Chapter 26 The Public ution #2
The room was silent. The kind of silence that has a heartbeat.
"Cet acte constitue une violation du bratstvo.
" I switched. For the half of the room that included Céline's associates, the French investors, the diplomats who laundered their attendance through charitable tax deductions.
This act constitutes a violation of the brotherhood.
"La distribution d'images intimes d'une femme réclamée, sans son consentement, est une trahison du code qui nous unit.
Ce n'est pas une affaire privée entre frères.
C'est un assaut contre l'honneur de cette organisation.
" The distribution of intimate images of a claimed woman, without her consent, is a betrayal of the code that binds us.
This is not a private matter between brothers.
It is an assault on the honor of this organization.
I found Dmitri in the crowd. He was standing where I'd left him. The model still on his arm, though her grip had loosened. Her face cycling through expressions. Confusion. Alarm. The calculation of a hired companion realizing the evening has taken a turn that exceeds her rate.
"Фотографии были сделаны и распространены Дмитрием Котовым.
" The photographs were taken and distributed by Dmitri Kotov.
His name in the room like a stone dropped into still water.
The ripples spreading. Three hundred heads turning.
Finding him. The man in black with the limp and the blonde and the smile that had finally, completely, died.
"Моим братом. Членом этой организации. Человеком, который поклялся соблюдать кодекс, который он систематически нарушал.
" My brother. A member of this organization.
A man who swore to uphold the code he has systematically violated.
I lowered the phone. Set it on the podium.
"Но фотографии — это только начало." But the photographs are only the beginning.
Mikhail's tea cup rattled against its saucer. The sound small. The room heard it anyway.
"Три недели назад моя переводчица была похищена с улицы среди бела дня.
" Three weeks ago, my translator was abducted from the street in broad daylight.
"Её держали тридцать шесть часов. Её избивали.
Ей сломали рёбра. Её раздели и переодели, чтобы унизить.
" She was held for thirty-six hours. She was beaten.
Her ribs were fractured. She was stripped and redressed to humiliate her.
"Похищение было организовано Дмитрием Котовым при содействии человека внутри нашей организации.
" The abduction was arranged by Dmitri Kotov with the assistance of someone inside our organization.
I looked at Mikhail. Directly. The way I'd taught Maeve to look at him. Two seconds. The Mikhail window. Except I gave him five. Then six. Then seven. Letting the room watch me watch him. Letting the math happen in three hundred heads simultaneously.
"Человек, который помог — Артём Козлов." The man who assisted was Artyom Kozlov.
"Племянник члена этого Совета." Nephew of a member of this Council.
"Ему заплатили через галерейный счёт, связанный с Дмитрием.
Он перенаправил GPS-сигнал. Он отвлёк моего охранника ложным вызовом.
Всё это задокументировано. Телефонные записи.
Банковские переводы. Его собственное признание.
" He was paid through a gallery account linked to Dmitri.
He rerouted a GPS signal. He drew my security away with a false call.
All of it documented. Phone records. Bank transfers. His own confession.
Mikhail's hands had stopped shaking. The granite face. The machine running behind it. Calculating exits. Finding none.
"Совет решит, как поступить с Козловым-старшим.
" The Council will decide how to handle the elder Kozlov.
I let the sentence hang. Letting Mikhail hear the future in it.
The vote that was coming. The questions that would be asked.
The evidence that would be presented in a basement that smelled like cigar smoke, where shaking hands would no longer be mistaken for frailty.
I turned back to the room.
"В отношении Дмитрия Котова, я, как глава этого Совета, принимаю следующие меры.
" Regarding Dmitri Kotov, I, as head of this Council, am implementing the following measures.
"Первое: он лишён звания. Все привилегии, связанные с именем Котов, аннулированы.
" First: he is stripped of rank. All privileges associated with the Kotov name are revoked.
"Второе: все его счета в юрисдикции организации заморожены.
Немедленно." Second: all his accounts within the organization's jurisdiction are frozen.
Effective immediately. "Третье: ему запрещён вход в любое помещение, принадлежащее или управляемое этой организацией.
Он больше не является братом. Он не является партнёром.
Он не является Котовым." Third: he is barred from entering any property owned or operated by this organization.
He is no longer a brother. He is not a partner. He is not a Kotov.
I looked at Dmitri.
He was standing alone. The model had left his arm.
Stepped sideways. Two feet. Then three. The retreat of a woman who has just realized that the man she's standing next to is radioactive, that proximity to him is a cost she hasn't been paid enough to absorb.
She disappeared into the crowd. The way all temporary things disappear. Quietly. Without ceremony.