Whit looked darkly at her. “That’s part of the risk. I was willing to accept it. I assumed you were as well.”
“Talking about the past doesn’t deal with the future,” said Shaw. He kept staring at Mallory. “Are you prepared to deal with the future?”
Mallory sat back. “What do you suggest?”
“I need all the intel you have on Kuchin. If we can get to him first, I’ll take it from there.”
“Meaning what exactly?” said Whit.
“I’m assuming you have proof that he is Fedir Kuchin and he committed all those crimes?”
“We do.”
“Then the guy will be tried and convicted.”
“That’s not exactly how we do things here, Mr. Shaw,” said Mallory.
“Yeah, well I do things a little differently. But I imagine there’s a court in Ukraine that would be very interested in dealing with the man. I doubt he would walk out of that country alive.”
“That may be true, although quite frankly I don’t know if our evidence would stand up in a court of law. I know it would morally, but the law doesn’t seem to care about such things anymore. But more to the point, if he is tried and convicted does our involvement have to come out?”
Shaw glanced at Reggie. “I don’t see a reason for that, no.”
“Then it comes down to whether we can trust you or not.”
“Oh for God’s sake, Miles,” said Liza. “If the man wanted to bury us, he certainly has had the opportunity to do so by now.”
“She’s right,” said Reggie. “He didn’t have to come here with me. He’d already found the place.”
Mallory looked interested by this. “May I ask why you wish to help us?”
“Pretty simple, actually. Kuchin deserves whatever’s coming to him,” said Shaw. “If I can help you bring him in, I’m more than happy to do it.”
“And the people you work with are okay with that?”
“I didn’t ask their permission.”
“And that isn’t a problem?”
“Not unless you make it one.” Shaw stood. “Now we’ve reached the point of wasting time. Do we have a deal? We get Kuchin and he gets tried in a court?”
Mallory eyed the others. “Unless anyone objects, I think we can welcome you to our team then.”
Shaw took Whit’s mag out of his pocket and tossed it to him. Then he eyed Reggie. “Actually, I prefer to think of it as a temporary assignment.”
CHAPTER
78
THANK YOU for helping me, my friend,” said Kuchin as he shook the other man’s hand and gripped his shoulder. They were meeting in Kuchin’s hideaway place on the outskirts of Montreal. The other fellow had the build and the confident manner of someone who probably walked alone and unafraid down dark streets in unfamiliar cities. Fifteen years ago he had held the position that Pascal now did before going on to start his own business.
“Urgency in your voice, Evan. We do go back.”
Kuchin poured out a drink for him and slid it across the table. The man took a sip, cradled the glass, and said, “She left a trail. Not a particularly clean one, but there are things there to lean on.”
Kuchin sat and looked expectant.
The man drained his glass, wiped his mouth, and opened a file. “Credit card and travel records. From Zurich she traveled by Swiss-air to Frankfurt. In Frankfurt she rented a car. The mileage shows she went no farther than one hour outside of Frankfurt. Still, that constitutes a large radius. She stayed at a small hotel in Wisbach. Why she was there and what she did is not revealed. I will need to put assets on the ground in order to build that information.”