“I think he has, and he’s toying with them. I don’t know if he’s got at least one of them on his payroll, or he’s just biding his time. Maybe he intends to bait them into giving away their investigation. Maybe he’s manipulating them to take out a rival. There are too many variables for a hypothesis, but these men’ll get in our way if we aren’t careful.”
“These men knew what they were getting into when they took their jobs. If they fear for their lives when they face us, then they should’ve picked another line of work. I’ll sleep just fine when they’re dead.”
Catalina plans homicides as casually as she would order coffee. I shift my focus to Matáis, and I know he won’t disagree.
“What do we know about Rurik?” Luciana changes the subject by asking a question I don’t know the answer to.
It’s Matáis who does. “Shrewd businessman. Before he took over aspakhan, he was a lot like me. The forward face of their legit enterprises. He gained many people’s trust and earned his family millions through his aboveboard connections. Even now, many question just how dirty he can be when he maintains what appears to be a pristine corporate reputation. He’s a shark, but an ethical one.”
Matáis can’t say the last bit with a straight face, and the rest of us laugh.
“Yuri, where will Rurik be?”
Our attention returns to the screen as Yuri’s staring match ends when Boris echoes Mikhail’s. The guy in the middle, sitting across from Yuri, has fallen silent. He was the chatty one earlier, which makes this sus. What made his attitude change?
Yuri flicks a hand by his right thigh, and I doubt the other men notice. His attack dogs—bodyguards—materialize and stand behind the men. He dips his chin toward the man in the middle, and two guards grab the guy’s shoulders.
“Don’t you want to know where Rurik is too, Vlad? Five minutes ago, you couldn’t shut fuck up. Now you’re so quiet. Why, huh?”
Despite his decades speaking English, he—like his companions—still drop the definite articles. It tells me he learned the language later in life. Probably after he moved here.
Why’re they speaking English?
I expected we’d need a translation app for the others to understand, or I’d be interpreting.
This hasn’t felt right since the beginning.
I wondered about them speaking English when the four men sat down together, but I let it go. Now I’m certain Yuri’s doing it because he assumes at least one of them’s wearing a wire. He doesn’t want any confusion when he skirts around the questions he doesn’t want to answer.
Fuck.
The last thing we need is to take out three agents if they’re in the wrong place at the wrong time tonight.
But I’ll do it if it means Yuri understands he reached way too far when he targeted Alejandro.
“I’m quiet because I’m waiting for your answer.” The man’s defiance borders on the suicidal.
“Rurik is with his mother.”
That’s anticlimactic. I didn’t expect that. I shift my focus to Catalina, hoping someone can explain why Yuri wouldn’t just say that earlier.
“His mother’s terminally ill. She’s in hospice.”
Elle’s the one who explains. If anyone would know, it’s her because she’s from Boston and from her past. In a normal situation, it would sadden me to hear this. But if Rurik allowed Yuri—turned a blind eye or is so ill-informed about what’s going on—to target Alejandro, then I have no sympathy for him.
The men rise and part ways. It’s time for us to end this fucking shit.
Matáis maneuvers the van into a street parking spot on the backside of the salvage yard. We followed Yuri here after waiting for him for most of the day and into the evening. He disappeared into a restaurant and didn’t come out until after dusk. We kept our distance as we tailed him to ensure he didn’t notice us. This isn’t the same van as earlier. That was far nicer. This is a sixteen-passenger van that looks like it’s on its last legs. It blends in far better here.
“Mati, you good?”
Catalina looks over at her husband as she checks her rifle. Matáis didn’t bother putting up an argument when Catalina—who’s leading this mission—told him he’d remain with the vehicle. In fairness, it’s pretty much the most important job on the mission. No vehicle means no escape. It doesn’t matter if you hit the mark if you can’t get away.
“In and out, Caty.” There’s warning in his tone.
“I won’t waste time, Mati, but you know I’ll have my pound of flesh. We all will.”
I remain quiet and so do Elle and Luciana, but we’re all thinking the same thing. Yuri and anyone unfortunate enough to be with him will suffer.
