Page 62 of Dead Fall

“That’s it. Again, tell the truth. Just not the whole truth.”

“Okay,” Wilson relented. “But as long as we’re on the subject, why don’t you tellmethe truth. Why did you really want me to meet with Burman? And why at the Commodore?”

“First, you were very clear that once you hit ten million dollars, you were out. I thought Burman might make a pretty good client for you. Second, I wanted to make sure neither of you were under surveillance.”

“You were there?”

Nistal nodded. “The best thing about your yacht club is that unless you have a boat at the dock, the only way in or out is via the front door.”

“Or the service entrance.”

“Which is practically attached to the front door. The point is that I could see everything from outside in the parking lot.”

“And why would either of us be under surveillance?” Wilson asked.

“I’m good at what I do and that’s because I take nothing for granted. As long as you and I are working together, I will always have your back. I protect my assets. Full stop.

“As for Burman, he made a lot of money in Russia. He still has a few investments there. In the current climate, that automatically raises eyebrows in the United States—particularly when it comes to sanctions. I wanted to see if the FBI had thought enough about it to have put a tail on him. The good news is that neither of you were being followed.”

Wilson seemed relieved. “So the interview is just routine. The FBI is simply doing their due diligence.”

“Exactly,” said Nistal. “Burman was a critic of President Peshkov who met an untimely demise. Because it happened on American soil, it’s only natural that the FBI would get involved. You’re going to get a few boring questions, they’ll thank you, and that will be that.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m positive. You had drinks and dinner, right?”

Wilson nodded.

“What did you talk about?”

“Local sports, a little bit about art, and then he wanted to sound me out on the new congressional majority and what their legislative agenda was likely to be. He wanted to know where they were headed on both foreign and domestic policy.”

“And what did you tell him?”

Wilson laughed. “How much time do you have? Politicsismy baseball. Once I get started, you pretty much need a binding UN resolution just to get me to shut up. I explained that I believed the U.S. was entering a deeper phase of isolationism.

“I told him they’d be focusing almost exclusively on key domestic policy issues like border security, manufacturing, education, and illicit drugs. Foreign policy items would absolutely not be front and center, unless they could be used in such a way as to draw attention to the majority’s domestic policy agenda.”

“And what did he have to say about your thoughts?”

“As you said,” Wilson replied, “the man was no fan of Peshkov or anyone else at the Kremlin. He was quite clear that he believed America wasshirking its responsibilities by not stepping up sanctions and bolstering support to Ukraine.”

The Russian nodded. “Make sure to share that with the FBI.”

“You’re not worried about how that will look?”

“All I’m concerned about is you. Andyouhave nothing to worry about. In fact, I find it fascinating that even though Burman was interested in hiring your firm to lobby for him on tech issues, all he talked about at dinner was Russia and Ukraine.”

Wilson nodded. “Good point.”

“What happened after dinner?”

“I went home. He went to the bar.”

“Is that normal at your club, for a member to leave a guest? Is something like that allowed?”

“With all the money I spend there?” the ex-Senator asked. “Who cares? What’s more, who’s going to enforce a rule like that?”

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