“I think it’s time to talk to Anthony.” Roman cocked his head, and Ana nodded.
They unbuckled and went to the couch to sit across the aisle from Anthony’s seat. He held a bottle of water, but it looked like the guy needed a gin after what he’d just gone through. Roman had given him a change of clothes before the flight since he’d been wearing the same ones for the past two days. Apparently, he’d been living in Savannah under an alias when Porter had found him.
“I’m so sorry this happened,” Ana apologized, her hands falling to her jeaned thighs.
Aside from Harper, the rest of the team hung back, offering Ana some space to talk to Anthony. A.J. would never leave her side, though.
“I am so glad you’re alive.” His Italian accent carried through his words. “Your parents wanted you to have a good life.” Anthony chanced a look at A.J. “I see you found someone you care about.”
Am I that easy to read?
“I did, but, Anthony”—Ana leaned forward ever so slightly across the narrow aisle—“I need your help. You were the only friend of my parents I ever met, so I assume you were close to them.”
“Your father was my best and oldest friend, yes.” Anthony’s blue eyes softened. “I was your godfather, but you disappeared immediately after they died.”
Ana’s gaze dropped to the floor. This must have been news to her. “Did you know my parents were Volkov spies?”
Anthony’s chest rose with a deep inhalation before he let the breath free through his nose. His hand trembled a little. A.J. doubted it was fear. Maybe Parkinson’s? He probably had trouble forging paintings and the like anymore.
“I did not know they were spies until they handed me the Daylight Ledger three months before they died, entrusting me with their secret. I was angry at first, and I did not want to help. I may be a criminal, but I love America. I moved here when I was a teenager, and I was not interested in helping to betray the country.”
“So, what changed?” Ana scooted to the edge of the couch at the news Anthony might be able to unravel mysteries that had haunted her for years.
“Your parents swore they were getting out of the espionage business. They didn’t want to be spies anymore. They said they’d been recently activated by the Volkovs, but by that time, they’d grown to love the U.S. and did not want to betray the country. They told me the ledger was their only way to get out.”
Ana closed her eyes, and A.J. set a hand to her back, his gaze lifting to where Harper now stood silently behind Anthony’s chair. Her eyes were wide with surprise. That was one theory the team hadn’t considered.
Fuck, if it’s true, then . . .
Anthony placed his bottle in the chair’s cup holder and turned in his seat to face Ana. “But yes, to answer what I know you want to ask me, I made one copy of the ledger.” His reply had Ana opening her eyes again. “But it took longer to acquire the specific type of leather used for the book, which was a very ancient material. Once I had that, I was able to forge a copy.”
“Not the key?” Ana asked, sitting taller, but A.J. kept his hand on her back.
“No, I did not copy the key. There was no need. Your parents said the forged ledger was only meant as a distraction. A decoy if need be.”
“If the Russians allegedly found the forgery thinking it was the only ledger in existence, and that it was useless without the key,” Ana began, “it stands to reason the SVR felt it was safe to come down hard on the remaining Volkov spies in the U.S. even without the key.”
That had been a theory the team bounced around as a possibility. The ledger and key were only valuable if someone had both.
“But is that what my parents wanted? For the Volkovs to die so they could be free of them?” Ana sounded doubtful her parents would want such bloodshed.
“No, they did not want to be Volkov spies anymore, but they didn’t intend for anyone to die because of what they’d done, which is why they planned to return the original ledger and key to Adrik Volkov,” Anthony explained. “Only, your parents told me something went wrong their last night there.”
“What happened?” Ana asked, her voice tight.
“Your dad said he’d planned to slip the originals back into Adrik Volkov’s home while everyone was at Grigory’s birthday, but Adrik had added several more guards, and he wouldn’t safely be able to get in and out without notice.”
“So, what’d he do?” Ana asked, and A.J. continued to run his hand up and down her back, hoping to help calm her in the only way he knew how.
“Your father said he and your mother hid the ledger and key in some type of tunnel system within the labyrinth. I don’t know. He said during the party, your mom went one way with the key, and he went a different way with the ledger, and they hid them. The plan was to wait a few weeks before tipping off Adrik to the locations. They thought it was best to delay for a period of time after the night of the party, concerned Adrik would quickly figure out who was behind the theft since the guest list was limited to less than a hundred close friends and family.”
“So, there were never any rumors circulating that Ana’s parents stole the Daylight Ledger?” A.J. asked, hoping for confirmation, another nail in Porter’s coffin.
“None that they were aware of, and I doubt they would have made it out of Budapest alive after your sixteenth birthday if so, no?” Anthony looked at Ana and held both palms open as if everything were so perfectly clear.
“Why’d they tell you all of this?” Ana asked. “I know you were friends, but—”
“They had concerns that if something happened to them, you would be in danger. They wanted to make sure I could protect you, but I see the FBI hid you away.” Anthony reached across the aisle. “You look so much like your mother. She would be proud of the woman you have become.”
Ana flinched at his touch for a brief moment, then her body relaxed, and she reached out for him, allowing him to hold her wrist. Anthony’s hand stopped trembling once he held on to Ana. “I just don’t quite understand how they were going to break away from the Volkovs if the forged copy was meant as a mere distraction, and the originals were meant to go back to Adrik.”
“Your father was a smart man.” Anthony smiled and set his hands back in his lap. “He used the key to decode the ledger, and then he made a translated copy of the entire thing himself. He no longer needed the key or the ledger, you see. Whatever his plan was for exiting the Volkov organization must have hinged on that translated copy.”
“What?” Her eyelashes fluttered in surprise. “So, what were they going to use it for? Why were my parents killed outside the movie theater? How did the SVR know they had the ledger yet the Volkovs didn’t? Something doesn’t add up.”
“Porter knew her parents had the ledger, didn’t he?” A.J. interjected. “He told you about the rumors, but if he made them up . . .” A.J. prompted, and Ana’s forehead tightened when she understood what A.J. was getting at.
“Ohhh.” Ana banded her forearm over her stomach. “Oh my God.” She began rocking on the couch ever so slightly. “Porter and Winters knew my parents had the Daylight Ledger because they’re FBI, and my parents were going to turn themselves in. Offer the ledger in exchange for immunity. But my parents wanted the Volkovs to retain possession of the original ledger and key to prevent the SVR from killing the Volkov spies living in the U.S. before the Feds rounded them up and made their arrests.” She took quick breaths, and A.J.’s pulse raced as he watched Ana come to terms with the fact her parents had been trying to do the right thing. “Only, at the time, neither Porter nor Winters knew the copy at our house was a forgery.”