Chapter 162 The Bratva
ROURKE’S POV
I did not go home after the meeting with Elena ended. I drove straight back to the station and went directly to my desk and picked up my phone and kept it in my hand for the next several hours without stopping.
The first person I called was Agent Carver at the FBI field office. He worked specifically in the organized crime division and I had collaborated with him twice before on cases that crossed into federal jurisdiction. He was someone I trusted completely and he knew the subject matter better than anyone else I had access to.
I told him everything from the beginning. Who Elena Volkov was. Her history with Collin. What she told us about the organization Collin had been working with. The missing money. The timeline she described. Every detail I had written down during the meeting.
Carver listened to all of it without saying a single word until I was completely finished. Then he said "we already know about Hayes."
"Tell me what you have on him," I said.
"His name has been documented in our files for close to three years," Carver said. "He was never elevated to primary target status so we never initiated direct action against him. But we built a solid file on his connection to a Russian organized crime network. His primary function for them was money laundering. He moved very large sums of money through a series of shell companies on their behalf and by all accounts he was extremely effective at it."
"Which specific group," I said.
"A faction operating out of St. Petersburg," Carver said. "They have established operations in at least five major American cities and they have been running those operations for well over a decade. Hayes was one of their most trusted and most productive domestic contacts for several years."
"What happened on your end when he died," I said.
"We noted it and we monitored," Carver said. "We picked up some internal communications from the network about the disruption his death caused to certain operations. But nothing that gave us enough to act on at the time. We flagged it and continued watching."
"My witness says Hayes took several million dollars directly from the organization before he died," I said. "And the organization currently believes that Caitlyn Cross either has the money or has information that leads to it."
"How much money specifically," Carver said.
"My witness does not have a precise number," I said. "But she described it as a large amount. Multiple millions without question."
"That is completely consistent with the scale of what he was handling for them," Carver said. "If he redirected a major transfer or skimmed from a significant transaction they would classify recovering that money as a top priority matter and they would not stop pursuing it."
"Walk me through their process," I said. "When they are pursuing a debt recovery at this level what does that actually look like step by step."
"They are organized and they are patient at first," Carver said. "The first step is always reconnaissance. They send someone in quietly to assess the situation and gather information before making any visible moves. The second step is making contact with the target and applying pressure through threats and intimidation. They strongly prefer that approach over physical action because violence creates attention and attention is bad for their operations. The third step is escalation if the first two steps do not produce results."
"What does escalation mean for them at this level," I said.
"It depends on the amount involved and how cooperative the target has been," Carver said. "But at the level of money we are discussing they will not walk away. They will continue increasing pressure until they recover what they lost or until something external stops them from continuing."
"Caitlyn Cross genuinely does not have the money," I said. "She had no knowledge of any of Collin's connections to this organization while he was alive. She learned about his criminal activity the same way everyone else did."
"I hear you and I have no reason to doubt that," Carver said. "But getting the organization to accept that answer and stop pursuing her is an entirely separate challenge. These people do not take someone's word for things. They need to be shown and even then it is not guaranteed."
"What is the realistic timeline before they make an active move against her," I said. "If they sent someone here approximately two weeks ago how much time do we have."
"That person has had more than enough time to complete a full reconnaissance and report back to leadership by now," Carver said. "If the leadership is satisfied with what they heard they could authorize action very soon. I would not plan on having more than a week. It could be considerably less than that."
I wrote the number down and stared at it. "I need the full resources of the FBI on this," I said. "My department does not have what is needed to handle something at this scale on its own."
"Send me every document and every note you have from tonight before you go to sleep," Carver said. "I will have a dedicated team briefed and assigned to this first thing tomorrow morning."
"I also need guidance on protective options for my witness," I said. "Elena Volkov came forward voluntarily and gave us genuinely valuable information. She is putting herself at significant risk by cooperating with us and she needs something real in return."
"Get me her complete information tonight along with everything else," Carver said. "I will look at what federal options are available and get back to you."
I ended the call and immediately dialed Walsh. She picked up on the third ring despite the late hour.
"How serious is it," she said. She skipped the greeting entirely.
I told her everything. The FBI confirmation that Hayes was already in their files. The St. Petersburg faction. The scale of the debt. The timeline Carver gave me. The escalation pattern. Every piece of it.
Walsh listened to all of it without interrupting once. When I finished she was quiet for a brief moment. "How reliable is Elena Volkov as a source," she said.
"Reliable enough that the FBI is treating her information as credible without hesitation," I said. "And the connection between Hayes and this network was already independently documented in FBI files before she said one word to any of us. She did not create that connection. She confirmed it and added detail to it."
"What do you need from our end to move forward," Walsh said.
"I need a meeting with Caitlyn and Jason first thing tomorrow morning," I said. "They need to understand the full picture of what they are dealing with. And I need whatever resources we can dedicate to tracing Collin's hidden financial activity because locating that money is the most direct way to remove the target from Caitlyn."
"You have the resources," Walsh said. "Set the meeting for eight in the morning."
"One final thing," I said. "Elena Volkov took a genuine risk coming to us. She deserves something meaningful in return for that."
"Coordinate with Carver on federal protection options," Walsh said. "That is the appropriate level for this situation."
"Already on my list for tonight," I said.