Chapter Thirty-Seven
Liam
The interviews take forever. We tell our story three times each, to three different officers, in three different rooms that
all smell like stale coffee and industrial cleaner. I stick to the edited version—kidnapped by Marlena Kade, held captive,
escaped. I leave out certain details. The Snowflake Diamond currently tucked in Hailey’s pocket, for instance. The fact that
we stole it in the first place. Minor omissions.
The RCMP are skeptical at first. Can’t blame them. A wealthy collector kidnapping three Americans in the Canadian wilderness
sounds insane. Michelle backs us up with what she knows—the distress signal she flagged a week ago, three beaten strangers
on her doorstep, armed mercenaries who followed them to her station and opened fire. She doesn’t know the full story, but
she doesn’t need to. The avalanche site. The siege at her station. The bodies of Marlena’s guards scattered across the snow.
They start taking it seriously after that.
“We’ll issue warrants,” the lead investigator tells us. She’s a no-nonsense woman in her fifties with steel-gray hair and
tired eyes. “But Ms. Kade has resources. Private jets, offshore accounts, properties in countries without extradition treaties.
She could be anywhere by now.”
True. Marlena’s gone to ground, disappeared into whatever bolt-hole she prepared for exactly this scenario. A woman like her
always has contingencies. I wonder if losing the diamond will eat at her, if she’ll come back to finish what she started.
Part of me hopes she does. Part of me knows better than to feel safe yet.
During a break between interviews, I step outside to clear my head. My phone—recovered from the cabin, miraculously still functional despite everything—buzzes in my pocket.
Unknown number.
I answer cautiously. “Yes?”
“Mr. Calloway.” A man. Russian accent, soft but with an undercurrent that makes the hair on my neck stand up. “My name is
Viktor Kedrov. But you already know that, don’t you? I believe you owe me a diamond.”
I freeze.
Viktor Kedrov. The original owner. The man we stole from five years ago. The reason Hailey and I have been running ever since.
“The Snowflake Diamond,” he continues, almost conversational. “My diamond. I’ve been tracking it for five years, Mr. Calloway.
When Marlena Kade began her hunt for you and Ms. Parker, my people took notice. I’ve been watching this entire situation unfold
with great interest.”
My mind races through the implications. He knows where we are. He knows what happened. He’s probably known every step of the
way, was just waiting for the right moment to make contact.
“Hold on,” I say. “I’m putting you on speaker. My partners need to hear this.”
I head back inside and find Knox and Hailey in the station’s small cafeteria, sitting at a plastic table with cups of terrible
coffee neither of them is drinking. Hailey looks up when I walk in, and something in my expression must tip her off because
her whole body goes tense.
I set the phone on the table between us and tap the speaker icon. “Go ahead. They’re listening.”
“Excellent,” Viktor says. “Then I won’t have to repeat myself.
I have a proposal for you. Give me back the diamond and I let the three of you live.
But that’s not all I want. Marlena Kade has become a thorn in my side for reasons that don’t concern you.
I want information. Tell me where she’ll go, who she’ll contact, how she’ll try to move the pieces she’s stolen.
In exchange, I’ll ensure your safety. My people will deal with Ms. Kade, and you three will never hear from me again. ”
Knox stiffens. Hailey’s gone very still.
“And if we refuse?” I ask.
His laugh is soft. Chilling. “Then I assume you’re working with Marlena. Accomplices. And I treat you accordingly.” A pause.
“Mr. Calloway, I am not an unreasonable man. But I am also not a forgiving one. My diamond was stolen. I want it back. Other
priceless items have been taken by Ms. Kade over the years—items that belonged to associates of mine. I want them back as
well. Help me retrieve them all, and we part as . . . not friends, certainly. But not enemies either.”
“How do we know you’ll keep your word?” Knox cuts in.
“You don’t,” Viktor says. “But consider the alternative. Marlena has resources, but she cannot hide forever. Neither can you.
Eventually, one of us will find you. I prefer we reach an accommodation now, while you still have something to offer.”
“We need a minute,” Hailey says.
“Five minutes,” Viktor agrees. “I’ll call again.”
The line goes dead.
We stare at each other across the table.
“It’s another trap,” Knox says immediately. He’s already positioning himself between me and the door.
“Maybe,” I say. “But Viktor’s different from Marlena. He’s old school. Russian mob ties going back decades. Men like him operate
on a code. If he says he’ll let us go in exchange for information, he might actually mean it.”
