Chapter 79
"What can you tell me about the guys responsible for the attack in the Gulf?" asked President Connolly.
"We are making some progress" explained CIA Director Scott. "The weapons were traced back to an arsenal in Northern Russia. The commander made some money on the side by allowing the sale of three suitcase nukes."
"Shit, 3, you must be kidding!" uttered the President.
"I am afraid not sir. We believe the second nuke is onboard a small boat and is headed for us. We don’t have a target yet, but we are preparing a list of high value targets close to waterways. The Statue of Liberty is our best guess so far. We see this as a hit on a thing, not a person unless we get something else to suggest another agenda."
"Ok Adam. But for Christ’s sake, find out who is behind this. I want a cruise missile up his ass pronto."
"Yes Sir. We are running a joint operation with the Russians on this. They don’t want the blame for this and they are being really helpful. Some of their methods of extracting information are outside what we would consider acceptable. We need all the help we can get" replied Adam Scott.
"Call me the minute you get something more, this is your number one priority."
Chapter 80
At least Matt had cleaned the apartment before he went overseas. He had no idea how long he would be away, so he just cleaned almost everything out of the refrigerator and threw it in the trash. He didn’t want to find a penicillin factory inside when he returned home.
Matt’s former live-in girlfriend Tracy had left without fanfare about six months earlier. She was a police officer. With the hours they both worked, it was almost like they were strangers living in the same house. Her departure was not at all unexpected. There had been no-one special since.
Matt was certainly not the tidiest guy in Washington. In fact he tended to live by the Oscar Madison credo from the Odd Couple. There were clothes, papers and mess strewn from one end of the apartment to the other, but this was normal to Matt so he didn’t even see it.
It was Natasha’s turn to be shocked as Matt opened the door to his apartment to let her pass.
"My god Matthew, your apartment is magnificent! A total mess though. Your kitchen is large enough to cook for the whole Russian army here! And the bathroom is so nice, I could spend the whole day in there."
She thought how she would start with a hot bubble bath in the large tub; however, after the long flight they were both exhausted so she settled for a quick shower and retreated to the guest bedroom. Not trusting herself, or Matt, she made sure to lock the door before she crawled between the sheets and slipped into slumber.
The next morning while Matt slept, Natasha got up early. She gathered all the clothes around the apartment and threw them in the bath. Then she tidied up everything else.
When it looked better, she cooked a quick breakfast of bacon and eggs. There was not much choice since that was all that was in the refrigerator! She found a frozen loaf of bread, so she was able to make toast as well.
"Wake up, breakfast is served" yelled Natasha from the kitchen.
"Wow, thanks, I am famished!"
After breakfast, Matt had cleared the table and cleaned the kitchen.
"So, you are beautiful, smart, you are a great cleaner and you can cook. Maybe I should marry you" joked Matt.
"Maybe you should" said Natasha. She was not sure if she was joking or not.
It was time to get to work. They both knew they had lots to do if they were going to find the bomb in time to avert a major catastrophe.
Matt setup both computers on the dining room table and tested the internet connections. Both worked just fine.
Natasha asked "How do we split up the jobs, or do we both look for both weapons?"
"I was thinking that perhaps you should work on the Russian boat thing since Russian is not my forte. I can chase the Saudi Arabian end. What do you think?"
"Whatever you say daaarling" she said in her best sexy Russian accent.
Matt called Bill Simpson "Bill, I am working on the Arabian connection, Natasha is looking for the boat. I think we can probably work fine from here, besides I know this is top security stuff. The fewer people that know what we are doing the better."
"Fine with me buddy, don’t forget to call me at 4pm everyday with an update. Find those things quickly."
They worked tirelessly. Natasha searched for satellite coverage of the Minsk area on the day the boat was launched. She checked for both Russian and U.S. satellites, but there were no images available.
Matt kept working the Caliph Hotel angle. In addition, he was checking everything he could to find any new terrorist intelligence from Saudi Arabia.
Natasha was surprised when there was a knock on the door. She lunged for her handbag and the hidden knife.
"Relax Natasha, I ordered pizza on the net, I am hungry!"
Finally, after a hard day of research, they both felt they were making
progress, but it was time to call it a day.
Natasha stood and declared "It is time for me to sleep. I am way past
productive."
"Me too," said Matt, but they were interrupted by the ring of Natasha’s call
phone.
Natasha grabbed the handset but did not recognize the number showing on
the screen, but did notice that the Russian number was unknown to her.
"Hello, Major Karpov" she spat in Russian.
"Major, this is Ivan at the boatyard in Minsk. You gave me your card. Am I disturbing you, I heard strange beeps when I made this call?" she heard in her ear.
She covered the microphone and announced to Matt "We may have something from Minsk", and she pressed the loud speaker button so Matt could listen in.
"Go ahead Ivan, what do you have for us?" said Natasha.
"I asked around some of the other boat builders. Finally I found out that one of the men has some pictures. He took some photographs when Dimitri and the other man launched their boat and lowered the masts from the bridge down onto the boat" said Ivan.
"Ivan, what time is it there in Minsk?" asked Natasha.
"It is nearly midday" announced Ivan.
"Can you get those pictures and be at the boatyard in two hours?" asked Natasha.
"I will ask if the man would let me have them, but he is not very friendly" Ivan suggested.
"Ivan, you can offer to share the thousand dollar reward that I will arrange for you if you wish. That may speed things up considerably" Natasha offered.
"That is more than we both earn in a month, I will be beside my boat in two hours with the pictures" Oleg was suddenly very anxious to help.
"I will send a man to meet you and pick up the pictures. He will give you the money. If you find out anything more for us, make sure you call me again".
Natasha hung up immediately. Then she called her father, Oleg Karpov.
"This is Natasha, we have a lead."
"Excellent my dear daughter, what do you have?"
"One of the workmen at the boatyard in Minsk has unearthed some photographs of the mysterious man we are seeking. He is willing to sell them to us for a thousand dollars. Can you arrange to have the money delivered and the pictures collected?"
"Of course, I will see to it. When I get them I will have them scanned and sent to you in Washington by email. Let me know the second you have anything more. President Arkadin is asking me for constant updates. He is still nervous that we may be blamed for the attack" explained Oleg.