dead, you sure it matters?”
“If I know who he was, that can still help me.”
“Okay,” Duffy answered. “As I look at the pictures you gave me, my impression is he looks southern European to me, not Spanish or Portuguese, more French, maybe northern Italian or even Sardinian. In any event, I mentioned that to my people in DC and they’re looking in those directions.”
“Okay, what about the other two guys? The blonds in the photos I handed you when we were at police HQ?”
“There I have some help for you, Mac,” Duffy replied eagerly. “The younger blond man we’ve identified as Viktor Domitrovich.”
“Russian?”
“Ukrainian. He’s a computer hacker and virus creator. He’s been a pain in the bureau’s butt from time to time over the last several years.”
“That fits,” Mac told Duffy what they’d just found and another person now was in the know on Martin and DataPoint, just in case. “Unbelievable,” was all Duffy could say in response, then got back on task “So we know who Domitrovich is, so that’s the good news.”
“The bad?”
“He’s dead. Kiev police found him this morning in his apartment with one between the eyes execution style. Sound familiar?”
“Indeed,” Mac answered. “Any witnesses? Anyone see anything?”
Duffy exhaled. “Nada.”
“Natch,” Mac replied disgustedly.
“There are other apartment units but nobody heard anything, so the thought is—silencer. Based on the condition of his body, they think he was done sometime yesterday.”
“So that guy is dead. What about the second guy?”
“That’s where it gets tricky. By the way, are you ever going to tell me where these pictures came from?” Duffy asked, still fishing.
“Sometime, maybe when I tell you about the car chase,” McRyan answered again evasively. “But not right now.”
“Okay, let me ask this a different way, these photos are enlargements. Will I ever get to see the whole picture?”
“Again, maybe when I tell you about the car chase,” Mac answered, evading. “Ed, there’s a great story behind this but I’m just not at liberty to tell it all yet.”
“Okay,” Duffy groaned, the disappointment obvious in his voice. “The picture you gave us shows about seventy-five percent of his face and for the most part he’s in the shadows so it is difficult to get a firm identification.”
“How about an un-firm one?”
“That I just got,” Ed answered. “We have a semi-retired agent in DC who used to work the Russia beat. He thinks the guy could be a Russian by the name of Anatoly Khrutov. That’s the good news.”
“And the bad?”
“He’s a nasty guy. Ex-KGB with some ties to Putin from back in the good old days. After the Cold War ended, he became something of a shadowy fixer in Russia. He puts people with people and gets paid for it.”
“Puts people with people?” Mac asked, taking a sip of his coffee.
“For example, he helps foreign businessmen get connected with the right ministers in the government. You need a drilling permit, he can help shepherd it through the bureaucracy. You want to open a business? He knew who could help you get the right permissions. He’s said to know where everyone’s skeletons are buried so he can apply leverage to get done what he wants done. He wasn’t cheap either, very expensive.”
“Was?” Mac said. “Is he out of the game now?”
“Right, at least that’s what our people thought,” Duffy replied. “He’s been dormant for a number of years. These days, his nest is so feathered he’s thought to be largely retired, but if this is him, it looks as if the bear came out of hibernation.”
“For one last big score,” Mac answered.
“Maybe,” Ed answered. “The odd thing is he typically sticks to his home turf, Mac. When he was active, he didn’t often venture outside of Russia and when he did, he kept close to home, eastern Europe mostly. It was rare he ever even went into western Europe, let alone come to the States.”
Mac gave what Duffy said some thought, took a sip of his coffee and an idea came to him. “Ed, do we know who from the United States used Khrutov in Russia?”
“I don’t off hand, but I can look into that, Mac. Why?”
“If it was rare he ever left his home turf, then he wouldn’t have done it for just anyone. It had to be someone special, someone he’d done work with before, probably more than once.”
“That’s a good thought,” Duffy replied agreeably. “I’ll get back to my contacts in DC and see what I can find.”
“Good. Keep on this Russian and let me know