Page 61 of Near Miss

“If I were you, I’d assume they already have.”

“So, you’re saying I should never go outside again.”

“I’m saying Gromyko is a problem that needs to be dealt with, because if he can figure out how to kill you in your chair, he will. Walls won’t save you.”

“Did you plan this visit to cheer me up?” Stone asked. “Which, incidentally, is not working. Or did you just happen to be in the neighborhood?”

“I was in the neighborhood, and I thought we should have a chat about our mutual problem.”

Stone glanced at his watch. “Would you like to join me for lunch?”

“Thank you, yes.”

Stone picked up the phone and pressed a button. “We will be two for lunch, in the study. Peter, do you have any dietary requirements?”

“None whatsoever. I eat anything.”

Stone passed along the instructions and hung up. “Where were you born?” he asked, because he couldn’t think of anything else to say.

“In St. Petersburg, then it was Leningrad, of course. We emigrated to the States when I was five. I became a citizen at sixteen.”

“Your brother Anton was older?”

“By six years. He had already established the crime family by then. He made it clear that I might join him whenever I wished. I declined, but he didn’t think my choice was permanent. He kept pestering me about it, until I acquiesced.”

“And became his financial guy.”

“Yes. A job that I continued to do for the Gromykos, for a while.”

“Did you keep the books?”

“I did.”

“Was there more than one copy?”

“I have a thumb drive containing everything for the past seven years. Including the time since the Gromykos took charge.”

“That would be very useful to your not being killed by breaking free of the family.”

“It’s like you are reading my mind. The information I have would put Gromyko and many other influential members of the family away for good. But I can only do so if you help me get it in the right hands.”

Chapter 32

They had omelets quietly, while Stone tried to figure out what to do with this new information about Peter Greco’s thumb drive.

“Have you figured out what to do with the thumb drive?” Greco asked.

“Whoever you give it to, you should be represented in such a transaction,” Stone replied.

“Will you represent me as my attorney in this matter?”

Stone thought about it for a millisecond. “Yes,” he said. “Normally I would not, since we both have a stake in the outcome.”

“Do we not have the same stake? Our lives?”

“Yes, so there is no conflict of interests.”

“As my lawyer, what do you think we should do?”

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