Igor wasn’t sure why he was there. He’d been sitting by the receptionist’s desk for twenty minutes. It was humiliating. He was used to being the one who made people wait, the one with flags by the door, and guards, and a receptionist behind a desk.

He looked at the clock.

Thirty minutes.

“Is he going to show?” he said irritably to the receptionist.

“He said wait,” the receptionist said.

“I know he said wait. I’ve been waiting. Now I’m asking how long.”

“If you want to leave,” the girl said, indicating the elevator.

Igor scoffed. He’d have enjoyed a chance to teach this girl some manners. The image of Agniya’s face as he strangled her flashed across his mind.

Another thirty minutes passed before the girl finally told him he could go to Timokhin’s office.

“He’s been in there this entire time?”

The girl shrugged.

“He made me wait on purpose.”

She’d remained in her seat.

“Well, aren’t you at least going to show me to the door?”

“You remember the way,” she said.

“No I don’t,” he said.

She sighed and got out of her seat with an immense display of effort. When they reached the door, Igor entered without knocking. The guards looked at him but Timokhin, who was inside the anteroom smoking a cigarette, waved them away.

“Ah, Igor, thank you for making it up,” he said, leading them to the inner office.

“You kept me waiting an hour,” Igor said.

“You strangled Agniya Bunina to death.”

“I did no such thing.”

“Come now, Igor,” Timokhin said, eyeing the nasty scratch across Igor’s face.

“You were using her to spy on me,” Igor said.

“It wasn’t me who was using her,” Timokhin said. “And you better hope that whoever it was doesn’t take this personally.”

“If it wasn’t you, who was it?” Igor said, suddenly worried.

“You’ll find out soon enough, my friend. Right now, we have a more urgent problem.”

“What problem?”

“We haven’t found a body for your girl.”

“Tatyana?”

“No need to sound so pleased.”

Igor shook his head. It was no secret he’d been upset at the order to kill her, but now that he was on the top floor, he would have to start playing by all the rules. It was difficult though. He should have been worried that Tatyana hadn’t been found, but a part of him couldn’t help hoping she’d escaped.

“Anything show up on the radar?” he said.

“No, and it won’t, she’s not that stupid.”

“And you wouldn’t tell me, even if it did,” Igor said.

“There are people around, Igor, who are beginning to question your loyalty.”

“What?”

“They’re wondering if maybe she was tipped off.”

“Tipped off? She walked straight into your trap. A trap I helped you lay.”

“Still, Igor. They wonder.”

“Who wonders?”