Wolves Eat Dogs

'If he doesn't, he's a queer,' the skinhead said.

'If you won't, I will.' Victor started to rise.

Arkady pulled him back by his sleeve. 'Let it go.'

'You've gone soft, Arkady, you've changed.'

'I hope so.'

Ozhogin's office was minimalist: a glass desk, steel chairs, gray tones. A full-size model of a samurai in black lacquered armor, mask and horns stood in a corner. The colonel himself, although he was packaged in a tailored shirt and silk tie, still had the heavy shoulders and small waist of a wrestler. After having Arkady sit, Ozhogin let the tension percolate.

Colonel Ozhogin actually had two pedigrees. First, he was a wrestler from Georgia, and at wrapping opponents into knots Georgians were the best. Second, he had been KGB. The KGB may have suffered a shake-up and a title change, but its agents had prospered, moving like crows to new trees. After all, when the call went out for men with language skills and sophistication, who better to step forward?

The colonel slid a form and clipboard across the desk.

'What's this?' Arkady asked.

'Take a look.'

The form was a NoviRus employment application, with spaces for name, age, sex, marriage status, address, military service, education, advanced degrees. Applying for: banking, investment fund, brokerage, gas, oil, media, marine, forest resources, minerals, security, translation and interpreting. The group was especially interested in applicants fluent in English, MS Office, Excel; familiar with Reuters, Bloomberg, RTS; IT literate; with advanced degrees in sciences, accounting, interpreting/translation, law or combat skills; under thirty-five a plus. Arkady had to admit, he wouldn't have hired himself. He pushed the form back. 'No, thanks.'

'You don't want to fill it out? That's disappointing.'

'Why?'

'Because there are two possible reasons for you being here. A good reason would be that you've finally decided to join the private sector. A bad reason would be that you won't leave Pasha Ivanov's death alone. Why are you trying to turn a suicide into a homicide?'

'I'm not. Prosecutor Zurin asked me to look into this for Hoffman, the American.'

'Who got the idea from you that there was something to find.' Ozhogin paused, obviously working up to a delicate subject. 'How do you think it makes NoviRus Security look if people get the idea we can't protect the head of our own company?'

'If he took his own life, you can hardly be blamed.'

'Unless there are questions.'

'I would like to talk to Timofeyev.'

'That's out of the question.'

Besides an open laptop, the sole item on the desk was a metal disk levitating over another disk in a box. Magnets. The floating disk trembled with every forceful word.

Arkady began, 'Zurin-'

'Prosecutor Zurin? Do you know how all this began, what your investigation of NoviRus was all about? It was a shakedown. Zurin just wanted to be enough of a nuisance to be paid off, and not even in money. He wanted to get on the board of directors. And I'm sure he'll be an excellent director. But it was extortion, and you were part of it. What would people think of the honest Investigator Renko if they heard how you had helped your chief? What would happen to your precious reputation then?'

'I didn't know I had one.'

'Of a sort. You should fill out the application. Do you know that over fifty thousand KGB and militia officers have joined private security firms? Who's left in the militia? The dregs. I had your friend Victor researched. It's in his file that on one stakeout he was so drunk, he went to sleep and pissed in his pants. Maybe you'll end up like that.'

Arkady glanced out the window. They were on the fifteenth floor of the NoviRus building, with a view of office towers under construction; the skyline of the future.

'Look behind you,' Ozhogin said. Arkady turned to take in the samurai armor and helmet with mask and horns. 'What does that look like to you?'

'A giant beetle?'

'A samurai warrior. When Japan was opened up by the West, and the samurai were disbanded, they didn't disappear. They went into business. Not all; some became poets, some became drunks, but the smart ones knew enough to change with the times.' Ozhogin came around the desk and perched on its corner. For all his grooming, the colonel imparted the sense that he could still wring a bone or two. 'Renko, did you happen to see The Washington Post this morning?'

'Not this morning, no. Missed it.'

'There was a considerable obituary for Pasha Ivanov. The Post called Pasha a 'linchpin figure' in Russian business. Have you considered the effect a rumor of homicide would have? It would not only harm NoviRus, it would damage every Russian company and bank that has struggled to escape Moscow 's reputation for violence. Considering the consequences, I think a person should be careful about even whispering 'homicide.' Especially when there isn't the slightest evidence that there was one. Unless you have some evidence you'd like to share with me?'

'No.'

'I didn't think so. And as for your financial investigation of NoviRus, didn't the fact that Zurin chose you as investigator suggest to you that he wasn't serious?'

'It crossed my mind.'

'It's laughable. A pair of worn-out criminal detectives against an army of financial wizards.'

'It doesn't sound fair.'

'Now that Pasha is dead, it's time to let go. Call it a draw if you want. Pasha Ivanov came to a sorry end. Why? I don't know. It's a great loss. However, he never asked for any increase in security. I interviewed the building staff. There was no breach.' Ozhogin leaned closer, a hammer taking aim on a nail, Arkady thought. 'If there was no breach in security, then there's nothing to investigate. Is that clear enough for you?'

'There was salt-'

'I heard about the salt. What sort of attack is that? The salt is an indication of a mental breakdown, pure and simple.'

'Unless there was a breach.'

'I just told you there wasn't.'

'That's what investigations are for.'

'Are you saying there was a breach?'

'It's possible. Ivanov died under strange circumstances.'

Ozhogin edged closer. 'Are you suggesting that NoviRus Security was, to any degree, responsible for Ivanov's death?'

Arkady picked his words carefully. 'Building security wasn't all that sophisticated. No card swipes or voice or palm ID, just codes, nothing like the security at the offices here. And a skeleton crew on weekends.'

'Because Ivanov moved into an apartment meant for his friend Rina. She designed it. He didn't want any changes. Nevertheless, we staffed the building with our men, put in unobtrusive keypads, fed the surveillance cameras to our own monitors here at NoviRus Security and, any hour he was home, parked a security team in front. There was nothing more we could do. Besides, Pasha never mentioned a threat.'

'That's what we'll investigate.'

Ozhogin brought his brows together, perplexed. He had pushed his opponent's head through the wrestling mat, but the match went on. 'You're stopping now.'

'It's up to Hoffman to call it off.'

'He'll do what you say. Tell him that you're satisfied.'

'There's something missing.'

'What?'