“My real last name isFulton. I have passport and driving license.”
White held up bothpalms. “Sure, we can make that change if you want Volkov and thewhole Russian mafia to go knocking on your door in Athens, Georgia,and then on the door of that two-hundred-year-old plantation house onthe coast.”
“In that case,”Anya said, “my last name is definitely Burinkova.”
“I thought you’dsee it our way. Now, about that drink?”
Anya pulled open anoversized drawer beside the stove and waved the back of her handtoward its contents of vodka, whiskey, and a bottle of merlot.
White pulled the JackDaniel’s from the drawer, poured three fingers over two cubes ofice, and swirled the glass. “Since everyone seems to be on the samesheet of music now, let’s hear what your analyst had to say. Oh,and that reminds me. You owe three thousand dollars to thehomeowners’ association for the gardens you destroyed, and there’sa guy with a badly broken nose who could use a new car.”
Gwynn poured twoglasses of red wine and handed one to Anya.
She accepted the glassand raised it to touch Gwynn’s. “Here’s to being togetheragain.”
White huffed and didn’tjoin the toast.
Anya flicked the rim ofhis glass with her fingernail. “All of the damage you describedhappened in the line of duty while I was following yourorders, so United States Justice Department will pay for tires andother things.”
He wiped off the rim ofhis glass as if removing evidence. “You’ve been an American forfifteen minutes, and you’re already a bureaucrat. Welcome to thecircus.”
Anya pulled the tinyplastic flag from her pocket and waved it as if on parade.
White snatched it fromher hand. “So, tell me about this super analyst of yours. When willshe have some background for us?”
Anya looked away.“Actually, I may have overstated her agreement to help us.”
White pointed the stemof the flag at the Russian. “Overstated? What is that supposed tomean? You said she was on board.”
“She is, but firstshe must confirm with Chase that it is okay for her to work with me.”
“Chase? She’s goingto brief Chase Fulton in on this operation?”
Anya nodded. “Yes,this is how it works. Chase is commander of team, and Skipper—”Anya’s phone vibrated, and she turned to the screen. “Speaking todevil. It is Skipper.”
White groaned. “It’sspeak of the devil, you no-English-speaking freak. Answer the phonebefore I shoot you in the head.”
“Hello, Skipper. Youhave good news, no? . . . This is good. . . . I will put phone onspeaker so Agent White and my friend, Gwynn, can hear.” Shemotioned toward the small table nestled in the corner of the room,and the three took seats. “Okay, Skipper, everyone is here.”
“Yeah, well, like Iwas saying, Chase okayed the mission, but he’s not exactly happyhow it came about.”
Anya reached for thephone and laid three fingers against the plastic case. “You said tohim I am okay, yes?”
“Yeah, Anya. He knowsyou’re okay. Are you guys ready for what I have?”
Everyone nodded.
Skipper said, “Ifyou’re nodding, you do know I can’t hear you, right?”
White growled. “We’reready. Let’s hear it, for God’s sake.”
“Chill. I’m doingthis pro bono. That means you don’t get to yell at me. Put me onthe payroll, and you can yell all you want.”
White eyed Anya. “Isthat whole team like this?”
“No, the boys on teamare terrible. Skipper is only good one.”
The sound of Skipperbanging on the phone rang through the air. “Hello! I’m trying togive a briefing here.” The raucousness died down as Skipper began.“Okay, so here’s the down and dirty. Before your guy ViktorVolkov went to prison and then came to the States, he was what wewould call a cat burglar. His father, Dmitri Volkov, was a CommunistParty official of some moderate rank. I didn’t take the time to digup anything on him because he doesn’t really matter in all of this.The point is, Viktor and his brother—his name is, or was, MaximDmitrievich Volkov, by the way—were only eleven months apart. Maximwas the older one.”
Gwynn scribbledfuriously on a yellow legal pad as the briefing continued.
“Apparently, Maximwas the perfect little red commie—awesome grades in every class,athletic, hammer-and-sickle-flag-waving Russki. The problem was, eventhough they weren’t twins, by the time the boys were teenagers,they were nearly impossible to tell apart. Same eyes, same size, youknow the deal. Anyway, so his little brother, Viktor, despite beingthe spitting image of his perfect older brother, barely did wellenough in school to make it to the tenth grade, and he dropped outsome time during that year.”
She paused to pour halfan energy drink down her throat. “Ah, that’s good. Sorry, Ineeded a drink. So, back to our fairy tale. Needless to say, theircommie-party daddy was invited to all the littlelet’s-hold-hands-and-hate-freedom parties or whatever they’recalled. Anyway, Maxim was always standing silently and obedientlybeside his party-official daddy like a good little Marxist, but ourboy Viktor, who seems to have been a capitalist from the womb, wasn’tbig on the party scene. Instead, he was big on breaking into thehouses of his daddy’s commie buddies while they were drinking vodkaand playing Cold War games or whatever. By the time Viktor waseighteen, he was already worth half a million, U.S. He stoleeverything from silverware to satellites. Okay, maybe not satellites,but you get the picture. It turns out little Viktor’s favoritething to steal was jewelry. In fact, he didn’t just steal it, helearned to replicate it. Get this . . .” She paused for anotherdrink. “Okay, I’m back. So, Viktor stole, bought, or borrowed oneof those little spy cameras you see in all the old Cold War movies.You know the kind you can hide in the palm of your hand.”
White rolled his eyes.“Yeah, yeah, we know. Get to it.”
“I told you to chill,dude. I’m happy to hang up and you guys do this without me. It’snot like I need the work. I’ve got plenty to do.”
Anya gave White a shotto the shin beneath the table, and Skipper continued.
“Before I was sorudely interrupted, I was saying Viktor got a camera, but that’snot all he got. He also became an apprentice in Moscow under a masterjeweler whose name I can’t pronounce, and it doesn’t matter.Little Viktor, it seems, had quite the
