“And that lead?” Polina asked. “Do they have a name?”
Diana glanced over at Mordred. “We’re not sure yet,” she continued. “We need time to look around and hopefully figure out where we need to be.”
Polina looked between Diana and Mordred before nodding. She was obviously unhappy with being kept in the dark. “If you need something, come to me first. Lots of people in Moscow who work for Avalon aren’t always working with Avalon’s best interests at heart.”
“That seems to be the norm everywhere these days,” Fiona said with a touch of anger in her voice.
“Yes, well, you should still be aware.”
“We’re looking for Viktor Egorov,” Mordred said. “There, now you know why we’re here, and now I know who to come looking for should anything happen to us or him before we find him.”
Polina’s expression remained neutral, but the anger in her eyes wasn’t so easily concealed. “I am loyal to Elaine. I have always been loyal to Elaine, and I will not allow anyone to suggest otherwise.”
“I’m not suggesting anything,” Mordred said as he got to his feet. “I’m just making sure we’re all on the same page. Do you know where Viktor is?”
“Probably in his home.”
“And where’s that?” Remy asked.
“I can take you.” Polina held Mordred’s gaze. “I promise not to put any bullets in your head before we get there.”
Diana chuckled, and Mordred smiled. “Sounds fair,” he said. “Is it a long ride?”
Polina shook her head. “Not really. We’re not far outside of Moscow, but is he going to be happy to see you?”
“Judging from what Mordred told us about him, not even slightly,” Morgan said.
Polina smiled. “Excellent. He’s an annoying shit. I’ll make sure to capture this moment on film.”
She put her coat back on and escorted the group from the small building to two waiting Mercedes SUVs. Fiona, Morgan, and Nabu got into the rear one while Polina, Remy, Diana, and Mordred got into the front car, where several coats, scarves, and hats waited for them.
“Olivia said you’d need warm clothes,” Polina said from the front passenger seat as the car started.
“You are a beautiful person,” Remy said, putting on one of the dark-gray coats and making a sighing noise.
“You’re furry,” Diana pointed out as she put on her own coat before buckling the seat belt.
“Furry doesn’t really make much difference when it’s minus twenty and parts of me have frozen. Besides, I can talk. I’m sure if all foxes could talk, they’d tell you they were bloody well cold, too.”
“Why don’t you like Viktor?” Mordred asked Polina, not really expecting an answer.
“He used to be a big shot with Avalon, but things changed and he didn’t take his fall from up high all that well.”
Mordred relaxed a little. Maybe this wouldn’t be the mess he was expecting. “Any chance he doesn’t mention me by name as he’s cursing people?”
“He stopped cursing you a long time ago, Mordred,” Polina said. “Mostly he just curses Avalon, and the Kremlin, and anyone else who he feels let him down.”
Mordred looked out of the car window. He was hoping that what he’d done to Viktor hadn’t set him on a path of self-destruction and anger, but maybe it was all his fault. The number of acts he knew he had to make up for seemed to multiply by the day.
“If it helps,” Polina said, “I have no reason to hate you, Mordred. Elaine told me you were a changed man. Her word carries a lot here.”
“Do you know where she is?” Diana asked. “She was taken from a house in Scotland and presumably brought here.”
“I haven’t spoken to her in a few months. Last I heard she was looking into a place in Siberia. She wanted me to find information on an old gulag there.”
“What did you pass her?” Diana asked.
“Just maps, details of who was kept prisoner. Nothing that I’d have thought was reason enough to get her grabbed.”
“Can you get us those details?”
Polina nodded. “It’ll take me a few hours, but yes. I did it for Elaine in an unofficial capacity, so I didn’t exactly keep copies.”
“That would be excellent, thank you,” Mordred said. He hadn’t been sure whether or not to trust Polina. He couldn’t say for certain that she wasn’t involved with My Liege, but seeing how Elaine trusted her, he would, too. He’d lived his life never trusting anyone, always expecting to be screwed over. It took a lot of effort to get rid of that mindset; he didn’t want to go back to it.
“What does Viktor do now?” Remy asked. “Apart from seethe.”
“He’s an antiques dealer. And one with more ties to certain underground criminal enterprises than would usually be considered healthy.”
“Criminal enterprises?” Remy asked. “You mean the mob?”
“Not the human one, no. Avalon doesn’t have a lot of issues with them, but the human and nonhuman criminal element often work together. We believe that Viktor is involved with a local werewolf pack who owns a nightclub.”
Mordred’s eyes lit up. “Oh, we’ve got to go there.”
“Why?” Diana asked.
“A fight in a nightclub? I’ve never done that, have you? I bet it’s awesome. All John Wick, or some other film with an awesome nightclub scene in it.”
“Why would there be a fight?” Diana asked. “Scratch that—if you and Remy go in there, it’s almost a certainty that a fight will break out.”
“We’re classy like that,” Remy said.
“You do not want to go starting a fight in their nightclub,” Polina said. “People who start trouble in there don’t ever come out. We’ve tried to infiltrate their group several times, and not once has anyone lasted more than a few days. They don’t trust anyone who isn’t known to them, and word has it the underground levels of the club are used to hunt the people who cross them.”
“Does Olivia know?” Diana asked.
Polina nodded. “She thinks they have ties to this shadowy group who are working against Avalon. She found out they were involved with a group called the Reavers, who we all pretty much managed to destroy, but those Reavers were working for several people, like Hera. And we think the werewolves and Hera are in bed together.”
“And Viktor works with these people?” Diana asked.
Polina nodded. “That’s our thought, yes. He appears to be a money guy. Helping the rich get richer, knowing the right people to do the right job, that sort of thing. It seems to be a lucrative business for him.”
“Viktor gets rich helping rich people stay rich by screwing over the poor?” Remy said.
“That’s about the size of things, yes.”
“Sounds like a dream.”
“He’s smart, and he’s useful to the right people, so he’s untouchable.”
“Useful how?” Mordred asked.