With or Without You - Complete

Chapter 8

The more he looked into Moore's past, the more convinced Pavel was that he was in some way responsible for Tatiana's death. The timing, connections, and interactions with Tasha Ozera—it all fitted in too well. How to get him to admit was going to be the problem. Since end game was clearing Rose's name, he'd need some sort of tangible proof of Moore's involvement, which was tricky given they didn't have direct access to him. Unless...

"Boss?" Pavel said, knocking on Abe's study door. Late, even by Moroi standards, the boss was still awake, as he was more and more often these days. Rose's innocence hung heavy in Abe's mind—as his long-time Guardian Pavel knew that. Half of what went on in Abe's office was a complete mystery to Pavel, but when it came to wicked strategies, the career Guardian was invariably up front and center.

"You look like you're plotting something," Abe remarked, one side of his lips twitching with anticipation.

"An idea," Pavel confirmed, pausing as he put his nebulous thoughts into words. "We know Tasha murdered or organized for Tatiana to be murdered, and we suspect Moore is involved. The problem is we can't yet prove it. With Moore on random temporary assignments, it's hard to even get close to him. But what if we changed that?"

"Keep talking..?"

"What if you offer him a private allocation? Even if he doesn't take it, he'd likely discuss it with Lady Ozera. If we tap their phones, we can hear if either of them says anything incriminating. If he takes it, we can send him to one of your smaller houses and have our local team monitor him. Lull him into a false sense of security and see if anything slips. Either way, once he's out of Court, when it's convenient, we can pay him a visit and convince him to talk."

The way Pavel said 'convince' made it clear there'd be violence involved, which Abe wholeheartedly approved of. Sure, there were other equally effective ways of making someone talk. But this asshole had almost certainly played some part in framing his daughter for murder—Abe was looking forward to extracting a confession in the most painful of ways. Pavel's suggestion was genius, really. Once Moore was ensconced in one of his many houses, the other Guardians there could have eyes on him twenty-four-seven. Plus, they could bug his room, and he'd be none the wiser. But key to it all would be making the allocation offer believable, so he'd take it.

"How do you suggest going about this?"

"First, we need to pick the place. I thought about the house in Antep? It's small enough we only keep a minor team there, plus there's no Moroi or Dhampir living in that region."

Abe rubbed his index finger across his goatee. Antep, Turkey was an excellent suggestion. The only reason he had a place there was because it was close to the Syrian border and was a convenient, secure home base when he was conducting the illegal arms deals he occasionally carried out in the area.

"How soon?"

"I'd like to wait until he is on his next short-term allocation. Ideally, I'd like Moore to have to call Tasha Ozera to discuss the allocation offer, rather than talk with her in person."

"So we can record what they say," Abe agreed, filling in the gaps. "We'd need to pick which Guardians were with him carefully. This isn't something that can be trusted to any greenhorn."

"I already have half a dozen in mind to choose from," Pavel replied with a grin. "Our most loyal and observant Guardians." Like Abe, he understood Ethan Moore's confession would go a long way to clearing Rose's name. "I have it on good authority that Moore will be temporarily allocated to a Moroi family in California for the next two weeks. I say we prepare everything in Antep, tweaking the team there as soon as possible."

"There's always a chance he'll say no," Abe mused. "From what you're saying, he's an unlikely sort to be offered a private allocation. Won't he be suspicious?"