“Good afternoon, Radu,” Carpathia said in his calm baritone.
“Good morning, President Carpathia.” Stolojan knew it was still early in New York City. Carpathia turned toward the PC cam and smiled. “You can call me Nicolae. We are friends, after all.”
“I know,” Stolojan said. But he would never, in all his life, call the Romanian president anything but Mr. Carpathia. “I trust you had a safe flight.”
“Yes. Things are going very well here. I have been invited to speak to the General Assembly of the United Nations this afternoon.”
“I’ll make sure OneWorld reporters are in the audience.” Stolojan had been informed that was the plan, but this was the first word of confirmation.
“Thank you, Radu, but no special effort will be required. The press and publicity have already been taken care of.” Carpathia took a moment and reconsidered. “Of course, we should have at least a few of our people here.”
“They will be.”
“But that is not why I called you.”
Fear thrummed through Stolojan. In an eye blink Nicolae Carpathia had plucked him as a youth from the squalor and degradation of the alleys, raising and transforming him into a man of means. In even less time, Stolojan knew that Carpathia could crush him, break him down to nothing. And that would only be if Carpathia bothered to let him live.
“It appears,” Carpathia said, “that we have another problem.”
Stolojan swallowed hard. The taste of sour bile filled his mouth.
“Someone is apparently trying to access Alexander Cody’s files at the offices there,” Carpathia said.
Stolojan’s first impulse was to ask Carpathia if he was certain.
How could anyone know more about the operation going on inside the OneWorld building than he did? After all, he had all the security cameras and computer firewalls in place.
With a sick, sinking feeling, Stolojan knew that the only way Carpathia could have known was by having his own set of spies within the OneWorld NewsNet offices. Someone to watch the watchers.
“I believe you know who it might be,” Carpathia went on with calm confidence.
“Lizuca Carutasu,” Stolojan answered. There was no doubt in his mind, but he wished desperately to know how Carpathia knew that.
“Please check.” Carpathia waited patiently.
Stolojan opened another window on the computer monitor and checked for off-site transmissions linked to the video archives that Lizuca accessed. He hadn’t designed the software that allowed him to track the query back to its source, but he knew how to use it.
He also realized that if Carpathia had the capability to know that the archive files were being accessed from an outside source, he could have ordered the search done by whoever had given him the information. Stolojan took solace in that. If Carpathia meant him any ill will, he would have pointed out the mistake and the fact that he had taken care of it himself.
Only seconds later, the address of the IP searching through the video archives appeared on the computer screen. It was listed as Bites and Bytes, a cybercafé where computers, time, and access to the Internet could be rented for an hourly fee.
Stolojan opened another window and pulled up employee files. He read Lizuca Carutasu’s address and found that the cybercafé was only blocks from the apartment where she lived with her mother and sisters.
“I can’t confirm that it’s her,” Stolojan said. “But she lives near there and she is off.”
“Then you should get someone over there,” Carpathia suggested.
“Yes, sir.” Working in the open window, Stolojan accessed employee files and took out a current picture of Lizuca Carutasu. He attached it to another file, then hesitated. “How do you want this handled, President Carpathia?”
The calm expression remained on Carpathia’s handsome face. “For the moment, Alexander Cody is an important resource to me. Through him I have a more direct access to Captain Remington and the soldiers he controls. I do not want Agent Cody compromised in any way. Nor will I suffer betrayal.”
“I understand.” Stolojan entered an e-mail address and sent the message. He didn’t know the name of the man who would receive the message, but he knew the results. Over the years, Stolojan had used the man twice before, and both times he had sent wreaths to the funerals from the corporation’s petty cash. “There is a problem, though.”
“Yes.”
“I believe Miss Carutasu is working at Danielle Vinchenzo’s request.” “She gave Miss Carutasu the picture.”
Stolojan nodded.
“Why was I not informed?”
“I believed I had handled it by telling Miss Carutasu not to investigate the picture and by sending her home.”
Carpathia thought for a moment. “Evidently Danielle saw Agent Cody in Sanliurfa.”
Stolojan didn’t know everything that Carpathia had going on in the Turkish city now under siege by the Syrians, but he knew that Cody was there and Captain Remington of the American Rangers was there. Stolojan also knew that Carpathia had given use of the OneWorld NewsNet satellites to Remington during the border clash four days ago. And that preparations were being made now to offer them again.
“I will have to rethink the Danielle Vinchenzo situation, Radu,” Carpathia said. “Until then, keep me posted on this assignment.”
“I will.”
Carpathia said good-bye, then ended the connection.
Stolojan watched as the open window on the monitor screen collapsed. He sat back in his chair and trembled. Few people knew that Nicolae Carpathia had a dark side to him. Over the years while working as first his aide, then as producer for the news service, Stolojan had seen it. People died when Carpathia wished them dead, and usually he had to do no more than mention it.
But no one, Stolojan felt certain, even those who had seen that dark side, knew exactly how bad things could get. They would, though, and Stolojan wanted to make sure he stayed in Carpathia’s good graces.
Bites and Bytes Cybercafé
Bucharest, Romania
Local Time 1303 Hours
Sitting hunched over one of the small tables that filled the specialty café,
