Crossing the Line (35 page)

“Told Petrenko Katya was working for us. What did he do? Buy you a Rolex? Kidnap your family? Threaten your wife?”

“Wrong on all counts.”

“I know your family’s not in Moscow. They haven’t been seen at your place for months.”

Revnik sighed. “I moved them for their protection until I had Viktor in jail. I didn’t want to suddenly get a phone call from my wife telling me our kids hadn’t come home from school. Officially they’re with relatives, unofficially they’re well hidden in a place Viktor wouldn’t think of looking.”

“Hidden well enough so your wife doesn’t find out how he keeps you loyal?” Ethan snapped.

Revnik shrugged. “There are aspects of my job my wife is better not knowing about. All that matters is I love her and my children. Who I get into bed with over here has nothing to do with how I feel about her. We do what we need to.” He stared at Katya. “You understand that.”

Ethan bristled.

“Who do you work for?” Katya asked.

“Finally, someone who asks the right question. You should have been given a chance with the FSB. We made a mistake.” He smiled at her. “I am what I claim to be, a colonel in the Federal Security Service, over here for a placement with the FBI, though I never expected to stay so long. Another reason my family didn’t come with me. I’m here legitimately to fight crime or as your elegant policy makers put it—‘to learn more about your investigative techniques, to share experiences and forge new relationships in order to enhance future cooperation in matters of mutual interest.’ What a mouthful, eh? In addition I have my own orders from my superiors in Moscow concerning Viktor Petrenko. And of course, as Katya appears to have pointed out to you, Viktor Petrenko also believes I work for him.”

“What are your orders concerning Petrenko?” Ethan asked.

“To find out if the whispers about enriched uranium have any substance, to keep a watchful eye on him and his activities, to feed him little tidbits so he thinks we’re on the same side and when the time is right—to pull on the line and haul him in.”

“But you let the line run and sacrificed Anna,” Katya said.

Revnik shrugged. “What could I do?”

“You don’t seem surprised to see Katya.”

“When I saw the photograph I thought it was Natasha but I heard Lindy and Tom saying it was Katya. After I left here I went to the morgue. I recognized Natasha and came back to bring you the good news, but Katya gave you that in person.” He looked from Nathan’s wet hair to Katya’s. “I hope she wasn’t followed.”

“I wasn’t,” Katya said.

“You risked her life by telling Petrenko we knew what he was doing.” Ethan clenched his fists.

“I didn’t tell him. He’s pissed off because he thinks I should have told him, instead of him receiving an anonymous call. Someone using a voice changer informed him the Feds knew about the uranium deal, that the blonde-haired whore had been sleeping with an FBI agent since she had arrived. No names. Viktor assumed the whore was Katya, wants it to be her but doesn’t know for certain. I’m supposed to be finding out the source of the FBI’s information. If I’d told him Katya was the one with the big mouth, she’d already be dead.”

“You tried to put me off Petrenko’s trail,” Ethan said. “And you pretended the killings in Moscow had continued beyond Kirill’s departure to the US but they didn’t. You knew we’d let a serial killer into the country and didn’t tell us. What justification could there be for that? You watched him kill Anna.”

“As to the last, I could do nothing. By the time the hook was in, it was too late. If I’d protested I’d have joined her. I didn’t tell you the murders in Moscow had stopped when Kirill left because I didn’t want you to go after him and risk alerting Viktor.”

Ethan’s head pounded. “But this guy has murdered at least four women here, four men. How many in Moscow?”

“There’s something you should know. Kirill is Viktor’s son, Aleksei’s younger brother.”

Ethan pulled Katya down next to him on the couch. Revnik sat opposite.

“Viktor’s son?” She put her head in her hands. “I’ve been blind.”

“He’s been in and out of mental institutions collecting labels from doctors since he was born. Then there was an accident when he was a kid. Aleksei shot him in the head.”

Katya groaned.

“One of the investigating officers thought Aleksei had done it deliberately but there was no evidence.”

“Kirill’s a psychopath,” Katya spat. “He kills for Viktor and you let him.”

Her fist clenched under Ethan’s fingers.

“These days we need proof before we act. The KGB would have dealt with him quietly, maybe even recruited him.” Revnik gave a short laugh. “Now we’re reborn as the FSB, we’re above all that. Kirill may be
otmorozok
but he’s not dumb and Viktor protects him. On the rare occasion a witness believed he was brave enough to speak out, he changed his mind or disappeared, mostly the latter.”

“You knew he’d killed my sister,” Katya whispered.

“We suspected.”

“Maybe she was one of your little tidbits. Did you betray her?” she asked.

“Not me,” Revnik said. “We don’t know exactly what happened. We heard someone bumped into her in Cabaret while she was with Viktor. Perhaps an old school friend. When you’re undercover you live in constant fear someone will make you. Galya knew the risks. She was unlucky.”

Ethan squeezed Katya’s fingers. He knew no matter how careful you were, luck could change everything.

