was a skit rather than an arms deal gone wrong. I keep my gun trained on him, waiting until his bout of hilarity is over.
“Are you done laughing, motherfucker? Tell your goons to keep your shit art here. That’s now evidence. One wrong move and your next art piece is going to be ‘brain art’ because I’ll see to it that I paint this fucking deck with the contents of your head.”
Ok, not my finest moment but I’m trying to buy myself some time. Where the fuck is Walker?
Kronin doesn’t look worried at all. “What are you gonna do by yourself, Mr. FBI? All my staff is armed and I guarantee you that you and your friends won’t leave this boat alive. Well, maybe I’ll let the girl live. I can think of a few friends of mine who would pay a couple of million for such a beauty.”
Go figure, just when I thought he couldn’t get any creepier; Kronin doesn’t just traffic in nuclear weapons, he’s a sex trafficker too.
“Come on let’s get this deal finished, we have a wedding to celebrate. Obviously you’ll understand that your invitation has been rescinded, Mr. FBI. You and your friends won’t live to see the morning.” He nods toward his bodyguard. “Lagi, take care of these two unwanted guests.”
The huge bodyguard draws his own Glock with an eye roll. This must be the first time I see any expression on his otherwise impassible face.
But you know how life is full of fucking surprises? Lagi doesn’t point his gun at me and Royce, he points it between his boss’s eyes.
“Nope. I think we should stick with you being under arrest, Kronin. CIA, motherfucker! I’ll see that you get crayons in your cell so you can continue doing your shit art, if you get bored. Because you’re going away for a hell of a long time.”
I smile at Royce. Things are looking up. But the crazy Russian still doesn’t look as concerned as he should be. “I’m afraid you haven’t evaluated the situation correctly. Your government must be severely under budget if they sent such rookies after me. You have no power to arrest me. We’re in international waters and this boat flies a Russian flag. So Russian law applies on this boat and you have no jurisdiction.”
The asshole says the last part in a sing-song tone, taunting me and his former bodyguard. “Andrej,” he then says to his lead deckhand. “Get rid of these clandestines.”
Lagi’s gaze moves toward me but he doesn’t lower his gun. “The motherfucker is right. We can’t arrest him.”
I’m irritated that we’ve come to this and probably Walker hasn’t boarded the boat because he’s realized the situation. I’m about to say fuck it and shoot the asshole anyway when his thin, blonde chief stew shakes her head, drawing a gun of her own.
“Useless Americans! Your subpar skills almost cost me a two-year operation. KGB, Evgeny Kronin you’re under arrest.”
This time Kronin has the appropriate reaction. “Ekaterina? I don’t understand.”
The whole deck team is armed and Kronin is quickly handcuffed, so is the buyer who is actually an American. “We’ll keep him in custody until we get back into Monegasque waters. I’ll have the captain radio the port for Interpol. Then you can decide where to take your prisoner. Mr. Kronin is coming back home to Mother Russia.”
I nod at the Russian agent, there’s still something we need to do to end this operation once and for all. “His skull ring. It’s a key to access his safe and his database. He has some information I need. I made a copy but it’s not complete. It contains some pretty damning evidence against the groom, Mr. VDB. We’re here for him too.”
Lagi rubs his huge hands together. “I wish our bosses communicated a little more. I’m here for VDB too. So Kronin has all the evidence that my informant hasn’t been able to find in almost two years?”
I nod. “Yeah, our shit artist here had stolen the evidence. This is how he got VDB to lend his casinos to launder his money. Good old blackmail. But you said you have an inside informant?”
“Yup. VDB’s fiancée. She was the one that came to us when her husband was arrested for embezzlement. She had no actual proof about her claims that Mr. Barrington was innocent but since the Agency had been watching Mr. VDB for a while, we decided to help her collect the evidence she needed to free her husband.”
Royce looks surprised.