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J ake put his computer on the table in front of the couch, then scrolled to the camera app and opened it. The office was empty, but the two cameras gave them a good view of the entire room. He glanced at Livvy, also studying the screen. “Now we wait,” he said.

She nodded slowly. She glanced at the phone. 10:45. “They should be arriving soon.”

His foot tapping the floor, Jake pulled a notebook out of his suitcase. It had a pen clipped to the first few pages, and he pulled it off. Began bouncing it on the table. The steady tap, tap, tap drove Livvy nuts. When she couldn’t bear it any longer, Livvy grabbed the pen from his fingers and held it out of his reach. “You’re gonna drive me crazy with that,” she said.

He looked from the notebook to Livvy. Back to the notebook. Sighed and flopped back onto the couch. “Sorry,” he said. “Nervous habit. The wait is making me impatient. Edgy. Are they gonna show up? Or are they out of the office, doing other things today? And if they are? What other things are they doing?”

Livvy stared at him, not allowing her mouth to twitch into a grin. “Maybe they’re out digging your grave in some abandoned lot.”

“Ha,” he said. He shook his head, but a smile flirted with his mouth. “Yeah, maybe they are. If they plan on killing me, they also need a plan to get rid of my body.”

Livvy leaned toward him and rested her hand on his knee. Even beneath his jeans, she felt the heat of his skin. The curve of his kneecap. “Don’t tempt fate,” she said, holding his gaze. “Or at least don’t give it any ideas. No one’s going to kill you, because they’d have to go through me to get to you. And I’m not easy to kill. Anyone pulls a gun or another weapon on you? They have to deal with me first.”

Jake’s shoulders dropped, and he sucked in a breath. “Believe it or not, that’s really reassuring,” he said. “Knowing you’ll have my back. Knowing I won’t have to fight off these guys by myself.”

Livvy scowled, the details of her own meeting with the Bratva still too fresh in her memory. “Yeah. I know what you’re saying. What was Nelson thinking when he didn’t send a backup for me?”

“He was thinking that he’d eliminated you,” Jake said, anger flashing in his eyes. “That he’d gotten rid of one of the people he’s, for some reason, afraid of.”

“You can bet that this group will be a lot more well-organized,” Livvy said. “Nelson’s probably learned from his mistake.” She furrowed her forehead. “Although I wonder how he’s going to explain not sending you information about your backup?”

“He probably hopes it won’t be necessary. If I’m killed, no one will know I didn’t have a backup.” Jake scowled. “Although if they were to succeed in killing me, there would be an investigation. There always is when an agent is killed. And it would come out that he hadn’t arranged any backup.”

Livvy eased back against the couch. Hooked one arm over the couch back. “His fatal mistake is that he thinks you’re alone. He doesn’t know I’m here, too, listening to the tapes and watching your back.”

Jake shook his head slowly. “Right, but he has to have planned for the unexpected,” he said. “And you showing up with me would definitely be unexpected.”

“Yeah, it would. But…” She grabbed his wrist. “Someone just walked into that office.”

Jake leaned forward, then moved to sit beside Livvy. Two men had walked in. One was middle-aged, with grey hair and an unshaven face. He was wiry but muscular, and he looked as if he could tear a man apart with his bare hands.

“Wouldn’t want to tangle with that guy,” Livvy said.

“Hell, no,” Jake replied. He didn’t take his gaze off the screen. Middle-aged guy took the chair at the desk, and younger and not quite as muscular guy sat on one of the couches.

Middle-aged guy said something to the other man, speaking what had to be Russian. Jake watched the two men’s expressions, looking for clues to what they were saying.

After another ten minutes, other men began drifting in. They all greeted the older guy, nodded to the younger one and sat on the couches. It looked as if they all had a usual seat -- either it was assigned to them, or they just chose the same spot every day.

By shortly after 11 a.m., the room looked full. Every seat was taken, and the men were speaking to each other in Russian.

The door opened one last time, and a young guy darted into the room. He leaned against the wall, nodding at the older man and all the other men.

Jake was surprised when the older man appeared deferential to the new guy. He nodded at the young man and sat up straight. Finally said, “Thank you for joining us, Petrov. We’ll welcome your advice on our job two days from now.”

“Is why I’m here, Alexei,” Petrov said.

“Good,” Alexei said. “So we begin.” He looked around the room, and it seemed as if he caught every man’s eyes. “We will speak English today, tomorrow and the following day. Our contact is not Russian. He won’t speak our language. So we’ll have to use his. Is that clear to everyone?”

He looked around the room, and every man nodded.

“Good,” he said. “So. First on the agenda. What do we do with the man from the FBI?”

