Page 122 of Hunt Me, Daddy

“Honest answer. I’m going to need caffeine before I decide what to do with this.”

He reached to the side without looking and set a mug beside me. The first sip was just as glorious as I hoped it would be.

I pointed at the screen. “Summarize it for me.”

He did.

The release would send Daniel’s evidence automatically if not manually cancelled every seventy-two hours. Nothing had been armed without my final review. Every recipient could be changed. Every file could be edited. He had built the framework while I slept, but he had left the switch dark.

Waiting.

For me.

We spent the next hour reviewing. I changed two recipients. Added one journalist Daniel had trusted before he vanished. Rewrote the summary because Ivan’s version was accurate but too cold, and Daniel deserved better than to become a clean paragraph in someone else’s war. Ivan watched me edit it, but he did not interfere. When I was done, he read the final version once and nodded.

“That will do,” he said.

Ivan’s phone buzzed. He glanced at it and his expression tightened the tiniest bit.

“Your brothers?” I asked.

“Yes.”

My fingers tightened around the mug. He stood up and I expected him to leave the room, but he didn’t. Instead, he answered it right in front of me.

“Maxim.”

His brother’s voice came through too low for me to make out words, but not quiet enough to miss the tone. He sounded calm, intelligent, and dangerous.

Ivan listened for a long moment. Then he said, “I need to tell you everything before Orlov makes his move.” He paused for a moment and then continued. “My source in the Orlov intrusion is Kit Calloway,” he began. “She’s a freelance cybersecurity consultant in Boston. She was originally contracted on an Orlov-adjacent financial investigation and continued independently after the contract ended.”

A pause.

“Yes. Her name is the one I withheld.”

Another pause.

“No. She is not law enforcement. She is a civilian with a personal connection to an old Orlov action.”

My grip on the mug tightened. Ivan’s eyes stayed on mine.

“Daniel Calloway. Her brother. Mikhail authorized his death seven years ago through a Seaport subsidiary chain. We confirmed it last night.”

Silence.

Then Maxim again, louder this time, though still only thunder through the line.

Ivan did not flinch.

“No,” he said. “I did not bring it to you when I found her.”

There was a long silence after that. I could not hear Maxim’s words, but I could imagine them. Ivan’s face remained calm though.

“I had my reasons,” he said. “Some operational. Some personal.”

My pulse tripped.

“I am not minimizing it,” Ivan continued. “I am telling you I made the decision. If there are consequences, they are mine.”