“Because you don’t know if you’re in my will yet.” Tanner waved him out of the room. “Go away. I’ll watch it.”

He settled back in his chair and glared at the computer. It didn’t help that Mallory was right. Too many of the chords Kaskov had struck had made an impact, and he hated being manipulated. He had an idea that Kaskov wouldn’t have included this disk if it wasn’t designed to do the same thing.

“Play it!” Mallory called from the other room.

Tanner muttered a curse and punched the button.

Lara Balkon appeared on the screen, dressed in jeans and sweatshirt, her long hair in a ponytail. She looked much younger than she had in the passport photo. She was sitting at a piano. Then she started to play Rachmaninoff’s Concerto No. 2.

Tanner froze. “Holy shit.”

He tried to be objective, to criticize her technique, to stop Kaskov’s words repeating in his mind.

So you can understand what they’re trying to kill.

Then that was all gone.

Everything was gone but the music.

* * *

“You’ve played it four times.” Mallory was leaning against the doorjamb. “Not that I blame you. I’m not even a fan of classical music but I can tell she’s something special. How good is she?”

“Phenomenal. No, magical. Kaskov was right, damn him.” Tanner reached out and turned off the DVD. “I can see why she might have had that effect on him. But why the hell didn’t the bastard yank her out of that situation when she was a kid? Why wait until now and leave it up to me?”

“Maybe he didn’t have a choice,” Mallory said quietly. “Or maybe he thought there would be an opening for him to do it down the line somewhere.” He held up the manila envelope. “I could see they kept her pretty busy from the time her father brought her back from that recital in Moscow. Some of it is pretty rough. Are you ready to read it?”

“No.” He got to his feet. “I don’t have time now. Take it with you.” He moved across the room and past him into the foyer. “You don’t have time, either. Call Jordan in London and tell him to get the crew together and be ready to head out for Rome within the next two hours.” He was striding toward the elevator. “I have to go down to the lobby and tell Nikolai what I’m going to need from him.”

Mallory followed him. “I take it that we’re going to Russia?” He smiled with sly malice. “Oh, my, I guess I’ll have to cancel that poker game tomorrow night.”

“Don’t push it,” Tanner said sourly. “I’m pissed off enough that I have to do this, and try to make it happen in the space of a few days.” He got into the elevator. “And if Kaskov thinks he’s going to get off scot-free and not tell me everything I need to know about Sandrino after this is over, he’s very much mistaken.”