To Catch a Traitor

by Shuster, D. B. ;

  “She’s practically signed your death warrant,” Vlad said with a shake of his head.

  “You want to talk about death warrants?” Saul tightened his grip on Vlad’s collar as if to prevent any sympathy from leaking out of him. “Let’s talk about what you were doing armed to the teeth at Troika.”

  “My job,” Vlad said.

  “Get a new job,” Saul said.

  “Did they send you in to play good cop or bad cop, Hershey?” Vlad taunted, and Saul winced at the jibe. “It’s amazing they kept you on the force after what you did.”

  “We all make mistakes, son, and that was a long time ago,” Saul said.

  “I’m not your son.”

  “I’m willing to help you—for your mother’s sake. Is there something you want to tell us?”

  “Why don’t you speed things up and write my statement for me?” Vlad said.

  Ivan had been guilty of plenty of murders, just not the one for which Saul had arrested him. If anyone deserved a life sentence, Ivan did, but Nadia had turned on Saul the moment the truth of what he had done came to light, despite the fact that his actions may have saved her life and Vlad’s. She had taken the story to the papers and spent every moment since lobbying to get Ivan’s case appealed, to have him freed, even knowing that the first thing Ivan would do once he got out was kill Saul Hersh.

  Saul cuffed him on the ear. “That’s the way you want to play it? Fine by me.” He pulled a metal chair back from the table and sat down. “Maybe your statement goes like this. You and Artur walked in on Inna doing the horizontal tango in the nightclub.”

  Vlad interrupted. “Say you’re right. Why would I bring out the heat? Not like I give a damn who she screws.”

  “But Artur does. Heard he doesn’t want his little princess dating a gangster.”

  “So Artur kills Romeo to keep him away from Juliet? In his son’s nightclub. In the middle of prime time when he might get caught. When he would bring the cops breathing down his neck. Are you out of your fucking mind? Artur Koslovsky doesn’t even carry a gun.”

  “But you do. Two of them,” Saul’s partner interjected. He tapped his pen against his notepad.

  “Thanks, Einstein. And we’ve already established that neither of them fired tonight,” Vlad said.

  “All right,” Saul agreed. “Let’s say you and Artur weren’t the shooters. Inna fired the gun.”

  “Because Zviad was raping her,” Vlad said, again imposing his favored theory. Sharp raised his eyebrows at Saul, sending him some secret communication.

  Saul cleared his throat. “Because of what he knew,” Saul said quietly.

  The statement wasn’t a question, and it caught Vlad off guard. There was something else going on here, some part of the story Vlad didn’t know. He was missing something. He needed to focus. He sat up a little straighter, alert now to whatever clue Saul or Sharp might cast in his direction.

  “You think he was blackmailing her?” Vlad asked. The detectives exchanged another glance. They didn’t like this theory any more than the one about the rape. Why didn’t they want to see Inna as a victim?

  “While we’re playing this game of hypotheticals, tell me this,” Vlad said. “Inna’s in her little dress, hot and heavy with her Romeo. I didn’t see a purse or a holster on her. Where exactly did she hide the gun if she was planning all along to seduce and kill him? Even strapped to her thigh, the Glock would have been conspicuous.”

  “Maybe the gun was his,” Saul said.

  “Sure. Okay. So why don’t you think he might have held her at gunpoint? That there could have been a struggle, and she won?”

  “We’re asking the questions,” Sharp said.

  This time the defensiveness was unmistakable. Another shifty look from Sharp to Saul, and realization hit. The detectives couldn’t stomach the idea of Inna as a victim because they didn’t want Zviad to be guilty—of anything. It was as if they were protecting one of their own.

  One of their own. Vlad’s mind started to race with the possibility. What if Zviad was an undercover cop? He would have been investigating the Georgians. What could he have found out about Inna? Was she involved with whatever was happening at Troika—the drugs and women Dato had mentioned?

  People did stupid things, sure. Supposing Zviad had something on Inna, Vlad still didn’t buy that she would off him like that at the club where they were sure to be found. If silence were her game, she had nothing to gain from a messy murder that would lead to so many questions. And why at Troika?

  A nasty suspicion took hold and stoked the rage inside Vlad even higher. The Georgians would surely benefit from killing the cop who was spying on them and framing someone else for the deed. Even better to have the murder at Troika, have the cops swarm the place, and shut down their supposed competition.

  But why involve Inna?

  Vlad silently kicked himself. He should have paid more attention to Inna these last few months. She worked closely with Artur. She pointedly avoided Vlad. Come to think of it, Artur actively kept Vlad away from her. He always sent Vlad on an errand when she was in the office. Vlad had assumed Artur had been giving him a signal, well within his rights, that his daughter—his much younger daughter—was off limits. Vlad had done his best to dampen his natural interest in her long legs and inky hair and the smoky quality of her voice that made his thoughts wander. Not for me. Not for me.

  Now he wondered whether there was more to Artur’s separation of them. Perhaps Inna was central to Artur’s plots and schemes and Artur still didn’t trust Vlad enough for him to know. Or perhaps Artur wanted to keep her clear of the intrigue.

  She might be innocent. Or she might be another spider at the center of an elaborate web. She wouldn’t escape Vlad’s notice now. He would learn all of her secrets. First, he needed to stop the Georgians from killing her.

  “Dato and Goga were eager to blow her brains out,” Vlad said. “Said they wanted retribution. But maybe it was a smoke screen. Maybe one of their crew killed Zviad—because he had something on them. And now they want to make sure Inna stays silent about the murder.”

