“The Russian mafia,” he growled. “We’ve runsmack dab into one of the most ruthless crime families outthere.”
The four of us sat staring bleakly at eachother in silence.
“So, where do we go next?” I asked.
“Nowhere,” Jeremy insisted. “This missionjust got way deeper than a simple car-theft ring. We need to callthis off.”
“Hold on there a moment,” Halluis cut in.“You don’t have the authority to call off the mission. There is noway I am going to go whining to the director and tell him thatthings got too hard so we’re backing out.”
“If that’s what you think I’m doing—”
“That’s exactly what you’re doing! You’vebeen trying to get out of this mission from day one—”
“You have no idea what you’re talkingabout—”
I couldn’t let this go on. I slammed my fiston the table, rising to stand as I did. “Hey!” I shouted.“Everyone, shut up!”
To my surprise, they did. They stared at me,blinking in shock.
Ace held up a hand tentatively. “For therecord, I wasn’t saying anything.”
I whirled on him. “Well, maybe it’s abouttime you did. Halluis is right about one thing, we have a missionto accomplish, and you standing on the sidelines isn’t helpinganything. I’ve seen what you can do, and I’m not going to acceptthis ‘glorified tech support’ excuse of yours a second longer. Getin the game, Ace.” Ace looked chagrined but didn’t argue.
“And as for you two,” I said, turning toJeremy and Halluis. “There’s no point arguing until we know more.We don’t even know if this car-theft ring has anything to do withthe mafia. It could be something Alexander is doing on his own. Wejust don’t know. We need to gather more information before we makeany decision.”
Halluis opened his mouth, but then shut itand simply nodded.
Jeremy sighed. “You’re right.” He pausedonly a second longer before adding, “I may know someone undercoverin the Russian mafia, an FBI agent. If I can get ahold of himsafely, we may be able to get some answers.”
Now that my big scene was over, I felt a bitawkward standing over the three of them, so I slowly settled backinto my seat. “Okay, then. Let’s get on that.”
***
Two hours later, Jeremy and I met up withthe hulking Agent Kozlov at a Division safe house for a whirlwindthirty-minute rundown of the Russian mafia, known to insiders asthe bratva—the brotherhood. His speech was clipped and heavilyaccented but deep and gruff at the same time. I had to concentrateto understand him, and there were moments I wished he’d just speakin Russian.
“We thought for a long time that oldstructure, including the vory had gone away, but now it’sback with a vengeance. From what you say, I think they are tryingto enter Christy into the bratva as a vory, one step up fromthe lowest rank, shestyorka.”
The most annoying part of the meeting washow Agent Kozlov tended to only look at Jeremy like I wasn’t eventhere. I tried to ignore it, figuring it was a Russian thing.“Seriously?” I tried not to sound too indignant.
“Don’t take it as an insult.”
I wasn’t. I was still trying to internalizethe fact that the mafia was alive and well.
“Vory are middle management, incharge of the grunts—the shestyorka. Shestyorka areworker bees, very common in this outfit. The girls you saw—typicalshestyorka. They do all the small stuff and lots of it. Youidentified eight kids so far? For certain, there are more youdidn’t see, working just under this Shareweather person. He is forsure a vory, in charge of maybe twenty shestyorka. Ittakes most shestyorka ten or more years, from age twelve, tomake it as a vory or be rejected.”
“By rejected, you mean killed?” Jeremysaid.
Agent Kozlov nodded and pursed his lips.
That was the wrong thing for Jeremy tohear.
Kozlov continued. “Non-Russians have a hardtime getting past shestyorka rank, almost never get pastvory rank. Viktor’s uncle, Alexander Mogilevich is abrigadier. Christy will be joining his brigade of vory andshestyorka.”
“But the car thefts—they’re definitely partof the bratva’s operations? Not some side project of Alexander’s?”Jeremy asked.
Kozlov nodded. “It’s a major source ofincome for the bratva. This cell you found deals with cars, moneylaundering, and arms dealing.”
“So, we’ve hit upon a support group, then?”I asked as something else dawned on me. “What about Viktor, Mikado,and Jericho? Are they shestyorka?”
“These are most likely vory intraining, working under Shareweather but with direct contact to thebrigadier. Jericho and Viktor, at least. Mikado could be justshestyorka. Viktor, as brigadier’s nephew, probably has somesort of special place in Alexander’s ranks. I’m not sure about theother two. Any link to Russia?”
“Not that we have found, but both areextremely wealthy.”
“Interesting. But this is not just a supportgroup. It’s one of two main groups under this Pakhan, theGodfather figure. But there’s no guarantee you’re in, yet.” Hisgaze was sharp, almost cruel. “So please, do us all a favor and getout while you can. You’re jeopardizing everything I’ve worked for,and you have no chance of getting that car before it ships to WestAfrica.”
I bristled at his dismissiveness. “Nochance? I’d say I’m well on my way.”
He snorted. “You think they’d ever trust youwith the location of the shipping yard? It’s on a need-to-knowbasis. I don’t even know the site of my shipment, yet. I’ve been infive years, and I’m Russian. How long do you think it will takeyou, an outsider, to earn trust I haven’t even gotten yet?”
I spoke the next sentence in Russian, “I’mnot here for a long-term stay. All I need to do is find a car.”
He leaned back and actually looked at me.“Impressive,” he answered in Russian. “But how will you explain howyou know Russian so well?”
I switched back to English. “I don’t wantthem to know I speak Russian. I’ll use it to eavesdrop on theirconversations…. So,” I said, mentally pulling