“On the other hand, you’ve been fortunate to survive this long,” Revnik said. “If Viktor found out what you were up to in Moscow, you’d never have left the city. You were persistent, pestering MVD officers to look for an official car with paint damage, trying to talk them into searching for a drunken vagrant who claimed to have witnessed what happened, sitting for hours at Petrovka until someone agreed to speak to you, hanging round outside Galleria, Dacha and Cabaret asking about Viktor. You were the subject of a number of our discussions. We were quite envious of Platov. Unfortunately for you he drinks far too much and likes to brag.”

Katya yanked her hand from Ethan’s.

“My colleague won the draw to er…give Katya the name she wanted.”

Katya wrapped her arms around herself. “Why didn’t you just tell me? Why did I have to go through that?”

“Because you became annoying and someone had the bright idea of letting you run, seeing how far you’d get. I thought it was rather a good plan. A word with the Conservatory made sure you were selected and as they say, the rest is history.”

“Oh God,” she gasped. “I didn’t even get that on my own?”

Ethan wanted to hold her but she was wired so tight, he feared she’d snap.

“We bet on you. You managed to find Petrenko far faster than anyone guessed. I lost quite heavily. I think Platov was the nearest. He clearly saw something we didn’t.”

Katya exploded like a rocket, launching herself at Revnik. “
Huyesos…podonok… govnyuk.”
She beat at his chest with her fists.

Ethan pulled her away. When he loosened his grip, she went for Revnik again. This time Ethan dragged her onto the couch and held her as she swore.

“Calm down. This isn’t helping,” Ethan said.

“It helps me,” she spat. “He’s
hooyesos.”

Revnik wiped a trickle of blood from his lip and licked it off his hand. “I recognized Katya the moment I stepped onto the boat. Viktor had no idea who she was. I did wonder what I’d do if she decided to stick a knife in him. I had the distinct impression she was considering pushing him overboard until he told her he could swim.” He laughed.

“When I learned she was talking to the FBI, I was even more impressed, but that gave me a problem. If Viktor found out, the uranium deal would go underground again. It wouldn’t have been in my interests to tell Viktor about you, Katya. You were more useful alive. When I thought you were dead, I assumed the deal would die too, but now we have a different situation on our hands.”

“She’s not going back,” Ethan snapped.
Over my dead fucking body.

“You can’t tell me what to do,” Katya retorted.

“I want you to be safe,” he said.
If I have to tie you up, so be it.

“If Petrenko knew what I’d done, I’d be dead and he wouldn’t have invented this meeting to try and trap me.”

“What meeting?” Revnik asked.

Ethan tried to give her a warning squeeze but he couldn’t stop her talking without showing his hand.

“Aleksei claims he has a meeting about the uranium at two at the Vizcaya museum,” Katya said. “Petrenko thinks the FBI will turn up and if they do, I’m dead. But there
is
a meeting in the morning. That’s why I came here.”

Revnik smiled. “We really did make a mistake. I completely underestimated you. I apologize. What’s the plan?” He looked at Ethan.

“There is no plan,” Ethan said. “She’s not going back. Petrenko knows someone is talking to the FBI. If it wasn’t you that told him, who did?”

“Make a list of everyone who knew about me,” Katya said.

They looked at her and smiled.

“What’s funny?” she asked.

“Nothing,” Ethan said.

“Do you have anyone in mind?” Revnik asked.

“Apart from you?” Ethan shot back.

Revnik shook his head. “I already told you. If I’d betrayed her, she’d be dead. What about Lindy?”

“Unlikely,” Ethan said.

“I agree. Too righteous and uptight. Pole-up-her-ass kind of woman.”

“Though she needs money. She has twins starting college.”

“We all need money and she doesn’t like you but she’s straight,” Revnik said.

“Why doesn’t she like you?” Katya asked Ethan and then turned to Revnik. “Don’t tell me she likes you.”

“No, she doesn’t like me either, but for different reasons.”

Ethan ignored Katya’s question. “It’s not Tom.”

“No,” Katya said. “He blushes too easily.”

Revnik gave a short laugh. “Ah, if traitors were so easily caught. He
is
the worst paid.”

Tom was at the bottom of the salary ladder, living in an expensive city with a new baby and a stay-at-home wife.

“He’s also the most inexperienced, therefore the least known factor,” Revnik pointed out.

“It’s not Tom,” Ethan said. A gut feeling, but a strong one.

“Who else in the squad knows?” Revnik asked.

“They’re not supposed to know details, but that’s just taken to mean don’t talk about it.”

“Rico dislikes you.”

“Someone else?” Katya asked.

Ethan forced a smile. “Rico might dislike me, but surely not this much.”

“He wanted your job. He’s made no effort to hide his pleasure at your suspension.”

Ethan groaned and glanced at Katya.

“You’ve been suspended?” she gasped.

He explained everything and waited to see what she’d say.

“Did you sexually harass her?” she asked.

He shook his head.

“Did you stop when she told you to?”

“I didn’t start when she told me to, that was the problem.”

“Then you have nothing to worry about. She can’t prove something you didn’t do,” Katya said. “Maybe it was Luisa who called Petrenko.”

“It’s possible,” Revnik said. “She had access to the dossiers through Frank. She always seems on edge. She’s capable of making an anonymous phone call.”

