Kam sat back in his chair as their food was called for pick up. Taylor stood before he could to retrieve it though. He took his phone from the table where Taylor had left it and sent back a message.
Mole is dead. Getting the buyer. When this is done, I'm done. You'll let us both go.
Monica's response was almost immediate.
clean up your mess. 48 hours until protocol starts.
Kam opened the tracking app as Taylor sat back down beside him. "What happened?"
She could always detect changes in his mood. That sparked a bit of joy inside. He had been alone for so long, it was refreshing to be with someone that knew him so well.
"We've got two days to bring the buyers in before they pull the trigger."
"I'd like to tell them where they can put their protocols," Taylor grumbled.
"Woah there, Tiger." Kam chuckled. "Let's follow the bread crumbs and catch us the big fish. Yes?"
"They're on the move again." Taylor picked up the phone. "Both of them. The Russians are heading in our direction and the other should be coming out that door any second."
Kam took a bite of his food while watching the hotel doors. When the woman in all black walked out, Kam's blood ran ice cold. Katarina Sidorov. He should have known Spartak would have sent someone to do their dirty work.
"Do you know her?"Dread pooled in Taylor's stomach given how still and calculated Kam's expression just became.
Kam took another bite of his reindeer dog, but tracked the woman to the dark colored car parked in the corner of the parking lot.
When she pulled away, Kam stood abruptly and headed toward the truck without saying any words. Taylor gathered the food she had barely touched and followed behind him. If he wasgoing to shut her out now, he had a fight coming his way. It wasn't only his freedom on the line here. She thought they were a team again. She thought that he trusted her.
She slammed the door shut and Kam looked at her with his lips in a grim line. Well, she was mad too. Kam pulled them into traffic and she held on to the phone watching both trackers make their way through town.
She refused to ask him again. If he wouldn't let her in, then she had her answer to whether he would try to make this work between them.
"Katarina Sidorov." Kam's low voice brimmed with anger.
"You're going to have to fill in more blanks because that name doesn't ring a bell." Taylor tried to keep the bite out of her voice. Kam blew out a slow breath.
"She's a Rusalka." Taylor sucked in a sharp breath. "Spartak would use her services when they needed to keep themselves off of FSB radar."
"So you're telling me that Katarina Sidorov is Rusalka, the freelance mercenary who will kill, steal, kidnap, or destroy just about anything for a price?"
"You know the story of Black Widow?"
"The orphan girl who was trained to be a spy from a young age?"
Kam nodded. "Sidorov has a similar story."
How was this still a thing? Taylor shook her head. "How do you know this?"
Kam sighed. "When I saw her leaving the Volkov estate one day, I followed her. She's an instructor now at the sameschoolshe went to. I saw her graduation class picture hanging on the wall before the principal threatened to sever my head and ship it back home to my family."
"Sounds like a lovely woman. I thought these practices were things of the Cold War era."
"There is a lot of money and power in that line of work. The government might not directly run it anymore, but they still exist," Kam said darkly.
Katarina parked at Delaney Park close to the veterans' memorial. Kam drove a bit further and parked near the Old 556 Engine.
"Would like you to go for a walk?" Kam asked as he got out of the truck. The question seemed so normal given everything she just learned about who exactly they were chasing.
Even here in the city, Taylor could feel the bite of fall trying to push away the warmth of summer. She glanced at the phone one last time before handing it back to Kam.