The men began to murmur, but they were speaking softly. Livvy hoped the cameras would capture the words.

“Okay.” Petrov looked around the room. “No one else willing to speak up? When do we kill him?” he asked. “When he walks into the office? Or after we’ve spoken to him and negotiated with him?”

“I say when he walks in,” one of the younger men said. “As soon as he’s in the office and the door is closed, we kill him. Two shots to the heart while he’s still sizing us up.”

“That has the disadvantage of us not hearing his proposal,” Alexei said. “Maybe there’s something we can get from him.”

“That was not our orders,” Petrov reminded him. “The orders were to shoot him immediately. We want to avoid the mistakes our brothers in Brighton Beach made. They allowed the woman to leave, and Rostoman sent his son to do the killing. But the woman was able to manipulate the kid. Kept him in front of her. And when they got to the door, she took him down before he could kill her. We don’t want a scenario like that here. If we fail at this job, our contact will not be happy. He will stop giving us information on the shipments that are arriving. If we can’t divert the merchandise, our profits will drop. Which means all of us make less money.”

The men looked around the room. Many of them appeared leery of Petrov’s orders. Finally, another man spoke. He was older than the rest -- possibly the same age as Alexei. “We should take this man somewhere, so we don’t have to clean up the blood in the office. You know the police have tools they can use to find bloodstains, even if it has been cleaned up. No reason we should be targeted, but better not to be caught by technology. Take him down to the Gowanus Canal. Tell him you want him to see one of our operations. Once you’re there, kill him. Throw him into the canal.”

The men all looked at one another, not sold on the plan. Finally, one man said, “How many men will we need to subdue one man?”

Petrov scowled at him. “We are not subduing him,” he said. “We’re showing him our operation. Getting his advice. When we reach the canal? Boom. It is done. We shoot him and he goes over the railing into the canal. Problem solved. Our contact is happy. We get tips about shipments coming in. Everyone wins.”

“Except the guy who gets killed,” one younger man muttered.

“Sergei.” Petrov swiveled to face the younger man. “Are you unhappy with the plan to kill this agent?”

“Not if he deserves to die,” Sergei said. “But we know nothing about him. Just that a man in a faraway city says ‘you kill this man,’ and we kill him? Are we acting as assassins for this American?”

Petrov stared at Alexei and gave him a nod. Alexei stood up. “Sergei, this man tells us when a valuable cargo is arriving. Tells us what is on the ship and where it will be. All we have to do is wait until the middle of the night, black out the cameras, and take cargo. Bingo! Money for us no one has to work for.”

Sergei stood up. “Maybe instead of being the assassins for hire for this man, we should be working for our money.”

Alexei stood as well. “Sergei, do you no longer want to be part of group? No longer make enough money to keep that wife of yours happy?”

“No, Uncle,” Sergei said, falling back into his chair. “I want to be part of the group. But your contact is using us to kill this man. A man, who, as far as we know, has done nothing wrong.”

“We don’t know what he’s done,” Alexei said. “Maybe he has done something wrong.”

“Then why aren’t the American authorities doing something about it?”

“Poor Sergei, the delicate flower,” another man said. “Will killing this man hurt your feelings?”

“Of course not,” Sergei said. “But it doesn’t feel right. I thought we were honorable men. Not hired killers.”

Another man stood up from one of the couches. “Come, Sergei. Let’s go outside and talk.”

Sergei stared at the man. “So you can kill me?” he said. “No, thank you.”

Livvy looked over at Jake. “Do you think we can save that kid?” she asked. “Because I think we’re looking at a dead man walking. I doubt he survives this day. And he would be a good source of info about the Bratva.”

“Yeah,” Jake said, still staring at the screen. “Maybe we need to get over to that building and follow Sergei home. Try to recruit him. Or at least get him away from this group. Because right now? That kid’s days are numbered. Only because he didn’t want to kill an innocent man.”

“We can wait in that fast-food place across the street until Sergei comes out. Follow him until we’re sure no one’s on his tail. See if we can flip him.”

Jake nodded. “Not sure if he’ll be interested,” he said with a sigh. “But I think we have to try.”

“I agree,” Livvy said, standing up and reaching for her jacket. “Let’s get going. We have no idea when this meeting’s gonna break up.”

“Right.” He shrugged on his own jacket and said, “You have your gun?”

“Of course I do,” Livvy said. “Whenever we’re not in this room, I have my gun with me.”

“Good. Then let’s go.”

They walked quickly to the fast-food place across from the building where the meeting was supposed to be held. Stepped inside, and Livvy kept watch while Jake went to buy food. When he returned with fries and ice cream, she said, “What if he’s with a bunch of people?”

