Chapter Four
“No Felix.”Sergi shookhis head.“Up until a few minutes ago, we didn’t even know who we were looking for.We didn’t know what he looked like until Serenity showed us his photo.”He paused, then said, “But we need to know everything about this guy and we need to know it now.”
Briar tried to tug her hand free but Felix just tightened his grip.
When Sergi noted the struggle between the two, he growled at Felix.“Let her go.”
Felix did so.
Briar glared at him while rubbing her wrist.Then she turned her back on Felix and told Sergi what she had observed a few months back, “I don’t usually advertise myself by stepping out into the open.Instead, I like to hang out in the trees and just observe what I can about the people here in the city.For some reason, the way this man acted bothered me.This happened before I came here and met all of you.I noticed him staring at this hotel.Something about the way he stood in the shadows and just glared at this place made me curious about him.He would always come before dawn and hang out while making phone calls.So one day, I got curious and I moved closer so I could hear him.He always stood under the same tree, every single day he came here.So that day, I got there first and I was up in the tree he always stood under.Then I did what I did best, I just listened.He was in contact with a man and they were making plans about some shipment that was leaving that night.He wanted to be on the ship, so they were going to stop at the docks and pick him up.I think this was about three or four months ago?”
Sergo stared at her and asked, “Anything else?”
Nodding, she went on, “The name of the boat was Lagoon 3.I went over there to find out about this ship.I couldn’t see what was on it and this man went under the main deck right away.Then the boat left port right after that.Then when I could, I began watching the port more.Those boats would come and go usually after dark and this guy was on several trips.But in between, he also watched the hotel too.”She shook her head.“I never heard his name so I had no way of knowing he was the one you were looking for.The only time I ever heard anything close to a name was when this guy he spoke to on the phone called him uncle.But he never called him a proper name.”
“So do you think the guy he talked to was Anton?”Nicky asked.
“Maybe?”Briar shrugged.“Back then, I never knew any of you.Or any of this stuff.”
Sergi studied her then he nodded.“Do you know where he’s staying?”
“Back then, he was at the Foghorn hotel,” Briar told them instantly.“Room number twelve.”
Serenity looked confused.“But if it had been Anton who called him uncle then why would they want Artemy freed instead of Anton?”
Nikoli stepped forward.“She’s right, the note we got after the explosion should have demanded Anton be freed, not Artemy.This isn’t making any sense.”
“Unless Artemy has orders to free Anton on his way out?”Nicky suggested.“Maybe they had a deal if they got caught and the demand was to free Artemy then Artemy was supposed to free Anton, taking him with him.”
Sergi nodded.“Make some kind of sense, I suppose.But we aren’t going to allow either one of them to be free.”
“But they are using that to get you to do what they want.In a roundabout way,” Briar told them.
“How so?”Sergi asked.
She smiled faintly and tapped her temple lightly.“Outside the box, remember?They are counting on you going around in circles trying to figure out who they are.This is just noise to keep you off balance while they work on the real plan to dissolve the Bratva just like the Crusaders have demanded.That’s been on their agenda since the very beginning.Their plan was to take you down first, Sergi.Then they will go after the rest of the organization here in the states.After that, they will go home and begin their campaign there.Their manifesto has been clear to you all.It states the need to take down the Bratva any way they can.They fully expect their own people to take over the government.”She paused then looked around at them all.“But somehow, I don’t think Anton or Artemy will be the one sitting in the big chair.”
Sergi stated at the photo again.“Yeah, that sounds like something Pavel would do.He probably just joined the Bratva to try and figure out where the weak points were, but I don’t think he was playing this game alone.”
Felix looked perplexed as he asked, “And who else do you think is playing it with him?”
“I think the whole damn family was in on this game.”Sergi growled.
“But his father is already dead,” Serenity reminded him.
“Da, he is but that doesn’t mean the game was over for everyone else,” Sergi grumbled.“The only winner is the one who destroys the Bratva.”He shook his head and added, “I’ll even bet Adrik made that the final prize in this insane game.”
“Is he the type of man to set his own children up to compete and claim this sort of prize?”Nikoli wanted to know.“Even at the risk of losing some or all of his children?”
Sergi nodded.“Da, he would do something like that.Adrik’s family was old money and they had a lot of it, enough to put everything on the line for only one.It wouldn’t surprise me to find that he did this.Adrik was the type of man that hated being told what to do, how to think or how he could spend his money.Pavel used to speak of his father in terms that never sat right with me.And his brother and sisters were raised to be very competitive.Da, I can see this playing out like a game in Pavel’s mind.The prize would be the champion’s chair.It wouldn’t even surprise me to find out that family money began this insane game.”
Felix went over to his desk now, looking through the papers the Nomads had recovered at Anton’s camp.He stopped to read one and said, “And you would be correct, boss.”
Sergi turned and looked at him.“What do you mean?”
Felix held the papers up and said, “This shows bank accounts that go back years and there are regular deposits from a bank in Russia.Deposits linked to a trust account from the Kastonovic Family Trust.”
Sergi smiled faintly.“Da?Really?Are they all that stupid?”
