Chapter 12 - The Iron Circle
The peace of the lake house was shattered at dawn.
Kirill walked into the study where Alexi and Mara were reviewing financial documents retrieved from Lev’s captured briefcase.
"Saranov hasn't left the city," Kirill reported, his face grim. "He's holed up in a warehouse complex near the Port of Chicago. He's called in every crew he has in the Midwest. Forty men, fully armed."
Alexi set his glass down, his expression hardening instantly. "He knows he can't return to Russia empty-handed after failing to eliminate me. He’s going to attempt a direct strike before the council steps in."
"He's coming here?" Mara asked, standing up from the desk.
"He doesn't know where this house is," Kirill answered. "Not yet. But he’s putting pressure on every contact we have in the city. He’s offering a million-dollar bounty on you, boss. And half a million on the girl."
Mara felt a cold pit settle in her stomach, but this time, the fear didn't paralyze her. It sharpened into a cold, dangerous resolve. Her father had died at Saranov’s hands. She was not going to let the same man destroy her brother or Alexi.
"What was on the hard drive in Lev’s briefcase?" Mara asked suddenly, turning to Alexi.
"Encrypted financial ledgers," Alexi said, pointing to a silver flash drive sitting beside the computer. "Our techs haven't been able to crack the Russian state military encryption protocol."
Mara walked over to the desk, picking up the drive. "My father left a notebook. A journal filled with personal codes and cipher keys he used while attached to the consulate in St. Petersburg."
Alexi looked at her, his eyes widening slightly. "Where is it?"
"In my apartment," Mara said. "Locked in my desk."
Kirill shook his head immediately. "It's too dangerous, boss. Saranov’s men are watching her building."
"Then we don't send a team to raid it," Mara countered, her gray eyes burning with fierce intelligence. "We send a distraction. And I go in through the service alley."
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Alexi stood up, walking over to her, his hands gripping her shoulders firmly. "I am not letting you go back into that apartment, Mara."
"It's my father's journal, Alexi," she said, looking straight into his eyes, placing her hands over his arms. "It holds the key to Saranov's entire empire. It's time we finish what my father started ten years ago."
