Page 122 of Vow Of Fire

Leo released me and made his way to the armchair Marco had vacated for him. The eldest Marcelli went to join Izzy at the bar.

“Now that we’re all here, let’s get down to business,” Valentina said.

Everybody turned toward her.

“Malakov has taken the bait. He received another phone call from Orlov yesterday, which we think was to discuss the cashflow situation. His supply of laundered funds is drying up. We’re squeezing him out.”

“The call was over an hour long,” Nico said, straightening. “It was immediately followed by another call to Malakov’s financier in Switzerland. I think they’re releasing funds.”

Leo nodded, his gaze flitting from me to Dante and back again.

“What is the next stage?” he asked.

“Now we target key players in their network,” Dante said. “The cartel has got a small contingent here in New York. They arrived shortly after the ambush.”

“Pablo Ramirez, who visited the Agora the other day, is one of them,” Nico pointed out.

“How do you know that?” I asked.

“He’s staying in the same hotel as the others, on the same floor.”

“Coincidence? I think not,” Valentina said softly.

I gulped and turned to Dante. “Was he there for me?”

“Maybe.” Dante glowered at Nico as if the threat was his fault. “We can’t be sure. He may just have been casing the joint.”

My eyes widened. “For what? A robbery?”

“They want control of the Agora,” Marco said, in a slightly condescending tone. “They want to utilize it as their pipeline into the States. That much was obvious from the ambush. Clearly, they’re upping their game.”

“And we’re going to stop them,” Izzy said, uncoiling her denim-clad legs from around the barstool and crossing them instead.

“You mean Malakov is going to stop them,” Valentina said with an icy grin that didn’t go anywhere near her eyes.

“Indirectly,” Izzy amended.

“You are going to mention to your friend Orlov that you saw this man,” Valentina instructed me. “That will feed his suspicion. We need him to understand what is at stake here. If he likes you, he will be concerned. Not just for your welfare, but for his own and that of the Bratva.”

“Should I mention my apartment was broken into as well?”

“It wouldn’t hurt.”

Dante gave an approving nod.

“Marco, you will get your NYPD contact to let slip that the cases from the ambush at the docks matched those used in previous cartel-related activity.”

“That’s not proven yet,” he said.

She nodded at Nico. “Then find something to prove it with. There must be previous jobs with the Los Santos Rotos cartel’s name on them.”

“I’ll set it up,” he said.

I stared at him, horrified at how easily evidence could be manipulated if you had the know-how.

“What do you want me to do?” Izzy asked.

“You stay out of this one,” Valentina said, shooting her a calculated look. “We might need you later, and it would be best they didn’t know who you were.”