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Abramov studies the cut wires. “It stayed off until the attack. Belov’s men turned it on when the medical delivery reached the west wing.”

Dmitri enters, wiping blood from his knuckles.

“Anton claims he didn’t know they wanted Misha,” he says. “He received disposable phones and instructions and was asked to follow orders. He never met the person giving the orders.”

“People always discover morality after they’re caught,” Petrov says.

Dmitri looks at his bruised knuckles. “He discovered it after the second finger.”

“Who paid him?” I ask.

“No one handed him cash,” Dmitri says. “His gambling debts were cleared, and they threatened to kill his wife if he refused.”

“Trace the debt payment,” I tell Petrov. “Find out where the money came from.”

He picks up the plumbing company’s registration papers. “The company is real enough.”

I look at the names across the screens.

He turns another page, then stops.

“I know this name. He's one of our customs brokers.”

He reads it to Yuri.

Yuri searches the foreman’s records while Kirill runs a background check on the broker. A few seconds later, Kirill looks up.

“The broker is the plumbing foreman’s brother.”

He opens another file. “He clears Volkov shipments. Most of his work comes through Rudenko.”

I look at the names spread across the table. “These bastards built links everywhere.”

“Rudenko’s broker paid Anton’s debt,” Petrov says.

“And Anton opened the house to Rudenko’s men,” I say.

Leonid looks up from the files. “It leads to Rudenko, but his name is still nowhere on the order.”

Yuri brings up the chapel-passage camera. Anton emerges from the supply room twelve minutes before the photograph appears at the gate. He checks the corridor, slips a sealed envelope into his tool bag, and walks away without hurrying.

Kirill freezes the image on Anton’s face. “He looks directly at the camera before he opens the bag.”

“He wanted anyone watching to see a maintenance clerk carrying out a repair,” I say.

“I’ll question him again,” Dmitri says. “This time, it’ll be louder.”

Before Dmitri reaches the door, Ilya’s voice comes through Abramov’s radio.

“I have three guards in custody.”

Abramov lifts the radio. “Why?”

“Two were working at the service gate when the plumbing van entered. They skipped the second identity check and later changed the crew’s exit time in the gate log.”

Yuri finds both names on the personnel list and brings their files onto the center screen.

“What about the third?” I ask.