by Lea Hart
“How many brigadiers does he have?” Hank asked.
“Belikov has six that we know of. Two for the heroin business, two for the prostitution ring, and two for money laundering. Which is where Anton Vazov comes in. He’s the master at money laundering. The fact that he was here in Chicago tells me that something more is going on or about to. The man doesn’t leave Brussels unless there’s a significant amount of money involved.”
Lucky flicked some pictures and spreadsheets up to the monitor and frowned. “I’ve been doing some digging on Vazov and he’s into some interesting activities. His money laundering business is only part of his empire. He also brokers arms deals.”
“Have you been reading Interpol files in your spare time?” Sam asked with a smile.
“I’m not going to answer that,” Lucky replied. “I’m an upstanding citizen and would never avail myself of information illegally.”
“Moving on,” Hank said firmly. “Anything new on Firtash that might help us determine why he’s interested in Stazi?”
“Yes,” Lucky replied as she sent up a half-dozen pictures to the monitor. “Remember I told you that Stazi resembled Firtash’s first wife?”
“Of course,” Hank replied.
Sweeping her hands up, she frowned. “Look at his daughter. Stazi is a dead ringer for her.”
Hank walked over and looked at the pictures and felt like someone had punched him in the stomach. There was a picture of a woman in her twenties that could be Stazi’s twin. All the intensity that Hank had recognized in Dmitry now made sense. “Is the daughter still alive?”
“No, she was killed shortly after these pictures were taken. It happened in Russia and the details surrounding her death are murky. As far as I can tell, his daughter was the love of his life. He doted on her completely and when she died, some felt that a part of Dmitry died along with her.”
“Fuck me,” Hank said quietly. This was so much worse than he thought. “A lot of things are starting to make sense.”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” Lucky said as she added pictures of Dmitry and his daughter. “This makes his fascination with Stazi understandable.”
“And that much harder to stop,” Sam added. “This is the kind of thing someone doesn’t get over.”
Hank walked over to a chair and sat down heavily. This put a whole new spin on the situation because telling a man he had to get over the doppelgänger of his dead daughter was going to be close to impossible. All the darkness he’d seen in the man’s gaze was grief and longing and that wasn’t a thing that probably ever ended. He knew if something happened to Stazi he would never get over it and he imagined that he would be equally torn up if there was a child involved. Maybe worse. His father had always told him there was no greater love than one for a child, so Firtash’s behavior made a lot of sense.
Lucky came over and plopped down next to him. “This makes the whole thing a lot more complicated because we can’t predict his next move. It’s not the usual things that are motivating his behavior— sex, money, or power. It’s something so much more powerful and unpredictable.”
“Some of the most difficult missions that I’ve been on don’t compare to what we are about to face. All the times that I’ve gone out and hunted evil, I knew what the enemy wanted. Their goals and objectives were clear, so that made predicting their behavior relatively easy. This is none of those things. This is a man with a broken heart, and a Bratva pakhan who’s probably going to use Stazi as a pawn to get what he wants.”
“You never had an easy day,” Sam commented “You’re a fluid warrior. You don’t need a set plan to succeed. Hell, you’d probably hate it if it happened. This is no different, and we’re not going to let any of those assholes harm your girl.”
“That’s the thing that’s mind-fucking me. The woman I love is in danger and it’s messing with my mojo. On any given day, I would look at this situation and laugh at how easy it was going to be to take down the bad guys.” Running his hand over the back of his neck, he smirked. “Nothing about this feels easy.”
“Which is why we work as a team,” Lucky replied. “This is my best friend in the world and I, for one, want to cause them a lot of harm. It’s only because Sam is standing in the room that I’m not revealing the many ways in which I’m willing to destroy their lives.”
“I think I’d like to hear it, so I can prepare for the Armageddon that you have planned for me,” Sam said with a laugh.
“I don’t care about you enough to destroy you,” Lucky replied.
Hank glanced over at Lucky and saw how true her words were. She reserved her skills for people and situations that really mattered and right now Sam didn’t matter a bit. Looking over at his buddy, he noticed he wasn’t too happy about it. You’d think he would consider it good news, but the look on his face suggested he would like to be of consequence to Lucky.
Interesting.
But not important in the landscape of what he was currently dealing with. “I don’t think Firtash is going to do anything to harm Stazi, but I believe that Sergey Belikov would if it will further his aims. Let’s make him the focus of our investigation and start planning accordingly.”
“Agreed,” Sam and Lucky said simultaneously.
“Jinx, you owe each other a Coke,” Hank said.
“I’ll buy you dinner when this is all over. How does that sound, Lucky?”
“Like torture.”
Hank let out a bark of laughter. The crush that Lucky had seemed to have faded. Maybe the time the two had been spending together had cured her and what she saw up close wasn’t all that appealing. Proximity did that to a relationship. Either killed it stone dead or made it flourish.
