised. "For your father. And for you."
