Chapter 25 Vadim
VADIM
Ipark half a block away and check my phone one more time for the address—an old laundromat controlled by Luka Kolar's people, though they've not used the facility for meetings in quite some time.
Fyodor called me three hours ago to confirm that the plane with our men had landed and that they're heading into the city—my "help" sent by the boss.
Ruslan Zaitsev might well be the man within our organization who's been working with Milo? and Lebedev to align our enemies against us. I'll know it as soon as I see his arm and confirm that he's the man with the tattoo. Until then, I discipline myself to keep my mind open and my body relaxed.
I get out of the car and check my weapon. The Glock is loaded and ready, though I'm not expecting trouble tonight, but I'm always prepared for it. The evening air is warm and humid, and within minutes I'm sweating. I roll up my sleeves and start walking.
The laundromat's door is propped open with a cinder block. Light spills out onto the sidewalk and I can hear voices inside murmuring. At least three men, maybe more… I pause at the entrance and let my eyes adjust to the interior lighting.
The space is gutted. The washing machines have been ripped out, leaving only concrete pads and exposed pipes. The drop ceiling sags in places, revealing ductwork and wiring. A folding table sits in the center of the room while dangling fluorescent tube lighting buzzes overhead.
Ruslan stands at the table with two other men I don't recognize. They're younger, probably mid-twenties, with the hard eyes and easy stance of soldiers. Ruslan himself is in his early forties, with close-cropped dark hair and a face that's seen its share of violence.
He's wearing a short-sleeved shirt. My eyes go immediately to his left arm and I feel everything inside me focus in an instant.
I don't even have to pull out my phone to double-check the image.
I've stared at that thing for long enough to know that is the tattoo in the picture on the arm of the man who shot at Dominic Gravitch's SUV.
While he may not have fired the mortal blow, he definitely played a part.
I force myself to breathe normally and school my expression as I step inside and start walking.
Ruslan looks up as I approach and offers a smile, but it's forced and tight.
Every muscle in my body is tight, like a viper ready to strike, but I have to play my cards right.
I need this man to lead me back to whoever is in charge, and I need answers for Yuri more than he needs justice.
"Vadim," he says, extending his hand. "Good to finally meet you face to face." It's odd to hear clear Russian after so long of speaking in broken Serbian to men who can't quite get my dialect for so long. Refreshing, but I'm not pleased at who I'm speaking with.
I shake his hand and apply just enough pressure to make my point without being obvious about it. "Ruslan, I wasn't expecting you until tomorrow."
"Changed my flight. Figured the sooner I got here, the sooner we could wrap this up." He gestures to the two younger men. "These are my associates, Ilya and Konstantin. They'll be assisting with operations. I'd like to get started right away. I have some thoughts on how to make things move faster."
I nod at them but don't bother with pleasantries. The way he's talking sounds like he thinks he's in charge, and he very much isn't. "Fyodor said you were coming to help, not to take over the operation."
Ruslan's smile widens slightly but his eyes darken. "Help, take over, semantics. The important thing is getting results. Speaking of which, why don't you bring me up to speed on what you've been doing for the past eight months?"
The challenge in his tone is unmistakable.
This isn't a request for information between colleagues.
This is a superior demanding a report from a subordinate.
The problem is, he isn't my superior. I outrank him by leagues.
I consider pushing back but decide against it.
Better to play along for now and see where he's going with this.
"I've been tracking Andrei Lebedev," I say calmly. "He's the primary suspect in the shooting that killed Dominic and Semyon. The working theory is that he gave the order based on bad intel about a drug deal that went wrong."
"And you believe this theory?" Ruslan asks. He calmly reaches into his pocket and pulls out a phone, swipes through it nonchalantly, and then slides it back in. It's almost as if he's playing a part of a bored, uninterested boss who is humoring me. I could throat punch him right now.
"I believe Lebedev was involved. Whether he gave the order himself or was acting on someone else's instructions remains to be seen." I study him as I tell him what I really think, hoping to see a tell—a twitch, or a wince, or even a tightening of his jaw—but he doesn't react.
"What evidence do you have?"
I walk him through it. The witness statements placing Andrei in the area at the time of the shooting. The financial records showing unusual cash withdrawals in the days leading up to the hit. The communications between Andrei and known associates that suggest he was planning something big.
"But you haven't found him," Ruslan says when I finish.
"No. He's gone underground. Every lead I've followed has gone cold." And that's the truth as of right now. But Vuk is working on more leads for me and without Jovan putting his fingers in the pie now, it's only a matter of time before I find him on my own.
"Because you've been following the wrong leads.
" Ruslan leans against the table and crosses his arms. His feet grind on the floor as it shifts and he loses balance for a second, then he sits on the edge and scowls at me.
"You've been dawdling, Vadim. You take too much time planning and executing things. "
"That's how you build a solid foundation for action."
"That's how you waste time." He taps on his temple and smirks at me sardonically. "I know exactly where Lebedev is hiding and who's protecting him."
The claim is too convenient. I've been searching for eight months with every resource at my disposal and haven't been able to pin down that man's location. Ruslan arrives and within hours he has actionable intelligence? Either he's lying or he knew where Andrei was all along.
"Where?" I ask.
"There's a political figure here in Belgrade who's been providing Andrei with protection in exchange for certain services. They're both holed up in a hotel outside the city."
"And you know this how?" Also very convenient that he knows about Popovi? the minute he lands in Belgrade. Yuri would've let me brief him, not the other way around, so this guy is up to something.
"I have sources—good ones. Better than yours, apparently."
