Chapter 2 - The Viper in the Nest
"Mom?" My voice cracked. "Why do you have Elena's phone? Where is my wife?"
"She's right here, Elias. She and your beautiful daughter are sitting in the back of my car," my mother said. Her tone lacked any of the warmth I had known for thirty-five years. It was strictly business. "You made a mistake going to Highway 11. I told you to come home."
"What are you doing?" I pleaded. "Mom, please."
"I am not your mother, Elias," she said, delivering the words with the precision of a scalpel. "My name is Irina. I was assigned to Arthur thirty years ago to ensure his loyalty to the Volkov family. I raised you because it was my job to maintain the cover. And right now, my job is to ensure whatever is in Locker 42 never sees the light of day."
I felt the blood drain from my head. My entire life—the skinned knees she bandaged, the birthday cakes she baked, the tears she shed at the funeral today—was a fabricated lie. A thirty-year deep-cover operation.
"If you want to see Elena and your daughter alive," Irina continued, "you will shoot the federal agent standing next to you. Then, you will wait for my men to arrive. You have five minutes."
The line went dead.
I slowly lowered the phone. Hayes was staring at me, reading the horror etched into every line of my face.
"They have my family," I whispered. "My mother... she's one of them. She has Elena and the baby."
Hayes swore under his breath, a vicious, venomous curse. "The leak. We knew Volkov had someone close to Arthur, but we never suspected the wife. It makes perfect sense."
"She told me to kill you," I said numbly.
"I'm sure she did," Hayes said, reaching into his coat. For a terrifying second, I thought he was going to shoot me preemptively. Instead, he pulled out a sleek, rectangular device and a small medical lancet. "Elias, listen to me. Your father knew Irina was compromised. That's why he faked the stroke. That's why he's not in that coffin."
"He's alive?" I gasped.
"Yes. And he's already moving to intercept Irina. But we need to unleash this data now to strip the Volkovs of their power. I need a drop of your blood on this scanner."
"She said she'll kill them if I don't surrender!"
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"She's going to kill them anyway, Elias! You are a loose end. Your father is the only one who can save them, but we have to give him the distraction he needs. Give me your hand!"
Outside, the crunch of gravel echoed through the storage facility. Headlights swept across the corrugated metal walls. Irina's men had arrived.
