Code of Silence

Code of Silence - Chapter 27

The waiter arrived, clearing Khan's cup and saucer and setting down three fresh ones, together with a cafetière of coffee, a pot of tea, and some biscuits.

"Something to eat, maybe?" Khan asked, as the waiter stood by attentively, awaiting our response.

I shook my head, and smiled politely, as did Alex. Our snacking on the journey had refuelled us, but we were still on edge from our run-in with Dragovich.

"So, how have you both been?" enquired Khan as he offered the cafetière to Alex first. He appeared to be in a relaxed mood, probably as a result of the break and not having had to devote all of his time to eager students.

"Surviving," I said, glancing at Alex, who was unusually quiet and just smiled as the coffee was poured. "Got a bit of a problem, though, and we could do with your help," I added, checking out the seating area for anyone who might overhear us.

Khan frowned. "Okay, what sort of problem? New coding projects, perhaps a challenging algorithm? Oh, yes, and I didn't fully understand that email you sent me, Alex. Does that have something to do with it?" He carefully poured himself another cup of coffee and reached for a biscuit.

Alex sighed. "Well, sort of, but it's really complicated. My father received that email from his head office. He's been based in Moscow for a few years, he's a corporate lawyer and involved in quite a lot of big deals over there." Alex spoke calmly, but the hunched shoulders and rambling delivery told a different story. "He's back here now, presumably because of what's in the email, but I didn't know anything about what was going on until I read it."

Khan was attentive, but had taken out his laptop, his fingers gliding unobtrusively over the keyboard. Always taking notes, I thought, as I listened. Alex continued describing how the contents of the email were connected to Theo's situation, trying not to leave anything important out, and explained what we knew about the ill-fated deal that had taken place in Moscow, and how it appeared to have resulted in the disappearance of Theo's father.

Khan nodded eagerly, acknowledging the fact that he'd worked out that much from the email. What he wasn't aware of was the potential link to serious organised crime, and in particular, Dragovich's involvement. When I added that we'd then met Theo at the conference and seen the Russian there too, Khan began to look a little concerned.

Continuing the story, I explained how Theo, still upset by his father's disappearance, had dropped out of university and immersed himself in the V-Works project, or Vvox as he now called it, and launched it at the AI conference.

Khan nodded. "Yes, impressive stuff, I saw him there on the second day."

I went on to describe how we'd listened to the professor and what he'd told us about Russian interest levels in AI technology, and had wondered if Vvox had attracted the attention of Russian organised crime groups. Alex added that Theo had been approached by someone from Ekranotech at the conference and that we'd also bumped into Dragovich there, and we were convinced these encounters had something to do with the suspected murder of the Russian that had been reported in the news.

"Okay, so where is Theo now, and how much does he know about all of this?" asked Khan.

"Theo's been taken too," I said, cutting straight across a startled Alex.

"What do you mean, 'taken'?" gasped Khan, visibly unsettled now and checking around us for anyone listening in.

I told him how we'd visited Theo after the conference and learned that he'd been approached by the bearded Russian from Ekranotech. Dragovich had then appeared and offered to help locate his father, but told him this would require him to handover the coding so that they could resolve the Ekranotech problem first. "He offered Theo money," I said.