Page 131 of King’s Ransom

First, judging from the user IDs, it looked like there were three conspirators.

4071AY, 4071FB and 4071VZ.

They all had the same numerical prefix, 4071, plus two letters.

The first one—4071AY—seemed to be the leader, the coordinator (as Monty had surmised).

I called him AY.

The second one, identified as 4071FB, was someone named Uri.

And the third one—4071VZ—was named Vasha.

I reread their comments.

The one named Uri was reporting that the ‘Grossman infiltration’ was working well.

That was a reference to Lenny Grossman, the superintendent who had left New York a month ago only to—amazingly—be present at 59West on December 21st.

The Grossman infiltration.

These guys really had impersonated Lenny Grossman.

As I’d theorised earlier, it certainly would’ve been a great way to set up their operation.

With their man walking around the building in the guise of the superintendent, they’d had access to every corner of 59West.

As that concept ran through my mind, I again remembered what Roman Oberov had called the man behind Modern Alchemical Solutions: the man who walks around in other men’s skins.

I mean, had these people kidnapped—and killed?—the real Lenny Grossman and then inserted their own man—Uri—in his place as a doppelganger?

Uri went on to state that he’d completed preparations on levels 44, 61, 73, 95 and 98, plus one other on the 28th floor as a backup.

I went through the various deathtraps from December 21st:

Level 44 was the nanny’s apartment.

Level 61 was where the bomb in the robot cart had killed Juno Everhart.

Level 73 was Ajax and Cassandra.

Level 95 was where the boy, Alexei, and his bodyguard had been suspended underneath the express elevator.

Level 98 was the garbage chute on the blow-through level where Yasmina’s little girl Katya had been hidden.

Level 28 was new.

We hadn’t gone there.

At some point, although it would be painful to do so, I’d have to tell the FBI to check the 28th floor—while the building was still evacuated—to see what this ‘backup’ trap was.

Horrified and enthralled, I kept reading.

This was their whole plan . . .

The third conspirator, Vasha, reported that the cemetery would be ready for December 21st and also: ‘GM acquired plus two escorts.’

I guessed that ‘GM’ was the Grandmaster and that the ‘two escorts’ were the two Russian goons who’d be found with him at the cemetery.