My face must have betrayed something because Adam frowned. “You look like you know him.”
I shook my head, then nodded. “I just remember the name from transcribing his calls,” I said weakly. You know, like that one I listened to fifty-seven times.
Adam nodded sagely. “Do you know anything about him?”
I shook my head and braced myself. I’d been curious all this time but, suddenly, I didn’t want to know. I expected it to be bad.
It was worse.
“He’s an arms dealer,” said Adam. “Started out in the Russian mob, just like his dad, Vasiliy. Together, they’ve made millions—maybe billions—selling guns. Vasiliy’s getting old, so he mostly stays cooped up in a fortified mansion while Luka handles all the day-to-day running of things.” Adam looked right at me. “Luka keeps everyone in line. And very, very afraid.”
My stomach flipped over. I’d been fantasizing about this guy.
“We believe Luka is setting up a big deal to bring guns into the US. We need to find out who the buyer is.”
I frowned. “I didn’t realize arms was our thing. Isn’t that more FBI or ATF?” Then I flushed. Who was I to question the head of Special Activities?
“We have our reasons,” he said stiffly. “Luka will be at his place in New York on Saturday, the first time he’s been over here for months.”
“Can’t you just arrest him? I mean, once he’s on US soil?”
Adam shook his head. “We don’t have nearly enough evidence. That’s why we need to bug his laptop.”
I swallowed. “So how do I fit in?”
Adam smiled, relaxing a little. “He’s throwing a party. He’s hired a string quartet and we can get you in as one of them. You play some music, slip into his office and plant the bug and then walk out. Simple.”
I’d see him. Actually be in a room with the man I’d been fantasizing about. I was still reeling from the idea of Luka suddenly being...evil.
You moron. You knew he was a bad guy. Why did you think the CIA were tapping his phone?
“What’s he...like?” I wondered. And then realized I’d said it out loud.
“Brutal,” said Adam. “Unyielding. He did some jail time, a few years back, and that hardened him even more. Luka’s the new prince. He’s inherited the kingdom from his dad and he’s not going to let anything get in his way. He’s killed several times—that we know about—rivals, mostly, who’ve tried to encroach on his family’s territory. He’s not afraid to use his fists, when someone needs to be taught a lesson. People are terrified of him, right across Moscow.”
And he twisted his computer screen around to show me some photos. Suddenly, I was face-to-face with Luka.
I’d thought he’d be old, but the face looking back at me couldn’t have been thirty, yet. His hair was cut short—longer than I’d imagined, but still short—and it was so dark I could only just see the soft texture of it.
He had high, prominent cheekbones and a wide, sensuous mouth, one corner curling up in a smile that was all dark malevolence and sex.
He wasn’t handsome. Handsome is too bland. Hollywood celebrities are handsome.
This guy was beautiful. Savagely, brutally beautiful, like mountain peaks that have been shaped by wind and rain.
I’d realized I was staring. It had only been a few seconds but, for someone who can memorize a face in an instant, that was a lifetime. I couldn’t remember ever staring at a photo like that. I dragged my eyes away.
There were more photos below, some of them half off the screen. I got a few glimpses of his naked back, twisting black tattoos over heavy slabs of muscle. Very different from the slender, gym-toned bodies that my boyfriends had had. He looked hard...solid in a way they never were.
I quickly looked away.
“The party’s on Saturday,” said Adam. He must have read the worry on my face because he gave me a reassuring smile. “You can do this, Arianna. A few hours of violin and a few seconds of action. In and out. Easy.”
Easy.
Until it all went wrong.