Knowing that he and Stazi had landed well on the side of flourishing gave him a nice dose of smug satisfaction. They’d been almost exclusively in one another’s company for almost a month. Twenty-six days, to be exact, and all he wanted were thousands more. Even when they were out of sync, they were better than anything he could’ve imagined.
All the yelling she’d wanted to do last night ended up being a result of the orgasm he’d given her and not because she was mad. Or the mad she had disappeared when he’d taken control of her body and pleasure. Not that things could be solved by sex. Hell, even he knew that.
But taking her up against the wall the moment they walked through the door sure didn’t hurt any disagreement that had happened earlier. And truth was, he couldn’t remember what she had been mad about in the first place, which might not be a good thing because it was probably lodged in her brain and added to the list of things he’d done wrong. Not that she ever hinted that she had a list, but that didn’t mean it didn’t exist. Maybe he should ask her about it when he picked her up and see if there was anything he could work on.
There were three things that he could name off the bat and he figured there were a hundred behind it. His domineering, autocratic ways probably didn’t make him the best boyfriend in the world, but they also didn’t make him the worst. If he could balance those qualities with others that she liked, then he hoped she would be willing to keep ahold of him. And hold him she did. Every night she twined herself up with him and held tightly from the moment her eyes closed to the moment they opened. He’d never made a comment about it and he wasn’t planning to because she would probably feel self-conscious.
Stazi was a strong, independent woman and the idea of needing him probably would send her into a tailspin. Which isn’t anything he needed to see. Looking up, he saw Lucky and Sam discussing some surveillance options for the warehouse, so he decided to step out for a minute and check on Stazi. She was going to be at the museum all day and he wanted to make sure she didn’t need anything. “Guys, I’m going to make a quick phone call and then see if Justin and Maddox are available so we can read them in on the intel.”
“Sounds good,” Lucky said without looking up.
Hank walked out of Lucky’s office, headed down the hall, and thought about Dmitry. He wasn�
�t a threat like Hank had initially imagined, but he was still in play. And how that would ultimately turn out was still a mystery.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Monday, June 26
Standing next to Hank in the bathroom, Stazi applied her mascara as he finished shaving. They had passed the point of taking turns and simply worked around one another. It had become evident that if they wanted to have relations in the morning and get to work on time, then they were going to have to share the bathroom.
“I’m going to check the GPS disc after you’re done with your makeup,” Hank commented as he wiped his face clean.
“I think it’s fine.” She ran her fingers over the nearly invisible disc and pressed it against her skin. “It makes me feel like an operator.”
Leaning over, he kissed her head. “You are, honey.”
“I know you’re just saying that because I made you incredibly happy this morning.”
Taking her hips in his hands, he turned her toward him and brushed her hair off her face. “You make me feel that way every morning with or without your mouth on me.”
Pushing at his chest, she smiled. “Let me go so I can finish getting ready. The director of the museum is going to stop by today for a progress report on ‘Madam Pompadour.’”
“How is the woman holding up to the scrutiny that you’ve been putting her through?”
“The old girl hasn’t cracked yet. The painting looks like it’s authentic and may actually serve as a model for other paintings as we move forward.”
“So, when the transcripts come back from the audio on your ring today, we’re going to hear nothing but art speak?”
“Yes, and maybe some exciting museum gossip, if you’re really lucky.”
“A man can dream. I’ll go get dressed then we can grab some breakfast on the way to work.”
“Are you getting tired of yogurt and fruit for breakfast?”
“If I say yes, will you be mad?”
“Of course not. I try not to eat very much in the morning and I should’ve realized that you need a bigger breakfast.”
“I’m twice your size and I work out almost every day, so yeah, I’m a bear that needs to be fed.”
“I’ll be ready in fifteen minutes.” Turning toward the mirror, she frowned. “I can’t get the picture of Galina Firtash out of my mind.” She tipped her head up and shrugged. “It’s weird seeing someone who looks so much like me.”
“I wonder what Firtash thought when he saw you at the gala. It must’ve been like seeing a ghost.”
“After you showed me the pictures, all the conversations with him made a lot more sense. I knew he wasn’t attracted to me as a woman, but he was certainly interested, and knowing it was because I’m the doppelgänger for his daughter makes me feel a lot better.”
“He could still go off the rails, so let’s not assume his intentions are harmless.”
“Ever the optimist.”
“Being realistic is not being a pessimist. I’ve seen the worst of humanity and it’s not something you ever forget.”
“I know.” He kissed her head and then walked out of the room. As she finished applying her makeup, she thought about what losing a child did to a person and how it might change them irrevocably. How that was ultimately going to play out in Dmitry’s life would be revealed soon enough.
***
The morning had gone well and the committee had gone over the results of the computer analysis of “Madam Pompadour.” No one wielded a paintbrush or a pen in quite the same way as anyone else and the brushstrokes or markings were often considered as individual as a person’s handwriting. The mathematical technique called the wavelet analysis allowed them to evaluate the painting, telling them everything they needed to know about Modigliani’s brushstrokes. Art experts always talked about a painter’s lines, and the wavelet technique made math out of the metaphor.
