He closed his eyes and faded out.
When he came to again, he could hear laughter. Sandy and Gomez were laughing. He tried to sit up. His whole body was drained and ached. He had never run a marathon, but he imagined this is how your body felt after running one. Now Two-Step laughed. And Kat. And someone else. Monk? He blinked, trying to focus on something. His legs felt strange. He reached down to check them. Where were his pants? And underwear? At least he had a blanket over him.
Finally, he could sit up. Xia sat on the floor next to him, her back against the wall, a blanket over her lower body. “Hey,” she said, sounding and looking as drained as he felt. “You look like shit.”
“You too,” he said weakly.
“It worked.”
“What?”
“They got through and brought the site down.”
He was too drained to react, but he felt a surge of pride and adrenaline course through his body.
“You’re awake,” Kat said.
Everyone turned to look at him, smiles on their faces.
“Where are my pants,” he asked.
“They’re in the laundry downstairs,” Monk said.
“Why?”
“That neurofeedback made you piss yourself.”
Now embarrassment mixed with the pride and adrenaline.
“Your idea worked,” Gomez said.
“I put the backdoor in a data stream that got through when the firewall attacked you,” Two-Step said.
“The Brotherhood was so busy trying to contain the worm you got through, they didn’t see us coming. We crashed the whole site and deleted their content,” Sandy said.
“On top of that,” Gomez said, “Two-Step got their crypto wallet info before we got out. Over half of their subscribers got refunds because of your worm.”
“Speaking of worms, fix your blanket,” Kat said.
“Very funny,” Jacob said, pulling the blanket up to his waist.
Chapter 26
Johnson operated in information. He believed the more you know about a person, a situation, the better equipped you are to influence any outcome involving that person or situation. He did not think this was a unique philosophy. It was common sense. He had discovered, though, that the cliché, common sense was not all that common, was correct. This, of course, he used as a weapon. His adherence to the common sense use of information, and the tendency in others to avoid it, usually benefited him.
With this in mind, he reviewed the file he had on the SRS man, Mr. Li. The file had grown since their first encounter in the waiting room of Mr. Craig’s office. After seeing Mr. Li that day, Johnson thought it prudent to gather as much information on the man as he could. He knew there would come a time the two of them would interact, and Johnson wanted to go into that situation armed with his most important weapon.
He closed the file as his sedan entered the parking lot of Mr.Li’s hotel. Through the sedan’s tinted window, Johnson watched Mr. Li standing in front of the hotel and talking on his phone. After a short conversation, he started for the sedan. Johnson waited until he stood beside his door before he rolled down the window.
“Mr. Li,” he said.
“And you are Johnson, I believe.”
“I am. Please get in.”
Mr. Li walked around to the other side of the car and got in.
“You can stay parked here,” Johnson told the driver. “Can I get you a drink, Mr. Li?” Johnson asked, gesturing to the pullout wet bar, knowing Mr. Li would say no.
“No thank you. I never touch the stuff,” Mr. Li said.
“If you don’t mind, I will have one.”
“By all means.”
Johnson poured his drink. “I know time is a commodity, so let us get right to the business before us.”
“I agree.”
“First, I want to say our joint venture went well. The hijacking saved us quite a bit in holding and inspection fees.”
“I am pleased to hear it,” Mr. Li said.
“I assume you found the promised goods acceptable?”
“We did. The grade of explosives is among the best I have seen.”
“Excellent. There is the issue of the remaining cargo to be delivered to us.”
Mr. Li hesitated briefly. It was not much, a small tell that a professional poker player might have missed, but Johnson saw it. Whatever the SRS man would say next would be a lie.
“Yes, there has been a mix-up. Our man in charge of shipping them back to you had the wrong numbers in his log. I assure you, we will track these crates down and return them to you.”
Johnson smiled. “Of course you will.”
Mr. Li returned the smile with a hesitant smile. The smile of someone who knows he has been caught in a lie, Johnson thought.
Johnson continued. “Mr. Craig has also sent me to ask you if you have given our offer of a more permanent, closer working relationship with our organization any more consideration.”
Mr. Li brought his hands together, fingertip to fingertip as if praying. “I have. It is a very interesting offer. One that, to be honest, took me by surprise, and I do not surprise easily.”
“I would imagine not,” Johnson said. He then took a drink, keeping his eyes on the other man.
“Yes. Well, I have to say that I am very tempted by the offer. But you must understand that loyalty is an important element in my life.”
“Of course. Loyalty and honesty.” Johnson could not help himself with that little dig. He also knew that Mr. Li had been one of the most loyal SRS operatives he had ever researched. It was why, after he had been informed of the offer to Mr. Li, he thought the Russian, Evgeny Tal, would have been a better choice. However, he knew his place and did not say as much. It was a mistake for Mr. Craig to rely on someone else to recommend an SRS operative to try and bring in. Johnson did not mention this to Mr. Craig either, and now, after Mr. Li did say no, there would be little hope of approaching Evgeny Tal to enter into a relationship. Mr. Li would be looking for them
