Build:
Episode 25 of the June Murders
Stephan’s anger at Ivan Varenukha continued over the summer, but what drove him to action was a conversation with his father. Grigor Likhodeyev was a businessman at heart, even if he had begun as a Communist Party official. “We need to ensure that we have access to the pipelines,” he told Stephan. “There is not unlimited capacity and if we don’t get it, Varenukha will.” The once mutual interests of the Likhodeyev and Varenukha families no longer overlapped harmoniously; there was growing friction. “The only sure way to get the pipeline access,” Grigor insisted, “is to demonstrate our value and certainly that we are more valuable than the Varenukhas. Or more ruthless,” he added, giving his son a look. This was his way. He would challenge Stephan to prove that he was worthy to take over when the time came.
Stephan then began to take soundings among his security and intelligence contacts. Through them, he learned that the state were interested in the military potential of nano-technology, much of it based on foreign research developments. If he assisted them, they would be grateful. They gave him the name of a UK-based company, Speed Technologies that might prove a useful starting point. He hired consultants to investigate further and discovered that the company had patents for various programs and devices in the field. His attention was grabbed by the fact…
