When I checked on her before coming downstairs, she had already fallen asleep beneath the thick blanket, the bedside lamp spilling a soft glow across the room. One hand rested loosely against her stomach in unconscious protection. The image stays with me.She’s alive. She’s safe.
The storm outside whispers against the windows of the house while I return my attention to the monitor. Volkov sits in his car beneath the warehouse lights, unaware that his world has begun narrowing toward this moment.
Mikel tilts his head slightly while watching the screen. “He looks comfortable.”
“He won’t remain that way,” I reply confidently.
The radio speaker beneath the monitor crackles softly. “Vehicle approaching position,” one of the men reports.
Polina pulls up the street camera covering the road leading toward the warehouse district. Through the snow, a pair of headlights appears, moving slowly along the dark road—the first SUV.
Thirty seconds later, a second set of headlights enters the frame behind it. From this distance, the convoy looks like any other pair of vehicles navigating the storm. The movement shows no urgency, no aggression. Just quiet inevitability.
Inside the warehouse lot, Volkov finally looks up from his phone. Perhaps he notices the approaching headlights as they turn into the gate. Perhaps the driver outside hears the engines first. Either way, the moment arrives.
The guard inside the security booth opens the door and steps out into the cold. From this camera angle, the details in the snowfall blur slightly, but the exchange happens quickly. The guard disappears from view, and the gate begins rising with a slow mechanical hum.
Mikel exhales quietly beside me. “First problem solved. The perimeter’s ours.”
The convoy rolls forward into the lot. The warehouse lights spread across the vehicles as they approach the sedan where Volkov waits. Snowflakes catch in the headlights, flashing briefly before disappearing into the darkness.
The driver beside the car notices them. He drops his cigarette into the snow and straightens, his hand already moving toward his coat.
Mikel calmly watches the screen. “Here’s where he realizes something’s wrong.”
The man never finishes the motion. A figure steps from the second SUV. The driver collapses beside the sedan, his body disappearing from view near the front tire.
Inside the vehicle, Volkov reacts a moment later. His head turns sharply toward the door as it opens.
From the camera's distance, the movements blur together, dark shapes moving quickly against the pale snow. The hood appears over his head. His arms are pulled back behind him. Within seconds, he’s lifted from the car and guided toward the waiting vehicle.
The entire operation takes less than thirty seconds. Polina switches the screen to the access road as the convoy pulls away from the warehouse. The vehicles disappear into the storm.
For several seconds, the surveillance room remains quiet except for the faint hum of the monitors.
Mikel rests one hand on the table while watching the blinking GPS signal appear on another screen. “He’ll start asking questions on the drive back,” he remarks.
“He should,” I reply.
Mikel glances toward me. “And our men?”
“They won’t answer.”
A faint smile touches the corner of his mouth. “Of course they won’t.”
The GPS icon begins moving slowly along the highway toward the estate while the storm thickens outside. Wind pushes the snow sideways across the road, turning the headlights into narrow tunnels of white.
Minutes pass. Eventually, the signal reaches the outer gates.
“They’re here,” Polina murmurs.
The garage camera feed appears on the monitor. The convoy rolls into the lower level beneath the house. The engines shut off one by one, leaving only the quiet ticking of cooling metal echoing faintly through the concrete space.
The rear door of the second SUV opens. Sergei Volkov is pulled out. The hood still covers his head as the men guide him toward the service corridor leading deeper beneath the estate.
I straighten slowly from the table. “Prepare the room.”
Polina nods and moves toward the hallway door.
