Zero Day

out what’s going on.”
“Is Dmitri in on this?”
“I hope not.” Leland’s voice cracked. “Dmitri is my former mentor, back in my early hacker days.”
“Is that why you’re a hands-on COO? Dmitri had always been on the field even though he would have done as much behind a desk. His style rubbed off on you?”
“Once a hacker, always a hacker.” Leland chuckled.
“Same for Kelvin, isn’t it?” Yona replied. “He started out a hacker. Why did Binary Systems make him a system administrator?”
“He was burning out and needed a change of pace. I’m not saying that being a sys admin is easier, but Kel thought he could do it.” Leland started to leave, but she had more to say. “It was easier than having to interview and screen new employees.”
“What happened to your previous system administrator?”
“He died suddenly. We found him unresponsive in the machine room.”
“Oh.”
“No warning, no tell-tale sign. His heart just gave out. It was a shame. He was only thirty-seven.” Leland sighed. “After that sort of situation, you can see that it would be hard for Binary Systems to advertise an open position.”
“Could be, if there’s a matter of perception. Will Kelvin be turned over to the CIA?” Once he was in the custody of the CIA, Yona was sure she could not get her hands on him any more.
She had prepared herself for this, but today’s fiasco had raised too many questions.
Leland was unexpectedly quiet. Then: “Does the Mossad want Kelvin?”
“For questioning.” It was all Yona dared to say.
“About?”
“About the events leading to the death of one of our Mossad agents—one week before he was supposed to retire.”
“I’m sorry. You’re close to him.”
“I worked with him for years. He was like a father to me.”
“That’s how Dmitri is—except he’s like a grandpa to me,” Leland said. “If our projects are related, we could save time working together.”
“So what’s going to happen to Kelvin?” Yona asked as casually as she could.
“Dario locked him in his room, presumably. Tomorrow, we’ll hand him over to the US Embassy to be extradited to the States.”
“Why tomorrow?”
Leland seemed to hesitate. “Well, because we need him to do something for us. Once we turn him over, he goes into the court system, and we can’t get to him except through a lawyer.”
“But he… The EU would want him, not to mention the International Court.”
“He’s American and he broke our laws too.”
“And the laws of Israel and the EU.”
“To be honest, I don’t know. All I know is that we found him first.”
Yona looked at the ceiling and railings. “How safe is this safe house?”
“It’s CIA.”
Yona could tell her stories of how Mossad had discovered CIA safe houses. If Mossad could, who was to say that Molyneux’s successor couldn’t?
Leland’s eyebrows rose. “You know something we don’t?”
“FSB put Kelvin in Prague.”
“We checked, remember? No tracker. No GPS.”
“I don’t trust them.”
“Neither do I. Dario is surely on it. Don’t worry.”
“Speaking of Dario, he was going to look for some stretch gauze for my sprained ankle.”
“Oh?” Leland looked around. Neither of them saw Dario anywhere. “I think he went to bed. I’ll go find some for you.”
“Thank you. In the morning will do.” Yona stepped back into her room. “I better turn in. I’ve had a long day. I need to shower, read my Bible, and get some sleep.”
Leland nodded. “All right. See you in the morning. Breakfast is at eight o’clock. Dario is making cereal and he doesn’t like people to be late.”
“Cereal?”
“Yeah. It’s his specialty.”
“No eggs?”
“There are some eggs and bacon in the fridge, but you do not want Dario to cook. He’s going to burn down the kitchen.” Leland laughed all the way down the stairs.
Yona glanced down the hallway. Her observation skills must have been slacking. She didn’t recall seeing him come back this way after showing Kelvin his bedroom. Maybe Dario’s bedroom was also down the hallway. Maybe he was closer to Kelvin to keep an eye on him.
Kelvin was now prized for the knowledge inside his head.
Everyone wanted a piece of him, including Aspasia. Why hadn’t Aspasia killed Kelvin?
Until they waded to the bottom of this mess, Yona had no choice but to tag along and see what was going on before she carried out her mission.
In other words, don’t try to kill him off prematurely.

Chapter 7
Kelvin tossed and turned in his bed for half the night. He felt guilty for sleeping on a comfortable mattress. This was no punishment for his many sins.
He felt clean after the long, hot shower. He had washed his hair umpteen times and scrubbed his feet. Then he brushed his teeth several times, as if once wasn’t enough. Trying to make up for his two months off the grid.
It could have been longer had the FSB not retained him until they had exhausted all their questioning.
It was unusual that they had not implanted him with a tracker. That could only mean one thing: they had dropped him off to die.
“Hardly comforting that they have no use for me anymore,” Kelvin said to no one.
Perhaps it was time for him to confess everything to Leland. She would understand his predicament, why he had done what he did.
Then again, regardless of Leland’s compassion, Kelvin was going to jail.
For how long, though?
He could handle a few years, maybe.
Kelvin closed his eyes. Too tired to sleep. Too stressed to dream.
Stressed? How could he feel stressed if he was protected by Dario and his non-team?
He was sure reinforcements would come soon. Probably not from Dmitri. His men had turned on them. Nearly gotten Kelvin and Dario killed. And Yona.
Yona Epstein.
Why was she here?
What did she want from him?
Kelvin could hear water running down pipes. He ventured to guess it was probably the second-floor washing machine. They had taken turns to wash their clothes tonight.
Who had woken up at this time to put in another load?
Leland?
She sometimes stayed up all night.
Kelvin heard the clothes dryer buzzer go off. Another load finished. If they didn’t fold the clothes now, they would be