Page 42 of Hunt Me, Daddy

No one moved. No one reached for a weapon. But my brothers heard the line I had just drawn, and every one of them knew it did not belong there.

We did not keep things from each other.

Not operationally.

Not when the family was at risk.

Maxim’s voice went very quiet. “Sensitive to whom?”

“To the current Orlov operation.”

“Do not play language games with me.”

“They are not games.”

Nikolai leaned toward Aleksei and whispered, “He’s definitely about to die.”

Aleksei whispered back, “Maxim will make it look accidental.”

“I can hear you both,” Maxim said.

“That’s because we wanted you to,” Nikolai replied.

“Speak for yourself,” Aleksei murmured. “I was hoping to survive until we got dessert.”

Despite himself, Maxim’s eyes flicked toward them with the faintest edge of irritation, which was as close as we would get to relief.

Sergei did not move from the wall. “Did you remove Orlov eyes from the street?”

I kept my gaze on Maxim. “Yes.”

“Whose street?” Sergei asked.

There it was. Sergei never wasted questions. He stored them like knives and used the one that would cut cleanest. I finally looked at him, only for a second. His green eyes were already waiting.

“The relevant street,” I said.

Nikolai groaned. “Jesus, Ivan. Even I know that answer is terrible, and I think ‘relevant street’ might be a nightclub Aleksei would open.”

Aleksei considered it. “Relevant Street has potential.”

Maxim struck the table once with two fingers. “Enough,” he said. “Ivan, listen carefully. If Mikhail is circling something operationally significant, I need to know whether it threatens us.”

“It could,” I said.

“How?”

“If the Orlovs identify the intrusion source, they may use it as leverage or bait against our current surveillance. They may also assume Morozov involvement once they realize the first trail was false.”

“Will they be right?”

I smiled faintly. “They are often accidentally right for the wrong reasons.”

Maxim’s jaw tightened. “That is not an answer.”

“It is the only answer I can give you tonight.”

“No,” he said. “It is the only answer you are willing to give me.”