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On the other side of the glass, Dmitri rises and walks behind Belov.
“Vlasov talked.” He grips the back of the chair. “We have the hospital routes, the men inside the estate, the contractors, the payments, and everything pulled from the security archive.”
Belov’s good eye remains fixed on the table.
“You’re finished,” Dmitri says.
Belov lifts his head. “You think the Blacklist began with me?”
Maksim walks out of the observation room alone. The men step aside for him.
“No,” Maksim says as he enters the interrogation room.
Dmitri moves aside.
Maksim stops across from Belov. His suit is untouched by the blood on the table and floor.
“I think you used what older men built,” Maksim says. “Every handler you named has been taken. Before noon, every claim they kept will be dead.”
Belov smiles through the blood on his teeth. “Every claim?”
Maksim fixes him with a flat stare.
Belov leans forward as far as the restraints allow. “Then give your strategist something useful to do. Tell him to find the one file we never put in the archive.”
38
VERA
Morning reaches the library through tall windows overlooking the walled garden. Thin sunlight falls across the long table, touching the last Blacklist files, Nina’s registry papers, and a row of coffee cups Lidiya has filled twice.
Alexei stands near the window, clean-shaven and dressed for the meeting. He shifts his weight slowly and avoids turning from the waist. I close the door behind me and press my thumb against the emerald on my ring before walking toward him.
Everyone is already here except the children.
Maksim sits at the head of the table with Elena beside him. Dmitri has taken the chair beside Cara, her hand resting over his bruised knuckles. Leonid and Nina share a stack of registry files, while Abramov stands near the library doors with his radio silent for the first time since the attack.
Mrs. Wentworth has sent Lidiya with tea, black bread, yaichnitsa with dill, fruit, and a large plate of pastries. She sets down the tray and says, “Mrs. Wentworth sent cookies and pastries for the children upstairs, Oksana, and Sergei. She says there are enough for the guards as well.”
Elena smiles, while Abramov gives Lidiya an approving grunt.
Alexei looks up when I enter, and the strain around his mouth eases. He walks up and stops in front of me. “In one piece?” he asks, and the corners of his eyes crease.
“I’ll decide that after I examine you.”
“I was hoping for a warmer welcome.” His gaze drops to the emerald on my hand.
Dmitri reaches for a pastry. “Don’t rush. Make him suffer.”
Cara takes it from his hand. “You’ve had four.”
“I was shot at.”
“That explains the first one. What about the other three?”
Lidiya sets another plate in front of him. “Eat this one quietly.”
Dmitri obeys, which proves Lidiya outranks every man at the table.
