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Belov turns the phone toward me and presses the call button.

“Call him, Doctor.”

31

VERA

The call rings once.

Alexei answers through the speaker. “Vera.”

His voice is rough, and Dmitri is shouting somewhere behind him.

I move closer to the phone. “Alexei, I’m at an old New Harbor storage site. There are Sable Crown crates in the loading bay.”

Belov takes the phone out of my reach. “Efficient, Doctor, but unnecessary. I intend to give him the address.”

“Where are you hurt?” Alexei asks, ignoring him.

I look at the blood drying around my wrists. “My shoulder and hands. Nothing serious.”

Belov smiles at the captains watching us. “She lies to protect you. Touching.”

Alexei’s breathing changes. “Put the phone near her again.”

Belov places it on the table beside Misha’s photograph. “Come to the New Harbor depot on the southern freight road. You have forty minutes.”

Alexei speaks after a short pause. “What do you want?”

“Your support in front of the captains,” Belov says, resting one hand on the stack of Blacklist files. “Admit that Maksim can no longer control his house. Give me access to the rest of the archive, and confirm that the boy is yours.”

“And Vera?” Alexei asks, his voice even.

Belov turns toward me. “She lives if you behave.”

“Keep her alive,” Alexei says. “I’m coming.”

The call ends.

Belov slides my phone into his pocket. “That sounded almost obedient.”

“You don’t know him very well,” I say, flexing my fingers against the restraints.

Chernov leaves the table and stops in front of me. His suit smells of cigar smoke, and a heavy gold ring sits on his right hand.

“He came out of the estate for you,” Chernov says, looking me over. “Now he’s coming here alone, and you thought we didn’t know him well enough?” He clicks his tongue. “Wrong diagnosis, Doctor.”

I glance at the blood on Makar’s uniform. “Your men needed an ambulance, two cars, and a rifle team to bring me here. I wouldn’t celebrate yet.”

The youngest captain lowers his head, but I see his mouth move.

Chernov notices and steps closer. “You think this is amusing?”

“I think your man will limp for the rest of his life.”

Makar pushes away from the wall, but Belov raises two fingers.

“Sit down,” Belov tells him. “The doctor is more useful while she can still talk.”