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Part I

1

Henderson

“What are you doing?”

Bonnie’s anxious voice startlesthe folder I was studying into a stack of files on my desk as I prepare to ansith a plausible lie

Exceptat me

She’s staring at the coraph of a beautiful chestnut-haired bride sroom takes up most of the screen

Fuck I thought I’d closed that tab My neckto burn up in to shake

“Why do you have his picture?” Her voice turns shrill as her eyes swing to“Why do you have that monster’s picture on your screen?”

“Bonnie… It’s not what you think” I stand up, but she’s already backing away, shaking her head, her long earrings flapping around her skinny face

“You promised You told me we’ll be safe”

“And ill be,” I say, but it’s too late

She’s already gone

Back to the refuge of her bed, her pills, her mindless reality TV

Back to where the kids and I can never reach her

Sinking back intothe worst of the agonizing tightness as I pull out the folder again The na the bitter fires of rage

Peter Sokolov

I’ on his list The only one he hasn’t killed yet for what happened in that shitty village in Dagestan One iven, and this is the result For years, he’s huntedour friends and loved ones in an effort to get toour lives in every way

And now, thanks to his buddy Esguerra’s pull with our government, he’s allowed to roam free To marry his pretty, chestnut-haired doctor and live in the United States as if all’s forgiven and forgotten

As if his pro I’m supposed to believe

My gaze falls on the rest of the names in the folder

Julian Esguerra

Lucas Kent

Yan and Ilya Ivanov

Anton Rezov

Sokolov’s allies—monsters, all of them