Chapter 5 - THE WOLF AT THE FAMILY TABLE
We reached Saint Agnes before sunrise.
The abandoned hospital stood behind a rusted fence on Chicago’s West Side, its upper windows black against the gray morning sky. Rainwater poured from broken gutters, and faded religious statues watched us from the courtyard.
Mikhail wanted me to remain in the armored SUV.
I got out before he finished the sentence.
“The note used my name.”
“It also threatened my son.”
“And Misha left the clue where I would recognize it.”
Anton handed me a bulletproof vest.
“Put this on.”
I stared at it.
“It will ruin the sweater.”
“This is not the moment for humor.”
“It’s the only thing stopping me from screaming.”
Anton’s expression softened.
“Then keep making jokes. But wear the vest.”
Mikhail assembled two teams around the building. The red ledger remained inside a locked case attached to Anton’s wrist.
According to the note, we had to enter through the old emergency department.
The doors stood open.
Inside, the corridors smelled of mildew and wet plaster. Graffiti covered the walls, but fresh footprints marked the dust.
A child’s footprints.
Beside them were droplets of ketchup.
I crouched.
“Misha did this.”
Mikhail studied the red spots.
“How?”
“He took packets from the diner.”
“When?”
“I saw him put them in his pocket after dinner.”
Mikhail touched the first drop with one finger.
“He left a trail.”
“Smart kid.”
“He should never have needed to be this smart.”
The ketchup led us past the emergency rooms and down a stairwell.
Halfway to the basement, we found an unconscious police officer wearing an Eighteenth District uniform. His badge was missing.
Anton checked his pulse.
“Alive.”
“Cole used his uniform?” I asked.
“Or someone wanted us to think Cole did.”
The trail continued into the old laundry department.
A voice echoed through the darkness.
“Papa!”
Mikhail moved before anyone could stop him.
Anton grabbed his shoulder.
“Wait.”
A red laser appeared across Mikhail’s chest.
Sniper.
We dropped behind an industrial washer as a bullet struck the wall.
Mikhail fired toward the upper walkway. Anton’s men returned fire from the corridor.
I crawled behind a row of rusted machines.
“Misha!” I shouted.
“Nora!”
His voice came from a locked supply room.
I reached the door while the gunfire continued above us. The lock required a key, but the frame had rotted from years of water damage.
I slammed my shoulder against it.
Pain shot down my arm.
The door did not move.
Benny would have known how to break it.
The thought reminded me of the cast-iron skillet he had carried through the shooting.
I found a metal pipe beneath a sink, wedged it between the door and frame and pulled until the wood cracked.
Misha stood inside with his wrists tied.
Beside him lay Irina Petrov.
Blood covered the shoulder of her coat.
I cut Misha free with a broken piece of metal.
He wrapped his arms around me.
“I knew you would come.”
Mikhail entered seconds later.
The relief on his face was raw.
He lifted Misha and held him against his chest while Anton checked Irina’s wound.
“She’s alive,” Anton said.
Irina opened her eyes.
“Mikhail.”
“Who did this?”
“Cole.”
“Where is he?”
“Gone.”
“Who ordered him?”
Irina tried to sit up.
“You know.”
“I need to hear you say it.”
“Pavel.”
Mikhail’s expression hardened.
Irina grabbed his sleeve.
“Elena discovered the network. Pavel learned she had copied the accounts. He ordered the car explosion, but she survived.”
Mikhail stopped breathing.
“What?”
“She survived the first blast.”
Misha stared at her.
“Mama was alive?”
“For two days,” Irina whispered. “Cole found her before I did.”
Mikhail’s hand tightened around his gun.
“Where is her body?”
“I don’t know. Pavel moved her.”
“You waited nine years to tell me?”
“He had my sister. Every time I tried to contact you, he sent me a photograph proving she was still alive.”
“Why send Misha to Nora?”
“Elena created the Bluebird plan. She said if Pavel ever moved against her son, Samuel Hale’s daughter would be the only person outside the Volkov family who could be trusted.”
I felt the weight of that decision.
A dead woman had trusted me before I understood the danger.
“Did you lure Misha away from the mall?” I asked.
Irina’s eyes filled with shame.
“I told him about the kitten.”
Misha moved closer to his father.
“You made me get lost?”
“I needed to get you away from the security team. One of Pavel’s men had replaced your driver. They planned to take you to a private airfield.”
“Why didn’t you come with me?”
“Cole found me. I escaped long enough to direct you to the diner.”
“You left him alone in a storm,” Mikhail said.
“I saved him from men who would have put him on a plane.”
“You could have called me.”
“Your phones, vehicles and home were compromised.”
Mikhail looked ready to kill her despite the blood soaking her coat.
Misha stepped between them.
“She saved me.”
Silence followed.
Mikhail lowered the gun.
Anton’s men reported that the sniper had escaped through a service tunnel. Cole was nowhere inside the building.
We carried Irina to the vehicles.
Before leaving, I noticed writing on the wall behind the supply room.
A message had been carved into the plaster.
WELCOME HOME, MIKHAIL.
Beneath it was the symbol of a silver wolf.
Pavel was no longer hiding.
We returned to Mikhail’s primary residence because the safe house had been compromised.
His mansion stood behind stone walls near Lake Michigan, guarded by cameras, steel gates and men who looked prepared for war.
