The same garage doorshe and Gwynn had been driven through the previous week rose as thedriver approached and promptly closed it behind them. The buildinglooked the same, but the feeling of the place was different.Something left the fearless former SVR officer with a sense of dread.
The car came to a stop,and Viktor Volkov stepped from the inner sanctum of the bland, darkbuilding with his arms outstretched. “Ah! The queen of the angelshas returned to me.” He threw his arms around her and drew her bodyagainst his in a long embrace. “Have you eaten?”
Anya nodded. “I have,and I am ready to go to work.”
“I’m sure you are,but we have a bit of ugly business to attend to before we getstarted.” He held the door for her, and she discovered Saschawaiting in the lavishly appointed interior of the space. He wore anexpression she’d never seen on his boyish face. It was a look ofdetermined accusation—the same look Ray White wore the day he firstquestioned her.
“Good morning,Sascha. Is everything all right?”
The scientist boredholes through her with his eyes. “Starting a relationship with alie is a dangerous beginning. Diamonds are rare and beautiful things,just like trust. The only thing worse than lying to us is stealingfrom us.”
Anya’s mind reeledwith a thousand questions, and she scanned the room for both weaponsand exits as she palmed the two diamonds she’d “borrowed” fromthe vault.
Have they found outI am working with the Justice Department? What will they try to do tome? Must I kill both of them? Would that be good enough forSupervisory Special Agent Ray White to bring Anya and her mother tothe States as he promised?
In an effort to delaythe coming storm, she said, “I do not understand. What is problem?”
Sascha wasted no timein answering. “The problem is someone stole a pair of diamonds fromthe vault, and you and your girlfriend are the only two people who’vebeen inside the vault since we last saw the missing pair of stones.”
“This cannot betrue,” she said. “If my friend and I were the last ones insidethe vault, how do you know the stones are missing?”
“Because I countedthem myself this morning,” Sascha roared.
Anya tilted her head,glanced at Volkov, then back to Sascha. “If this is true, then youwere last person inside vault since missing stones were seen, no?”
Sascha threw a fingerinto Anya’s face. “Are you saying I stole two diamonds frommyself?”
“No, of course not,”she said. “I am saying your statement about my friend and me beinglast ones inside vault is an intentional lie because you knew truth.”
Sascha’s pupilsnarrowed, and he ground his teeth together. With no externalindications, Anya smiled inside her head. The Russian scientist withsoft hands and obvious anger issues was about to take a swing at her,and when he did, she would be justified in removing his head.
Volkov had stood insilence as long as he could bear and stepped between the two, placinghis palm in the center of Sascha’s chest. “Perhaps it is simplyan error in counting. Let’s have a look, shall we?”
He opened the vaultdoor and motioned for Sascha and Anya to follow him inside. The twovelvet bags rested on the spotless table, and Volkov poured thecontents of the first bag onto a black padded surface and withdrew along pair of jeweler’s locking tweezers from a drawer. Anya leanedin, eyeing the pile of stones closely and pretending to count.
She stood erect.“Sascha is correct. There are only forty-nine stones in that pile.”
Volkov turned to her.“How could you possibly count fifty stones so quickly?”
“I did not countfifty stones,” she said. “I only counted forty-nine.”
Sascha growled,“Viktor, I warned you. She’s playing us.”
Volkov held up a handand slid the stones aside. He poured the contents of the remainingbag onto a separate surface and motioned toward the hundreds ofthousands of dollars’ worth of flawless carbon.
Anya leaned in, ran herindex finger through a small pile of stones and skillfully allowedthe palmed diamonds to slide from her hand. When she’d spread thestones adequately, she frowned and pretended to count again. When shefinished, she turned to face her accuser. “It appears Viktor iscorrect this time, Sascha. There are fifty-one stones in this pile.”
Sascha shoved heraside, ripped the tweezers from Volkov, and quickly counted thestones twice. When he finished, he turned, his face blood red, and heshook a finger toward Anya.
She smiled. “You maybe brilliant scientist, Sascha, but you are not so good at counting.”
Volkov stifled a laugh,pulled a loupe from his pocket, and tossed it to Sascha. “Find it,”he ordered.
The scientist,adequately scolded, went to work inspecting every stone in the pileof fifty-one.
“Come with me,”Volkov said softly, and Anya followed him from the vault. He led herthrough a barely visible door and into an office even more lavishlyfurnished than the sitting room outside the vault. “This is youroffice. You will work here. If you do not like the light, the chair,or anything else, you have only to tell me or Sascha and we willremedy the problem immediately.”
Anya took in the room,memorizing every detail, and then cast a glance back through thedoor. “Thank you, Viktor. The office is beautiful, and I will beperfectly comfortable here, but I fear Sascha feels I should not behere at all.”
Volkov smiled. “Donot worry, my darling. Sascha works for me, and I will see that heunderstands what is important is what I want, and I want you here.”
She stepped toward himand extended her arms, but he held up a palm. “Not here. Here weare in business, and only business. I’m sure you understand.”
Anya offered a smallbow. “Of course.”
Viktor turned for thedoor. “Make yourself comfortable. Sascha will be in with two bagsof stones for you. Make as many matches as possible, but always keepthe stones from each bag separate from the others. They are not to
