Chapter 11 - The Price They Put on Vera Sullivan
Nikolai agreed to surrender the contracts.
Vera discovered this because Dmitri was terrible at pretending not to know something.
“You’re transferring them.”
Dmitri looked uncomfortable.
“I did not say that.”
“You looked at the floor.”
“I frequently look at floors.”
“Not when lying.”
He sighed.
“Nikolai plans to sign tomorrow.”
Vera marched into the office.
A stack of documents waited on Nikolai’s desk.
She picked up the first page.
TRANSFER OF MARROW ATLANTIC LOGISTICS RIGHTS.
“You cannot be serious.”
“I am.”
“Hundreds of millions of dollars?”
“I can make more money.”
“It isn’t about money and you know it.”
“No.”
“It tells them this works.”
“I don’t care.”
“Well, I do.”
Nikolai stood.
“You are not a bargaining chip.”
“That is exactly why you should not bargain.”
“I will not gamble with your life to protect my reputation.”
“And what happens after you transfer it?”
He said nothing.
“They ask for something else,” Vera continued. “Then something else. Because they know threatening me works.”
“I will eliminate the threat before that happens.”
“That sounds ominous.”
“It was intended to.”
Vera placed both hands on the desk.
“No.”
His eyebrows rose.
“No?”
“No transfer.”
“These companies are mine.”
“You used that argument already.”
“And it remains accurate.”
“My life is mine.”
“Yes.”
“Then ask me what I want.”
The room became still.
Nikolai had no response.
So Vera answered anyway.
“I want to fight intelligently.”
“Fight?”
“Not guns. Not revenge. Evidence.”
She placed the old recorder beside the contracts.
“This can destroy Adrian if we prove it.”
“Records from twelve years ago may not be enough.”
“Then we get something current.”
Dmitri, who had appeared at the doorway, said, “She’s right.”
Nikolai glared.
“You are becoming irritating.”
“I learned from Vera.”
She ignored them.
“Adrian wants the contracts signed?”
“Yes.”
“He needs someone present to receive them.”
“Likely.”
“Then we make him believe you agreed.”
Nikolai stared at her.
“No.”
“You haven’t heard the plan.”
“No.”
“Your vocabulary is becoming repetitive.”
“You want to use yourself as bait.”
“I want to use what he believes about us.”
“That is worse.”
“Why?”
“Because what he believes is true.”
The room went silent.
Vera forgot the argument.
Dmitri became extremely interested in the hallway.
“What exactly is true?” Vera asked.
Nikolai looked frustrated with himself.
“You know.”
“I enjoy hearing you suffer.”
“Vera.”
She smiled despite everything.
For the first time in days, he almost smiled too.
Then Vera became serious.
“Adrian believes you cannot think clearly when I’m threatened.”
“He may be correct.”
“Then prove him wrong.”
Nikolai looked at the contracts.
“What do you propose?”
They spent four hours building a trap.
Helian would receive confirmation that Nikolai accepted the terms.
A meeting would be arranged at an abandoned customs terminal near the lake.
The documents would contain traceable digital signatures.
Dmitri’s team would record everything.
More importantly, the old evidence against Adrian would be sent simultaneously to federal investigators and several journalists if the meeting became dangerous.
Vera would not attend.
That was Nikolai’s condition.
She agreed.
Mostly.
At 7:40 that evening, her satellite phone received a call.
Unknown number.
She answered.
A man spoke.
“Ms. Sullivan.”
Calm.
Cultured.
American accent with something European beneath it.
“Adrian.”
A quiet laugh.
“You’re quicker than Nikolai gives you credit for.”
“You’ve never met me.”
“I know enough.”
“No. You know photographs.”
“You matter to him.”
“That seems to fascinate you.”
“It makes him ordinary.”
Vera’s grip tightened.
“Being capable of caring about someone does not make a person weak.”
“To men like us, it does.”
“I’m not sure Nikolai is as much like you as you think.”
Silence.
Then Adrian’s voice cooled.
“Tomorrow he gives me the contracts.”
“No.”
Another silence.
“You speak for him?”
“I speak for myself.”
“Interesting.”
“You have spent a year photographing me because you think I’m an object you can use.”
“An object? No.”
His voice became almost amused.
“You are a pressure point.”
“I’m a person.”
“To Nikolai, perhaps.”
“And that is why you will lose.”
Adrian laughed.
“You’re brave on a protected estate.”
“I’m a groundskeeper. Mostly I’m annoyed.”
“You should be frightened.”
“I am.”
That silenced him.
Vera continued.
“But fear and obedience are not the same thing.”
She ended the call.
Behind her came a voice.
“How long?”
Vera turned.
Nikolai stood in the doorway.
“How long were you there?”
“Long enough.”
“You look angry.”
“I specifically told security that unknown calls were to be blocked.”
“Then perhaps your security system needs another consultant.”
He did not appreciate the joke.
Vera walked closer.
“I’m fine.”
“He called you.”
“Yes.”
“He threatened you.”
“Actually, he spent most of the time admiring himself.”
Nikolai’s jaw tightened.
Then Vera did something she had never done before.
She took his hand.
Just for a second.
His fingers went still beneath hers.
“You don’t have to trade everything to prove I matter.”
His eyes lifted.
“I know you do.”
The moment stretched.
Then her satellite phone beeped again.
A photograph appeared.
Taken seconds earlier.
Vera holding Nikolai’s hand.
From somewhere outside the window.
May you like
Beneath it were five words.
THANK YOU FOR CONFIRMING EVERYTHING.
