The Red Herring

Chapter 20

By day break, they were all exhausted. Devin and Jim had been up half of the night comforting Eliot who'd had a nightmare and woken up Paige. Both kids were screaming for hours. John had called Tommy and they'd met at Markov's. Markov relocated to the hotel where he'd gotten a room with Alex. Beth had stayed at the hospital after getting a call saying Mike had been moved to a room because they needed his bed in the ICU. Dmitry had spent the night reassuring his mother that she would be safe with him.

"You don't understand! I didn't see it before but now it all makes sense!" she told him.

"What does, Mother?" Dmitry was exhausted.

"It's a pecking order. He's killing us off in the order we were recruited!"

Dmitry sighed. "Then you're safe. Markov is still next because he isn't dead."

"But maybe Ivan doesn't know that! Maybe he doesn't know that the guy is dead! Deirdre is the weird thing. She was never recruited. I guess he just saw an opportunity, " she exclaimed.

"Please go to sleep," he begged her.

"Dmitry Stavros Kovalev, listen to me! You don't know Ivan but I do. He was the most ruthless of us all. He'll stop at nothing," she said.

Dmitry closed his eyes. He'd given his mother the bed and he's taken the couch. He was too tall for it and it was painfully uncomfortable but he didn't care. He was beyond exhausted. He just wanted her to stop talking so he didn't answer her, hoping she'd think he'd fallen asleep.

At four o'clock, Katerina had snuck down the hall to where her former colleagues were. She lightly knocked on the door until Alex opened it. His voice was hoarse with sleep as he said hello.

"How can you sleep?" she whispered as he led her inside the room. Katerina noticed he still had his street clothes on. "Let's go down to the lounge. We can talk there."

Alex grabbed his wallet off the dresser and they left the room. They had breakfast at seven and then went upstairs. Katerina went back to Dmitry's room and Alex went to check on Markov.

Katerina had just sat down when a frantic knock came upon the hotel room door. Dmitry motioned for her to be quiet and move to a corner of the room that couldn't be seen from the doorway. When she was out of view, Dmitry opened the door.

Alex stood on the other side of the door. He looked older than usual and there were traces of blood on his hands. "Ivan got him," he said.

Dmitry pulled him into the room. "Markov is dead? How?"

"I don't know how it's possible. We were gone for only a few hours. When I came back, I saw him. Bullet to his head," Alex said.

"Nicko?" Katerina said as she ran out from the corner.

Dmitry could see the panic in her eyes. "You'll be safe. I will make sure of it," he told her.

"How?! Nicko was asleep in his hotel room. How can that be possible?!" she exclaimed.

Alex stepped into the bathroom to wash his hands. Dmitry called Beth.

"Hello?" she answered. He'd woken her up.

"Markov is dead."

"I'm sorry. I'm still asleep. Did you just say Markov is dead?" she asked.

"Yes. He was in the hotel room with Bazarov."

"How? Nevermind that. I'll call John," she said and hung up. She dialed John's number.

"What do you want now?" he asked. "I just fell asleep."