Page 64 of The Game

FABIAN

Kate has long since disappeared to her medical work at the hospital when my phone vibrates on my desk. I glance down at the screen at a picture I took of Adam at college giving me the finger.

“Hey, Adam, how’s the world at the forefront of celebrity gossip? I hear via the grapevine you and Anna babysat Janus for a few days.”

“Yeah, he was so demanding.”

“How are things with Ms. Talanova?”

“Oh, you know, the usual: being chased around by the media and violent ex-boyfriends.”

Morning sunlight is glancing across the shelves of hardware along one wall of my bedroom, and I tip back in my office chair and examine the stains on the ornate ceiling far above my head. I can’t believe Adam was punched by that jerk, and don’t get me started on a guy coming after a woman like that. “Fights and dodging the press—that doesn’t sound like you at all, buddy.”

He laughs because he knows just how true that is.

“But with Anna? It’s going okay?” I say, stomach bubbling. He’s been so closed off over the last ten years. Hell, I’d love for him to …

“We’ll see.”

Ugh.So goddamn cautious.“Be careful you don’t lose her.”

Though I’m hardly one to talk. Adam dealt with Janus and my excitability in college, plus all the crap we managed to land ourselves in, with admirable calm. What’s his deal with Anna? He’s always played his cards close to his chest, but if this were Kate, I’d be apoplectic with the idea she’d been out with assholes in the past. I groan. She actually did do that. That guy David …No. Nope.Not thinking about that.

“Why are you and Janus so invested in my love life? You’re like a couple of old busybodies. Just because you guys have settled down, it doesn’t mean I want to.”

Gah, the man doth protest too much, methinks. From what Janus told me when they were staying at his place, they’re both smitten. Out of the three of us in college, Adam was the only one you would have bet money on to settle down, the only one who wanted it. Then he got sideswiped by Celine and has avoided romantic entanglements ever since—until now. I’ve tried to persuade him it was a one-off, a very fucking unusual situation, but every time I say something, he doesn’t talk to me for weeks. He won’t thank me for saying anything now.

“Talking of violent ex-boyfriends,” he carries on, oblivious, “I’m calling because I wondered if you could do me a favor—dig into Anna’s ex, Arty Maroz, for me?”

Oh, interesting. “Yeah sure, why?”

“He came to Electronic Man this morning, and given this is a guy I fought with, I was surprised. He spun some yarn about how everyone who’s left Russia has done some deal they spend their whole life repaying. In fact, he said they could never escape from it. It’s likely all bullshit, but I got curious. Why did he come out to a middle-of-nowhere office in Brooklyn to tell me this face-to-face? Is it true?”

“Is that all he said?”

“He also said Anna had shafted his father on her sponsorship deals. He told me to stay away from her, that she couldn’t be trusted.”

“She doesn’t seem like a devious, double-dealing character to me.”

“Yeah, me neither, but I’ve been wrong before.”

Jesus.“A long fucking time ago. Why don’t you ask her about it?”

“Because he’s a stirrer and a prick, and I want to find out some stuff about him first. I suggested digging into him a while ago to Anna, and she was reluctant to do anything illegal. I got the impression she thought it might make the situation worse, and I know nothing about the criminal aspects at work in Russia. I’m feeling my way around this. Digging into him could be the worst idea ever.”

“Yeah, you’re right to be concerned. I wasn’t joking when I said I was wanted by the Russians. But it’s only a problem if they find out, and that’s more about what you do with the information than looking for it. They won’t know I’ve been in there; you understand that. Anyway, I’m up for the challenge. You know me, Adam, I love a hacking project, especially when it’s helping a friend. You want me to look into Anna as well?”

“Ugh. Who wants to investigate someone they’re in a relationship with?”

Oh,interesting. He’s admitting to a relationship, at least.

“Have you ever looked into Kate?” he adds.

I laugh. “She’s so straitlaced, it’s never occurred to me. Although I did look into her family once, and what a can of worms that opened up! Let me check out Maroz. Anna will certainly come up, and I’ll see if any surprising connections get thrown up. I’ve broken into plenty of Russian networks for one reason or another. Russia’s a funny place. What he told you doesn’t sound all that odd, to be honest. There’s an obligation-to-the-motherland vibe with a lot of Russians: It’s them against the world because the West has betrayed them. But that could just be the hacking world. The FSB has tentacles everywhere and a real propensity to threaten people and carry it through, too.”

“The FSB?”

“The Federal Security Service, successor to the KGB.”

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