Page 76 of Crimson Oath
“Very well.” He turned back to watch the children on the meadow stage. “A reminder that calls from the tablet in your trailer cannot be traced. All your communication either by text or voice is encrypted.”
“Thank you.” She shifted in her seat. “I probably won’t call it; I’ll probably burn it.”
“That is your prerogative, my friend.” Radu smiled a little bit.
“But you can tell him you gave me the number.”
“Only if you want me to.”
“Oh no.” She pursed her lips. “I want you to tell him.”
Tatyana glanced at Radu, but he was watching the stage with amusement in his eyes.
The little girl on the stage spotted her doll leaning against a wooden tree. She crept forward on her hands and knees, crawling toward her doll.
Only to let out a high-pitched shriek as she was yanked back by the rope around her ankle.
“Baba Yaga!”
Chapter 15
Oleg
“It’s not because of the woman.” Oleg was on a video call with Polina, who was in Minsk, while Mika sat across from him at the table. “It is possible that Ivan is working against us using Vano’s people.”
Polina’s eyebrows went up. “So you want me to violate a long-standing agreement and find the route of the Poshani kamvasa?”
“Radu needs to know that his clan might have been compromised.”
“Weknowthat Ivan is working with Vano’s people,” Mika said. “We don’t know if Vano is part of it.” He shrugged. “I never liked that asshole.”
“Ivan or Vano?” Polina asked.
“Ivan.” Mika curled his lips. “Maybe both.”
“The question remains” —Oleg broke into their bickering— “we don’t know if Ivan lured Vano’s people away from the Poshani clan or if Vano is going behind Radu and Kezia’s back to work with Ivan. Are these independent troublemakers, or is there a bigger problem?”
“That’s what Vano has claimed,” Polina said. “When we discoveredthat these were Poshani vampires who had hijacked our truck, he implied they were rogue troublemakers estranged from the clan.”
“Is it possible the greater Poshani clan have allied themselves with Ivan?” Oleg asked. “I have a good relationship with Radu, but he’s only one of the terrin. My relationship with Kezia is very superficial.”
Mika said, “Power inside the clan might be shifting.”
“Exactly,” Oleg said. “These are questions that we need answers to. That’s why we must find the kamvasa.”
It wasn’t because Tatyana was with them.
It wasn’tonlybecause of that.
“The caravan has been roaming for nearly two months now,” Polina said. “I suspect they’re in the eastern part of my territory, but I don’t know for sure because I do not ask! They pay us well for those roaming rights and for privacy.”
Mika was writing something in a small notebook he kept his pocket. “It’s been the arrangement for centuries, Oleg. If you want to change our treaty with the Poshani?—”
“I don’t want to change it over the long term, but this year is different.”
“Because of the woman,” Mika said.
“Because they’re choosing new leaders this year.”
