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“That’s what I askedI offered the money you provided The fish took the bait Apparently, Pavlov paid him to encrypt and deliver a file”

“What file?”

“He won’t say”

“Then what information did my money buy?” I ask with impatience

“He gave me the name of the person he delivered the encryption to A certain Ivan Besov”

Turning back tohiround check on Ivan Besov

“Guess what my hacker discovered when he followed Mukha’s cyber trail?” Adrian continues “Besov sent the file to Vladimir Stefanov”

I go still “He did, did he?”

“Most certainly”

“In other words, Pavlov paid a hacker to deliver an encrypted file to Besov, and Besov delivered it to Stefanov”

“Correct”

Iof this “What about Besov?”

“He’s ex- a political hostage It looks like he took the fall for his teaes were dropped, but after that, he went on his own”

“What division?”

“Spetsnaz Sniper”

The snow starts falling harder “That would ood assassin”

“My thoughts as well He goes by the nickname of Bes”

Bes Deer between my collar and my tie and pull on the knot to loosen it “Any teammates we can question?”

“No” Paper rustles in the background “He works alone”

A ping sounds in my ear

“I’ve just sent you an attachather on Besov,” Adrian says “He has an address in Moscow If he’s been traveling lately, he’s been doing it with a false passport According to his records, he’s retired, living on disability payments, and he hasn’t left Russia since his military missions”