Chapter XLIII. The Precious Catch

-We have a name, Natasha Ivanenko, I sent you her entry date and flight number, I want her picture, immediately.

She added: I also want a picture of Katrina, the latest picture you have.

She fell silent, hearing what the other side was saying on the phone.

-She said: I will explain to you later, there is a Ukrainian woman in the case now, her characteristics are similar to Katrina, I want a clear picture, can you bypass the protocol?

Shel listened, and then said, “Okay, try to speed it up.”

She came back from the balcony to the room, where was Robert and John: We will wait a bit, they are working on it now, they will send me her picture soon.

She added: If she is who we think, you have done us the greatest favor you can do, and if she is still in America, I cannot tell you how happy I am about this.

Robert: Can you explain to me who is she?

– If she is who we think, then she is like him, and perhaps more dangerous than him. She did not work with us but worked for your grandfather directly, and they had a close relationship. We believe that she participated in the killing of your grandfather after he succeeded in recruiting her to work for him.

Robert: An intimate relationship with my grandfather? Oh, my goodness my grandmother would be angry if she heard that!

John looked away, put down the pen and notebook, and said, “Alex, he will not work, you are wasting our time.”

Robert: What? What did I do wrong?

Alex: She was intimate with him, Robert, not your grandfather.

He knocked his head down: Well, I apologize, for the record, my grandfather was a womanizer as well in case you did not know.

No one laughed, he looked at Alex who gave him a strange look, a bit of admiration and bewilderment: You are smart, Robert, you know what we mean from the start, but you like to make jokes just to make things easier.

She added: And he is like this, pretending to be stupid when he wants to appear stupid, and sometimes to soften the charged atmosphere, nothing more.

Robert: Whom? my grandfather?

John: Shit…

She went out onto the balcony, and John followed her

– Alex, he is stupid, it will not work.

– No, John, he is smart, he is very smart, did not you notice? He is trying to persuade us to say his name, so that we may err and pronounce it; he does not want us to continue talking about him in the unknown.

She added: Like him, I swear, he looks a lot like him, I felt for a moment that I was talking to Baibars and not Robert.

John: Very strange, I only met Baibars once, and I already had the same feeling!

Her phone rang, she received a message, a picture of Katrina with another man, sitting on a beach, in an Arab country with a dry climate.

She enlarged the picture, her face filled the entire phone screen and his face disappeared, and any other features of him, the shape of the picture remained, it is clear that she is throwing her head on someone’s chest, it is not the time to hide these details now.

She came back inside, he was still sitting on the sofa, she got close to him.

-Well, Robert, this is an important moment, please tell me you have seen this girl before.

She turned the phone screen towards him.

He approached the phone, almost stuck to it, his face turned red, and his body was trembling.

-He said: Madam, she puts her head on someone’s chest, is this the killer of my grandfather?

Alex: Focus on her, Robert.

He controlled himself, stifled a fit of anger, controlled it, and got back on his feet.

-He said, “Madam, remember your promise to me, I will complete the task until that bastard gets his punishment.”

There was some excitement in her eyes, her heart pounding quickly, waiting for his next word.

– She said, I swore to you, Robert, you would do it to the end.

-I know I will, for I am your only hope to get him because he wants me, and he sent her after me…

This is she, madam… this is Natasha.