“Of course,” the Sheik said, gesturing for us to sit. “When the three most dangerous brothers in Dubai ask for a meeting, one makes time.”
I liked him already.
We sat. Servants brought coffee and left us in silence.
The Sheik leaned back, studying us. “So. You’ve come about your pretty little thief.”
Dmitri didn’t flinch. “You know of her.”
“I know of everything that happens in my city,” he said smoothly. “Especially when it involves a woman working for ARCHEON.”
“Working for them?” Lev asked, his tone skeptical.
The Sheik’s smile widened slightly. “Ah. You think she is one of them.”
“She drugged me,” I said. “Then she searched my apartment—for what, we don’t know. I would think that would be enough evidence to prove that.”
“She left you alive,” the Sheik replied. “That tells you more than you realize.”
Dmitri’s eyes narrowed. “Explain.”
The Sheik leaned forward, his voice lowering. “ARCHEON doesn’t employ agents; they acquire them. Through persuasion, coercion, or leverage. This woman—your thief—she isn’t one of theirs. She’s property. They hold something over her. Something she cannot afford to have exposed.”
Lev’s jaw tightened. “They’re blackmailing her.”
“Precisely,” the Sheik said, sipping his coffee. “She is not loyal to them. She is loyal to her own survival.”
I felt a cold, slithery thing settle in my gut. “So she didn’t choose to do this.”
The Sheik tilted his head. “Did you choose your empire, Mr. Markov?”
Dmitri ignored the philosophical jab. “What does ARCHEON want from us?”
“Your technology,” the Sheik said simply. “Your drones. Your AI programming. Your influence. They plan to hijack the market. Create instability. Then sell them back to the highest bidder.”
“Typical,” I muttered. “Chaos for profit.”
Lev’s eyes flicked to me then back to the Sheik. “So she was just doing as she was told?”
“A pawn,” Dmitri said, very clearly intrigued now.
The Sheik smiled faintly. “Pawns can still topple kings.”
The silence that followed was heavy, each of us lost in thought.
Finally, Dmitri stood. “We appreciate your insight, Your Excellency.”
“Of course.” The Sheik inclined his head. “But a word of advice—your thief may fear ARCHEON more than she fears you. If you truly want to control her, you must make her believe otherwise.”
Dmitri’s mouth curved up, his eyes glinting with dark promise. “That won’t be a problem.”
As we left the hall, the desert heat rushed to meet us again. Dmitri walked ahead, already issuing orders into his earpiece. Lev and I followed behind him, side by side, silent for a moment.
“She was blackmailed,” I said finally. “That changes things.”
“It changes nothing,” Lev replied.
“Maybe she didn’t have a choice.”
