Ruslan's expression hardens. "I just told you he's there. My intelligence is solid."
"With all due respect, I don't know your sources. I don't know their reliability, and I'm not going to authorize an operation based on information I can't verify." My chest puffs out a little. This joker really thinks I'm gonna listen to him and let him slaughter a man who has answers we need. My orders are to question him first and make sure he gives up anyone else he's been working with. Which is the only reason Ruslan is still standing. I need the same thing out of him.
"You're not authorizing anything." Ruslan straightens up and takes a step toward me. "Yuri sent me here with explicit orders to take charge of this operation. You've had eight months and you've accomplished nothing. Now it's my turn."
The lie is so blatant, I almost laugh. Fyodor was clear when he called. Ruslan's here to assist, not to take over. Yuri trusts me to see this through. But Ruslan is claiming authority he doesn't have, and that tells me everything I need to know about his intentions. He's as dirty as a sewer.
"Is that so?" I keep my voice mild. "When did you speak with Yuri?"
"This morning, before I got on the plane." Now he's posturing, squaring his shoulders, poking his chest out. I watch Konstantin reach toward his weapon but not draw it. He's got two little lap dogs ready to bite and I'm not a bit scared.
"And he specifically said you were taking charge of the operation?" I ask, looking down my nose at him—the lying sack.
"Yes. He said you'd had enough time and it was time for someone with more experience to handle it."
The insult is deliberate. He's trying to provoke me, to get me to react emotionally instead of tactically. But I don't take the bait.
"I see. And what exactly did Yuri tell you to do once you took charge?"
"Find Andrei. Kill him. Send a message to anyone else who thinks they can move against the family." He is overconfident now, straight up deceitful. I can't believe the gall of this man. When he falls, it's gonna be a hard drop for him.
"Kill him?" I let the words simmer for a moment. "Not bring him in for questioning. Not find out who else was involved in the conspiracy. Just kill him." Narrowing my eyes, I take a step forward to show him I'm not the least bit intimidated.
"That's right." He's still playing the fool, but his jaw clenches and his Adam's apple bobs.
"That doesn't sound like Yuri's style. He's thorough. He'd want to know who else is part of this before we start executing people… Don't you think?
Ruslan's eyes go black as sin. "Are you questioning my orders?"
"I'm questioning whether you actually received the orders you're claiming. Fyodor told me you were here to assist, not to take over. Those are two very different mandates. And the boss told me to question our man to confirm whether there was some bigger deception going on. He still wants that." I inch forward slowly, but I'm well aware that Ilya might pull his gun any second.
"Fyodor doesn't know everything. Yuri gave me direct orders, and I'm following them. If you have a problem with that, you can take it up with him."
"Maybe I will," I tell him coldly, and I have no intention of bowing to "his majesty" anytime soon.
"In the meantime, we're moving on the compound tomorrow night. With or without your help."
This mook is going nowhere and getting nothing. I'll make him look like a fool when I get to Lebedev first, and when Lebedev coughs up names, I'm betting Ruslan Zaitsev is the first one out of his mouth.
"Walk me through your plan," I say.
Ruslan acts shocked, like he can't believe his plan worked and didn't reveal how openly defiant he was of the Gravitch structure of authority. Of course, I'm not going along with him and I have no intention of listening to a word he says. This fucker is going down hard the very instant I get the chance.
I'd kill them all right now if I knew for a fact that Lebedev would be in that hotel tomorrow. But I can't be certain. For all I know, it could be yet another setup meant to take me and my crew out and frame us for failure while he takes the credit, moves into Yuri's inner circle, and throws the whole family under the bus. That's one thing I can't ever allow to happen.
I listen to him lay out how to move through the hotel grounds, how to sneak past their cameras and security, and using the vents, how to pump sarin gas into ducts to murder anyone in that corridor of the building. He smuggled it in saying it was shaving cream and now we have a full-scale terrorist attack planned, not a simple murder. And if it goes down how Ruslan wants, every member of the Gravitch family will be called in for questioning.
This isn't good.
Yuri would never approve this, and if I call him to let him know what's going on, who knows what Ruslan will do. He's probablygot just as many eyes and ears in this city as Popovic. I can't afford to fuck this up.
After an hour of debating and pushing this man to his limits, he storms off with his men and a target on his back. I'm not fucking around with him. He's gonna go down and I'm going to see to it.
I pull out my phone as I walk back to my car and dial Nenad, who is now mostly recovered from that gunshot to his leg. With more operatives in the game, I need all the help I can get.
"Yeah, Boss," he grunts, and I can tell he's been drinking right away.
"Nenad, get sober." My first action is to track my enemy, and then we plan to strike. "I need you to put a tail on this joker St. Petersburg sent to 'help' us out." There's no hiding my disgust anymore. "I'll send you the car's plates as soon as I get them from my contact in Russia. Then I need you to recruit a few more men. We have a hit going down and I need more men."
