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She picked up her clipboard, which had been knocked to the floor in the scuffle, and faced Majors Kostya and Branko.
They were staring at her, not exactly in amazement, but with nearly identical expressions that said they couldn’t believe Angelina had been successful where they, and all the other male interrogators, had failed.
She drew herself up to her full five feet eleven inches. She was still shorter than the majors, but she wouldn’t back down to them. She couldn’t let them intimidate her, either. Her dream was to someday attain their exalted rank, and she knew that would never happen if she didn’t stand up for herself. “Yes, Major Branko?” she asked coolly, looking from one to the other. “Major Kostya? You had a question?”
Major Kostya glanced at Major Branko, then back at Angelina. “Do you know what you have done, Lieutenant?”
“I think so,” she answered cautiously.
Major Branko spoke then. “Do you know who Alexei Vishenko is?”
She wished she did. The name obviously meant something to these men, but not to her. All she knew was that Alexei Vishenko—whoever he was—was the real mastermind behind the plot to assassinate the crown prince. Might even be involved in the death of Prince Nikolai, but she wouldn’t know that until further investigation. “No, sir,” she said finally. “I do not know who he is.”
“You have heard of the Bratva, yes?” said Major Kostya.
Startled, she said, “Yes, sir. It means the Brotherhood, does it not? The Russian mob. But they do not operate in Zak—” She broke off, shaking her head in disbelief at the carefully blank expressions on their faces. “Not here in Zakhar?”
“Yes, here,” Major Kostya confirmed. “The king did not know this until recently. But yes, the Bratva’s tentacles have even reached into Zakhar.”
“So who is Alexei Vishenko?”
“His real name is Aleksandrov Vishenko,” Major Branko explained. “Interpol knows him by both names. He is the head of a branch of the Bratva that operates in the US...as well as Zakhar.” His face was impassive. “He deals in drugs. Money laundering. Prostitution.”
When she heard the word prostitution, Angelina suddenly remembered what Alec had told her about why he was here. About why the king had requested him and only him as the US embassy’s RSO. “The king brought me here because there’s a human-trafficking ring operating between Zakhar and the US, for purposes of prostitution.”
Was it possible? Could Alexei Vishenko—the Russian mobster behind the assassination attempt—be the same man who was responsible for the human-trafficking ring that had ensnared Caterina? And if he was, what could she do about it? How could she use this information to help find her cousin...if she was even still alive?
“You will keep that information to yourself, Lieutenant,” Major Kostya ordered, casting a reproving glance at his colleague, as if he’d said too much.
“Captain Zale—”
“Not even Captain Zale,” insisted Major Kostya coldly. “Unless and until the king himself authorizes the release of that information.”
“But the investigation,” she began. “The attempted assassination... Captain Zale needs to know there could be a connection.”
“We will take the investigation from here, and will inform His Majesty.”
Resentment flared through her. How dare these men—majors who far outranked her, yes, but still men—pat her on the head, in effect, and tell her to run along? They weren’t the ones who’d tricked Boris Tabor into giving up Alexei Vishenko’s name. They weren’t the ones who’d saved Crown Prince Raoul, either, despite their air of superiority. It was the queen’s security detail—she and Captain Zale—not the king’s who’d accomplished those things.
As Captain Zale had said just over a week ago, the king’s men thought they were in command. But Captain Zale had also said, “Let them think they are superior. We know the truth. And we—not they—will ensure a successful outcome.”
Military law wasn’t the same as civilian law, but ever since she’d joined the Zakharian National Forces, Angelina had made it a point to add a detailed understanding of military law to her résumé in addition to her civil law degree. In the normal course of things—if they were all just members of the military—the majors, who outranked Captain Zale as well as herself—could give her an order she had to obey.
But while she was still a member of the Zakharian National Forces, she was on detached status. That meant the normal code of military law didn’t apply. Captain Zale answered directly to Colonel Marianescu, who answered directly to the king—and she answered to Captain Zale.
