Chapter 400: The Interrogation

Dante was quiet for a moment.

"Then we figure out if we’re still valuable to them," Dante said. "And if we’re not, we make sure we’re valuable to someone else."

Luca understood what Dante wasn’t saying out loud: the moment The Covenant decided they were expendable, they’d need to have a survival strategy in place.

But that was a problem for later.

Right now, they had Dimitri coming at them with everything he had.

And they had to be ready.

***

POV: DIMITRI

The room was deliberately made uncomfortable. Concrete walls. Harsh fluorescent lighting. A single metal table. Two chairs on one side for Dimitri and Marco. One chair on the other side where the prisoners would sit.

No windows. No clock. No way to track time.

Marco had learned long ago that disorientation was the first step toward breaking someone.

Angela was brought in first.

She was still in her yoga clothes, but they’d been exchanged for a grey interrogation suit that removed any identity she might have clung to. She was pale. Her hands were shaking. She’d been crying, there were tear stains on her face that she’d tried to wipe away.

She saw Dimitri sitting at the table and flinched visibly.

"Sit," Marco said, and she flinched.

Angela sat.

Dimitri didn’t speak immediately. He just looked at her. Long enough that Angela began to squirm in her chair. Long enough that the weight of silence became its own form of pressure.

"How long did The Covenant give you to infiltrate Eve?" Dimitri asked finally.

Angela’s voice was barely a whisper.

"Two weeks," Angela said.

"And you accomplished the objective in exactly two weeks," Dimitri said. "You became essential to her. You made her trust you completely."

"Yes," Angela said, and there was something like shame in her voice.

"Tell me about your recruitment," Dimitri said. "Who approached you? When? What were you offered?"

Angela hesitated.

Marco leaned forward slightly, and that small movement was enough. Angela understood that compliance was her only option now.

"Dante Romano approached me," Angela said. "Four years ago. I was working in Newark, doing small-time work for street operations. He offered me money and connections if I agreed to be part of his network."

"And you’ve been on his payroll for four years," Dimitri said.

"Yes," Angela confirmed.

"But when did The Covenant contact you about this specific operation?" Dimitri pressed.

"Two weeks before the charity event," Angela said. "A woman called me on an untraceable number. She said she represented The Covenant. She said they had a job that required someone with my skill set. Someone who could infiltrate and build relationships."

"And she told you the objective was to infiltrate Eve," Dimitri said.

"Yes," Angela said. "She explained that you were a threat to their operations. She explained that the best way to neutralize you was to kill the person you loved most. She explained that I would be the weapon that facilitated that."

Dimitri felt something cold settle in his chest. The clinical description of how they’d planned to use Angela against Eve.

"Did she explain why The Covenant wanted Eve dead?" Dimitri asked.

"She said it was because you destroyed one of their facilities months ago," Angela said. "She said The Covenant doesn’t accept that kind of loss without extracting payment. She said killing Eve was their way of teaching you what happens when you come against them."

Dimitri understood. They were mirroring what they’d done to his father years ago. They’d killed his mother. Now they wanted to kill his woman. The symmetry was deliberate.

"What else did she tell you?" Dimitri asked.

"She told me I’d be paid one million dollars," Angela said. "And she told me I’d disappear after the operation was complete. New identity, new location, new life."

"But you also know that disappearance meant death," Dimitri said quietly.

Angela’s face crumpled.

"Yes," Angela said, and she started crying. "I knew. Once the operation was complete, once you realized what had happened, once you understood that I’d been part of setting up Eve’s murder, I knew you’d kill me. So the money and the new identity were lies. They were just incentives to get me to do the job."

"And you did it anyway," Dimitri said.

"Yes," Angela whispered. "I did it anyway."

Dimitri looked at Marco, who nodded slightly. They had what they needed from Angela. The rest was just details at this point.

***

*FORTY MINUTES LATER*

The assassin was brought into the interrogation room.

He was bloodied from the struggle at the yoga studio. His face was bruised. His hands were scraped. But his eyes were still sharp. Still calculating.

This was a man who’d killed before. A man who understood the business of death. A man who’d known going into the operation that failure meant capture and interrogation.

He sat down without being told.

Dimitri studied him for a moment.

"You’re a professional," Dimitri said. It wasn’t a question.

"Yes," the operative said.

"Which means you understand that I’m going to extract every piece of information you possess," Dimitri continued. "Which means you understand that cooperation is your only option if you want this to end quickly."

"I understand," the operative said.

"Good," Dimitri said. "So let’s begin. Who recruited you into The Covenant?"

The operative didn’t speak immediately. He was clearly weighing his options, deciding whether to cooperate or resist.

Marco stood and walked to the operative’s side. He didn’t touch him. He just stood there, a silent threat.

"Who recruited you?" Dimitri asked again.

"A man named Viktor Mikhailov," the operative said. "Former FSB. Now works directly for The Covenant’s command structure."

"How long have you worked for The Covenant?" Dimitri asked.

"Twelve years," the operative said. "I was a military contractor before that. Fought in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria. When my contract ended, The Covenant recruited me."

"And what have you done for them in those twelve years?" Dimitri asked.

"Eliminations," the operative said. "Acquisitions. Asset protection. Whatever they needed done that required someone willing to kill without hesitation."