“Now you know.”
“Now I know. But how do we find him?”
“We find Nicolai.”
Her heart clamped. “What if my father’s in trouble? What if Nicolai did something to him?” She remembered the words of his aunt. “I asked Ms. Tunicova what I had done to cause her to hate me so much, and she said it wasn’t me, it was my father.”
“So, all of this is some kind of revenge against him?”
“I think so.”
“And if they get you, they get their ultimate revenge.”
She swallowed. “Yeah. Sounds like it. But she didn’t say anything about Nathan.” Ava narrowed her eyes. “I don’t think they know about him.”
He nodded. “He’s got someone watching him, and I know the guy reported to Gavin that he hadn’t seen anything that alarmed him.”
“Good. That’s good.”
He squeezed her hand. “Let’s go see if Mickey or his grandparents have anything to offer.”
A few minutes later, he led her into the hospital, and she followed him to the elevator, up to Mickey’s floor, then down another hallway to the door of Mickey’s room. He still had the guard. And the grandparent bodyguards who stood near the nurses’ station.
Caden approached Jesse. “Mr. Fields.”
The man straightened and adjusted the hem of his shirt. “What do you want?”
“I’d like to show you a picture.”
Mr. Fields blinked. “All right.”
Caden pulled his phone from his pocket, scrolled to the picture of the five men, and turned the screen so he could see it.
The man gasped and turned gray. His wife placed a hand on his arm.
“Jesse!” She turned to one of the nurses. “I think he’s going to have a stroke.”
Two of the nurses moved toward him, one reaching for her stethoscope, the other a wheelchair. She pushed it behind him. “Sir, sit down. Your color isn’t good.”
He held up a hand. “No, I’m all right.” His gaze lifted to meet Ava’s. Then Caden’s. “I think it’s time to tell our story.”
C
HAPTER
TWENTY-ONE
Ava stilled. “Yes,” she said, “I think it’s time. Please tell us.”
Jesse looked up at the nurse. “Could I borrow your conference room?”
She glanced at the other woman, who frowned, and Caden flashed his badge. “Please.”
Her eyes widened slightly, but she nodded. “All right, but I want to check his vitals first.”
“Of course.”
When she finished, she looked at Mr. Fields. “Your heart rate is too fast and your blood pressure is borderline high.”
“I’m not surprised,” the man said, “but I think once I get this off my chest, I’ll feel better.”
At first the nurse hesitated, then sighed. “All right. Follow me.”
Five minutes later, they were seated in the conference room one floor above Mickey’s. The nurse paused at the door and turned. “Please get someone if he looks like he needs it.”
“We will,” Ava assured her.
Caden nodded and the nurse left.
“Okay,” Caden said. “I’m not going to drag this out. Please, start talking.”
The man locked fingers with his wife and drew in a deep breath. He let it out slowly. “I believe you’ve already figured out much of it, but I’ll start with the fact that you have a very good ear, young lady. I’ve never had anyone call me out on that accent before.” His gaze held Ava’s and she gave him a tight smile.
“There’s a reason behind that,” she said, “but go on, please.”
“I grew up in Moscow. My father worked for the government and I quickly followed in his footsteps. By the time I was in my late twenties, the KGB was in full force, and I joined their ranks to work alongside my father.” He cleared his throat, and Ava rose to snag a water bottle from the tray near the door. She handed it to him. “Thank you.” He took a swig.
“And you knew my father, didn’t you?” she asked.
“Yes. Later, but yes, I knew him very well.”
She nodded.
“I still don’t know his real name, but he went by Dimitri Golubev when I knew him.”
“We figured that part out.”
“Ah. I guess I didn’t hide my surprise very well at hearing that name, did I?” He waved a hand. “Anyway, your father somehow figured out that a friend of mine wasn’t happy with the way things were being done in our country and offered him a way out. That friend then came to me and offered me the same deal.”
“Explain that,” Caden said. “Who recruited you?”
“Maksim Kuznetsov,” Ava said, her voice soft. “Am I right?”
Jesse blinked and his wife gasped—the first sound Caden had heard her make since they’d walked into the room. “Yes,” Jesse said. “How did you know?”
“It was a guess,” Ava said.
“A very good one. Max and I were good friends. He came to me and told me he’d made a deal with the US and did I want in.”
Caden leaned forward. “Just like that?”
“Yes.”
“He wasn’t afraid you’d turn him in?”
“I wouldn’t. He knew that. We were closer than brothers. He told me he was leaving, explained everything, and promised if I worked for six months, gathering intel and found one person to take my place when I was gone, that this man—your father—would help me and my family defect to the US.”
“There are five of you,” Caden said. “Where are the other two? We’ve tried to locate them, to warn them that someone is killing your families, but we’ve not been able to find them.”
“I don’t know. We’ve not kept in touch.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Ava said, looking up from her phone. “The pictures I took before Nicolai blew up the house have their names and addresses. They’ll be warned and protected, right?”
“Yes,” Caden said. He squeezed her shoulder on her good arm. “You did phenomenal.” He turned back to Jesse. “Back to you and the Baileys. I know you kept in touch with them—or at least Michael did. We found a photo of their family on the mantel in his home.”
Jesse paled again. “Yes.” He rubbed a hand over his head. “He shouldn’t have put that out. We weren’t supposed to communicate.”
“Let me guess . . . another son?”
“No. Nephew.”
Caden held the picture out once more. “Which one’s your brother?”
With a shaky hand, the man pointed to the last one in the row. “Gordon Bailey. Carl was his son. I knew something was wrong as soon as I heard Carl and his family had been killed. And then Carl’s sister and her three children in Oregon.”
A sob broke from him, and his wife bowed her head into his shoulder. Together, they wept. Caden looked up to see tears dripping down Ava’s cheeks. She took a deep breath and grabbed a box of tissues from the table near the door. “Here.”
“Jesse?” Caden asked. “Why is Nicolai Kuznetsov killing families?”