A tall, slim woman stepped out onto the landing. She was dressed in clothing that matched the monk, only her flat-toppedkamilavkahad a veil at the back, demurely covering her hair, marking her as an orthodox nun.
But this was no nun.
Seichan tensed next to Gray.
“Valya,” she hissed.
Though the Russian’s features were heavily powdered, covering her facial tattoo, the stark white of her hair could be seen in wisps from under herkamilavka’s veil. But it was her manner more than anything that gave her away. She stepped dismissively past the tall monk to confront the priest, who remained at the foot of the steps, as if he had no desire to move any closer.
“Archpriest Sychkin,” she said with a note of bitter disdain. “You should’ve been here hours ago.”
“I had other tasks that required my attention.” The priest’s voice was deep and forceful, perfect for preaching from a pulpit, but the translation came out a robotic monotone. “Why was your summons so urgent, requiring my personal presence?”
“The man I hired in Saint Petersburg never showed. Acquisition of the botanist was confirmed last night, but then nothing. Repeated attempts to reach the others also failed.”
“And Dr. Stutt?”
Valya shrugged. “She has not been seen all day—not at her research lab, not at her apartment.”
“What does that mean?”
“We’ve been exposed.”
The archpriest stiffened. “By who?”
“Another party must’ve intervened.”
“How could that be?” Sychkin reached to the cross on his chest. “Only a handful of people know what we found in that old book.”
“Regardless, I took precautions after failing to hear from the others this morning. In fact, the intrusion by these others was not wholly unexpected, especially as I all but invited them here.”
“What are you talking about?”
Gray knew the answer. He pictured the black-and-white footage of the attack on Red Square. Seichan cursed next to him. She had warned that the brazen attack could be Valya’s attempt to lure Sigma into Russia, to get them involved.
But it wasn’t just that.
“I knew Radic would be easy to break,” Valya said calmly. “It’s why I picked him as a courier. Especially as I knew he was compromised and likely to be watched.”
Gray dropped his spyglass and grabbed Seichan’s arm, but she was already moving, retreating from the window. Even without the scope, Gray noted Valya turn and face the old dyehouse. Her words, now in English, reached his earpiece from the parabolic microphone.
“But they will be dealt with.”
Gray took another two steps when a series of explosive detonations tore through the building. The floor jolted under him, throwing himheadlong. Flames brightened the darkness. Billows of smoke tried to smother it.
More blasts erupted, timed and positioned to gut the inside, to collapse the crumbling infrastructure into the basement.
Gray reached for Seichan—only to watch her fall away from him, tumbling down into the jagged ruins.
8
May 11, 6:12P.M. MSK
Moscow, Russian Federation
Jason Carter recoiled from entering the morgue. He had seen dead bodies before, but the stench of wet flesh, bleach, and embalming fluid made him balk.
He and Monk, along with Father Bailey, had driven straight from the airport to a beige brick building that had a mouthful of a name:Federal’nogo Mediko-Biologicheskogo Agentstva Rossii Byuro Glavnoy Sudebno-Meditsinskoy Ekspertizy. It was Moscow’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. The morgue was in the building’s basement, where the ventilation system dated back to the Soviet era.
