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Blake slipped around the table but stayed behind Ethan, as if Ethan were shielding him from the worst of the images. Welby picked up a photo of the blood-ridden corpse.

“We’ve been asked to look into a suspicious series of deaths in Russia,” Jack said.

“President Puchkov asked?” Welby moved to the next photo, studying the corpse from every angle.

“No. Dr. Mendoza with Borderless Doctors.” Jack saw Welby lock gazes with Ethan for a moment. “She says that the local government is covering it up.” He slid the village photos across the table to Welby.

“Covering what up?” Pete grimaced. “What the fuck did that guy die of?”

“That’s the million-dollar question. Dr. Mendoza’s doctors don’t know.”

“And this,” Welby said, holding up the before and after photos of the burned and excavated village, “clearly means someone is hiding something.”

“Going to call Sergey?” Pete asked.

“Not yet.”

Ethan and Welby frowned, twin expressions of confusion on their steel-hard faces. Jack sighed. It wasn’t the time to point out how their long years together made them almost brothers, mirrors of each other at times.

“Whatever this is, Russia’s reaction isn’t like Sergey. He’d immediately request international medical aid, not burn and bulldoze a village to hide an outbreak. Someone in Russia is hiding this from their own government—from Sergey.”

“Then let’s call Sergey,” Ethan said.

“If there’s trouble brewing in Russia at this level, high enough to where Sergey is being kept in the dark after Dr. Mendoza calls the Kremlin, then someoneveryclose to Sergey is helping cover up this outbreak and these murders. Someone working against Sergey at that level is someone he trusts with his life. If we make the wrong move, Sergey could pay the price.”

Pete shook his head. “Sounds like we should definitely call him then.”

“What if he reaches out to the wrong man? Asks for help from someone who is betraying him and takes a bullet to the chest for it?” Jack shook his head. “No. I want to run down every angle first. See if we can get more information before going to him.”

“You think there’s another coup forming?” Blake crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, one boot balanced on the toes of the other.

“Maybe. But we don’t know that thiswasn’tdone by the locals. Burning and razing plague-ridden homes was how civilizations contained outbreaks centuries ago. This could be nothing more than an isolated tragedy. We shouldn’t jump to attributing this to malicious intent, not without evidence.” Jack blew out a slow breath. “But if itissomething else, something bigger, and someone is covering it up, then I don’t think Sergey knows anything about it. Dr. Mendoza says her calls to Moscow and the Kremlin are going unanswered. Sergey wouldn’t ignore this.”

“It’s been two years,” Welby said softly. “People change. Do you still know him as well as you did?”

“I know him,” Jack said. At least, he had. Two years was a long time. But not long enough to change a man so much that he’d become capable of this. “He’s not involved.” Was some Rasputin pulling the strings behind Sergey’s back again? Why was everything a hall of mirrors in Russia? He loved Sergey like a brother, but even their friendship had been hard won and built on shifting sands. “We still need answers. Dr. Mendoza is asking us to look into it.” He stared at Pete, then Blake, and finally Welby. “We’re doing this as a favor to her. You three do not have to get involved.”

“Are you kidding me?” Pete snorted. “Like you’re going anywhere without us.”

Blake chuckled as well, a little less boisterously.

Welby stared Jack down, one eyebrow rising.

Jack smiled. “I appreciate the sentiment. None of you have to come with us. Like I said, it might turn out to be nothing. You can stay here and take some time off. We’ve been working almost nonstop for a year. You guys deserve a break.”

“And if it turns out to be something, then we’re right where we need to be: at your side.” Pete clapped his hands together. “What’s the game plan?”

Jack tossed Ethan a wry grin. “You are not going to like it.”

Ethan’s eyes narrowed.

“I want to talk to Siddiqi.”

“God damn it, Jack.”

“He’s the best at what he knows.”

Pete’s gaze bounced from Jack to Ethan and back. “You mean the bioweapons guy? The Syrian defector? The Doctor of Plagues?”