The tech who evaluated the painting told them that the mathematical distribution of lines gave them a set of numbers that characterized each picture. Those numbers created coordinates and if a painting was authentic, it would line up closely with another painting done by the artist. It was a little confusing, but she got the gist of it.
As far as she was concerned, this was just another tool that could be used when evaluating a painting and she was happy to have as many as she could. The director was pleased with their progress and they were going to move forward to the next step. It was her job to summarize the findings and then share them with the other groups that were working around the world. But before she did that, she needed to grab some reference books from the School of Art library, which was on the opposite side of the building.
Tired of being inside, she decided to walk along Columbus Drive to get to the library. She’d been cooped up in the workrooms for several days and she needed some sunshine before she tackled the reports.
Slinging her purse over her shoulder, she walked out of the workroom and thought about calling Hank. But before she could do it, her phone buzzed and she saw that her mother had texted, telling her to call. They hadn’t had a decent chat since she’d gotten home from Rome and she knew she couldn’t put it off any longer. Once she had cleared security and walked outside, she decided she could catch up while she walked over to the art school.
The sidewalk that bordered the museum building was busy and she wondered if the school was having some sort of event. Glancing across to Butler Field, she tried to see if something special was happening. Not seeing anything, she decided to call her mom and update her. Just as she was about to place the call, a group came up behind her and she was jostled. Someone caught her arm before she tripped and then she felt something sharp pierce her neck. Looking up, she saw Ivan the Terrible’s awful smirk just as her world went black.
***
Hank finished his last weight rep in the gym and then checked his phone and noticed Stazi’s tracker was showing her a mile away from the Art Institute. He hit refresh on the locator app and waited until it updated her location. Looking across the gym, he saw Jason walk in and gave him a nod.
His phone beeped, indicating it had updated, and he saw that the blinking light that represented Stazi’s location was moving rapidly away from the museum and heading south on Lakeshore Drive.
Which was not where she should be.
They had made an agreement that if she was going to leave the museum, she was to tell him. Checking his call log, he saw nothing and there were no recent texts from her. “Fuck,” he mumbled. He dialed her immediately and the phone rang several times before he got dumped into voice mail. Trying again, he prayed that no one had gotten their hands on her.
No answer. He left her a quick message and then signaled to Jason to follow him. Jogging out of the room, he headed toward Lucky’s office. “Stazi is not where she’s supposed to be and I have a bad feeling.”
“I’ll call Maddox and we’ll meet you in Lucky’s office,” Jason said.
“Roger that.” Sliding to a stop in the doorway, Hank held up his phone. “Check Stazi’s tracker. My phone is indicating she’s moving south on Lakeshore.”
Lucky swiveled around in her chair and frowned. “I pray to God it’s a glitch.”
Hank watched her fingers fly across the keyboard and let out a breath. When a city map came up on the wall monitor, he walked over and let out a stream of curses. “She’s in a car. No other explanation for the speed at which she’s moving.”
“It works in real time, so yeah, you’re absolutely right.” She walked away from the surface hub and sat down at the row of computers set up along the far wall. “I haven’t had any alerts from the audio ring she’s wearing. Which tells me none of the keywords I wrote the program for have been used.”
“Maybe no words were spoken before they snatched her and drugged her.”
“Possible.” Lucky pulled up the program for the ring and read through the summary report quickly. “We haven’t had a transmission in over thirty minutes. Which means either it’s
not working or it’s been destroyed.”
Jason, Maddox, and Brandon walked into the room and Hank motioned them over. “It looks like someone got ahold of Stazi.”
Brandon stepped over to the wall and pointed to the flashing light. “Yeah, I can’t see any reason why’d she be heading west on Highway 55.”
“Call Sam and see if he can come over,” Hank instructed Lucky. “Let’s see if he’s got men on Firtash’s warehouse.”
Lucky grabbed her phone. “There are a thousand places they could be heading, but the warehouse or Midway Airport are good possibilities.”
Feeling a hand land on his shoulder, he looked over and saw Jason give him a grim smile. “Nothing is going to happen to her.”
“Absolutely, man. Once we get her located, we’ll organize a snatch and grab and be out of there before anyone knows what happened.”
Maddox joined them. “Piece of cake.”
“Not knowing who it is that has her and what they want puts us at a tactical disadvantage and I fucking hate disadvantages,” Hank ground out.
Lucky got off the phone and walked over to join them. “Sam is coming and he’s in contact with his men who are scouting the warehouse. They don’t have any signs of activity so far and they’ll keep us updated.” She started to leave but stopped in the doorway. “I’m going to pull my five best people off their projects and have them start pulling feeds for the CCTV cameras and monitor the Shodan map. We’ll have Firtash’s exact location and see where the top henchmen for Sergey Belikov are. I haven’t been able to tag Sergey yet because he uses burner phones, but I have two of his brigadiers tagged, so hopefully, they’ll lead us somewhere valuable.”