Ethan nodded. She was on his list.

“What about Frank?” Revnik asked.

Ethan thought about it. Frank was near retirement and being pushed by his wife to buy an expensive piece of real estate on the Gulf Coast. But he had an excellent record and was well regarded throughout the Bureau. Warning Petrenko was a huge risk but then the financial reward would be huge if Frank had a way to funnel the bribe.

“I wouldn’t put him high on the list,” Ethan said. Anything was possible. He had a feeling he wouldn’t have even considered Frank if he’d been quicker to support his version of recent events.

They discussed everyone who knew or might have known: the rest of the squad, Jack Bosman, even the detectives in Fort Lauderdale. There was no reason to think they knew about Petrenko but Ethan wouldn’t be surprised if Brannon had kept digging after he’d been told not to. The likelihood was however, that it was someone in the squad. Not a comfortable feeling.

“I have an idea,” Revnik said. “We can’t be certain who rang Viktor but we can make it Luisa. I’ll tell him it’s her, say she was jealous because her special agent boyfriend was sleeping with Natasha. It keeps Katya safe. Let the Bureau still think she was the victim in the park and she’s doubly safe. We can get her back into the apartment tonight.”

“It’s too dangerous,” Ethan said.

“Viktor won’t let the deal go now even if he thinks he’s being watched. It’s too big. He’ll believe that if he’s careful, he can still do it. After all, he doesn’t even need to get his hands dirty. Other people will transport and receive. He’s using Aleksei to negotiate. He only has to sit in the middle and collect money that probably won’t be paid into bank accounts in this country.”

“I just had the worst night of my life,” Ethan said. “I thought it was Katya in those photos. It could have been her.”

“But it wasn’t. While she makes Aleksei happy, she’s safe.”

An unwanted image of Aleksei holding Katya surged into his head and he clenched his fists. “Maybe I don’t want her to make Aleksei happy.”

Revnik stared at him. “Maybe it’s a good thing you’ve been suspended. You’re losing the plot, Ethan. You want to walk off into the sunset, buy a little house, rescue a dog and raise a couple of kids? What do you think they’ll do if she disappears? Leave you both to live happily ever after together? Think about Natasha. They won’t forget Katya. There’s nowhere you can go they wouldn’t find you, because to them, money is no problem. She’s either with them or she’s dead. Nothing in between.
Mafiya
don’t forgive and forget.”

Ethan dragged his fingers through his hair.

“Look, we’ve been after Petrenko for years.” Revnik turned to Katya. “I was told your sister was an excellent undercover operative. The first hint we had about Viktor being able to lay his hands on enriched nuclear material came from her. It feels right you should finish this.”

Ethan imagined himself punching Revnik in the mouth. There was a satisfying sound, a lot of blood and a substantial loss of teeth. “I need to talk to Katya alone. Go for a drive, Petr. Come back in thirty minutes.”

After he’d gone Ethan pulled her into his arms and whispered, “Don’t say anything you wouldn’t want him to hear. This room might be bugged.”

“Take me to bed,” she said.

He gave a sad laugh. “There too.” He knew she didn’t mean it. He pulled her into the garden, closing the doors quietly behind them. They sat together on the deck.

“I don’t trust him,” he said.

“Why?”

“Because while he’s here, his primary loyalty should be towards the FBI and not the FSB.”

“But you’d be the same,” she said. “If there was someone you’d been after for a long while, you’d want to finish it. I know how that feels. Revnik could have betrayed me but didn’t. One word on the boat and I’d have been in the water instead of Anna.”

“He knew Kirill was a murderer. He knew he’d killed your sister.”

“I know Kirill blinded Nik, I know what he did to Anna and now he’s killed Natasha, but what did you tell me? Knowing sometimes isn’t enough, you need evidence.”

“What if it was Revnik who betrayed Galya?”

“I thought of that but why let her stay with Petrenko for so long? Petrenko ended up having to leave Russia because of the damage Galya did. What Revnik told us makes sense. I trust him as much as I’d trust any FSB officer.”

“Right.” Ethan gave a quiet laugh. “That makes me more determined you stay here with me. Revnik might want you there so that he can tell Petrenko what you’ve done while you’re in his hands.” He sighed. “I wish you hadn’t mentioned the meeting.”

“We said this deal was the end. I can get Aleksei to take me to the real meeting. I’ll wear a wire.”

“No, it’s too dangerous. No wire.”

“Then I go to the meeting and you follow and arrest the people he talks to and I can tell you everything they said.”

Ethan’s throat closed up. She was so naïve, and he was no better than Revnik because a small part of him wanted her to do it.

“Revnik’s right,” she said. “They won’t let me disappear. And what about you? What about your job? You have to get me back in the apartment and make it look on the cameras as though I never left. Then you can follow me. We’ll have a signal. If I need help, I know you’ll be there.”

She looked into his eyes and Ethan knew he didn’t deserve that kind of trust.

“I know what can be done with just a small amount of enriched uranium,” she said quietly. “The government should never have let it out of its control. Minatom was too slow in doing something about it. Now innocent people might have to pay for that mistake.”