The Enigma Stolen

Dmitry spoke with authority, “Zara, I thought we had an understanding regarding you notifying me when someone contracts for your AID-FIC gateway. I and my organization allow you to use it provided that we are informed as to who is using it. It would be unfortunate if I had to have my people stationed on premises to insure there were no more indiscretions. Do we understand one another?”

Dealing with Dmitry always placed a knot in her stomach. Zara was a first class cyber assassin who directed a team of cyber thugs known as the Dteam. She had returned to Russia to run their main operations after extracting her lead programmer Dante and herself from the U.S. Her brush with the three letter agency convinced her that a little more distance, while heavily surrounded by anonymizing technology, might give her a little more peace of mind. So she had returned to Russia. However, as she discovered, you can run but you really can’t hide when it came to her line of work. Now she had to work with this distasteful Russian mobster whose day job was government oversight of digital communications.

She had not forgotten the revenge she had promised herself on the Dakota person who had betrayed her, but that would need to wait for another time. Right now she was looking for new sources of revenue for the Dteam and a payday she had failed to gain. She consciously threw her shoulder length raven black hair back and braced herself for the discussion. She was tall for a female, lithe, and not considered unattractive. However, playing the attractive card with Dmitry was pointless.

Zara swallowed hard, steeled herself, and countered, “I don’t know why you complain about my using our own intellectual property when you know exactly when we use it for a customer. What would be the point of having your people camp here when you can see all anyway?”

Dmitry snickered and replied, “Ah, my sweet! You never cease to annoy me with your quaint feminine logic.” Then with steeled insistence, he continued, “The issue is, because I told you to communicate with me before you use it! I don’t want to waste resources to monitor your activity but rather have you alert me before your activity.

“Now, if you want to be on the run from my associates, as well as the U.S. three letter agency, make one more error in judgment. Do you understand and acknowledge?”

Zara always resented taking orders from men since it always reminded her of how she had endured being a rented plaything in her early teens. When she had made good her exit from that lifestyle, she had promised herself that she would take orders from no one again, especially a man. But here she was again, operating under the power of a male and at the mercy of his whims. She was determined to hit a big pay day, and then she would always be her own boss. For the short term, though, she recognized she had to acquiesce to the government mobster.

As she had long ago trained herself, she smiled pleasantly and sweetly acknowledged, “Dmitry, why do we always argue when we both know you will have your way, and I will enjoy it? The indiscretion of mine will not be repeated, as you require.

“This was only a proof of concept for a customer who wanted to see a demo of our capability, so I did not think it important enough to bother you with the paltry details. I will tell you now that our client was pleased with the demonstration, so you should know that we have funding coming in for full activity in the near future. Will you need exact times, or is this type of verbal report adequate?”

Dmitry smiled indulgently as he replied, “A verbal report will suffice, Zara. Until I am satisfied that I am receiving your full cooperation, I want to know exactly when the scheduled AID-FIC activity is being invoked for any event. Are we clear?”

Zara breathed a little easier and responded, “Of course, Dmitry. I shall make it so.

“Now, about this other action item you wanted me to work for you. Do you still want me in your offices this afternoon?”