The director’s gaze flicked over all three of us with clinical interest. She reached no more than halfway to a smile.
“Mr. Dragunov,” she said. “And Mr. Dragunov.” Her attention slid to Viktor. “You’re in worse shape than your brother.”
“Thanks,” Viktor said. “It’s been a rough night. Had some walls fall on me, some bullets just miss me, someone tried to blow me up… I swear, the customer service around here is appalling.”
Her mouth twitched. “You must be Viktor.”
“Don’t sound so disappointed.”
Her gaze cut to Katya. “And Ms. Volkov. You’re a bit harder to keep track of.”
Katya’s voice came out low and clipped. “Just the way I like it.”
Viktor shifted closer to her. “All right,” he said. “I know I missed some memos, but are we all on the same side now, or are you here to shoot us and ship our bones back to Moscow in a decorative urn?”
“No one is shooting anyone,” a new voice said.
Deeper. Russian. Achingly familiar.
Mikhail leaned into view a moment later from inside one of the armored trucks, the perpetual faint frown on his face deepened by fatigue. He took in the situation in one glance—his two younger brothers, hands up, surrounded by ARCHEON guns; Katya, standing rigid; the director, standing calm.
Then his gaze landed on me.
“Andrei,” he said. “You look like hell.”
“Nice to see you too,” I quipped.
He ignored that, eyes already scanning Viktor next, then Katya. “Everyone intact?”
“Mostly,” Viktor said. “A few bruises. Someone threw a grenade at me. It was very rude.”
Mikhail’s jaw flexed. “So I heard.”
The director gave Viktor a cool look. “Mr. Dragunov agreed to speak with us under certain conditions.”
“Among them,” Mikhail added, voice flat, “that ARCHEON doesn’t shoot my brothers or any of their allies on sight.”
“You orchestrated this.” I tried to hide my surprise.
“Yes,” he replied.
“You might have warned us,” I cut back sharply.
“Would you have listened?”
I opened my mouth. Closed it again. He had a point and he knew it.
Viktor’s eyes narrowed. “So, this is you coming to our rescue?”
Mikhail’s gaze sharpened. “Revenant wants you dead. ARCHEON wants revenge. I chose the option where you walk out of this with your hearts still beating.”
“Debatable,” Viktor muttered. “Feels like I had a mild heart attack back there.”
Katya said nothing.
She stared at Mikhail, then at the director, then back at Mikhail.
“You expect me to trust ARCHEON?” she asked quietly.
