“He’s spooked.”
“Or he’s planning something and wants eyes on you while he sets it up.” Tony’s keyboard clicks in the background. “I’ve been running the financial trails you flagged. Four of Bogdan’s lieutenants have accounts that connect to the shell companies, but we’re paying special attention to a woman named Svetlana Morozova.”
“She was at one of the dinner parties Daria mentioned.”
“Bogdan’s fixer. She handles the logistics he doesn’t want traced back to him.” More clicking. “Her accounts show regular payments to a security firm that has done work for organizations on Yevgeny’s blacklist. That’s our link. If we can prove she’s operating on Bogdan’s orders without Yevgeny’s knowledge, we’ve got him.”
“How do we prove it?”
“The ledgers Daria mentioned. If they exist, if they’re at the dacha, and if we can get our hands on them, they’ll show the chain of command. Bogdan to Morozova to the blacklisted organizations. Yevgeny won’t be able to ignore that.”
“That’s a lot of ifs.”
“Welcome to intelligence work.” Tony jokes. “Dmitri called me this morning. Alexei wants to come to St. Petersburg.”
Dmitri’s brother. Second-in-command. The one they send when they’re done being patient.
My eyes unconsciously flick toward the door as I ask, “When?”
“He’s pushing for the end of the week. Dmitri’s stalling, but you know how Alexei gets when he thinks family is threatened. He’s not the patient type.”
“If Alexei shows up before we have the evidence?—”
“Daria’s fate is decided by suspicion instead of proof. I know.” Tony exhales. “You’ve got five days, Pyotr. Maybe less if Alexei loses patience. Whatever you’re planning, you need to accelerate it.”
“Understood.”
I end the call and lean against the bathroom sink, staring at my reflection in the mirror. The face looking back at me is tired. The lines around my eyes have multiplied over the two weeks I’ve been here, carved by too little sleep and too much worry about a woman and child who’ve become far more important than they should be.
This is just a taste of what Daria has spent years going through.
I run the faucet and splash cold water on my face, letting it drip down my jaw while I run through contingencies. The dacha is at least a three-hour drive from the city. We’d need to get there without being followed, find the ledgers, and get out before anyone noticed we’d been there. All while Bogdan’s people track our every move.
A soft knock on the bathroom door pulls me from my calculations.
“It’s me,” Daria says through the wood.
I shut off the faucet and open the door. She glances down the hallway toward Kira’s room before slipping inside. I close the door behind her, and she leans against it.
“Kira’s asleep,” she breathes. “What did Tony say?”
“He’s identified three of Bogdan’s lieutenants. We’re building the connection between them and the blacklisted organizations.”
“That’s good, right?”
“It’s progress.” I hesitate, then decide she deserves the truth. “Alexei wants to come to St. Petersburg. Dmitri’s holding him off, but we might have less time than we thought.”
She pales. “But we haven’t even figured out how to get to the dacha, let alone?—”
“We’ll figure it out.” I take her hands in mine. “I’ve been in worse situations with less time and fewer resources. We just need to stay focused and keep playing the happy family for Bogdan’s watchers.”
“What if we can’t find the ledgers? What if they no longer exist?”
“Then we find another way. But I don’t think Bogdan destroyed them. Men like him keep records for insurance. He wouldn’t throw away something that valuable.”
She looks down at our joined hands. “You really believe we can do this?”
I lift her chin with one finger, forcing her to meet my eyes. “I’m not going to let Alexei decide your fate based on suspicion. I’m not going to let anyone take you or Kira. We find the evidence, deliver it to Dmitri and Yevgeny, and end this. That’s the plan.”
