“Any leads on who did it?” Luka asks.
Roman shakes his head. “Not yet. Matvey’s still combing through the footage and matching the partial plate we got. Whoever it was knewexactlyhow to drive him out from the back. Took out the employee in the front. To me, it seemed more targeted than something random. Someone knew we’d be in the back for a while and didn’t bother coming in through the front door to make a commotion and potentially get caught by me.”
“Which means we’ve got a leak,” Katya says coolly. Her voice is soft, but the implication cuts deep.
“It seems,” I say. “This wasn’t some random hit like it’s being made to look like. Someone knew Roman was going to be there, judging by how quickly and efficiently the hit was carried out. Clearly professional. If that’s the case, then we need to start looking at the contacts closest to us.”
“Any witnesses who survived that we can interrogate?” Anton drawls across the table.
My jaw tightens unconsciously. “Sergei Sorokin’s daughter was on site. She had her English tutor with her.”
Luka curses under his breath. Matvey stops tapping his tablet and looks up, blinking a few times to clear his vision. Katya leans back ever so slightly, lips thinning. Alisa doesn’t move, but her fingers tighten on the edge of the table.
Anton’s smirk twitches upward, like he’s just been handed a gift. “Forgive me,Pakhan, but that seems a little strange to me how his daughter could be at the same place as a hit. That can’t be a coincidence. Right? Perhaps he’s taken a life insurance policy out on her and is ready to cash in.”
“I don’t think this came from the Sorokins,” I reply evenly. “But someonedidpull the tutor’s background off the dark web weeks ago, before she even arrived. That wasnotSergei’s doing.”
“Then who did? It wasn’t us. Who would give a fuck about some American?” Katya asks.
Matvey clears his throat, his voice soft. “Still digging, but the trail’s been scrubbed pretty cleanly. Whoever pulled it used a secure network with rotating proxies. They knew what they were doing.”
“Which means they wanted to keep her arrival quiet. Or keep tabs on her without anyone knowing,” Roman adds.
“Again,” Katya drawls. “Who the fuck cares about a random American?”
“Either way,” I say, cutting her off, “she’s clearly a variable. One we’re not equipped to ignore anymore.”
Alisa speaks for the first time since sitting down. “Is she still at Sorokin’s?”
“No,” I reply. “She’s here. She’s been kept in a locked guest room upstairs.”
There is a long pause.
Then Anton snorts. “You kidnapped the tutor? That’s one way to run a syndicate.”
“Isecureda civilian witness in a criminal investigation,” I say flatly.
“Of course. Much more legal,” he drawls again.
Katya cuts him a glare sharp enough to flay him. “You implying something, Sidrov? If you are, out with it.”
He holds his hands up in mock surrender.
“We’ll hold her here,” I continue, ignoring the smirk Anton tosses in my direction, “until we can confirm she hasn’t passed any information along and learn why her data has been pulled.”
“What about the girl? Sergei’s daughter?” Luka asks.
“She’s been delivered and is back under protection at the Sorokin estate,” Lev says from behind me, all eyes snapping to him in an instant. “Unharmed.”
“Good. We can’t afford him pulling out of our development projects. Not with the Italians sniffing around again,” Luka murmurs.
And there it is, another storm cloud brewing on the horizon.
But one crisis at a time.
“We’re tightening our perimeter. Roman, keep the streets clean. Katya, double up on internal checks. I want every member of our ranks vetted again. If we do have a leak, I want to make sure it isn’t internal. No one slips through. Alisa, Luka, and Andrey, I want details on our contacts and who they’ve been communicating with. Matvey, continue with your record pulls on the American. Anton, I need you to focus on the new recruits. See if any of them are acting strangely since we brought them in,” I say.
I don’t bother assigning Lev to anything. It’s unspoken between us, and the rest of thesovet,that he will be running the Bratva in my absence while I pick up the legwork dealing with this mess.