I let the insult slide and focus on the substance. "What hotel?" If he's really got good intel, I can't afford to be prideful and let him take credit for the kill. And I can't let him get to Lebedev before me and kill the man before I have answers.
"They have good security—private guys who know their stuff, but if we go in hot and hit fast, we'll get him." Ruslan jerks his chin up at Ilya and the man smirks. These guys are bloodthirsty fools. They're gonna make mistakes and when they do, it'll get them killed.
"We're not hitting anyone until we have confirmation that Andrei is actually there."
Ruslan's expression hardens. "I just told you he's there. My intelligence is solid."
"With all due respect, I don't know your sources.
I don't know their reliability, and I'm not going to authorize an operation based on information I can't verify.
" My chest puffs out a little. This joker really thinks I'm gonna listen to him and let him slaughter a man who has answers we need.
My orders are to question him first and make sure he gives up anyone else he's been working with.
Which is the only reason Ruslan is still standing. I need the same thing out of him.
"You're not authorizing anything." Ruslan straightens up and takes a step toward me. "Yuri sent me here with explicit orders to take charge of this operation. You've had eight months and you've accomplished nothing. Now it's my turn."
The lie is so blatant, I almost laugh. Fyodor was clear when he called. Ruslan's here to assist, not to take over. Yuri trusts me to see this through. But Ruslan is claiming authority he doesn't have, and that tells me everything I need to know about his intentions. He's as dirty as a sewer.
"Is that so?" I keep my voice mild. "When did you speak with Yuri?"
"This morning, before I got on the plane." Now he's posturing, squaring his shoulders, poking his chest out. I watch Konstantin reach toward his weapon but not draw it. He's got two little lap dogs ready to bite and I'm not a bit scared.
"And he specifically said you were taking charge of the operation?" I ask, looking down my nose at him—the lying sack.
"Yes. He said you'd had enough time and it was time for someone with more experience to handle it."
The insult is deliberate. He's trying to provoke me, to get me to react emotionally instead of tactically. But I don't take the bait.
"I see. And what exactly did Yuri tell you to do once you took charge?"
"Find Andrei. Kill him. Send a message to anyone else who thinks they can move against the family." He is overconfident now, straight up deceitful. I can't believe the gall of this man. When he falls, it's gonna be a hard drop for him.
"Kill him?" I let the words simmer for a moment. "Not bring him in for questioning. Not find out who else was involved in the conspiracy. Just kill him." Narrowing my eyes, I take a step forward to show him I'm not the least bit intimidated.
"That's right." He's still playing the fool, but his jaw clenches and his Adam's apple bobs.
"That doesn't sound like Yuri's style. He's thorough. He'd want to know who else is part of this before we start executing people… Don't you think?
Ruslan's eyes go black as sin. "Are you questioning my orders?"
"I'm questioning whether you actually received the orders you're claiming.
Fyodor told me you were here to assist, not to take over.
Those are two very different mandates. And the boss told me to question our man to confirm whether there was some bigger deception going on.
He still wants that." I inch forward slowly, but I'm well aware that Ilya might pull his gun any second.
"Fyodor doesn't know everything. Yuri gave me direct orders, and I'm following them. If you have a problem with that, you can take it up with him."
"Maybe I will," I tell him coldly, and I have no intention of bowing to "his majesty" anytime soon.
"In the meantime, we're moving on the compound tomorrow night. With or without your help."
This mook is going nowhere and getting nothing. I'll make him look like a fool when I get to Lebedev first, and when Lebedev coughs up names, I'm betting Ruslan Zaitsev is the first one out of his mouth.
"Walk me through your plan," I say.
Ruslan acts shocked, like he can't believe his plan worked and didn't reveal how openly defiant he was of the Gravitch structure of authority.
Of course, I'm not going along with him and I have no intention of listening to a word he says.
This fucker is going down hard the very instant I get the chance.
I'd kill them all right now if I knew for a fact that Lebedev would be in that hotel tomorrow.
But I can't be certain. For all I know, it could be yet another setup meant to take me and my crew out and frame us for failure while he takes the credit, moves into Yuri's inner circle, and throws the whole family under the bus.
That's one thing I can't ever allow to happen.
I listen to him lay out how to move through the hotel grounds, how to sneak past their cameras and security, and using the vents, how to pump sarin gas into ducts to murder anyone in that corridor of the building.
He smuggled it in saying it was shaving cream and now we have a full-scale terrorist attack planned, not a simple murder.
And if it goes down how Ruslan wants, every member of the Gravitch family will be called in for questioning.
This isn't good.
Yuri would never approve this, and if I call him to let him know what's going on, who knows what Ruslan will do. He's probably got just as many eyes and ears in this city as Popovi?. I can't afford to fuck this up.
After an hour of debating and pushing this man to his limits, he storms off with his men and a target on his back. I'm not fucking around with him. He's gonna go down and I'm going to see to it.
I pull out my phone as I walk back to my car and dial Nenad, who is now mostly recovered from that gunshot to his leg. With more operatives in the game, I need all the help I can get.
"Yeah, Boss," he grunts, and I can tell he's been drinking right away.
"Nenad, get sober." My first action is to track my enemy, and then we plan to strike.
"I need you to put a tail on this joker St. Petersburg sent to 'help' us out.
" There's no hiding my disgust anymore. "I'll send you the car's plates as soon as I get them from my contact in Russia.
Then I need you to recruit a few more men.
We have a hit going down and I need more men. "
"Yeah, Boss," Nenad says, clearing his throat.
"Don't fuck this up. After Jovan, I'm counting on you." I hang up and climb in my car fuming mad. There's only one way out of this country for those three and I'm gonna have to hunt up some body bags to make it happen.