Not long enough,Jamie grimly thought. “Stanislav. What doyouwant?”
He sincerely hoped it wasn’t another jobrequest.
The team had done multiple jobs over the past year for the oligarch’s son through the guise of Root Source, Inc., the cybersecurity company the MDF had created to shore up the mission. Those jobs were usually orchestrated through Nikolaas Jansen. The black-market facilitator and metahuman was Stanislav’s connection to the rich the world over. Out of everyone, only Jamie and Kyle had ever met Stanislav face-to-face. The Pavluhkins kept their hands clean by making their targets take the fall. Since nothing could be traced back to them or thePresnenskaya Bratva, they stayed out of reach of theauthorities.
The MDF was trying tochangethat.
Ever since June and the revelation that the double agent in the CIA was most likely CIA Deputy Director Carter Bennett—a man who knew the identities of several Alpha Team members, possibly more—the MDF had been cautious in how they proceeded with the Pavluhkins. Declan Wolcott was still at large, and the ex-Army Ranger was privy to classified information regarding Kyle, Alexei, and Sean’s identities. If Bennett was in contact with Declan, then the MDF couldn’t overlook the possibility that Stanislav knew who and what they were by way of more traditionalchannels.
But they were still playing the long game because Stanislav had yet to show his hand and prove he knew their true identities. Trying to outplay a precog wasstressful.
“Am I interrupting?” Stanislav asked, sounding very much like he didn’t care if he was. The oligarch’s son was fluent in English, but his Russian accent was laced through every word hespoke.
“I’m with Kyle,” Jamie replied, projecting irritation into his voice that wasn’t difficult to feign. “Can we make thisquick?”
Stanislav laughed. “I notice your pet is never with you on the campaign trail. Do you keep him waiting for you back in the hotelrooms?”
Jamie tried not to grind his teeth. “Something like that. What do you want,Stanislav?”
Very few people could get away with addressing Stanislav as he did, but Jamie was one of those few, based solely on his family’s wealth and social status. The Pavluhkins, like many Russian oligarch families, counted power through who you knew as much as the numbers in a person’s bank account. Jamie’s family was one of the wealthiest in the world, with political power and private clout that opened a lot of doors the Pavluhkins were interested in. Jamie wasn’t above rubbing Stanislav’s face in his lower-status when compared toJamie’s.
“We require a meeting with you and Ekaterina,” Stanislav said after a moment’spause.
The use ofwesent alarm bells ringing through Jamie’s head, and he immediately pushed back against the request. “My schedule is full. My father’s campaign requires my presence and Thanksgiving is at the end of themonth.”
“Andmyfather is demanding an in-face meeting with you in Moscow. It would be unwise todecline.”
Yakov Pavluhkin, the titular head of thePresnenskaya Bratva, was a fifth-generation oligarch whose main wealth came from state-backed space mining contracts. The Pavluhkins ownedSolntse Dobyvayushchaya Kompiniya, but their real power came from their connection to the Kremlin. It was that fact which made Jamie pause and not immediately commit just for the sake of themission.
“You realize if I fly to Moscow and am seen meeting with you and your father, that will reflect terribly onmyfather?” Jamie said slowly. “He’s running for president, and judging by his poll numbers, he has a strong chance of winning. Being seen as cozy with Russians has never played well in ourmedia.”
“You’re already doing business with us Russians. That’s not something you can hideforever.”
The implicit threat that Stanislav would use thekompromathe’d accrued on Jamie and his teammates to blackmail them into following his orders filled the silence of the line. Jamie scowled up at the ceiling, hoping the hole he was about to dig for himself, his team, and his family wasn’t deep enough to double as agrave.
“Moscow is not on the table. Pick a different city and preferably a differentcountry.”
“My father choseMoscow.”
“And I’m giving you the choice of a meeting in a different city or no meeting at all. I’m aware you think you can make my life miserable if I don’t agree to every request you make, but this is a two-way street, Stanislav. I’m not some naïve trust-fund kid you can browbeat into submission. You want this partnership to work? There need to be somecompromises.”
The silence this time felt icy to Jamie, but he didn’t break it, merely waited Stanislav out with the patience of asniper.
“Paris,” Stanislav finally bit out. “Tomorrow night. I’ll inform you of the location in themorning.”
Stanislav cut the call, and Jamie exhaled heavily. Kyle shifted on the couch and turned to face him, worry in his green eyes. “Sounds like we don’t get our threedaysoff.”
Jamie grabbed Kyle’s hand and pressed an apologetic kiss over his knuckles. “I’ll make it uptoyou.”
“By letting me shoot the fucker inthehead?”
“Notyet.”
Kyle raised an eyebrow. “Butsomeday?”
“If the MDF greenlightsit.”
“And if theydon’t?”
