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Total blackmail demands topped two hundred million dollars.

The Senator. Jesus Christ. With that video, Russell had a sitting US senator in his pocket.

I scrolled through the technical files Thompson had pulled. The deepfake system's architecture was sophisticated beyond anything I'd seen stateside. Adaptive AI that learned from targets' speech patterns, facial micro-expressions, even breathing rhythms. Real-time generation capable of creating video that could fool biometric authentication.

This wasn't just blackmail material. This was a weapon.

Viktor coming personally made perfect sense now. The technology was worth billions in the wrong hands. Elections, corporate espionage, political manipulation. With this system, you could make anyone say anything and no one could prove it was fake.

And having a US senator compromised? That was leverage money couldn't buy.

My phone rang.

"You see the client list?" Thompson’s voice was tight.

"Yeah. Two hundred million in blackmail, plus a senator. Viktor's not just coming for the technology."

"He wants in on the action." Thompson paused. "What's your play?"

"We need to find Eddie Pope before Viktor does. Eddie might know where Russell is hiding. Or at least we can use Eddie as leverage."

"You think Russell cares about Eddie?" Thompson asked.

"Russell wants his twenty million from Eddie. And my guess is, he still wants Katherine to drop out of the movie. He loves his baby sister, but Eddie is the big fish, Katherine was a side project. We get Eddie, we have bait."

"What do you need from me?"

"Everything you can find on Eddie Pope's location. Properties he owns here in LA. He was searching for Russell, he’ll be here. Find friends, business partners, anywhere he might hide. And keep tracking Viktor's flight. I want to know the second that plane touches down."

"On it,” Thompson said. “Simon's in the air, should land at LAX about the same time as Viktor."

"Damn. Would have been nice if he could have arrived sooner, but I’ll take what I can get. I'll contact Krause, get weapons and gear. We're going to need firepower."

"Code." Thompson's voice got serious. "You're walking into a war. Don't be a hero."

"Just find me Eddie Pope."

I disconnected and immediately called Krause. He answered on the second ring.

"Tell me you've got good news."

"Viktor Sokolov is flying into LAX in two or three hours with eight Russian operatives."

Krause whistled low. "That's a shit-ton of firepower for one tech nerd."

"Viktor's desperate. Russell's blackmailing five other targets for two hundred million total. One of them is a US senator. Viktor doesn't want just the technology back. He wants in on the game."

"Senator in his pocket would be a nice bonus," Krause said.

"Exactly. Can you get weapons and intel on Russian operations in LA?"

"Yeah. I know a guy who knows things. The Russian Bratva has operations all over the city. If they grab Eddie, I can think of a few places they'd take him for wet work."

"I'll need that list," I told him.

"Meet me in two hours. I'll have firepower and intel."

"Make it body armor too."