"I don't want to, but I need to. Keep going, Brandon."
"Natasha's career took off with Jagger's help. Constantine asked her to divorce Ashton so she could more freely pursue Jagger. Their relationship got to marriage, but it didn't last long. Once they had wrung Jagger dry, Natasha was ordered to leave him so that she could be free to pursue other targets." Brandon consulted the screen in front of him. "Daniel Bragin was the next one on the list. Bragin's tech companies were rich with data, and she was able to get into Bragin's office where she planted spy equipment and also copied reports she found in his files. Her success in penetrating Bragin's security drew attention from Constantine's bosses back in Moscow. They wanted to expand her reach, and they wanted someone else to handle her. That someone was Edward Coleman."
"Coleman," Jax muttered. "I thought he was American, and he was vetted through politics."
"He was born in the US," Brandon said. "His personal story was true, but his parents' story was not. His father was KGB, and his parents came to the US in the sixties under the name Coleman. They ran a restaurant in Sacramento, near the capitol for a long time, a restaurant that was also a funnel into California politics. Coleman later moved to LA, working his way through the DA's office until he got the top job in the state as attorney general."
"And he was a spy?" she asked in amazement.
"Yes," Brandon replied.
"I'd guess he still is," Jax added.
"What happened next?" Maya asked. "My grandmother started working for Coleman?"
"Yes, but she didn't like him. She was scared of him. He was physically abusive toward her, and she wanted out. She talked to Constantine, but he said his hands were tied, and that Coleman would never hurt her."
"Is Coleman the one who killed her?"
"We're not there yet," Brandon said. "There are a few other things you need to know. The most important one is that your grandmother decided to take back control of her life. She approached an FBI agent by the name of Carl Wilson, and she became a double agent."
"What?" both she and Jax echoed at the same time.
Brandon nodded, a gleam in his eyes. "Another twist, right? Natasha wanted to get back at Constantine and Coleman, not just for herself but also for Julia."
"What was Julia's role?" she asked.
"Coleman wanted to run Julia, too. She was alone after her father got kicked off the pro circuit for illegal gambling. Julia was a star. She could get in anywhere. She was also vulnerable and scared. She told Natasha that Coleman raped her. Natasha thought Coleman probably would have done the same to her, except that Constantine was still watching over her, and Coleman and Constantine were partners. Natasha told Julia to quit the tour, which made her less appealing to Coleman. Natasha helped Julia fake her injuries so that she was laid up and then in rehab miles away from Coleman. She also gave Julia money to start over."
"So their friendship was real. Julia didn't dislike Natasha at all. Constantine steered us in the wrong direction," she said.
"Let's get back to Natasha being an FBI asset," Jax said. "There's no record of her anywhere in our files, right?"
"Right," Flynn agreed. "Caitlyn and I checked every database we have."
"It was off book," Brandon said. "Natasha told Wilson there were other spies at the bureau. He couldn't take the chance that she was right. He used her in a big operation called Moonlight, which outed eight Russian spies."
"That was Natasha?" Caitlyn asked, amazement in her eyes. Her gaze swung to Maya's. "That operation was huge. It was an intelligence coup."
"But that operation didn't take down Constantine or Coleman," Jax put in. "Why not?"
"Wilson didn't want to blow Natasha's cover," Brandon explained. "He wanted to keep using her, so he let them go. That decision was costly. A week later, Natasha was dead."
A heavy pall came over the room at Brandon's words.
"They killed her," Maya whispered. "They found out what she had done."
Brandon nodded, his expression now grim.
"What about Wilson?" Jax demanded. "Why didn't he go after them?"
"He died of a heart attack two days after Natasha's death. There was no autopsy. It appeared to be natural causes. But I suspect that it was not."
"No one else at the bureau knew about my grandmother's involvement?" she asked.
"No one who is mentioned in Natasha's book," Brandon replied. "I looked up Wilson after