“Go ahead, Teddy. Check your piece,” Mr. B instructed.
Hart let out a low growl, but did as he was told, handing his 9mm to the station guard.
“Thank you,” Sasha said. “Now—”
“Hold on,” Mr. B said, stopping Sasha. “Now, how about your man?”
“I’m sorry?” Sorry replied.
“I go in with one unarmed guy, and you go in with one unarmed guy. Only seems fair, doesn’t it?”
“Let’s not forget who called the meeting and where we are,” Sasha said, with just a touch of menace.
“And let’s not forget who the fuck pulled on your strings to make it happen,” Mr. B shot back with so much menace I was honestly stunned for a moment. “Now, I’ve had about enough of this fucking circus. We go into the meeting equal, or we don’t go in at all.”
Sasha nodded to his guards. “Vova. Check your weapon here and come with me. Dima, you stay. No one enters the house.”
We were then led down a series of hallways and into Sasha’s office.
“Please, sit. Make yourselves comfortable,” he said, inviting us into the lavishly decorated space. The walls, shelves, and display cases were adorned with antiques and antiquities from around the world. Some of which were thought to have been lost or missing for decades.
“This is quite a collection, Sasha,” I said, once again, no pretense needed.
“And a beautiful office,” Tess added as we took our seats from the selection of antique chairs that adorned the space. Mr. B sat in a leather club chair, directly across from Sasha’s desk.
“Thank you. Everything in this room except for the rugs are original pieces. Besides the gallery, it’s my favorite room in the house. Unlike the gallery, however, there are no cameras in this room. It’s also completely soundproofed. It’s the only truly private space in the entire house, so you can speak freely.”
“I’ll speak freely, either way. I have no reason not to,” Mr. B said. “You’re the one who stands to win or lose today. Not me. And if you think you can intimidate me just because we’re in your house, I’ll remind you that I’m backed by three of the five families in New York, the Frangelico brothers in Vegas,and the lawyers in Atlantic City and Detroit. So, should I come out of the meeting minus a head, you and your boss will answer for it.”
“My boss has nothing to do with this meeting, and I want to keep it that way. I assume you feel the same or you would have gone directly to Ilya with any business proposal.”
“See, Teddy? I told you this guy was smart,” Mr. B said to his ‘bodyguard.’
“Vova, pour our guests a drink,” Sasha said, motioning to a bar cart that looked straight out of Ernest Hemmingway’s study. Hell, for all I knew, itwasHemmingway’s bar cart. “I just recently opened a Glenlivet 1938 I procured. You must have a taste with me.”
“Pre-war Scotch?” Mr. B asked, clearly impressed.
“I purchased three of the one-hundred-twenty-five bottles made available at auction. It's the oldest Scotch ever bottled, as far as we know. It was drawn from a single reused American oak sherry cask.”
Even I couldn’t resist a wee dram of that.
Once our glasses were poured, Sasha proposed a toast. “To new roads taken,” he said and we all clinked glasses.
I fear that any words I could try and use to describe the experience of drinking that glass of Scotch would end up sounding like pretentious existentialism, so I’ll save myself the embarrassment, and you the time, and say I enjoyed it very much.
“Now, onto business,” Sasha said, turning to Mr. B. “You sold me a forged painting.”
He nodded. “Yes, I did. More importantly, you figured out I’d sold you a forgery. Well done, how did you do it?”
“I have a multi-spectrum analyzer,” Sasha replied.
“Impressive,” Mr. B. said. “You give every new acquisition the run down with that thing?”
“No. It’s a new piece of gear for me. I just recently started using it.”
“Well, it’s that kind of eye for detail my clients will come to expect of you should we decide to work together.”
“And what exactly do you mean by ‘work together’?” Sasha asked. “For that matter, how do I even know you are who you say you are. I’ve taken this meeting on good faith, because I know Elenor must be connected to someone high up, but how can you prove you’re the Man from Brussels?”
