Page 134 of The Enforcer’s Pawn

Kathryn looks at the screen. “So it looks like Cara made a mistake.”

“Yes,” I say. “He finds it because he thinks I slipped.”

Dmitri pulls a chair near Yuri and Kathryn. His hand rests flat beside the map. “Mikhail’s name stays out,” he says.

I meet his eyes. “Yes.”

“No initials,” Dmitri says. “No age, no school, no clinic, and nothing that could become real if someone gets their hands on it.”

“Agreed,” I say.

Yuri looks between us. “Then the message touches Patrick’s old Boston channel, but it doesn’t look sent to him.”

“That’s the point,” I say. “A scared mother trying to arrange a way out because she thinks the Volkovs might use her child against her.”

Dmitri shifts the chair an inch back, then pulls it forward again. He presses his tongue against the inside of his cheek before he answers. “I don’t like it.”

“Patrick comes out,” I say. “If he thinks I’m trying to move Mikhail, he’ll want control before anyone takes it from him.”

Kirill taps the wallet map. “What are we watching for?”

“Movement,” I say. “If Patrick follows the message, I want to see what he uses.”

Yuri looks up. “Wallet activity, courier login, or a message to someone he still trusts.”

“Yes,” I say. “The first thing that moves when Patrick tries to take control.”

Kirill pulls a cigarette pack from his pocket, shakes one loose, and lights it while he studies the screen. “So he checks whether you’re really moving Mikhail.”

“And while he checks, he shows us where he still feels safe,” Yuri says.

Dima’s mouth curves. “That I like.”

Dmitri doesn’t. He reaches for Kirill’s cigarette pack, pulls one halfway out, then pushes it back in.

“You’re not handling this,” he says, turning to me.

“I’m not walking into danger alone,” I say. “Patrick won’t believe it unless I’m part of it. Let him see my phrasing. Let him think Velenko scared me and Oleg made me panic.”

Dmitri pushes back from the chair. “He’ll think you’re moving our son.”

“No,” I say. “He’ll think I’m trying to.”

Kathryn looks at him. “She’s right.”

Abramov checks the draft. “We can send it through the nanny contact.”

Yuri adjusts the screen. “And Cara can make it brush the old Boston channel without sending it there directly.”

I nod. “Patrick sees it because he thinks I made a mistake.”

Yuri taps the side monitor. “If he follows it, I’ll see the access point, device trail, or relay he uses.”

Dmitri stands with his arms folded. “And if he touches it himself?”

“Then we get closer to him,” I say.

The fake message sits in front of us, thin, rushed, and human.