Page 18 of Lay It Bare

Sevastyan shook his head. “The Merchari lawyer may know, but I don’t want to poke that hard. They don’t know what we don't know yet. Whatever it is, Dirk probably does know.”

Rei waited to see if Sevastyan would say anything else, then took a bite of food.

Someday, bright one, you won’t need to worry about showing respect on this level.

Someday. But not today. Not with Lisa literally sleeping in their den. They’d crossed so many lines already. The only saving grace was that Lisa hated the Merchari. What remained to be seen was if he would use his knowledge to bring Sevastyan down, or keep his mouth shut because he understood that Rei was better off with a master who was sometimes lenient.

Everything was a risk. Either Lisa was going to become more trusted, or he was going to end up at the bottom of the river. Alexi would survive. Sevastyan could probably even pass the death off as self-inflicted.

Around midnight one of Sevastyan’s contacts messaged with the charges against Bak Sahyuk. He’d been traveling under a stolen identity. Not the most unusual behavior. The name itself, though, was.

“Jun River.” Sevastyan passed his phone to Rei to read the message.

Rei’s eyes flashed to Sevastyan’s face. Neither had to say what they were thinking.

Jun River was the name Jun had told Rei when they were kids. His English name. Rei left the clothes he was folding and grabbed his laptop. Sevastyan left him to it. Rei’s brain moved fast and silent. He preferred to work things out, then bring his findings when he was finished.

Sevastyan was more instinctual, thinking with his gut.

His gut was signaling that Dirk knew more than he was saying and wanted more than he was asking for. He sent a message to Alexi.

Alexi rang. “Entertain an old man.”

“What time is it even there for you?”

“Time is a human construct.” Alexi sounded relaxed, perhaps under the influence of weed or alcohol.

“Dirk is putting pressure on me to get closer to Gang Junseo. The Yadro agrees with my assessment to wait. There’s no good reason to get closer right now. The resources aren’t even assigned. I’m alone. Reevesworth Industries has multiple forms of security on him twenty-four seven. My informant is keeping me updated on where he is, but physically getting cameras on him would require an act of god and the resources of a major world government.”

Alexi laughed. “You’re as good as one or the other.”

“Yes, well, if I could duplicate myself, it might be sufficient, but that technology is sadly lacking.”

Alexi chuckled even more. “You should fuck your slave. You sound stressed.”

“Don’t feel like it,” Sevastyan said. Even he could hear the petulance in his voice. “Been changing shipments to Canada and Mexico all day. Some idiot out west got himself arrested.”

“Heard about that.”

“Think it’s connected?”

“Hadn’t considered it.” Alexi paused for a moment. “You do, though.”

“Tell me about Dirk. What do you have on him?” Sevastyan went into the kitchen and set about making coffee. Maybe it would calm his nerves enough so that he could sleep.

“Oh, that will cost you.”

“Yes, well, your little fox tried to die on me yesterday. Thirty-eight-point-nine fever and vomiting. He’s almost out of it now, but the reason I’m not fucking my slave is because he’s busy keeping your slave alive.”

“You poor boy,” Alexi said. “How is my fox, though? You didn’t say much yesterday when you said he was there.”

“He wasn’t sick then and he’s recovering now. It was rough, though.” Sevastyan turned on the coffee pot and leaned against the counter, crossing his arms. “Had to use suppositories and IV fluids. He couldn’t keep anything down.

“Thank you for looking after him. I don’t know Dirk well. He’s the kind that finds someone and rides their coattails. I don’t have much time for ass lickers. He ran through his good will over here in Europe, but got himself established in Oceana and a bit in North America. Best of my knowledge, he’s never even set foot in the Yadro. Honestly, I wouldn’t know his name except for the bad taste he left in some mouths over here.”

“Add mine to the list. He’s pushing for intel directly from me on my target.”

“Tell him to fuck off.”