[SPEAKER_00]: The American, chapter forty-five, troubled at work, part three, a short-hand missile tail by Matthew C. McLean.
[SPEAKER_00]: At well, whenst the pain I was causing and making it difficult to find is lies,
[SPEAKER_00]: So slowly, you begin with the truth.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've been following midnight at first.
[SPEAKER_00]: When he got into town on his boss passport and started throwing money around up a lot of money, you could tell he liked it here.
[SPEAKER_00]: That will wipe a bit of drool and blood from his chin, grinning through it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Can you blame him?
[SPEAKER_00]: The weather here is a hell of a lot better than Moscow or Minsk, and it's safer.
[SPEAKER_00]: Russia may be a lot better than it was fifteen years ago, but it's still a dangerous place and he's got a lot of enemies.
[SPEAKER_00]: I wrote a report that back in the motherland he traveled with a bit tune of guards at the entire time.
[SPEAKER_00]: Here he walk around a broad daylight with just two
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I've met them.
[SPEAKER_00]: I said, thinking about midnight stories of the Vory and the gang war is the piece that had followed and the Russians he had staying as guests.
[SPEAKER_00]: Why'd you stop following him?
[SPEAKER_00]: That will shift to this way in the trash pile, angling his most sensitive parts away from me.
[SPEAKER_00]: Organized crime isn't my job.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm here because of the war on terror.
[SPEAKER_00]: I said the heart of the dead.
[SPEAKER_00]: I could practically see the trademark logo floating next to the last three words.
[SPEAKER_00]: That well shot me an angry glance and much as one as he could muster and went on.
[SPEAKER_00]: Mittening was the same as Satre, moving a lot of things, people, money, moving them all over.
[SPEAKER_00]: from Masha, Ukraine, Belarus, Syria.
[SPEAKER_00]: So eventually approaching him with the same offer at Game Satray.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let us know if he sees anything, and we want to interfere with his operation.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that was fine for a while.
[SPEAKER_00]: Hell, him and Satray even did a little business.
[SPEAKER_00]: Girls from the Ukraine.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I mean, I sold him to Satray for the local brothels.
[SPEAKER_00]: Those words caused something to rise in me that I had to chained down immediately.
[SPEAKER_00]: I tightened my grip on the umbrella.
[SPEAKER_00]: Instead of embedding it in his head, I'd breathe out steam and ask, so what changed?
[SPEAKER_00]: A contingent of mittenix-old Soviet friends showed up, came in by boat, plane, train, and met at mittenix palace.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was like the multi-conference for bad guys.
[SPEAKER_00]: They'd come along the way as for a very short stay.
[SPEAKER_00]: They were only here for four, five days.
[SPEAKER_00]: After that, things changed.
[SPEAKER_00]: Knitnik started leaning out of his territory.
[SPEAKER_00]: He started to muggle in Spanish cigarettes, opened up his own brothels, instead of just selling girls to Satre, started moving heroin.
[SPEAKER_00]: Eventually he even made inquiries into buying the casino, and that was the last straw.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like a spring of an old mattress, my hand flew out and I slapped that well again.
[SPEAKER_00]: It happened before I realized it and I had to take a moment to bring it back under my control.
[SPEAKER_00]: I breathed slowly, counted to four, then said, I told you, that's what was happening.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you knew that, why did you put me into this mess?
[SPEAKER_00]: I almost said us, but didn't.
[SPEAKER_00]: Bringing up Sophie would only give him leverage.
[SPEAKER_00]: I will shook his head and almost grin again, making me worry.
[SPEAKER_00]: I might be putting him into shock.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I kept my hands to myself as he said.
[SPEAKER_00]: I figured you might keep up.
[SPEAKER_00]: You might keep him off each other's throats for a while.
[SPEAKER_00]: Keep this from turning into a war.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're an idiot at well.
[SPEAKER_00]: Marines don't prevent wars.
[SPEAKER_00]: They finish them.
[SPEAKER_00]: He tilted his head as if you're trying to get water out of his ear.
[SPEAKER_00]: outwell narrowed his eyes and I could see his shields raising, but he spoke quickly and without doubt.
[SPEAKER_00]: I did some digging into the people mittening, met with.
[SPEAKER_00]: There were gangsters, sure, but not just your old school voice.
[SPEAKER_00]: There were ministers and administrators, entrepreneurs, FSB agents, heads of Russian conglomerans.
[SPEAKER_00]: He squared his head and looked straight at me.
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you understand what I'm saying?
[SPEAKER_00]: These aren't just criminals.
[SPEAKER_00]: These are men and women in positions of legitimate power.
[SPEAKER_00]: People who aren't supposed to be fraternizing with criminals.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, so I did some more digging.
[SPEAKER_00]: This meeting wasn't some kind of mistake.
[SPEAKER_00]: Hell, one of the Russians that met at midnight was a member of Putin's cabinet.
