Chapter 12 - The Senator's Secret
Viktor Petrov scrambled backward out of his executive leather chair,
his hand desperately diving inside his suit jacket to grab a concealed Makarov pistol resting in a shoulder holster.
He never even got his fingers around the grip before Marcus stepped smoothly around the shattered doorframe,
leveling the suppressed muzzle of his tactical rifle directly at Petrov's forehead with terrifying calm.
Don't even think about it,
Petrov,
Marcus warned softly,
his voice devoid of any human emotion whatsoever.
Adrian walked slowly across the plush Persian rug,
his heavy boots making a dull thudding sound against the floor as he approached the terrified Russian mob boss who was now trapped against the floor-to-ceiling glass window overlooking the rainy Chicago docks.
You made a catastrophic miscalculation last night,
Viktor,
Adrian said quietly,
his voice dropping into a register that sent shivers straight down Petrov's spine.
You thought you could target my accountant,
break my financial infrastructure,
and take over my city without facing any consequences.
I.
.
.
I was just following orders,
Petrov choked out,
raising his hands in a frantic gesture of surrender as sweat poured down his pale forehead.
Orders from whom,
Adrian demanded sharply,
stopping two feet away from the trembling mob boss.
Senator Thomas Sterling,
Petrov blurted out in sheer desperation,
spilling the ultimate secret to save his miserable skin.
He financed the entire operation through his political action committee shell accounts,
he wanted control of the syndicate's real estate portfolio to fund his upcoming gubernatorial reelection campaign,
and he ordered the hit on your secretary to force you into a hostile buyout.
Adrian stared at Petrov for a long,
silent moment,
digesting the staggering political conspiracy that extended far beyond the traditional boundaries of the Chicago underworld into the halls of state government.
Senator Sterling just signed his own political and physical death warrant,
Adrian murmured coldly,
May you like
signaling to Marcus to secure the prisoner.
And we are going to pay him a very special personal visit before the sun sets over Lake Michigan today.
