Chapter Sixteen
After finally being brought back to her apartment and saying goodbye to Alek and her happy well-fed bodyguards, Missy called Lisa. They had lots to discuss and she wanted to explain these latest details on how things were going. She knew Lisa would update everyone else.
After they exchanged greetings, Lisa asked, “Did you receive your replacement driver’s license and identification documents yet?
” Since she and Marie had originally created those, they had needed to do their magic, hack into some Russian websites, and arrange for them to be overnighted to Missy’s apartment.
“The driver’s license arrived this morning. I’m sure the other documents will come soon as well. Thanks!”
“Great. Obviously you got a replacement phone. I’ll have Marie do her thing once you infect it for her.”
“I’ll do that right after this call which I know you guys will somehow erase any evidence of,” said Missy. “But I wanted to request a couple of other things which the two of you can help with.”
“Sure, always glad to help.”
“Okay, I know you’re already checking on those three Russian assassins who attacked us in Beijing, killing Yury and the others.
I have reason to believe Nikolai Vassiliev was somehow involved.
He lied to me when I asked him about that.
My blackmailing him might have been his motive.
” Missy knew Lisa would understand all this since she and Marie had provided her with the evidence she’d been blackmailing Nikolai with.
“See if you can find evidence linking Nikolai to those assassins.”
“Wow, that’s quite a development!” exclaimed Lisa. “I can see how your threats to Nikolai would go away if he not only managed to kill you but killed Yury at the same time. If he was involved, I bet he was rather unhappy to see you back from the dead and asking him questions like that.”
Missy said, “Yeah, he was unhappy but he also was no longer worried. Yury was the only one he needed to fear should his treachery be revealed. He can bluff his way out of trouble with Yury gone. I’ll bet he’s already taken some actions to further cover his tracks relative to that treachery.
I had planned on having you dive back into that but now that I realize he was involved in killing Yury, let’s find some proof of that instead. ”
“Well, you can always do your bad girl stuff, making those three assassins implicate him.”
“While I can make them talk, they might not all know who was behind this. Were you able to determine who the ringleader in the group might be?”
Lisa replied, “We’re pretty sure it was Stepan Valnovitch.
The other two men work for him. We have found evidence showing he paid them from an account which somehow accumulated a million euros.
Some of that was before the assassination while the rest came later.
We haven’t been able to trace where that money came from, however. ”
“A million euros? Obviously, that was their payment. Keep digging. Perhaps Nikolai transferred the funds into Stepan’s account in a way that cannot be traced but, if you can show that amount of money recently transferred out of Nikolai’s accounts and somehow disappeared, that will be proof enough.
I might confront Stepan and do as you suggest, use my bad girl stuff and make him confess Nikolai paid him. ”
“Well, you said you had two requests for us, Missy. What’s the other one?”
“Oh, you’ll love hearing about this. After the reading of Yury’s will today, his wife Natalya wanted to talk to me. It turns out she knew all about my blackmailing Yury and being his fake mistress.”
“Really? That’s a surprise. Did she know about all those banking transfers …”
“No, no, she didn’t know how I was blackmailing him, only that I was doing that.”
Lisa asked, “How will you keep her quiet about that? And, how did she feel about it?”
Missy chuckled and said, “She won’t tell anyone and she actually thanked me.
Yury abused her, you know, just like he abused his former mistresses.
She was very pleased that I made him suffer some consequences.
Because of all that, she has arranged for me to continue staying in my apartment with that being a business expense for one of the companies she has now inherited.
I’m also to continue being paid my three hundred thousand euros every month.
This all stops at the end of the year but by then I will be able to make other arrangements. ”
“I do love hearing all this, Missy! Amazing. Soooo … if that’s all a business expense …”
“They’re putting me on the board of directors for the company which will be making all those payments so it then will be legal and proper enough,” explained Missy.
“The company is Boris-Apteka and that’s what my second request is about.
Since I’m going to now be on the board, I want to know everything there is to know about this company, the contracts it has, the way it operates, etc.
, etc. Make me smart. I do know many of those contracts are with German companies since I helped Yury win those when I bribed that Swiss banker Julius de Weck. ”
Lisa giggled and said, “I remember that story. When you sensed his mistress would love a bright red sportscar … oh, wait! Wasn’t that the mistress we saw you with on the beach in Cyprus?
” She and Marie had wanted to surprise Missy only that had backfired somewhat when Missy had managed forcing them both to pose for a Greek photographer with a camera.
“Yep! Emilia and I are best buddies now since she’s originally from Spain and loves that I am fluent in Spanish.
The new executive director for Boris-Apteka knows how I’m on good terms with Julius and wants me with him when he first goes to Zurich.
I’m supposed to influence more good things for his company.
Or, since I’m a board member now, should I be saying for our company? ” Missy laughed.
