Page 63

Mr. Romanov,

The terms of my agreement with helping your cause are simple. You will follow all my instructions, no matter how much you may disagree. Failure to do so will result in the end of our agreement.

The only way to ensure your success is to enlist Rayea Antonova. As Mr. Belov has told you, I have located her. I will retrieve her and bring her to a location of my choosing. From there, it is up to you to convince her to help with your mission. You are not to kill her. She is to remain alive.

As a sign of good faith, I will monitor the situation and provide assistance as I deem fit. Do not try to contact me. This is not my fight. I’ll be in touch.

—Chameleon

25

ILYA

It looks like Simeon was right. Rayea Antonova will be key to getting this completed, but how are we going to convince her? If she’s been out of the game this long, then she’s not just going to agree. From what Simeon said, she’s built a life that doesn’t include the Bratva.

I’m still not sure how she managed that, and it makes her a wild card. I don’t fucking trust a wild card.

My computer blares warnings at me, flashing, and then the screen goes blue. I stare at it.

Fuck! That son of a bitch crashed my computer so no one will be able to find that correspondence. Damn them. I’m also not surprised.

Good thing I have a good memory.

My phone rings, and I answer it with annoyance. “A fucking virus is on my computer. I expect it back up and working within five hours.”

“Yes, Pakhan. I’m on the way,” the head of our cyber team, Leonid, rushes out, his chair creaking and papers rustling on the other end of the line. I hang up, staring at the screen.

I have no idea how long I have until the Chameleon will contact me again, or if they’ll go through Simeon—I fucking hope not—and we move then. I have to be ready either way. Which means this entire plan just got kicked into high gear.

I send a message to Oleg and tell him to get to my office. Zakhar can handle everything else for now, and I really don’t want to listen to him bitch at me for my plans.

When Oleg walks into my office, his expression is cool, calm, and relaxed. Fucking and fighting, those are his two favorite hobbies, which hopefully means he won’t be a prick for the next ten minutes.

I quickly relay the message from the Chameleon. His eyes narrow, but he remains silent until I finish. Finally, he asks, “Not that I don’t trust that the best fucking assassin won’t help us, but how can we be sure they won’t tell the Butcher about this plan? Aren’t they working with them or something? Or at least running in the same circles?”

“They don’t get where they are by double-crossing the people paying them. And if they do, we’re expecting to die anyway.”

Oleg scoffs. “Speak for yourself, Ilya. I, for one, have no plans on dying.”

“Then we better make sure it can’t happen. They’re going to get Rayea Antonova, but we have to work on convincing her to be part of this. What can we give her that will make her want to?”

“Why the fuck do we have to give her anything? Tell her what she has to do, or you kill her. Simple.”

“Condition from the Chameleon is that she is to remain alive.”

“Why? Why the fuck would he care?”

“Simeon said that Rayea wants to kill her father. What if this is a way for the Chameleon to get one of her biggest competitors out of the way?”

“Or they’re doing it as a favor to the Bratva Butcher to bring her back and get her killed and out of the way for them?”

“Either way, that won’t fall on us. If she’s any good, and Simeon said she’s been keeping up on her skills somewhat, then there is a chance it could work.”

“The Bratva Butcher isn’t going down without a fight, Ilya. I know he’s involved with Timur and everything that happened with Mila, but that’s a whole other league we’re not part of. That’s a man with connections far more vast than our own. Killing him, it’s going to be nearly impossible, and even if she does succeed, it’s going to come out that we were part of it, and we’ll have that target moved to us when they come looking for revenge.”

It’s definitely a worry, but I can’t see any way around it.

“Then we make sure there is no one left alive to reveal who it was that killed him. But my main concern is Timur. If the Bratva Butcher gets away, we handle that later. We’re deep into this now, Oleg. Simeon called in the Chameleon like an idiot, and they’ve contacted me. There is no stopping this. Not without them taking it as a slight and coming after us anyway.”