Chapter 1
Moscow.
Only fools, or men of exceptional daring, placed themselves in such jeopardy.
The dinner in Professor David Hermann's stomach threatened to surge as the Spasky Tower clock chime struck midnight. He shifted uncomfortably in his chair. Doubt assailed him. He was a fool. He risked too much for being here--robbery, or even murder awaited him.
It was too late to back off. Hermann swallowed, trying to get rid of the sour taste in his mouth. He stood and paced the small hotel room. For a moment his gaze rested on the laptop sitting on a 1930s style chest of drawers. The screen showed the clock face of the Greenwich Royal Observatory, its second hand ticked away and a digital counter displayed 00:06:32.
He glanced at his watch. Reassuringly the timepiece showed the same time.
On this once-in-a-lifetime foray into the cesspit of international machinations, Hermann feared the people of this world, but admired their methods. After all, it wasn't every day one handed two million dollars to a stranger.
The minute hand on the screen clicked to seven minutes past midnight. Seven seconds to go. He only had three seconds leeway to open the door. Any further delay constituted a danger signal and scrubbed the meeting. Hermann moved closer to the entrance.
The two knocks came precisely on time.
Holding his breath, David Hermann jerked the door open.
A tall, bulky man in a tan overcoat stepped into the room. In his left hand he carried a fat suitcase identical to the one Hermann had received a week ago via UPS. He brushed past and stopped on the other side of the bed.
Noiselessly, Hermann closed the door.
The man looked around as if recording every detail of the room. His gaze settled on Herman and he brought his finger to his mouth, indicating silence.
Controlling his breathing, Hermann nodded and approached the bed, which now served as a divider between them.
With one meaty fist, the man hefted the suitcase onto the bed. His other hand reached inside his overcoat and removed something resembling a thick fountain pen.
Fascinated, Hermann watched the man use the gadget gracefully like a wand and cough to trigger sound-activated switches. Finished sweeping the room, his hand went back inside his coat and exchanged the wand for a pistol.
Hermann's heart accelerated and he gulped air.
The man grinned and placed the pistol on the bed. "We may proceed," he said just above a whisper.
Appreciating that the man didn't trust him either, Hermann moved carefully into the closet and returned to the bed with the other suitcase. "Voila." He opened it, then slowly reached into his pocket for the remote and pressed it.
Locks clicked and the double bottom sprang open revealing shrink-wrapped bundles of hundred dollar bills.
The man opened his suitcase, took out a black binder and laid it on the bed. "You may examine it."
Afraid of disappointment, Hermann opened the binder and inspected random pages. The contents seemed authentic. Despite his fear of the gun, he asked, "And the book?"
The man didn't seem to hear. He rummaged through the bundles as if counting them and inspected the Zurich Bank's seal.
"And the book?" Herman asked again.
.Apparently satisfied, the man nodded, reached inside his overcoat and handed Hermann a little tome with a red leather cover.
Hermann forced the tremor out of his hands and reached for the book as if it was a sacred scripture.
Without a word, the man closed the double bottom suitcase, picked it up and shoulder-holstered the pistol as he hurried out of the room.
Wondering if he had been conned, Hermann wiped sweat from his brow and sat on the room's only chair.
After studying the red booklet for twenty minutes, he knew the documents were authentic and for two million, a bargain.
He took a pad out of his briefcase and went to work decoding the dates and addresses of each message in the binder, starting with the last page and working backwards. When he reached a sheet dated 08 April, he removed the pages he had checked, placed them in an envelope and sealed it. This was his insurance needed for the big move. The greatest gamble in modern history.