Page 117 of The Oligarch's Daughter

The Deacon pointed again at the pile, and Paul could see that it was actually a well-constructed shelter built from forest debris. He glimpsed a hole where a human could crawl in.

“It’s a debris shelter,” the Deacon said. “You’ll want to get in there for a few hours. We can talk later if you want.” He held out his hand. “Stephen Lucas.”

Paul hesitated a moment, then said, “Paul Brightman.”

The Deacon smiled. “I thought so,” he said.

PART TEN

A CUP OF TEA

Five Years Earlier

77

Paul returned to the office in the early afternoon. The place was hushed, everyone apparently at their desks.

The Phantom flash drive was burning a hole in his pocket. He felt some of that same paranoia he’d experienced in the office at two in the morning, downloading documents to another flash drive, the tightness in his gut, the prickling of the skin at the back of his neck.

“Your errands get done okay?” Margo asked.

Paul nodded, smiled.

“Mr. Frost wants to talk to you. He wants you to go to his office right away.”

“Okay.” That couldn’t be good. Paul returned to his desk to find the red light on his phone console flashing.

A voicemail from Mr. Frost.

“Mr. Brightman, please come see me immediately when you return to the office.” A hushed voice, that barely perceptible Russian accent. A hint of menace.

Interesting that he didn’t send me an email or call my cell, Paul thought.He has my number. If it was as important as Frost made it sound, he could have reached him right away. Instead, he’d waited for Paul to be back at his desk.

*

Paul walked to Eugene Frost’s office, right next to Galkin’s.

No cordiality, no small talk. “Why were you at our remote storage site upstate?”

Hudson DataVault must have called him. Probably not the receptionist, Amy, but maybe the guy from the Pennsylvania office, outside Pittsburgh. A belts-and-suspenders kind of guy. He’d have double-checked authorization to cover his own ass.

“Doing due diligence on FanStars.”

“The gaming site I recommended.”

“Right. I don’t know if you know this, but Maxim Kagan is officially an SDN, a specially designated national. Which means that we can’t do business with him. We’re talking prison sentences if we do.”

“Mister Kagan originally brought in this deal, it’s true, but he is no longer affiliated with FanStars in any way.”

“I didn’t know that. Anyway, that’s why I went upstate.”

“You should have cleared this expedition with me in advance.”

“Understood.”

“I appreciate your wanting to be proactive, but you also need to follow procedures.”

“Okay.”

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