Page 126 of Fire and Ice

"I wish I could talk to you about it," Maia told him. "I think you'll enjoy it from a strategic view point."

"What kind of mission is it?" Jack asked casually.

Maia looked like she was deciding what to tell him. "Extraction."

Jack resisted the urge to curse. Extractions meant there were bad guys all around trying to take shots at you. "Why do you need to go as a blonde?"

"They're not sure if the hostiles know how I look like. I need at least to get through the airport undetected."

"So does that mean you have crossed paths with these hostiles before?"

"Jack, I've already told you too much."

He resisted the urge to press her for more, but his mind was working overtime putting pieces of information together. Maia had admitted that the mess in Baltimore did not end with Reznikov. There was one other person in play that he knew of: Mikhail Gavlik, who had sent those four badass-looking commandos that got to Colt.

"You're going up against Mikhail Gavlik, aren't you?" Jack stated hoarsely as his chest tightened with unbearable anxiety.

Maia's stunned reaction confirmed his deduction. Fuck.

"Babe, don't do this," he pleaded, but he knew from her set face that it was useless to try to dissuade her.

"Jack, baby," Maia said as she laid her head on his bare chest. "You have to trust me."

Jack rested his head on top of hers, feeling his own jaw clench. "OK."

He wasn't okay with it, but he relented. He didn't want to mess with her head by making her worry about him when she had deal with a Russian mob boss who was worse than Reznikov. But he had to find a way to protect her. It was imperative.

The next morning, Jack regarded Derek Lockwood steadily after he had filled him in on his suspicions of Maia's activities.

"But she had not confirmed this?" Derek pressed.

"She didn't have to, it was written all over her face," Jack replied.

His friend sighed. "What do you want me to do?"

"I want you to offer several vials of the tracking serum to Viktor for trial as well as a couple of the handheld tracking devices," Jack said.

"You know that the serum wasn't meant to be used as a stalking device," Derek said dryly.

"Just do it, Derek!"

***

"So Erik, what's an Italian doing mixed up with the Russian mob?" Maia asked the black-haired, olive-skinned man in the videoconference monitor.

"I'm only half Italian, my mother was Russian," Erik grinned, flashing even white teeth. "And I'm not mixed up with the Russian bratva, I'm fighting against them."

"A noble cause. So, what do you have for me?" Maia asked, getting down to business.

"I'll be emailing you the planned route of our journey. It will only lead to the outskirts of the province that Volynsky is hiding out in. Even we do not know his exact location just yet. He communicates via a network of trusted couriers. Timing is everything. I'll be meeting you at the Moscow airport. His courier will meet us to personally hand us his current location."

Maia considered this. "What if Gavlik's men intercept? Do you know if you're being followed right now?"

"We've clashed with them a couple of times," Erik admitted. "But we match them in men and firepower."

"You know, I'm just curious about your stake in this?" Maia asked shrewdly. "It's almost like carrying out a regime change."

Erik's face clouded as if remembering a painful memory. "When the Soviet Union collapsed, it brought about the rise of the Russian bratvas. They controlled the economy and many of our countrymen were exploited. My mother worked at GAV-VOL Pharmaceuticals and was killed in the crossfire between the warring bratvas. Gavlik is turning the company into a front for producing illegal drugs, Volynsky is committed to stopping that. They both own equal shares of the company but Gavlik is usurping the power of the board. We just need to install Volynsky back in control because legally, he is the only one who can do it."

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