“Or he kills us the second we give him what he wants,” Hailey says. She’s turning her coffee cup in circles, not looking at
either of us.
“That’s the risk,” I admit. “But think about it. We help Viktor track down Marlena, he gets whatever else she’s stolen from
his people, and we walk away clean. No more looking over our shoulders. No more wondering when the next attack is coming.”
Knox is quiet, thinking. I can practically see him running tactical assessments in his head, weighing probabilities and outcomes. “What exactly would we have to do?”
“Give him the diamond. Tell him where Marlena’s likely to try to fence what she has. Black market contacts, private collectors
who don’t ask questions. I know some from our old days.” I glance at Hailey. “You probably know more.”
She nods slowly, still not meeting my eyes.
“And if Marlena gets caught in the crossfire?” she asks.
“Then karma’s a bitch.” I don’t feel even a twinge of guilt saying it. “She kidnapped us. Threatened to kill us. Sent armed
mercenaries after us through an avalanche. I’m not losing sleep if Viktor catches up to her.”
We discuss it for the remaining minutes, voices low so the officers passing through can’t hear. The ethics of selling out
another criminal to save ourselves. The risks of trusting a man like Viktor Kedrov. The potential reward of finally being
free.
It’s tempting. God, it’s tempting. Not money this time, not a score. Just safety. Just the ability to live without fear, to
sleep through the night without one eye open, to walk down a street without checking every reflection for someone following.
I watch Hailey’s face as she thinks it through. Watch Knox’s. We’ve been through hell together, the three of us. Survived
things that should have killed us. Whatever we decide, we decide together.
Finally, Hailey looks up. Meets my eyes, then Knox’s.
“Fuck her,” she says quietly. “She made her choices. Now she gets to live with the consequences.”
Knox nods once. “Agreed.”
The phone rings exactly five minutes after Viktor hung up. I answer on the second ring and put it back on speaker.
“We’ll do it.”
“Excellent.” Viktor sounds pleased but not surprised. He expected this outcome. “Tell me everything.”
“Not yet,” Hailey says.
I look at her. Knox looks at her. She’s leaning forward with her elbows on the table, wearing the expression I remember from every job we ever pulled together. The one that means she’s three moves ahead and everyone else is still playing the last turn.
“You want the diamond. We’ll give it to you. But we both know that’s not enough to keep you from coming after us once you
have it. So here’s what we’re offering on top of it, and here’s what we want in return.”
Kedrov is quiet. Listening.
She looks at me. My cue. She doesn’t know what I have. Neither does Knox. I never told them what happened when Marlena had
me alone. But Hailey knows me well enough to know I walked out of that room with something.
“I spent six weeks in direct contact with Marlena before she grabbed us,” I say. “I know how she communicates, who she uses
as intermediaries, how she moves money. I know the channels she operates in because they’re the same channels we used to work,
and she recruited me through those networks.”
Knox’s eyebrows go up. This is new information for him too.
“She uses a broker in Zurich as her primary go-between. A woman named Adler. Everything flows through her. Acquisitions, payments,
logistics. You find Adler, you find Marlena’s entire supply chain.
“When she pulled me out of the cabin, she had me for hours. She talked. She couldn’t help herself. She told me about properties
she owns under shell companies, places she goes when things get hot.” I can feel Hailey and Knox staring at me. I never shared
any of this. I wasn’t ready. But Kedrov doesn’t need to know that. “I’ll give you all of it.”
Hailey recovers fast. “And during transport to the mine, we saw her operation firsthand. Helicopter model, airstrip coordinates,
guard count, the mining camp she’s been using as a base. Knox can give you every tactical detail down to the weapons her people
carry.”
“She also talked about the divorce,” I add.
“About how you listed the Snowflake as her asset after you already knew it was stolen. About how she lost tens of millions in the settlement because of a diamond that didn’t exist anymore.
She’s not just hunting this stone because she wants it.
She’s hunting it because destroying you is the only thing she’s thought about for five years.
If you want to find her before she finds you, we can help. Nobody else is going to hand you that.”
“And in return?” Kedrov asks.
“You leave us alone. Permanently. No surveillance, no contacts, no surprises. We disappear, you forget we exist.”
“And if I choose not to honor that arrangement?”
Knox speaks up. “Then our friend Cole Asher gets involved. You may know the name. Tech billionaire, extensive private security,
the kind of resources that make your operation look like a lemonade stand.” He lets that sink in. “Cole knows where we are.