[SPEAKER_00]: A man, by the way, that MI six suspects
[SPEAKER_00]: of arranging the assassination of the Chechen Premier in twenty eleven.
[SPEAKER_00]: They weren't in midnight since some kind of social call or peace meeting.
[SPEAKER_00]: They were coordinating.
[SPEAKER_00]: They worked together.
[SPEAKER_00]: At well, I was still afraid, but I realized it wasn't me.
[SPEAKER_00]: They even have a name.
[SPEAKER_00]: They called themselves the Avartette, the authority.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sounds like we're starting to get into terrorism territory.
[SPEAKER_00]: In case that left any doubt I added, you're a territory.
[SPEAKER_00]: So why does it look like you're working for midnight?
[SPEAKER_00]: I have a worm in the trash pile.
[SPEAKER_00]: It only looks that way.
[SPEAKER_00]: I raised the umbrella again and he rushed out.
[SPEAKER_00]: After I dented and digging around midnight, he paid me a visit with some guys.
[SPEAKER_00]: No threats.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll sweeten this in a light.
[SPEAKER_00]: I thought about Mint next to Meiner and how quickly I could have fallen into its influence and how natural it felt to want to the approval.
[SPEAKER_00]: Shame colored my cheeks, but it was still dark so I just told that well.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've seen that routine.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he let me know he knew I'd been digging.
[SPEAKER_00]: He knew that I'd been watching him, which if it's associates I'd been looking into.
[SPEAKER_00]: Hell even knew what I included in my last report.
[SPEAKER_00]: That will stop this quick speech for a deep inhale, recapturing whatever fury it previously expelled.
[SPEAKER_00]: His eyes pulled with dread and enlarging until I thought he might try to make a run for it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Steady whispered, they know everything.
[SPEAKER_00]: Whatever this advertit is, it's not just some Russian gangster trying to capture peace and Mediterranean sunshine.
[SPEAKER_00]: There was a part of me that always made smart ass remarks and mission briefings when we knew things were going to be dangerous.
[SPEAKER_00]: That part popped up now and I encountered with his from Belarus.
[SPEAKER_00]: at Wal-Blink again.
[SPEAKER_00]: What?
[SPEAKER_00]: Midnick.
[SPEAKER_00]: You said he was from Belarus.
[SPEAKER_00]: The cemetery dirt of Atwell's eyes contracted again.
[SPEAKER_00]: His pride so spiteful that even now the contradiction brought him back to the alley.
[SPEAKER_00]: Whatever he is, Midnick suggested that my time would be better spent watching Satray.
[SPEAKER_00]: He shrugged and sniffed wiping blood from his nose.
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's what I've been doing.
[SPEAKER_00]: I felt my loathing fraught well combined with my own shame at being involved in any of this.
[SPEAKER_00]: All of that dropped into my gut and swelling feet.
[SPEAKER_00]: You piece of shit.
[SPEAKER_00]: You didn't even have to be threatened to betray your country.
[SPEAKER_00]: You just had to censor threat.
[SPEAKER_00]: The accusation of treason was enough to get out of the unforall from his fetal position and shout, I even betrayed my country.
[SPEAKER_00]: I held up my hand for him to stop, but he just kept going, saying something about not being any good anyone.
[SPEAKER_00]: Dead, the Cold War, capitulation, necessary evils.
[SPEAKER_00]: I really wasn't listening.
[SPEAKER_00]: I interrupted by prodding him with the sharp point of the umbrella again.
[SPEAKER_00]: So what information have you been passing to midnight?
[SPEAKER_00]: I couldn't tell if the hurt not was face for the result of the umbrella steel or me pointing out the collaborating with foreign agents was, in fact, treason.
[SPEAKER_00]: Whichever was it resolved itself into a petulant, I haven't.
[SPEAKER_00]: I glared my disbelief at him, and when he decided he didn't want another slap, he continued.
[SPEAKER_00]: I haven't volunteered anything, and midnight hasn't asked for anything.
[SPEAKER_00]: I get to feeling he's busy with what?
[SPEAKER_00]: I will swarm some more and continued.
[SPEAKER_00]: I went to meet midnight at one of his properties, and ended up getting harassed by some of his guests.
[SPEAKER_00]: Russians, not his crew.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think they might be part of a security detail, getting things ready for another visit by the advertiser.
[SPEAKER_00]: I thought about Mittenek's response to McCail's disappearance and nodded.
[SPEAKER_00]: I made sense.
[SPEAKER_00]: However, the warrior word, Mittenek didn't seem to want him around anymore than he wanted anyone near Nika.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was probably keeping the other Russians busy searching for McCail.
[SPEAKER_00]: But it still sounded like Atwell was in a perfect position to tell Mittenek about the Ukrainian and I said so.
[SPEAKER_00]: He'd be into sputter, and then more spittle came my way, I knew I'd convince them that I held his life in my hands instead of the other way around for a change.
[SPEAKER_00]: To get things back on track, I asked him, to why didn't you tell Mittenek where the Ukrainian was?