“Good grief, you totally should be saying that. And don’t worry. Marie and I will find all sorts of helpful things which you can use to help you run your company. Who is this director you’ll be with when you’re schmoozing Julius?”
“He’s one of the better managers Yury had helping him run things. His name is Gavriil Reznikov and I’ll try to infect his phone or computer later so you two can keep me updated on everything he might be up to.”
“This means you’ll continue spending time in Russia in the weeks and months ahead, right?
” asked Lisa rhetorically. “Instead of being a fake mistress you can now be a legitimate board member on this company. Will your physical presence be required very much? I know Marie and I can cover for you whenever you are away, sending emails, etc.”
“Well, they will want me to attend board meetings in addition to making this trip to Zurich with Gavriil. But when I explained I was leaving on Friday for three weeks, that was not a problem.”
Now Lisa giggled and said, “Gosh, how could I forget? You need to squeeze in time for your wedding and honeymoon, right?”
“Exactly! Since everyone in Russia will assume that I need to get away after what happened in Beijing, I have the perfect excuse. I plan to fly from Moscow to Cyprus and then disappear from there.”
“If you want, I can have someone meet you there with some fake identification documents. You can use those to maybe set yourself up somewhere on that island. Since the Republic of Cyprus is recognized as an independent country, finding yourself a hidey-hole over there might come in handy. You certainly can afford it.”
Missy said, “Hey, I like that idea, Lisa! Yes, I can withdraw some money from my account as Missy Kabachnik and go over to another bank and deposit that into a new account using my new identity. If you can find a small cottage which I can rent …”
“Yes, you can store your stuff in that and disappear. Then, when you teleport back three weeks later, you can collect your bags and head to the airport where your ticket to Moscow will be waiting for you under your Missy Kabachnik identity. There won’t be any trace of where you’ve been and nothing that connects you to this latest identity. ”
“I can definitely see how that new identity in Cyprus might be useful for me in the future. Can you girls really arrange for all this in just two days?”
“Hey, we love a challenge and I have no doubt we can have someone meeting you there with everything you need,” said Lisa. “What nationality will you want for yourself for this latest identity? Hold on … let me check something.”
Lisa went online for a few minutes to review tourist requirements in Cyprus for foreigners.
Then she said, “I see that if you are from Spain, you can live in Cyprus for up to ninety days without a visa since Spain is an EU country. Since you have red hair, we’ll have you come from somewhere up north in their Basque Country.
They have redheads up there. It’s a Spanish community on the border with France and has some remote mountainous areas. ”
“Sounds perfect, Lisa. I can explain my Spanish dialect not being from there by saying I spent time studying in the U.S. Be sure to have my passport show that I traveled there a few times.”
“Great. We’ll get you a passport and a few other documents and arrange for a rental cottage where you won’t be bothered or noticed.
Let’s say goodbye so I can get started on all this.
” Due to the seven-hour time difference, while it was early evening in Moscow it was only mid-afternoon back at the SOD Group.
Missy then Shifted into her spirit form and teleported to where Gavriil was located.
She found him at his home working on his computer.
He lived alone and she could see he was busy reviewing emails.
She waited to see if she might have any opportunity to access either his phone or his computer and, twenty minutes later, as luck would have it, she did.
He had ordered some takeout food and when that was delivered, she had no difficulty infecting his computer while he was busy eating.
With that accomplished, she next teleported back to her room at Izmir Air Base and got dressed in one of her fatigue uniforms. She had expended enough energy before Shifting back so she was once again in her Boston body rather than her Moscow body.
It was time to rejoin Team Twenty-Two. She wanted to spend some time with them before she went on leave to get married.
When Missy strolled into the Operations Center it was now late evening. She was expected, however, since she had sent the team a message explaining her plans. Major Grimes and about half the team members were there waiting for her.
“Hey, she’s back,” announced Master Sergeant Town who was the first to notice her. “Spread the word so whoever isn’t busy can come welcome her home.” Two staff sergeants hopped up and headed off in different directions while others there all began calling out various greetings.
Missy said, “To badly quote Mark Twain, in case there may have been any rumors of my death, I want you all to know those were greatly exaggerated.” She was staring at several newspaper articles pinned up on the bulletin board showing photos of the three cars burning on that bridge over in Beijing. “As you can see, I escaped unscathed.”
“Missy, you indeed gave us all a scare,” said the major.
“And, based on the initial reports we received about you after being rushed to the hospital, your escape was hardly unscathed. We later got copies of the medical records from your stay at that hospital and have already submitted the paperwork for you to receive another Purple Heart.”
Staff Sergeant Melody Jasinsky said, “Yeah, even without the traumatic brain injury from the explosion which any normal human would have received, your body was still covered with more than enough cuts, scrapes and bruises to qualify for that award.”
“As with all of your other awards, the details of the mission which you were on will remain classified,” explained Major Grimes. “Welcome back!”