Misha refused to leave my side.
Irina was taken to a private medical room while Anton began interrogating every guard connected to the safe house.
Mikhail disappeared into his study.
I found him standing alone before a framed photograph of Elena.
She wore the bluebird necklace.
“You should be with Misha,” I said.
“He is eating breakfast with Benny.”
“He asked about you.”
“I need a moment.”
“You’ve had nine years of moments.”
He looked at me.
“That was cruel.”
“Yes.”
“Why are you here?”
“Because you’re deciding whether to believe Irina.”
“I believe she is hiding more.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Mikhail faced the photograph again.
“I searched every hospital after the explosion. Every morgue. Every private clinic. Pavel stood beside me while I identified remains the authorities claimed were Elena’s.”
“Did you test them?”
“Pavel arranged the identification. He said the fire made testing impossible.”
“He controlled the answer.”
“I let him.”
“You were grieving.”
“I was weak.”
“There’s a difference.”
“Not to the dead.”
I moved beside him.
“My father hid everything from me because he believed it would protect me. Instead, it left me unprepared when the truth arrived.”
Mikhail glanced down.
“What are you saying?”
“Don’t do the same thing to Misha.”
He looked toward the door.
“I do not know how to tell my son that his uncle may have murdered his mother.”
“Start by telling him you believe him.”
Before Mikhail could answer, the study doors opened.
A silver-haired man entered without knocking.
He was in his early sixties, elegantly dressed, with a dark suit and a silver wolf pin attached to his lapel.
Pavel Volkov.
Mikhail’s uncle spread his arms.
“My boy.”
Mikhail did not move.
Pavel’s smile remained warm.
“I came as soon as I heard about Misha.”
His eyes shifted toward me.
For the briefest moment, the warmth vanished.
Then he extended his hand.
“You must be Nora Hale.”
I did not take it.
“You know my name.”
“The entire city knows your name after last night.”
He examined the bluebird necklace around my throat.
“Beautiful.”
“It belonged to my mother.”
“So I have heard.”
Mikhail stepped between us.
“Who told you she was here?”
Pavel’s eyebrows lifted.
“Your guards.”
“Which guard?”
“You have dozens. Must I remember every name?”
“Yes.”
The single word changed the room.
Pavel lowered his hands.
“Something has happened.”
“You tell me.”
“I came to make sure my family was safe.”
“Were you worried?”
“Of course.”
“Then why did one of your companies purchase Nora’s diner debt?”
Pavel paused.
“Northstar holds many distressed properties.”
“You approved that purchase.”
“I approve hundreds of purchases.”
“Did you approve the foreclosure?”
“I do not involve myself in paperwork.”
Mikhail moved closer.
“Did you kill Elena?”
Pavel looked genuinely wounded.
Then he laughed softly.
“Is that what this woman has put in your head?”
“Irina is alive.”
The laugh stopped.
Pavel recovered quickly.
“That poor girl has always been unstable.”
“She claims Elena survived the explosion.”
“Grief creates fantasies.”
“She knew about Saint Agnes.”
Pavel’s face revealed nothing.
Misha appeared in the doorway.
“Uncle Pavel.”
Pavel turned with a smile.
“There is my brave boy.”
He opened his arms.
Misha did not move.
“Did you hurt Mama?” he asked.
The question landed like a gunshot.
Pavel’s smile faded.
“Who told you such a terrible thing?”
“Irina.”
“Then Irina has become very dangerous.”
Mikhail stepped beside his son.
“Answer him.”
Pavel looked from Misha to Mikhail.
“I loved Elena.”
“That is not an answer.”
“I would never harm this family.”
Misha stared at the wolf pin on his lapel.
“The lady said the wolf found Mama.”
Pavel removed the pin.
“Then perhaps I should stop wearing this.”
He placed it on the desk.
The gesture seemed harmless.
But I noticed a tiny red light blink once beneath the silver surface.
A transmitter.
“He’s recording us,” I said.
Anton drew his weapon.
Pavel struck the desk lamp, plunging the room into darkness.
Glass shattered.
A smoke device exploded near the door.
I covered Misha as gunfire erupted in the hallway.
By the time emergency lights activated, Pavel was gone.
Three guards lay unconscious.
One was dead.
The exterior gate had opened using Mikhail’s personal authorization code.
Only three people possessed that code.
Mikhail.
Anton.
And Pavel.
Anton picked up the discarded wolf pin.
A speaker inside it crackled.
Pavel’s voice filled the study.
“Mikhail, Elena made you soft. The boy made you weaker. And the diner woman will destroy what remains.”
Mikhail crushed the device beneath his shoe.
Then Anton’s phone rang.
He answered.
His face changed.
“What?” Mikhail demanded.
Anton placed the call on speaker.
A distorted voice said, “Check the Bluebird cameras.”
The connection ended.
Anton opened the recovered security feed on a monitor.
The screen showed the burned remains of my diner.
Benny stood inside the kitchen with his hands raised.
I turned.
He was no longer in the mansion.
Four masked men surrounded him.
One forced him onto his knees.
Another poured gasoline across the floor.
Pavel stepped into view.
He looked directly toward the camera.
“Bring me Nora, the ledger and the Union Station key.”
May you like
He placed a gun against Benny’s head.
“You have one hour.”