[SPEAKER_00]: That stopped his diet traveling, he actually said something decisive.
[SPEAKER_00]: I didn't think it would improve the situation.
[SPEAKER_00]: I figured once you knew who killed him, we might be able to use it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I couldn't help but grant a bet.
[SPEAKER_00]: That seemed to be everybody's idea.
[SPEAKER_00]: Tired of listening to him, I just held it by hand again and said, okay, I believe you.
[SPEAKER_00]: You didn't tell Mittenek.
[SPEAKER_00]: The relief that poured out of that was nearly palpable.
[SPEAKER_00]: And for a moment I thought he was going to thank me.
[SPEAKER_00]: That would have been too much even for my stomach, so I cut him off.
[SPEAKER_00]: But if Satra finds out that you've been watching him and not met Nick, he'll never believe you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Hell, right now, he's more inclined to think it was you or me, and then in one of his own guys.
[SPEAKER_00]: At that moment, a skinny cook with a thin, drooping mustache, most likely, soven by Owl's screams and yelling, stepped up from the back door of Lorange, and his hand he held the preferred weapon of Golic cooks, the skillet.
[SPEAKER_00]: He said something in French too quick for me to understand.
[SPEAKER_00]: I just smiled and said something in English about my friend falling down.
[SPEAKER_00]: I reached out and grabbed at well by the armpit and elbow picking him up out of the trash.
[SPEAKER_00]: I tucked him under one arm and headed towards the alleys exit smiling back at the cook as I did.
[SPEAKER_00]: The cook had the expression most people do when they aren't sure if they should call the police, but after a few seconds he would back into his kitchen.
[SPEAKER_00]: Far enough away not to be heard, but not quite on the street I said, saturated won't believe a simple denial, at least not for long.
[SPEAKER_00]: under my arm, at what felt even smaller than he actually was.
[SPEAKER_00]: So what do we do?
[SPEAKER_00]: I pretended to give that some thought as we kept moving.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was late enough in the morning now that the sun was beginning to brighten the streets and we could see a few people walking on the sidewalk, appearing and disappearing across the alley's narrow entrance.
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, so we tell Satra you found out that midnight knew where the body was and headed and formed at the place.
[SPEAKER_00]: There wasn't enough time to warn Sanctuary so you sent someone to burn the corpses so they couldn't be identified.
[SPEAKER_00]: Our story is you saved his ass.
[SPEAKER_00]: That will not a weekly at first, then with increasing conviction.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll tell him the next time I see him.
[SPEAKER_00]: Until I do, you should probably stay out of his way.
[SPEAKER_00]: at well, kept nodding and asked, so where does that leave us?
[SPEAKER_00]: We find out where this new, ever-tetset down is, and see what it's all about.
[SPEAKER_00]: That statement felt counterintuitive to me, so I peeled to something that, while I knew I could count on, is self-interest.
[SPEAKER_00]: The only way we can get midnight off your back is that we convince your bosses, or Satra, or someone, that the situation is serious enough that you need backup.
[SPEAKER_00]: At well, continue to nod and I could feel his confidence grow and standing up straighter.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, okay.
[SPEAKER_00]: I let him go just before we stepped out onto the street.
[SPEAKER_00]: Out of the alley, the sun made its full appearance, the terracotta roofs of old town glowing orange with all their splendor.
[SPEAKER_00]: I released that while out into the Radiance and told him, I can help with that.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll tell you when I know anything.
[SPEAKER_00]: I will not actually appearing somewhat grateful as he ran his hands through his dark hair, now oily with sweat.
[SPEAKER_00]: I decided to take advantage of the moment.
[SPEAKER_00]: In the meantime, I need you to arrange a meet with this rotella, talk to whoever, whatever cop, you know.
[SPEAKER_00]: But get word to him that I want to talk to rotella.
[SPEAKER_00]: Out from under the danger of physical threat, at well immediately, became suspicious again.
[SPEAKER_00]: About what?
[SPEAKER_00]: About midnight, I replied, with this, which was, you know, partially true.
[SPEAKER_00]: I like to know whatever he might share.
[SPEAKER_00]: At Will Narrow Designs Endowed, and I couldn't blame him.
[SPEAKER_00]: Truth be told, I wasn't sure what I was going to say to Rootella.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not wanting to discuss that though, I scanned the Narrow Street and spot a lawns green taxi.
[SPEAKER_00]: As if I had received some secret signal I turned back to At Will and said, I've got to go.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll check the drop later.
[SPEAKER_00]: With that, I stirred out across the cobblestones and stepped into a lawn's car.
[SPEAKER_00]: The day may have been warming up, but the Frenchman still was buried in his coat, red nose jutting out from under his cap.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was none too pleased about taking a fairer that promised to extend beyond the end of his shift.
[SPEAKER_00]: Perhaps to offer something in consolation I asked him, would you like to get some breakfast?