Chapter 3 - THE SERPENT RING
Z
Nikolai ordered no pursuit on the crowded public road. Instead, he gave the SUV's description and the security footage to investigators. Pavel protested that involving police would expose the organization's operations. Nikolai answered by removing Pavel from duty until his role could be examined.
At the hospital, Boris finally told the story he had concealed for twenty-four years. The man with the serpent ring was Leonid Markov, once Viktor Voronin's business partner. The official record said Markov had died in the same fire. Boris had watched a man wearing that ring escape through the north gate while smoke poured from the dock office.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Nikolai asked.
Boris's eyes shone. "Because I had a twelve-year-old boy to keep alive. Markov told me you'd be next if I spoke."
Nikolai paced to the window. He remembered sleeping in Boris's tiny apartment, the old man working double shifts and saving the best pieces of bread for him. He had called Boris uncle, although no blood connected them. In all his years of power, he had never considered that Boris might still be carrying the same threat.
Anya arrived after visiting Maksim. The child was awake, asking whether Misha could visit after his surgery. Boris smiled for the first time that day. "Tell him the dog owes him a birthday kiss."
Anya sat beside the bed. "Mr. Reznov, why did you give me the key instead of Nikolai?"
"Because Ksenia searched everyone she considered important. She never looked at you except to give an order."
The answer stung. Anya had spent six months being invisible, hoping invisibility would protect her job and her son. Instead, it had allowed her to witness the cruelty everyone else pretended not to see.
A lawyer named Sofia Levin arrived with documents confirming Boris's pension had been redirected to an account controlled by a trust administrator. The property deed had been transferred using a signature that appeared copied from an old authorization. A forensic review was needed, but the evidence justified immediate preservation orders.
May you like
That evening, Nikolai visited the empty dry-dock trailer. On its floor lay a dented food tin, an oxygen bottle, and a faded photograph of Viktor holding a little boy on his shoulders. Nikolai picked it up.
On the back, in Viktor's handwriting, were six words: "If Markov returns, trust the mechanic."
