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“United Russia approached Azarpassillo first.”
Was he dreaming? This was almost too good to be true. “Why the hell isn’t Petrov at the bottom of the Caspian Sea for real this time?”
“I can answer that,” said Shiv. “They’re working on it. We aren’t the only ones hunting him.”
That wasn’t good news. Gunner’s eyes met Raketa’s. “We need to find him first,” he said.
If they got to Petrov first, UR wouldn’t have any reason to agree to even meet. They’d be able to negotiate the deal with Azarpassillo on their own.
19
When Raketa’s burner phone vibrated in her pocket, all eyes landed on her. She looked at Gunner imploringly.
“This way,” he said, leading her through the sliding glass door of the kitchen and out to the patio.
“Yes?” she answered.
“Devochka moya, Devochka moya,” said her mother’s unmodulated voice.
Raketa gasped. “Mama?” she asked with an accent more pronounced than he was used to hearing.
He couldn’t decipher what Raketa’s mother said next, but distinctly heard, “Top—” and then the call abruptly disconnected.
“Tell me what she said.”
“She was so emotional, it was difficult to understand her,” Raketa told him with tears in her eyes. “But, do you think she was about to say Topor?”
That was the first thing he thought, but she could’ve been saying anything.
“He hates me,” Raketa whispered.
“He works for Petrov.”
“It seemed like more than that. I got the feeling he would’ve killed me given the opportunity.”
“You’ll hear from him again, whether it’s Topor or Petrov himself, and now you know exactly what he wants.”
“In the previous call, he said he’d kill her.”
“If I remember what you told me correctly, he said something about if you ever wanted to see her again. Semantics maybe, but they could also mean two different things.”
“You do that a lot.”
“What’s that?”
“Focus on the actual words said instead of assuming their meaning.”
“It’s important, Raketa. Especially in our line of work.”
“I’m not good at recognizing the difference.”
Gunner pulled her closer to him. “There’s a lot I’m not good at. That’s why we’re a good team.”
“We have to find Petrov.”
“Yes, we do. Let’s go back inside and see if they’ve made any headway with a plan of action.”
* * *
