Viktor sat up straighter. “Revenant.”
“Or ARCHEON,” Andrei added.
A beat passed.
My phone rang.
The sound shattered the quiet.
I held up a hand to silence them and answered. “Mikhail Dragunov.”
“Mikhail. How good of you to pick up. We heard your brother had… a difficult flight.”
“You heard right,” I said.
The man on the other line cleared his throat. “ARCHEON has become aware of your operation. The off-book drone acquisition. The foreign buyer.” He paused as if letting it all sink in. “They were the ones who attempted to destroy your aircraft.”
My jaw tightened. “Why?”
“They are attempting to force our hand,” he said. “ARCHEON does not appreciate competing shadows in their theater.”
“And you?” I asked. “Do you appreciate it?”
“We appreciate results,” he replied.
The call ended.
I stared at the phone for a long moment before speaking. I didn’t trust Revenant as far as I could throw them, but I also didn’t know what to think of ARCHEON either. Either one of them could have tried to kill Andrei and Katya, and I needed to figure out which one was the guilty party.
“So, Revenant claims that ARCHEON was the one that tried to kill you, Andrei,” I said.
Viktor cracked his knuckles. “Perfect. We needed a new enemy this week.”
Andrei rubbed his temples. “I swear to God, Viktor…”
“If you two are finished,” I said, “we need to plan.”
Viktor smirked. “I’m listening, boss.”
“Andrei,” I said, turning to my youngest brother, “you’ll deal with the drone manufacturer. We need to ensure the upgraded units don’t reach Revenant under any circumstances. The deal is over. The shipment is ours now.”
“Give me a day or two,” Andrei said. “My head needs to stop feeling like someone installed a jackhammer behind my eye. Then I’ll fly out.”
Good. He’d fix it. He always did.
“I heard the Markovs are having trouble with ARCHEON too,” Viktor offered, tapping ash into the tray.
“Think the Markovs will work with us?” I asked.
“Probably not, but I want to take Katya and make sure that they do,” Viktor said. “She’s… effective.”
Effective was a polite way of saying she was terrifying when she wanted to be.
“Katya just survived a cult compound and a near plane crash,” Andrei said. “And you want to drag her into more danger?”
Viktor’s expression softened slightly. “I want to keep her close. That’s all.”
Andrei exhaled. “Yeah. Same.”