Jake ate a fry and frowned. “I’m guessing he won’t be. He’ll probably leave by himself before the rest of them. And I’m pretty sure one of them will follow him and kill him.”

“Then we have to make sure we’re between Sergei and his killer. You think he’ll believe us?” Livvy said.

Jake shrugged. “He didn’t seem very happy in that group. Maybe he’ll be open to what we’ll offer.”

“Yeah.” Livvy sighed. “All we can do is try.”

They’d eaten half the fries and some of the ice cream when the door of the building across the street flew open and Sergei walked out. No one followed him, so Jake and Livvy dumped the rest of their food and stepped onto the sidewalk. Sergei was about fifty feet ahead of them, and still no one had exited the building behind him. As he turned a corner, he glanced over his shoulder. Studied them for a moment, then walked more quickly. Jake and Livvy picked up the pace and followed him more closely.

They’d reached another intersection, and Sergei, shoulders hunched, glanced over his shoulder again. Walked more quickly as he began to turn left. Livvy and Jake moved closer, one on either side of him, and Jake said, “Sergei, are you in trouble?”

The kid stopped walking and spun around to stare at Jake. “What are you talking about? And who are you?” he finally said.

“You left the building alone. Most of the men go in and out in groups. I suspect there’s a reason you’re alone.”

Sergei took another step back. Frowned. “How do you know I’m in trouble?”

Jake shrugged. “A wild guess. You don’t look happy. And your shoulders were hunched, as if you were… concerned about someone behind you.”

Livvy touched Sergei’s arm. “We’d like to talk to you, if you have a little time,” she said.

The kid frowned. “And you’re going to take me somewhere?”

“No,” Livvy said. “We can go to a restaurant. Or a park. Wherever you like. Just somewhere that your friends won’t see you talking to us.”

Sergei took a step back. His gaze flicked from Jake to Livvy. Back to Jake. “Who are you?”

“Two people who want to help you,” Jake said.

Sergei put more distance between himself and them. “How do you know I need help?”

Livvy took a chance. “We’ve been watching you for a while. I think you’re very unhappy in the job you’re currently doing.”

Sergei looked at Livvy for a long moment. Then he stared at Jake as he began to back away from them. “What if I am in trouble?” he asked. “How could you help me? And my wife?”

“We could find you and your wife a safe place to stay, to start,” Jake said. “Find you a job. Make sure you and your wife are protected.”

“Why would you do this?” Sergei asked, backing away from them.

Livvy caught Jake’s eye. Should they tell him we were recording the meeting? Tell him we know he was against killing an FBI agent?

Jake nodded once, slightly. His eyes said, “Yes, tell him.”

Livvy drew a deep breath. Gave Jake a tiny nod. Then she turned to Sergei. “You know that law enforcement tapes a lot of meetings of men in your… group.”

Sergei sucked in a breath. “You recorded our meeting?”

“The meeting was being recorded,” Livvy said gently. “You wanted to do the right thing. The others in the room did not. We don’t want you to be killed because you wanted to do the right thing.”

“They would not kill me,” Sergei said. His voice was full of bravado, but his eyes held the knowledge that he knew they were right. His gaze darted from Jake to Livvy. Back to Jake. His larynx jumped when he swallowed. Sergei was scared.

“Maybe not today. Or tomorrow. But they’re never going to look at you the same way.” Livvy leaned closer. “What you did was very brave. We don’t want you to get hurt, or worse, because you stood up for what’s right.” She realized she hadn’t won Sergei over. But he was wavering. “You go home. Talk to your wife. If you decide you want our help, you can call my phone.” She recited her phone number, and Sergei narrowed his eyes. “That is not a New York area code.”

“You’re right about that,” Livvy said. “Just memorize that number, and if you and your wife decide you want help, call me. We’ll pick you up and take you someplace you’d be safe.”

She saw Sergei’s lips moving. Memorizing the phone number? She hoped so. “Talk to your wife,” she said quietly. “If you want our help, we’ll give it to you.”

Livvy looked around, afraid some of the people on the street might see them talking to Sergei. “Thank you for the restaurant suggestions,” she said in a loud voice. “We’ll give them a try.”

Sergei swallowed. Nodded. “You’re welcome,” he said. “Enjoy your meal.”

“We will,” she said. Then she and Jake turned and began walking away. When they reached a corner and turned around, Sergei had disappeared.

“You think he’s gonna call?” Livvy asked Jake.

He shrugged. “Fifty-fifty,” he said. “But I hope to God he does. If he doesn’t, he’s gonna end up in the Gowanus Canal.”