Page 17 of Dark Soul

“And on the left?” Dark said.

“That’s a possibility. It’s a rental. I’ll find out who the place is rented to.”

“What about the people in the house with Kvyat? Anybody we could use?”

“Those two security guys will likely be loyal to him. But we can figure out if he’s hired anybody else,” Slate said. “Or maybe they like to drink and we could get to them that way. But it’s a risk.”

“I agree. We don’t want to alert them.”

“What about the cook? I was listening to old interviews he’s given, and he mentioned he always travels with his personal cook,” Rogue said.

“Must really like Russian food,” Slate piped up.

“Or he doesn’t trust easy,” Griffin said, shrugging his shoulders lazily. “He wouldn’t be the first oligarch to die under strange circumstances.”

You and your CIA friends would know.

“It’s an option,” Dark said cautiously.

“What about the housekeeper?” She was in one of the pictures, an older, ruddy, heavy-set woman with very fair skin.

“Forget her. She brought up Arseny and is now doing the same with his son, Nikolai Kvyat. I think we’ll find her loyalty unbreakable.”

“Well, there’s always the son,” Ash said through clenched teeth. He was only pointing out the obvious, but Dark’s stomach heaved at the thought of involving a twelve-year-old boy in something like this. Though of course, if they succeeded in their mission … if they brought Arseny Kvyat down … the boy’s life would change forever, no matter how much they tried to keep him out of things.

“Not necessarily the boy,” Rogue said. “I’ve seen their travel documents. They came into Switzerland with an American tutor.”

“A tutor?” That sounded promising.

“Alexia Miller. Thirty years old. If you give me a bit of time, I can find out more about her.”

“Do that. What about the wife?”

“Looks like she’s living in London now. They had a fallout a few months ago. May be why Kvyat is here.”

“We’re lucky, if so. I’ll bet the protection he has here is nothing compared to that of his place in Moscow,” Rogue said.

“He probably feels safe here,” Dark agreed, looking at the pictures. “This is Switzerland. Safest country in the world. And nobody knows him. He’s not even the richest person in town.”

It was a few minutes later that Rogue came up to him. “Could I speak to you in private for a minute, Dark?”

* * *

He followed Rogue to the sun deck. As soon as they were outside, Rogue lit up a cigarette, looking apologetic.

“I don’t smoke indoors,” he said quickly.

“It’s fine,” Dark said. He remembered some of the things he’d read in the man’s file. If cigarettes helped him keep his demons at bay, Dark wasn’t going to begrudge him that.

It was chilly out here. Dark stuck his hands in his pockets.

Rogue ran his hand along his hair, leaving it just as messy afterwards as it’d been before. Dark waited patiently until the man was done retying his ponytail.

“I’m going to investigate Arseny Kvyat.” His voice picked up speed. “And I understand what Thorne said, that it’s none of our business, that all we need to know is that he’s a problem and … how did he put it … take care of it. But I—I can’t do it. I thought I could, and I’ve tried to leave it be, but I … I need to know if he’s truly as bad as Thorne says. I need to know we’re not being used.”

Dark opened his mouth to speak, but Rogue raised his hand, stopping him. “Let me finish. Please. So I’m going to investigate Kvyat and the Iranians, see what I find. I’m not asking for permission, but I didn’t want to do it behind your back. I will take full responsibility, though. If this comes back to bite my ass, I won’t involve you or the rest of the team. But as team lead, I thought you should know what I’m doing.”

He stopped and looked at Dark, his stone gray eyes steady.