17. Maksim #5
“There’s always a choice.” I place the pliers on the table with a soft click and pick up something else instead, the rage roiling inside me. I want to destroy him. “You chose to save your family by murdering an innocent child. A seven-year-old boy who never did anything to you.”
“Please—” Artem begs.
“What were you supposed to do after?” I’m standing over him now, and I can smell his fear along with the sharp smell of sweat and piss. “After Daniel died. What was the next step?”
He swallows, looking like a dead man. “Confirm the kill and send him a message with a specific code word so he’d know it was done.” He hiccups. “The word was ‘sunrise.’ If I sent him a message saying ‘sunrise,’ he’d know the boy was dead.”
Dmitri and Pavel shift behind Artem and even though their faces are impassive, that one movement lets me know how angry they are. They can get in line behind me.
“And when it failed?” I ask softly. “When Daniel survived?”
“I was supposed to try again and keep trying until—” He stops, realizing what he’s admitting.
“Until my son was dead.” I grab a fistful of his hair and yank his head back so his terrified face is looking up at me. “You were going to keep trying to murder a seven-year-old boy. How many times? How long were you supposed to keep going?”
“Until it worked or until I was caught!” He sobs. “Please. Please don’t kill me. I’ll tell you everything. I’ll help you find Alexander. I’ll testify. I’ll do whatever you want. Just please—”
My fingers grip more painfully in his hair and Artem cries out. “Where is he?” I roar.
“I don’t know! I swear to God I don’t know!” His whole body is convulsing with fear. “We only communicated through encrypted messages. I never saw him in person after that first meeting. I don’t know where he is!”
“When did he contact you through the app?”
“Late June.”
Late June. That’s when Alexander would have started suspecting that his position was compromised.
“What else did he tell you?”
“Nothing! Just to wait for the signal. He said someone would be coming after him soon, and he needed to make sure he had contingencies in place. He said if something happened to him, others would follow through, so I needed to complete my task or my family would pay the price anyway.”
Others. Alexander has other people in place. Other fail-safes.
This isn’t over. Killing Artem won’t end this.
But it’s a start.
“Nikolai.” I don’t take my eyes off Artem. “Get what information you can from him. Financial records, communication logs, everything about that meeting in Brooklyn. Every detail he can remember.”
“And then?” Nikolai asks from where he’s been standing silently in the corner, watching.
I give Artem my most terrifying smile and he whimpers in fear. “Then he’s mine.”
Three hours later, I’m back in the basement.
Nikolai’s people have extracted everything useful from Anton.
Bank records showing a deposit of fifty thousand dollars three days after the initial meeting at the bar.
Screenshots of encrypted messages, though the app deleted them automatically so we only have what Artem remembered to capture.
Details about the bar in Brighton Beach—where Alexander sat, what he drank, and what car he drove away in.
All of it is being analyzed, but it won’t lead us to Alexander. He’s too careful and smart to leave a trail through a pawn like Artem.
Still. It’s something.
Artem is still tied to the chair, but now he’s slumped forward, exhausted from hours of questioning. His face is bruised where Dmitri hit him to encourage faster answers. His hands are bloody where Pavel broke two fingers to ensure truthfulness.
I pull out my gun and check the chamber. One bullet is all I need.
The sound of the slide makes Artem’s head jerk up and he screams. “Please. Please, I have a family. I have a sister, a mother who depends on me, a nephew who needs me—”
“You should have thought about that before you poisoned my son.” I cock the gun and press the barrel to the center of his forehead. “You made your choice. Now you live with the consequences. Or in this case, die with them.”
“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! Please, I didn’t want to! He threatened them! What was I supposed to do?”
“You were supposed to come to me or Nikolai or anyone with the power to protect your family from Alexander’s threats.” I increase the pressure on the trigger. “Instead, you chose to attempt to murder a child. My child.”
“Please! Please don’t—”
I pull the trigger.
The sound is deafening in the small concrete room. Artem’s head snaps back, blood and brain matter spraying across the wall behind him. His body slumps in the chair, held upright only by the zip ties.
I lower the gun, feeling nothing. There’s no satisfaction or relief. Just the cold, brutal certainty that justice has been served.
Dmitri and Pavel will clean up the body and dispose of it. Nikolai will handle Artem’s family and make sure his sister and mother and nephew don’t suffer for his sins. That’s more mercy than Artem deserves, but we’re not monsters.
We’re just men who protect what’s ours.
I pull out my phone and text Aria.
It’s done. The person who poisoned Daniel is dead.
Her response comes immediately.
I’m done caring about morality or justice. I just want Danny to wake up.