“He went to the North End to buy cannolis tobring home.”
“Ah.”
“He’ll be here in about a half hour. Who’syour friend?”
Adam’s eyes are bright, and it looks likehe’s trying not to pounce on Natalia like she’s his next meal.
“Sorry,” I say. “This is my partner, AdamGydansky.” Adam pulls himself together, leans in, and shakes herhand.
“Nice to meet you.” She flips her long blondehair over her shoulder. “Your people are from the northernpeninsulas, huh?”
He shoots me a quick glance, and I grin.“Told you she’s whip-sharp.”
She motions to the table, and we sit, Adamand I with our backs to rear of the restaurant. “Thanks for thecompliment, but as you know, I made it my business to learn all Icould about the states and countries in the former Soviet Union.”She stares at Adam for a long moment. “I’m guessing you’ve beentold why.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Natalia. Ma’am puts me over fifty and I’vegot a ways to go to hit that number.”
“Forgive me,” he says in Russian.
“No problem,” she answers in Russian.
Adam turns his head to me. “She’s an asset.”Then to her, he asks, “What can we do to lure you into ourworld?”
“Great offer, but I’m not cut out forbureaucracies. I’m independent. I share my opinions freely. I don’thave the patience or inclination to work for anyone who isn’t assmart as I am. I can make more bank in the tech world, and do itmostly working from home.”
“Shame,” Adam mutters.
“But I get to play with you guys from time totime.” She lifts her brows. “Like today, I’m presuming, since Ethanbrought his plus one.”
Adam and I laugh. She has no idea how apt herdescription is given our undercover personas.
I pull out my phone, bring up the photos Iwant her to look at, and then push the cell across to her. “Scrollthrough and tell me if you recognize any of these guys.”
She takes her time, using her fingers toenlarge the faces, and examines each for a while. When she getsthrough with the last picture, she goes back one and she enlargesthe face again, and then taps on the phone. “Him,” she mumbles asif she’s talking to herself. She tilts her head and closes hereyes. After a few long moments, she opens them, looks at the photoagain, and says, “V.” She closes her eyes again and shakes herhead. “Vassily. No. That’s not right. Vitali. Vitali. Nope.” Morefinger tapping on the picture. “Viktor. Yeah, yeah. It’s Viktor.I’m not sure of the last name. I think it ends in renko. Somethinglike Urenko, but don’t make me swear to that. But Viktor is hisfirst name.” She nods. “I saw him about six years ago. He wasyounger and skinnier, and he had a mustache. He was arguing withVasyl, and Vasyl kept yelling in Ukranian, ‘Viktor, you idiot. Wecan’t do that.’ Only one time, Vasyl said Viktor’s last name, whichis why it’s not sticking. I have no idea what they were fightingabout. I think Viktor came back once, maybe twice. I remember onetime when he was in the house when I came home from school. I ranupstairs right away.” She sits back. “That’s it. That’s all Iremember. I don’t know the rest of them.”
Jesus fuck. Adam’s right, and I knew thisgoing in: she’s a huge asset. The guy she pointed out is not one ofthe six who were in the BU dorm, and his passport does not ID himas Viktor Urenko or any name close to that.
We stop talking as a waitress stops at thetable. We place our drink order, and Natalia pushes the phone backto me.
I lower my voice and ask, “Did Vasyl speakRussian?”
“Yeah. They all did. There were no borders,no loyalty to country, no national pride. It was all about themoney, and the Russians have more of it. The Demkos wanted in onthat.”
With every word she speaks my mind is racing.We have to widen the net and bring other field offices into theinvestigation. My guess, we’re duplicating efforts, and a lot ofthese cells are linked, which means we need to coordinate. Shit. Ifit hadn’t been for Jonas, we wouldn’t have “stumbled” upon thesefuckwads. In my gut, I know we’re barely scratching the tip of theiceberg,
“One last thing,” I say.
“Shoot,” she replies.
I drop my voice to a whisper. “You ever hearof the LebedevskyBratva?”
She sits back and looks at the ceiling, thenshakes her head. “Sorry, doesn’t ring a bell.” She stops andsquints. “But…sometimes Vasyl and Ivan talked aboutbratvas,but I don’t remember any specific names.”
Adam leans in and says, “Thank you. You’regiven us a lot to work with.”
“Glad to help.” She smiles.
