Ravil steeples his fingers together. “Tell me.”
I give the entire story, beginning with Kira showing up after closing time and ending with everything I just learned from my interrogation, excluding the fact that I executed her father.
“Plug her phone in to upload the contents,” Dima requests, and Nikolai, seeming to understand what his twin needs, plugs the phone in and activates some kind of program.
Ravil opens his phone and makes a call.
“Alex?” Ravil addresses our insider at the FBI. A young man who shot Nikolai and wanted to kill Ravil last year because he believed Ravil had killed his father. It turned out to be a misunderstanding. Ravil spared his life and now owns the young man.
“I have a Russian policewoman here, Kira Koslova. She says she’s working with the FBI. She planted bugs in my building.”
Ravil listens for a while, staring at me the entire time. I’m sweating, but I remain as stoic as I know how under his gaze. When he ends the call he says, “There’s no warrant, nor is there documentation about Kira being an asset.”
“She could be a pocket asset,” Nikolai says, referring to spies who are kept out of the system for various reasons.
The clack and clatter of Dima’s keys comes through the video feed. “Everything Maykl reports can be verified except the FBI involvement. I did find one very interesting piece of information, though.”
“What’s that?” Maxim asks.
“Her boss is a pocket asset.”
“To the FBI?”
“No. Moscow bratva.”
“Ah.” Ravil sits back in his chair, relaxing as if this was good news, rather than bad. “So, Kuznets is coming after me now.”
“Or after Sasha.” Maxim appears murderous.
“So what do they have, exactly?” Ravil prompts.
“My security code and four bugs,” I say.
“Hang on,” Dima says. “I’m checking her sent messages. Looks like the recipient is in the same geolocation.”
“Stepanov is here in Chicago?” Maxim asks.
“Yes,” Dima says. “Stand by for her texts.” The screen flashes and loads with a string of messages that didn’t appear on Kira’s phone when I looked.
They include photos of the lobby, elevators, and stairwell, as well as of the underground parking entrance and HVAC system.
“So. Kira’s police boss told her if she becomes their insider here, the FBI will help her locate her missing nephew,” Ravil says. He looks at me. “She doesn’t know her boss is in the bratva’s pocket?”
I shake my head. “I don’t think so. She hates the bratva. And she cried over her missing nephew while on the truth serum. Her grief seemed real.”
“Did you find anything about the nephew?” Nikolai asks his twin.
“I have an idea about the boy,” Ravil says.
“What is it?” asks Maxim.
“Vladimir. His cell was wiped out by the Tacone crime Family, remember?” Ravil directs his words to Maxim. “He worked under Victor. A different branch of the brava.”
Maxim nods. “Ah, yes. He ended up marrying into the Italian mafia in a strange turn of fate.”
“Yes. He kidnapped their sister for revenge but then later claimed her. His cell must have been the one Anya and her son came over with, and I believe he has two adopted Russian children. Perhaps this boy is one of them. I'll make a call to find out.”
Even though I’m in no position to ask questions or make demands, I have to ask. “What about Kira?” I ask.
Ravil considers. “When was the last call from her cell phone?” he asks Dima.
“Tuesday afternoon.
“So that was before you caught her in the lobby,” Ravil says.
“Yes.”
“Kuznets may not know she's been made. We can use that to our advantage.”
“Absolutely,” Maxim says. “We can lure them in and get them on our own turf.”
“So, Maykl, you sit on Kira. We will use the bugs and her cell phone to draw them in.” He tips his head at Nikolai. “Get him handcuffs and chains. I don’t want her getting away.”
Nikolai moves toward the door, but I don't get up. “What about…after? What happens to Kira?”
Ravil sharpens his voice, the first outward sign of his irritation with me. “I'll deal with her then.”
Fuck.
“Yes, Pakhan.” I bow my head.
“I'll deal with you then, too.”
Double fuck. I suspected I wasn't off the hook for my failure to notify him the moment things went wrong.
“Yes, Pakhan.” I get up and move toward the door.
“And Maykl,” Ravil calls me back.
“Yes, Pakhan?”
“No more fuck-ups. No more lapses of judgment. She's your prisoner. If you let her go; if you let her make contact with anyone outside this building, I will cut your balls off to make sure you don’t ever think with your dick again.”
I grew up with this level of threat and intimidation, so it shouldn't bother me. But because our leader is normally so mild and because he doesn’t make idle threats, I register the threat viscerally.
I bow my head once more. “Forgive me, Pakhan.”
He waves me away. “We will deal with apologies later. For now, I want your word you can handle your part. Or should we take control of the woman?”