The Emperor's Revenge

TWENTY-SIX

Ivana pretended to be asleep while Marcel Blanc rose from the bed and went into the bathroom. The lovemaking session had been blessedly short as usual. She had played the role of occasional mistress of the cybersecurity firm’s director for the last six months in anticipation of this night. The luxury apartment in the Neuilly suburb had been rented under a pseudonym specifically for these trysts.

As soon as Blanc closed the door, she slipped from under the covers and darted over to his briefcase. She waited for him to turn on the shower and then removed the laptop and authentication token from the case.

Blanc’s company, Relvat Security, provided computer protection software for some of the biggest banks in Europe. Ivana logged into Relvat’s virtual private network and referred to the authentication token. Its digital readout changed every sixty seconds so that no one could log in with just Blanc’s password, which she had obtained weeks ago. With a few keystrokes, she was into Relvat’s system.

Now it was time to initiate the second stage of Operation Dynamo. As anticipated, banking security protocols had been changed in the aftermath of the Credit Condamine bank heist, playing right into her hands. She plugged her USB memory stick into the laptop and began uploading her custom-built virus into Relvat’s server.

She was only a few seconds into the process when light spilled from the bathroom. Her breath caught when she realized she could see Blanc reflected in the laptop’s screen, his doughy physique wrapped in a towel.

“Oh, you’re awake,” he said in English. “I can’t find the toothpaste…” He suddenly noticed what she was doing and froze. “Why do you have my laptop?”

Ivana tried to place her body between him and the screen, leaning seductively over the chair. Her hand hovered by her purse. “I was just checking my email. Why don’t you forget the shower and come back to bed? I’ll be done in a minute.”

“If you’re checking your email, why is my security token on the desk?” He strode toward her and roughly pushed her aside, his eyes widening when he saw the screen. “That’s Relvat’s network!”

Ivana plunged her hand into her purse and drew the tiny .22 caliber Beretta. Blanc stopped when he saw the gun pointed at him.

Ivana shook her head. “Why couldn’t you have just taken a shower and then gone home to your wife like a good boy?”

“Darling, what are you doing?”

“What does it look like I’m doing?”

“It looks like you’re using my security codes to break into Relvat’s system.”

“Right. So asking what I’m doing now seems like a stupid question, doesn’t it?”

“But why?”

“Now, that’s a smart question. It should have been your first.” She continued to monitor the download progress of her virus while keeping an eye on her duped paramour.

“I don’t understand. Why would you do this to me?”

“Well, it’s not really about you. This is about me. Specifically, about money that I intend to take.”

“You’re stealing from Relvat?”

“No, you are,” she said coyly. “No one knows about me, do they?” She rose from the chair, aiming the pistol at his head. “Do they?”

Blanc shook his head vigorously. “No! No!”

“That’s good. And it will stay that way?”

He nodded just as vehemently. “Of course! I’ll tell no one.”

She smiled. “That’s what I wanted to hear.” She pulled the gun back, though she continued to keep it trained on him. He relaxed a bit but remained wary. “Sit on the bed and turn on the TV. I want to hear the news.”

He did as he was told and tuned the TV to the BBC evening report.

“I don’t know how much you think you can take,” Blanc said. “Most of our assets are in stock value and property.”

“Do you really think I care about the two million euros I could take from your little company?”

“But you said—”

“That you are stealing from Relvat. It’s a pittance compared to what I’m going to net. Turn it up louder,” she said. When he hesitated, she motioned with the gun and he pressed the VOLUME button until the newscasters seemed to be yelling. “Now, just stay quiet until I’m finished.”

It took two more minutes for the virus to upload. When it was complete, she wiped the security token with a tissue and stuck it back in the briefcase but kept the laptop out.

“Now I’m going to tie you up,” she said. “Turn over so that you’re lying facedown, hands behind your back, face toward the drapes.”

“But I—”

“Do it!”

He did as instructed. With his face turned, he couldn’t see her.

She went to the sofa and picked up a throw pillow. This was going to be the hardest part, but she steeled herself. She walked over to the bed with the pistol up against the pillow, placed it against Blanc’s head, and pulled the trigger. The TV drowned out the muffled shot.

Blanc’s body went limp.

Ivana pulled the pillow away and appraised the small hole in the back of his head. There wasn’t even much blood.

She shrugged. That didn’t seem so hard after all.

She dressed quickly and wiped down every surface she had touched. Then she took Blanc’s wallet and laptop to make it look like a burglary gone wrong. By the time they connected Blanc with the bank theft to come, any leads would be ice-cold.

She mentally retraced her steps and confirmed that she had left nothing incriminating behind. With a satisfied nod, she headed to the door. Even though it hadn’t gone as she’d expected, it wasn’t a bad night’s work. She didn’t know a single soul who wouldn’t kill for thirty billion euros.

As she walked out of the apartment, she could hear the BBC announcer going to a special bulletin. The computer system of France’s largest bank just went down.