“I understand.” Ilya’s voice was heavy with sorrow. “I also know if he continues along this path, someone will kill him. They will have no choice.” His eyes were pleading. “I don’t want my son to die. And so, I find myself making a seemingly impossible choice: working with his enemies to send him to prison,instead.”
Gary reached out and laid a comforting hand on Ilya’s shoulder, and Ilya lifted a hand to pat it. “You are a good boy,malysh.Thank the stars that we were fated to befriends.”
He looked at Bas and Drew again. “Prison will be the making of Alexei. He will understand what it means to be truly powerless, a lesson I could never teach him. I plan to hire him an excellent attorney - someone who will get him a short sentence and an early parole.” His words were part challenge, part warning, and ironically, they made Bas feel even more confident in Ilya’s sincerity. He wasn’t switching sides, or working against his son; on the contrary, he was doing what all good fathers do, and giving his son the medicine heneeded, even when it wasn’t what hewanted.
He could grudgingly admit Gary was right when he suggested that Ilya was a decent person, despite the bad things he’d done… and the monster of a son he’d placed inpower.
“And what will happen with SILA?” Drew asked, ever practical. “Will you hand the reins to one of yourlieutenants?”
“Nyet. I will take them myself, hold them for my son. With help from my nephew Dmitri, ofcourse.”
Gary’s nostrils flared and he cast his eyes to theheavens.
Interesting. Anyone who made Gary look likethatwas someone Sebastian wanted to get to know better, even if he waspart of a Russian crimeorganization.
One corner of Ilya’s mouth turned up. “Retirement was boring anyway.” He slapped his hands on his knees and stood. “Well. I thank you both for meeting with me. I know you will take care of the information I gave you. Good lucktonight.”
Wait,tonight? There was no need to attend the auction tonight if they had the information they needed. He and Drew exchanged another wordlessglance.
“Ilya… Mister Stornovich,” Drew began gently. “We won’t be attending the auction tonight. Just being there would be a tremendous risk, and if the information you gave us is enough to incriminate your son, we have no reason togo.”
Ilya raised his eyebrows and frowned once again. “Ah, but you must. My son is a man of many resources. Simply being able to make a case against him isn’t enough to keep you - any of you - safe. As long as he is free, he’s a danger toyou.”
“But you could tell us where he is,” Bas protested. “You could let us tell thepolice…”
“No,” Ilya said calmly, as though he’d anticipated this turn of events. “This I will not do. You’ll find that the information I have provided to you contains nothing that will incriminate my organization. It is all information on Alexei’s dealings alone. I will not invite the authorities to poke their noses into other information, you understand? SILA has no quarrel with any ofyou.”
There was a sly glint in Ilya’s eye, a hard cast to his jaw, proving that this man, though he looked more like someone’s doting grandfather than a criminal mastermind, was not someone they could afford to takelightly.
Bas clenched his teeth. Sothiswas the compromise? They had gotten the information they needed to prosecute Alexei, but at the expense of being able to dismantle SILA? Fine, then. So be it. Revenge was the furthest thing from Sebastian’s mind - all he cared about now was keeping his familysafe.
But their safety was no more guaranteed now than it had been yesterday, andthatpissed him off. In order to arrest Alexei, they needed to be able to find him. They could use Ilya’s information to obtain a warrant and search for Alexei at his known locations, but he was unlikely to be sitting there waiting. And, if Alexei learned about Ilya’s flash drive, he was likely to become even more enraged and unpredictable… even moredangerous.
They needed to make sure he was arrested as soon as possible, and that meant continuing with their plan to attend theauction.
“Yeah,” Bas said. “Weunderstand.”
But if he was annoyed by the turn of events, Drew looked resigned… and reluctantly impressed. Probably the admiration of one born negotiator for another. “Thank you for the information,” he offered, and Ilyanodded.
Bas stood, following Gary and Ilya to thedoor.
“Come on, Ilya. I’ll give you a ride,” Gary said, buttoning hiscoat.
“Thank you, Garik.” Ilya placed a hand on Gary’s shoulder. “But I believe I will walk for a bit. Boston winter is like mild spring day in Siberia. It will not do for me to grow soft in my old age.” He winked, then turned to extend his hand to Drew and Sebastian in turn. “Mr. McMann. And Mr. Seaver. Apleasure.”
Bas couldn’t return the sentiment, but he nodded and shook Ilya’s handanyway.
“I’m sure we will see each other again,” Ilya said as hedeparted.
A chill went up Bas’s spine at the casual words, a chill that had little to do with the cold waft of air through the open door. He could not imagine anything good ever coming from a secondmeeting.
“Thank you,” Drew told Gary as the three of them watched Ilya walk down thesteps.
“Don’t thank me, thank him,” Gary said, nodding in Ilya’s direction. “He’s risking everything, including his own life, to do this.” He sighed, jamming his hands in his pockets. “Just like I suspected hewould.”
“Do you think his own son would harm him?” Drew asked,surprised.
Gary sighed. “Possibly, if he thought his father had betrayed him. Ilya and Alexei have a complicated relationship. Alexei covets his father’s approval, but he’s never really understood the kind of man his fatheris.”
