Zero Day, стр. 12

Chapter 9

Almost three hours after they began driving slowly south, they arrived in Český Krumlov, a city still within the country of the Czech Republic. Kelvin had no idea why this city was chosen, but he only asked for a bed to sleep in.

And slept, he did, like a baby.

By the time he woke up, brushed his teeth, showered, and lost all sense of time of day, he wandered downstairs and found the other three people congregating in the living room.

Behind the couches and armchairs, a slither of light came in through the windows.

“What time is it?” Kelvin asked.

“We already had dinner.”

“Dinner?” Kelvin was surprised. “I haven’t had a good night’s sleep in a very long time.”

“You slept all day.” Leland pointed to a hallway. “There’s plenty of ham and cheese in the fridge. You can make yourself a sandwich if you want.”

“I’m assuming there’s bread.”

“You assumed correctly. No pita or tortilla. It’s wheat, but nobody’s sure if it’s organic. It was already in the fridge when we got here this morning—last night.”

“Who put it in there?”

“Probably Slash2Hack.” It didn’t seem to bother Leland that she disclosed the name of one of her hacker friends who had been helping them with the case.

“Do I know her?” Kelvin asked.

“Him. And no, you don’t. He changes names every few months.”

Kelvin looked around. No place to sit in the small living room.

Yona stood up and limped out of the living room. Kelvin followed her.

“I’m not going to the kitchen,” Yona said.

“A minute of your time?”

Yona seemed to mull over it. She nodded. “We can go to the kitchen if you need to make a sandwich.”

“Is there soup?”

“I don’t know.”

“What did you eat?”

“I didn’t. I had a baked potato for lunch.”

“Show me where the kitchen is, and I’ll make you a sandwich,” Kelvin offered.

“Sure. Just don’t put poison in it.” Yona laughed.

Why is she like that?

Kelvin didn’t remember much about their meeting four years ago. Yona had been an observer, shadowing her mentor, Issachar.

Sometimes he wondered if Issachar was Neon’s handler. Neon’s killer was never found, as far as Kelvin was concerned.

Kelvin followed Yona down a narrow hallway. To one side was a row of arches, some of which led to another sitting area and a courtyard.

The kitchen was also small, but it had been updated some time ago.

“Ham and cheese?” Kelvin washed his hands.

“Anything. Shall I toast the bread?” Yona asked.

They spent at least ten minutes looking for a toaster. When they found it, it was unusable. Rusty inside and gunky, like someone had put different types of stuff in it.

Kelvin had to wash his hands again.

Yona sat on a barstool, amused.

Kelvin found a frying pan, melted butter in it, and toasted several slices of bread.

“I want to apologize,” Kelvin said, flipping bread. He turned down the stove. “If there’s anything I can do to help you, let me know.”

“I’m looking for Issachar’s killer.”

“First, I have to know who Issachar was.”

Yona explained who he was, but all Kelvin could hear was her voice. It was soft, calm, unhurried, and had a tinge of accent to it.

“Don’t you think that you could have more resources in hand if you stayed in Mossad?” Kelvin asked.

“They’ve stopped all investigations.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. Other murders are more pressing, I suppose. We have many cold cases.”

Yona cut the ham in thick slices. She didn’t ask Kelvin if he wanted thin slices instead. She just cut it the way she wanted and handed it to him.

He didn’t care. He lightly browned the ham on the pan, and then slid it on top of a piece of bread. He put a slice of cheese on it, and then slapped another slice of bread on top. He flipped it and waited until the cheese was slightly melted.

“How many do you want?” Kelvin asked.

“Let’s start with one. Make yourself one, and then we’ll see if we want more.”

“Okay.”

“Would you like something to drink?” Yona opened the refrigerator. “Water, water, everywhere.”

“Some cold water will be fine.”

Kelvin dished out Yona’s ham-and-cheese sandwich, cut it in half into two triangles, and placed it in front of Yona.

She didn’t touch it.

“You want to split that?” Kelvin asked. “Quality control?”

Yona chuckled. “Sure. I was thinking that I’m not hungry and I don’t know why.”

“Anxious about something?” Kelvin placed a napkin near Yona’s plate.

“About everything, really. Questioning everything.”

“Do you regret leaving the Mossad to come out here, hunting for ghosts?”

Yona seemed surprised by the question.

“You came here to Prague—Czech Republic—to find the person responsible for your mentor’s death, and you think it’s me.”

Silence across the table.

Total silence.

Kelvin figured he had pegged her.

“We’re investigating all possibilities,” Yona said.

Kelvin realized she had said we, but decided not to correct her. On the drive here, she had said she no longer worked at Mossad. So who were we exactly?

“How did you know I was in Prague?” Kelvin asked instead.

“I followed leads.” Yona still hadn’t touched her sandwich. “What were you doing in Prague?”

“I was waiting to die.” It was the truth. “Ironically, I’m glad I didn’t die. I wanted you to know, most of all, that I had nothing to do with any deaths in Mossad. Not directly, as far as I know. I mostly work with FSB who also wanted Molyneux.”

“You worked for everyone, didn’t you? You worked for Binary Systems, but the pay wasn’t good enough. So you moonlighted with Aspasia, ended up working on MedusaNet, regretted doing it, and tried to undo your handiwork.”

“My team and I succeeded, didn’t we? Only I didn’t know it worked because we installed it on the old MedusaNet, and it was one-sided. Now I know Neon—or someone else—carried through installing the switch.”

“Someone put it in Cayson’s head.” Leland stood at the door of the kitchen. “I was wondering what’s going on in here.”

“Yona thinks I had something to do with Issachar’s death.” Kelvin drank some water. “Tell her I have nothing to do with it.”

Leland placed both hands on the countertop. “I don’t know who