Page 59 of Kept By The Agents

He sighed. "My Motya is too smart for her own good." He shook his head. "She began taking an interest in the Raleka's...business...a year ago." He gave us a wry smile. "I'm shocked I managed to divert her attempts to dig deeper for this long. When she went missing, the first place I went was her computer."

My eyes narrowed. "Her computer?"

"She has an...affinity…for the machines," he said with a shrug. "Better than my own man with them. That's how I found you." His smile was wide and proud. "She hacked into your system first to see what you'd found out about the Raleka before she explored their systems."

My brow shot up, mouth dropping open. My hacker was a fourteen-year-old girl? Well, fuck me. The SVR should be snapping this girl up once she turned eighteen. She had an impressive skill for such a young age. "How did she even know to look for me?"

"My man, the one who deals with all that," he said with a wave of his hand—giving me an idea of what he thought of computers and hacking, "followed her trail. Though not very well. He says she broke into your government's system and found out about your mission here."

"She hacked the CIA?" I asked, stunned. That explained how she managed to get past my defenses. If she could hack both me and the CIA then this girl had even more skill than I did. And now the Raleka had her. Shit.

Matvey shrugged. "So I'm told. I don't really...understand...all that."

"You and me both," Suave told him with a grin.

My eyes strayed over to the laptop, then shot to Brando. He was already staring at me, having put together what happened right before Matvey showed up before I did. Was that a message from his daughter? Had to be. She already knew how to get past my defenses and who else would be asking us for help? No one else knew we were here.

"I think we can help you," Brando told him.

The look on Matvey's face was utter relief.

"But the SVR isn't going to want to," he added.

Matvey clucked his tongue. "Boykov will set aside old grievances for this." He cocked his head. "He is Motya's Godfather after all."

A gasp made us all look up and I frowned when I saw Cat sitting, cross-legged on the floor, face pressed to the railing as she listened in. "He is?" she asked now that she'd been caught. She gave Brando a cute, scrunched-nose guilty smile. It was adorable. But it wouldn't save her from his anger later.

Matvey was grinning from ear to ear as he stared up at her. "Yes, ????????," he replied. "Boykov has a very complicated past. One he doesn't like to share." He looked over at us again. "He will do this for me. He won't be happy about it, but he will do it."

Brando rubbed the back of his neck. "Give us time to talk to him, then we'll tell you what we know."

Matvey cocked his head. "No negotiations?"

Brando shrugged. "We want to help all the women the Raleka have taken. Your daughter is a part of that now."

He nodded. "You have a kind heart."

"Don't mistake it for weakness," Brando warned. "If you double cross us, you'll find out just how hard my heart can be."

Matvey shook his head. "All I want is my daughter. And those bastards wiped off the face of the Earth."

"We can't promise the second part," Brando told him. "But I can promise they'll be removed from your city."

Matvey frowned. "Good enough, I suppose." He walked to the door and opened it.

"How are we supposed to get a hold of you?" Suave asked.

"Boykov will know how," Matvey told us. His eyes raised to Cat once more. "Keep the ???????? safe. You don't want her falling into their hands." A sad expression crossed over his face. "They don't uphold honor or promises."

"We will," I told him.

Matvey gave us all a respectful nod and closed the door behind him.

"What does that mean?" Cat asked from upstairs. "?????????"

"Little sun," I replied. "Or sunshine. It can be used either way."

"We're going to help him...aren't we?" she asked, a sad note in her voice.

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