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“We tried to erase the phone, but someone had already shut it off,” Yuri adds. “They got the code before we changed your access.”

Maksim looks at me. “Lebedev was curious.”

“And someone used that curiosity to pull him onto the road.”

Kirill glances at the captain channels. “The story is already spreading. Lebedev asked about your son, came to meet you alone, and died beside your pistol.”

“They’re building a case against you.” Maksim’s mouth hardens. “And they’re making sure every captain hears it.”

We still have nothing that leads straight to Belov. The payment trail points toward Rudenko, and Chernov’s company supplied the van, but neither man’s order appears anywhere.

Ilya calls from Khimki.

“The west road is clear,” he says. “The fire engines are inside, and my men have the loading yard.”

Roman joins the line. “The medical van stopped outside a waste yard near the river. My men have it surrounded. They found twenty rifles and two men inside.”

On Artem’s screen, Roman’s team surrounds the van.

Artem looks toward us, smiles, and raises two fingers in a V.

Kirill grunts.

Maksim looks at Abramov. “Find the nearest free team and send them to watch the yard. No one goes inside until we know how many men are there.”

Abramov gives the order over the radio.

At Khimki, the fire crews take back the loading yard. The attackers stole the old freight records, but the foreman saved the current route books. The cash vault below the building is still locked.

“They didn’t come for money,” Petrov says. “They came for the freight records.”

He studies the missing files. “They can use these routes to attack our shipments and trap our drivers.”

“And make every captain think Maksim can’t protect his business,” I say.

Dmitri reports from Lyubertsy. Forty-two rifles were taken from the weapons cage, along with ammunition and three years of route books. Twenty rifles have been recovered from the van. Twenty-two remain missing, along with most of the ammunition and the route books.

Abramov turns to the report from the archive break-in.

“The stolen archive files name twenty-seven closed claims, nine families we protect, and payments tied to five senior captains,” he says. “Nina Voronina has locked Vera’s father’s records, but the other families are still at risk.”

Maksim looks at him. “Move every family before sunrise. Use new phones, and don’t give any driver the full route.”

He calls Elena in the family suite, gives her the names, and warns her that the stolen files may put those families in danger. When the call ends, he looks around the room.

“She’ll contact the women herself. No staff, no old numbers, and no captain channels.”

Kirill looks up from the messages.

“Five captains have repeated the story. Two want Maksim to remove you from command until Lebedev’s murder is solved.”

I look at Maksim. “Let them hear that we fought over my son.”

Maksim studies me. “How?”

“I’ll say I wanted more guards around Misha, and you refused.” I turn the glass paperweight in my hand. “I said he wasn’t safe here because you were too stubborn to protect him. Then I threatened to give up the Blacklist files.”

I set it spinning on the table. It turns in a tight circle, slows, and comes to a stop.