Page 73 of The Mafia's Quadruplets

“Claire?” Sergei’s urgent whisper comes from right behind me. “We need to leave. Now.”

I ignore him, pushing through the swinging door that leads to the back room. “Mom? Dad? Are you here?”

27

Valerian

While Viktor drives, and Dmitri keeps anxious watch on the vehicles around us, I pull out my phone, muscle memory guiding my fingers over the familiar number.

Yuri picks up before the first ring ends. “Boss, I’ve got nothing new. This encryption is?—”

“Lev Mikhailov,” I cut through his explanation. “What do you know about him?”

Static crackles across the line. One second stretches into three before he clears his throat. “Mikhailov?” His voice drops lower, caution threading through each syllable. “Petrov’s former financial guru? Last I heard, he was arrested. The feds nailed him six months ago during Operation Dark Web in some massive cybersecurity sting. Had their hooks in him for weeks before they moved.” Yuri pauses. “Why?”

“He’s still sitting in federal detention,” I say, watching the late afternoon traffic crawl past my window. “And Petrov tried tohave him assassinated behind bars. What does that suggest to you?”

Yuri sucks in air so sharply it whistles through the phone. “Son of a bitch. He’s holding back, not surrendering all his cards to the feds yet. If Petrov’s this desperate to silence him, this could be big.”

“Exactly.” I sink deeper into the leather seat. “What kind of information would a man like Mikhailov keep as his insurance policy?”

“Boss, with his level of access?” His voice drops to a whisper, as if Petrov’s men might be listening through the walls. “We’re talking encrypted drives full of wire transfers, shell company paperwork, and account numbers in banks from Switzerland to Singapore. Political payoffs too—the kind that’d make certain officials very nervous. The type of evidence that wouldn’t just cripple Petrov’s operation but burn it to the ground.”

I nod, running my thumb along the leather armrest. Though Yuri can’t see me through the phone, his tension radiates across the connection. “And the encryption you’ve been trying to crack?”

“It’s unlike anything I’ve seen.” A rapid clicking sound filters through. “Every attempt triggers countermeasures. Yesterday, I got within three layers and nearly lost my whole system. It’s not just protecting data. It’s designed to destroy it if anyone gets close.”

“So, whatever’s behind that wall is worth more than money. It’s worth killing for.”

“Boss, if Mikhailov set up this system...” Yuri’s voice grows softer, almost reverent with professional admiration despite the circumstances. He lets the thought hang unfinished.

“Then he might be the only one who can crack it.” My grip tightens on the phone. “And Petrov knows it.”

“The encryption is beyond military-grade,” Yuri says, clicking through screens. “The kind used for government intelligence.”

All roads lead to Lev Mikhailov and the secrets locked in his digital vault. “I need everything you can find on Mikhailov,” I say, drumming my fingers on the desk. “His history with Petrov, details of his arrest, current prison situation. Dig deep. Any connection, no matter how small.”

“On it, boss.” Keys click rapidly in the background. “But what about this encryption? I’ve never seen anything like it.”

I tap the edge of my phone, weighing our options. One wrong move could erase whatever Mikhailov’s protecting and possibly get him killed while taking all proof we need to shut down Petrov permanently. “Keep working on it but be careful. No aggressive attempts to breach. If it’s as sophisticated as you say, we can’t risk destroying what’s inside.”

“Understood.” The typing resumes as he says, “I’ll start with the FSB files. They’re easier to hack than this system Lev has set up, and I already have a backdoor.”

Minutes pass as Viktor navigates the city streets with practiced ease while Dmitri’s watchful gaze continues to scan our surroundings from the passenger seat. The phone pressed to my ear crackles with Yuri’s rapid typing.

“What have you found in the FSB files?” I ask, my voice low despite the privacy of the vehicle.

Yuri’s typing pauses. “It’s interesting, boss. Lev Mikhailov’s got a brother named Alekseev. He’s not just any government worker. He’s the head of Russia’s newest cybersecurity program, ‘Firewall Omega.’”

My eyebrows raise. “Tell me about this program.”

“It’s cutting-edge stuff,” says Yuri, excitement creeping into his voice. “Quantum encryption, AI-driven threat detection, the works. Makes most systems look like child’s play.”

I drum my fingers on the armrest. “And Lev wasn’t involved?”

“Not directly, but here’s where it gets interesting. The FSB files hint at ‘unauthorized access’ to Firewall Omega’s development servers. They never caught the culprit, but the they traced the infiltration to the United States before hitting a roadblock.”

I curse softly. “I’d guess Lev was playing with Alekseev’s new program.”

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