Page 34 of The Allure of Ruins

“That makes no sense,” I chimed in. “Erast knew that was a lie. He was working for you guys the whole time.”

“Not from the beginning, but you’re right. Erast would know that was a lie, and could have told that to Rokov, but his cover was blown shortly after you left, and he died in an explosion when his car blew up in his driveway.”

“Wasn’t he in protective custody?” I asked. “I thought Agent Lattimer put him in witness protection.”

“He did, but Erast was stupid and didn’t listen to the marshals. He didn’t follow their specific mandate for his safety. He contacted Rokov, wanting to get back to his old life. He hated Gen, even though they were cousins, but he had enjoyed the money and other perks.”

“And by then, they knew he was the one who had rolled on Gen,” Colton surmised.

“Correct.”

“Like house sex slaves,” I said before I even realized I was going to. “That was a perk Erast had appreciated. He never hurt me, but I heard him with all the women.”

Everyone was silent for a moment.

“Two days after contacting Rokov, Erast was dead,” Walker informed me.

“I thought he was smarter than that,” I mused as Colton put his arm around me. The heat, as well as his strength, was so appreciated.

“But now Pax is the only one who knows for sure what happened that day he and the others escaped. And Gen certainly won’t ever tell anyone that his sex slave got the better of him, turned everything over to the FBI, and skipped town with ten thousand dollars of his money. That’s why he put out the rival-gang story all those years ago. He didn’t want to lose face.”

“Of course not,” I agreed.

“Where is Gen now?” Colton wanted to know.

She was silent, and when Calhoun cleared his throat, we both looked at him.

“Gentlemen, as the Los Angeles office is now prepping Csokas for the witness stand, and Rokov has been taken into custody, awaiting trial, the fact of the matter is, Genrikh Antonov is no longer needed as a witness.”

“No,” Colton said under his breath.

“Because Antonov was given transactional immunity⁠—”

“He was freed,” Colton stated.

“How?” I asked him.

“Because they gave him blanket immunity, and he held up his end, he’s out,” Colton stated. “Now he’s running around without any protection and with a giant bull’s-eye on his back because everyone knows he rolled on Csokas, but that doesn’t help you at all because I bet no one had eyes on him and he disappeared.”

I turned to Calhoun.

“I’m sorry, I can’t speak to how he slipped out without anyone knowing where he went because that’s not how we do things here in Chicago.”

“That’s not fair,” Walker admonished him, and I could tell, the moment the words were out of her mouth, she regretted them. Because when his gaze moved from me to her, she visibly flinched. She was not a Special Agent in Charge, and I was betting she forgot that in the heat of the moment.

Calhoun then refocused on Colton and me. “All this, everything between Rokov, Csokas, and Antonov, transpired weeks ago now. The Los Angeles office has their case made with Csokas, but still, it would be nice to have the diamonds, as they would tie everything up in a bow.”

“Why’s that?” Colton asked him.

“Apparently, the diamonds were to be used as a payment for guns, RPGs, basically a whole lot of firepower Rokov was in the market for. If the diamonds can be found and Rokov gives us the name of his contact, we can make a deal for the weapons and shut down this supplier of illegal firearms.”

“This was years ago,” I reminded him.

“But the contacts are all still in place.”

“Well,” I said with a shrug, “as I told Agent Lattimer that day, there were no diamonds. I suspect Gen either never had them or perhaps put them to a different use.”

“Which I would believe,” Calhoun replied, “except we have video of him from the camera across the street from that pub you were going to. I’m betting Genrikh Antonov wants to have a word with you.”