Chapter 162: Ashes and Allies

Chapter 162: Ashes and Allies
They all climbed out of the sub-basement together.

Police sirens. FBI vehicles. Irina's convoy pulled up outside the warehouse.

Chen was there. Already taking control of agents. Relief flickered on his face when he saw them.

"Anya! Viktor!" He rushed over. "What happened?"

"Pavel Kozlov. Running all of this." Anya gave him the flash drive. "The entire financial structure. Communications. Global."

Chen took the drive. "Pavel? Your uncle?"

"My uncle who died two years ago." Viktor's tone was flat. "Who is most definitely alive right now. Bleeding out in a basement."

"Let me see."

They led Chen and agents down the stairs. Pavel's body where they'd left it.

Chen knelt. Checked the wound. "He's not going to last long without treatment."

"Good." Anya said without warmth.

"Anya." Chen stood. "We need him. Alive. We need him to testify."

"He tried to kill us. He was working with foreign intelligence." Her voice was shaking with fury.

"I want justice. Real justice." Chen gestured to the medics. "Can you save him? If so, take him to a hospital under guard."

Medics swarmed over Pavel.

Irina appeared at the stairs leading up. "Mother of God."

"Did everyone make it?" Anya asked.

"The full council." Irina nodded. "They're waiting upstairs. Dimitri is anxious to speak with you."

Anya summarized quickly. The ambush. Pavel's appearance. His intention to turn the families on one another.

Irina's face darkened. "Alive this entire time."

"Working with the Russians. Weaponizing American crime as foreign destabilization." Viktor presented her with photos of the evidence. "And he never cared about anything except himself."

"Now Chen has what he needs. But the council needs to hear it." Anya took the stairs.

The council chamber was fraught. Dimitri pacing. Anthony glued to the door.

"Good." Dimitri turned on Anya as soon as she walked through. "What is this I hear?"

"We almost died tonight." Anya moved to the head of the table. "Pavel Kozlov planned the attack on us. And every one of the attacks last night."

She waited. Silence.

"Pavel is dead," Dimitri said slowly.

"Pavel staged his condition. Two years of working to destroy us from the inside." Anya pulled up evidence on the screen. "He compiled files on all of you. For the purpose of blackmail."

Screens filled with documents. Financial statements. Photos of surveillance operations.

"Jesus Christ," Anthony breathed.

"He was going to turn you against each other tonight. Set the council against itself in a bloodbath." Anya was steel. "How did you stop him?"

"Ivan and I survived. Copied his files. Then Ivan killed him." Anya locked eyes with each of them. "Pavel is in FBI custody. He's alive enough to testify."

"Testify to what?" Dimitri growled.

"To everything. His financiers. His criminal operations." Chen walked into the chamber. "And each of you is going to help me prosecute it."

"FBI has no jurisdiction here," Dimitri said.

"FBI has jurisdiction over foreign intelligence operations. Over RICO conspiracies." Chen was calm. "Which by definition makes it my jurisdiction."

"And what will you do with us?" Anthony asked quietly.

"You help us. Offer any intelligence you have on Pavel's network." Chen met their eyes. "In exchange we focus on the true threat."

"You're offering immunity."

"I'm offering pragmatism." Chen sat. "Pavel wanted chaos. You help me end that and I will remember your cooperation."

The council members exchanged glances.

"What about my people?" Dimitri asked. "The ones who are still dead?"

"Pavel's people killed them. We have the evidence. Names. Locations." Chen slid a folder across to him. "You want justice? Help me get it."

Dimitri opened the folder. His face changed.

"Three shooters are on diplomatic visas from the Russian consulate." He looked up. "You can't touch them."

"Watch me." Chen's smile was thin. "I'll have them declared persona non grata and have them deported to face charges."

"Impressive," Irina said.

"Your uncle made one mistake. Underestimating how much you'd all grown since the last council meeting." Chen's gaze slid to Anya.

"He underestimated all of us." Anya's voice was firm. "The council is ours. We do not surrender it to anyone."

Murmurs of agreement.

"What happens now?" Anthony asked.

"Now we clean house." Anya stood. "Every operation gets audited. Every new hire gets vetted. We root out anyone else Pavel got into place."

"That will take months," Dimitri said.

"Better months of caution than another bloody ambush in the council chamber." Viktor's voice was ice. "We need to demonstrate strength. Unity. Make it clear that the council has survived."

"This was our first real test." Anya met each of their eyes. "Someone tried to kill us from the inside. And we survived."

"What message does that send?" Dimitri asked.

"That the council is real. That it is strong." Anya's voice was full of conviction. "And that anyone who attempts to tear it down will fail."

Chen stood. "I will need full cooperation. Access to all your security protocols. All of your financial records."

"That's a lot to ask," Anthony said.

"It is a lot to ask. For survival." Chen looked him in the eye. "Pavel had all of that access already. I'm only asking for permission."

Glances exchanged.

"Fine." Dimitri was the first to speak. "If you want records we will give you records. You will share with us everything you uncover."

"Deal."

One by one the families agreed.

When the meeting was over, Anya found herself with Viktor alone on the roof. Dawn breaking over the city.

"That was close," she said softly.

"Too close." Viktor lit a cigarette. Offered her one.

She took it. They smoked in silence.

"Pavel said love was weakness," Anya said.

"Pavel was wrong about many things."

"Was he wrong about that?"

Viktor turned to look at her. "Love can be weakness if it makes you careless." He reached up to touch her face. "But it can also be strength. If it gives you something worth fighting for."

"Which is it for us?"

"Both." Viktor smiled slightly. "We are stronger together. But being together also makes us more vulnerable."

"I don't want to lose you."

"Then don't." Viktor pulled her in close. "We survive. We survive whatever happens next. Together."

Anya leaned back against him. Watched the sun rise over a city that had almost ripped itself apart.

But hadn't.

The council had survived.

And she'd proven that she could lead it.