“That’s a classic motive. Could be he was in debt to dangerous people, and Marchuk offered him a big payout. But what would Marchuk have paid him to do?” Jones asks.
“Joel was in fifth-period World Geo,” Katie says. “They probably planned to lift him then, with Maitland’s help. Something must have scared him into the trophy case before Maitland could deliver him. When they couldn’t find Joel in World Geo or at lunch, they had to go to plan B and take him out of sixth-period chem.”
“Where they knew I’d be,” I say, finishing her thought. “They anticipated I’d fight back and came in through the ceiling for the element of surprise, only to find neither of us there.”
“So they’ve been hunting Smith only because they thought you and Joel were together, or that you had hidden him away somewhere,” Jones says.
“Oh no, Marchuk definitely wanted to kill me. He was just shortsighted in personally seeing to it while Koval ran the more critical operation. If Marchuk’s awake, he’s sitting in a room being interrogated right now, and still probably doesn’t realize Koval took over his plan.”
“Which is what, exactly?” Katie asks.
“They couldn’t just stroll into NIST, especially with Jones’s guy on the premises.”
“I told you, the agent was undercover as a scientist,” Jones offers.
“Yeah, there’s a reason for the CIA. Y’all just aren’t as good at subterfuge as we are. Sorry, Jones, but someone on Marchuk’s team saw right through his cover, made your guy for a cop, and intercepted him like you said. Or Easter managed to ditch your agent during lunch. Either way, he didn’t get the job done.”
Jones doesn’t look too pleased with my assessment, but gets on his phone and hurriedly tells someone to be on the lookout for a possible missing agent.
“Might you two chest-pound some other time, Peter?” Katie asks when Jones finishes his call, her already-thin patience nearly worn out.
“Right. So they must have planned Carlisle as the drop point for Mr. Easter to deliver his encryption software. No one would think anything of him visiting the school, and having Joel wrapped up here in World Geo, they had leverage to make sure his dad delivered. They never expected Maitland would screw up his part of the plan. All he had to do was take Joel to wherever Koval was holding his dad.”
“I bet Maitland did something to scare Joel into asking for a hall pass and never coming back,” Katie says.
“Probably,” I say, recalling how nervous Maitland was about handing over his laptop to me. Now I wish I’d let him tell me why he needed it so badly. He wouldn’t have told me the truth, but his lie might have been a clue.
“So Mr. Easter was supposed to bring his encryption data to Carlisle, Koval hands over Joel,” Jones says.
“Except he won’t. We all know they never hand over the collateral.”
We’re all worried, but Katie sounds and looks like she’s way past that point. I guess after guarding Joel in England, he has become more than just a mission for her. I don’t want her going on tilt thinking how Koval won’t be freeing Joel, so I pretend I didn’t hear what she said and focus on the mission.
“It wasn’t as simple as that. I’m guessing Easter signed in and out at the same time. He wanted it to appear as though he’d come and gone, when really he remained in the building.”
“But why not just hand over the flash drive or whatever and get out? Why hang around?” Katie asks.
“Maybe at the last minute Easter had second thoughts on handing it over,” Jones says.
“No, not when his kid’s life is at stake,” I say.
I remember what Marchuk said in the office, that Koval was “making sure package is secure until other package arrives safely.” Joel must have been the first package. But Dr. Easter was already in the building by then, so he couldn’t have been the second package Marchuk was waiting on to arrive.
“I think he had to do some work on his code before he could hand it off to Marchuk. He couldn’t just download all the algorithms and cyphers onto a flash drive and walk out of NIST without cybersecurity noticing,” I explain. “He probably had to copy off bits and pieces of the code to keep from raising attention from security, and then brought them here to assemble it back together. I’m not an expert on the cryptography side of hacking, but I’m certain reassembling the code takes more than a minute.”
Marchuk was waiting on the “arrival” of the reassembled code.
“Berg’s team was in position while we were in that hallway dealing with Koval. No way could Koval and Easter have gotten past the perimeter Berg set up,” Katie says, sounding hopeful for the first time since we discovered Jones behind the trophy case instead of Joel. “They’re still here.”
Jones must be hopeful, too, because he almost smiles. Or maybe he’s impressed by just how good a couple of seventeen-year-old operatives are.
“Let me get some backup and also make sure we take that teacher into custody. I’ll be right back.”
The second Jones leaves the room, Katie says, “I bet they went to Maitland’s office to put the code back together.”
“You’re probably right, though Koval would be taking a risk with CIA sweeping the building. They may have moved. Maitland’s office is kind of out of the way though, maybe they haven’t gotten to it yet,” I say, before I realize where this is going. “Hold on, Katie. You heard Jones—we need backup, you’re a foreign operative—”
“You’re crazy if you think I’m waiting. Jones will catch up,” Katie says. “Follow me or don’t, but I’m going to save Joel.”
CHAPTER 32
When we get to Maitland’s office, it’s locked.
“That’s probably a good sign they’re still in there. I’ve been in Maitland’s office and his desk is off to the right. I’m good at picking locks, so if we can sneak in and surprise them, we’ll—”
Katie just kicks the door in. But she shouldn’t have.
Nolan Easter is on a laptop, busy giving terrorists access to our nuclear codes; Joel is looking dazed and confused, as though he still can’t believe any of this is happening; and Koval’s standing there with a gun on both of them. It’s a helluva lot bigger than that rinky-dink flute thing Katie’s holding.
“Let him go, Koval,” Katie demands. “Take his dad if you want, but let Joel go.”
Her patience skills are weak, but I’d give her an A for bravery. Koval’s response is just what I expect—he laughs at Katie and her gun, which looks like it came from Toys “R” Us.
“Surely you don’t expect me to do that. What leverage would I have then?” Koval asks. “Besides, we’re almost done here—right, Easter?”
“Look, Koval, you have no chance of getting out of this building,” I warn him. “Jones is already pissed about you knocking him out, and now he’s on his way with reinforcements.”
Koval keeps the gun on the Easters but he watches Katie and me for our reaction. His expression is a mix of sinister and joyful expectation, something I’ve seen before in people who get their kicks tormenting others. As though this whole ordeal could be as much about pleasure as it is about business.
“Perhaps, but he doesn’t know exactly where you are. Before he left for those reinforcements, you didn’t tell him you’d be coming to Maitland’s office.”
“You have mics on us?”
Koval just vaporized the confidence I felt when breaking down his mission for Jones a minute ago. Just when I think I’ve got a handle on this spy business, these guys one-up me. When could he have possibly dropped a bug on me? I checked the clothes I’m wearing when I took them off the hostile.
He smirks and says, “On Jones. I planted it after I knocked him out and took the boy from the trophy case.”
Katie takes a step forward, her gun held straight out in front of her. I attempt to diffuse her move by trying to reason with Koval, hoping I’ve read him wrong.
“That’s right. You only knocked him out. You didn’t kill him, though you could have. You didn’t hurt Rachel or Katie when you found them in the hall, even though you suspected her.”