Sevastyan grinned and texted Lisa back on his phone.
Rei groaned and also texted something. Sevastyan looked over his shoulder. His poor slave was trying to have a rational conversation with the lunatic.
Sevastyan’s phone pinged. Another message from Lisa. This time it was a gif of Lisa in front of the Bean, a prominent landmark less than a mile away. Someone must have been holding his phone for him because he was twerking. He really had a skinny ass. And he was wearing outrageous red jeans with rips through them, showing the black thermal wear beneath. The gif was new.
“He’s here,” Sevastyan said. “In Chicago.”
Rei raised his head, eyes wide.
Sevastyan nodded.
Rei blinked. “Is that safe?”
“It’s Lisa. When is he ever safe? He’s probably here to check on you.” It wouldn’t be the first time. Lisa, when given free rein, often gravitated to Rei. Alexi sometimes dangled knowledge of Rei’s location like a prize to motivate his wildest slave.
“Alexi must have told him.” Rei sagged in his chair.
Sevastyan ran his fingers through his hair. “Better get all this done before he drops in. We likely have a couple days before he finds us.”
Rei crossed fingers on both his hands and bent over his keyboard.
Not long later, Sevastyan went out dressed for concealment and frigid weather. He picked up equipment from several drop locations and package hold spots. They contained the last of what Rei needed to set up an observation station. Sevastyan went back out with his camera drops. Rei confirmed connection between the server and cameras, checking the sight-lines as each one went online. Now Sevastyan had streaming footage of Richard Reevesworth’s office building, the entrances and exits on the high rise where Jun was ostensibly staying, and several other likely locations.
Sevastyan left the building where Ellisandre kept a condo for last. It was the same building as Linda Reevesworth’s residence. For a time he’d considered leaving it off his watch list. In the end, he monitored it from across the street on all entrances and in the walking spaces below street level but avoided entering. It was enough.
He picked up coffee and muffins from a cafe right before it closed and carried them back to the condo where he’d left Rei.
Rei pushed back from the desk as Sevastyan entered the living room. He crossed the space and knelt at Sevastyan’s feet, leaning into his thigh. Sevastyan set the food and drinks on the coffee table and ran his fingers through Rei’s hair. “How’s it going?”
“A few more hours for the transfer to finish, but the new setup is done. Anton won’t be able to tamper with the files by tonight. He won’t be able to find the new library either.”
“Good.” Sevastyan tugged gently on Rei’s hair. “I brought better coffee. No sugar. Cream. And vanilla. Drink while it’s hot.”
Rei accepted the takeout cup with both hands, still on his knees. He gestured at the TV. About half of Sevastyan’s cameras were streaming live footage. “The other cameras are on the second TV, in the bedroom.”
“I’ll bring it out here.”
Rei nodded. He blushed a little. Sevastyan went into the bedroom. The TV was large. It was good Rei had avoided moving it on his own. He could have done it, but it would have been risky.
Sevastyan brought it out to the living room and set the two TVs up side by side. “Has Lisa been texting?”
“Photos.” Rei handed Sevastyan his phone. “He’s being a tourist.”
Sevastyan scrolled through the photos. His chest softened. The lunatic was certainly living it up. He’d even had lunch at the same restaurant where Gang Junseo had given an impromptu performance. So he knew why Sevastyan had been sent out.
Sevastyan sent Lisa a text:
Nothing came back right away. He put the phone away. It buzzed almost as soon as he had it in his pocket. He took it back out. There was a new message on one of his encrypted apps. The code phrase was Merchari and from a level that matched Sevastyan’s own:
Sevastyan hit call on the contact information. The person on the other end picked up almost at once.
“Is this Sevastyan Antonovich?” the man on the other end said in English. He didn’t sound Russian.
“Sevastyan Morosov,” Sevastyan corrected the speaker, using his legal last name. “Who’s calling?”
“Dirk Hardy.”
Sevastyan nodded to himself. Dirk Hardy was another operative, at least ten years older and very deep in the global Merchari network. It had been a long time, but they’d been on some shared operations before. Dirk had once been mainly based out of Europe and South America. He’d dropped out of regular activities in Europe at some point in the last few years. Why was he involved in an East Asia case? “Hardy, yes. To what do I owe the pleasure?”
