Dirty Little Wars 01: Moscow

UNACCEPTABLE LOSSES

Lucjan pauses, as if he needs to prepare himself. "Irina Vitsin... we know she was with you last night. I don't know if she told you, but she was in possession of certain evidence linking Boris Nemtsov's murder with the Chechen president, Ramzan Kadyrov, one of Putin's monsters. I'm... sorry..."

"What?"

"She was kidnapped by a small group of unidentified men this morning, probably Kadyrovsty—Kradyrov's men—about an hour ago. She tried to enter her apartment, but she was intercepted by three men driving a white Mercedes. They took her by force."

My heart sinks. "Impossible. I took her to a safe place."

"She returned to her apartment, and they ambushed her. We were informed by one of our agents within the opposition party. We had already identified her as the woman who was with you in Kopotnya."

"Yes," I murmur. "She was the one."

He holds my gaze. "I'm sorry. She's gone."

"I'll find her."

"I know it's hard to accept," he says softly. "We believe that she's already dead, and they're heading back to Chechnya via car. It fits the pattern we've seen lately, kidnapping people and killing them quietly instead of publicly shooting them. There's less media attention; less evidence left for the FSB. It..."

He lets the sentence trail off, probably because he isn't sure where I'm at emotionally, and doesn't want to pile on horrendous facts. He waits for my reaction, but none of what he's just said has hit me yet.

Irusya.

I remember that she wanted to go back to her apartment. I remember that she wanted to get some things. Insanity. I told her no. I told her not to go. Do not go there. I told her. I told her, but I left her.

I left her.

The moment isn't real.

"She's not dead," I murmur, struggling to make sense of it. "If they're driving in a car anyway, they won't kill her until they reach Chechnya. It's easier to explain a hostage than a body, and they'll enjoy torturing her."

"You don't know that."

"I know men."

"Killers, you mean."

"And rapists. It takes twenty hours to get to Grozny by car."

"A long time to carry a hostage they plan on killing anyway. There are tollbooths along the highway, too many ways to be seen. There's no reason for them to take that kind of risk."

"There is no risk. They do whatever they want. Putin has tied the hands of the FSB in regard to Chechen crimes against the opposition, especially those committed outside of Moscow. Kadyrov's men have every reason to get as far away as possible before they actually kill her."

"We don't believe she's still alive."

"Of course, you don't," I reply. "It's easier to believe that she's already dead than it is to admit you would never be authorized to help her either way. The life of a foreigner means shit-zero to the career bureaucrats you work for."

Lucjan accepts the indictment without answering it. "You couldn't have prevented this. It appears to have been planned for some time. The car was seen in the area for several days. We don't think that the kidnapping was related to what happened to you at the club. Our agent stated that Irina had been receiving regular threats for her research, for attempting to link Kadyrov with Nemstov's death in a paper she was writing."