  Saul shook his head with sad wonder. “You’re in the wrong profession. With a mind like yours, you should have been a detective.”

  “Yeah? Would that help you sleep at night? You could say it was all worth it, all the lies, as long as Ivan’s son turned into one of the good guys?”

  “It was worth it,” Saul said solemnly. “Whatever happens—to me, to you—it was worth it.” Saul’s intense gaze, the fatherly worry etched in the strained lines around his eyes, unsettled Vlad. He looked away.

  Saul clutched Vlad’s forearm, squeezed, made him meet his eyes. “I would make the same choices all over again.”

  Detective Sharp coughed, and Vlad was aware once more of the awkwardness of his predicament, the need for the utmost discretion. “You’re a piece of work, Hershey. You know that?” Vlad shrugged him off. “Let me tell you the real difference between us. We both tell lies when it suits us, but at least I don’t lie to myself. And just for the record, I tried my hand at law enforcement. It fucking sucked.”

  Saul blew out a heavy breath and pushed back from the table. “You’re free to go.”

  ***

  Want to keep reading? Buy Kings of Brighton Beach today or download an extended sample to enjoy for free.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  This book is the happy product of taking the long and difficult way around, getting tangled up in criss-crossing paths, losing my way, and finding it again. I am immensely grateful for the people who helped light the way and pushed me—sometimes hard—to continue when doubt and fear obscured my path.

  To Catch a Traitor kicks off the family saga that runs through both the Sins of the Spy series, which takes place in 1980s Moscow, and the Kings of Brighton Beach series, which takes place in modern-day Brooklyn. However, the epic stor
y was written and published out of order, with Kings of Brighton Beach appearing first as a serial comprised of three episodes and later as a novel. Despite hundreds of pages written toward the next installments, the series came to a screeching halt. I fell into a trap familiar to many writers. Pages accumulated, but I second-guessed every decision. I convinced myself nothing was good enough.

  Along came my dear friend, Kristine Rosales, and the Deer Park Moms Book Club with their enthusiasm for the saga and their tough love. Thanks to Kris’s suggestion, Kings of Brighton Beach had been a book of the month. Now, years later, the book club wanted to know, where the hell was the rest? Kris guilted, wheedled, cajoled, and encouraged me to keep writing, reminding me that I had eager readers, including first and foremost herself. She engineered yet another invitation to the book club—and a deadline—lighting a fire under me. I’ve dedicated this book to these lovely and wonderful women.

  There are not enough thank-you’s to give my writer friends, or my “wronger” friends as Gene jokingly calls them—Debora Dale, Lillian Marek, Lynne Cannon, Donna Velleman, and especially Dina Fischbein and Lisa Shiroff, who helped me navigate the way to my best version of this story. Thanks also go to the fabulous Kelly Peterson and the team at INscribe Digital for helping set this project up for success. I also thank my friends and colleagues at Queens College-CUNY, especially Anna Bounds and Holly Reed, who recognized my need to keep feeding this hungry fire and encouraged me to let it blaze.

  I am grateful to my family. My mother bore witness to the highs and lows of the creative process and coaxed me back from the extremes. My father, the architect of my family’s initial involvement with the Soviet Jewish cause in the 1980s, eagerly read an early draft of this book with an eye to history and lovingly provided critique. Gene, while reticent as a spy with regard to his own experiences in the Soviet Union of the 1980s, respected and supported my commitment to this project and helped me carve out the time and space I needed, even when it meant bravely guarding my door against intrusion from teenagers and small rescue animals. Said teenagers did their part, too, learning how not to starve when I didn’t feed them and how to wait until it was safe to pepper me with requests. They also both willingly volunteered their skills to this project: My son provided technical support and website assistance, and my daughter lent her artist’s eye and helped design the book cover.

  I am thankful for these many blessings that have brought me to this moment of being able to share this story with you, my dear readers.

  BOOKS BY D. B. SHUSTER

  Sins of a Spy Series

  To Catch a Traitor — August 2018

  To Hunt a Spy — January 2019

  Kings of Brighton Beach Series

  Mafia Rules (prequel) — January 2019

  Kings of Brighton Beach — June 2015

  Neurotica Series

  A Bundle of Neurotica: Eight Neurotica Short Stories — June 2015

  Please visit my website http://dbshuster.com for FREE reads and special offers.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  D. B. Shuster is married to a Russian man who regularly assures her he is not a member of the mob. By day, she is a professor of Sociology, and her research keeps her busy with facts and numbers. By night, she lets her imagination run free with dark and twisted tales of crime, espionage, and intrigue. Sometimes she sleeps. A native of Cleveland, she now lives in New York with her family.

  Email: dbshuster@gmail.com

  Website: dbshuster.com

  CHARACTER LIST

  Aleksei. Aleksei Gregorovich. Son of Artur and Maya.

  Artur. Artur Gregorovich. Maya’s husband. Son of Yana and Mikhail Gregorovich. KGB agent with the First Directorate, undercover as Yosef Koslovsky.

  David. David Soifer. Ruben’s son. Edik’s brother. Sofia and Vera’s cousin. Killed in the army.

  Edik. Edoaurd “Edik” Soifer. Sofia’s cousin. Ruben’s son. Black marketeer and Sofia’s partner in crime.

  Gennady. Gennady “Genna” Morozov. Petya’s brother. Semyon’s nephew.

  Grisha. Security guard at Moscow State University where Sofia works.

  Ilya. Ilya Soifer. Sofia and Vera’s father. Kolya’s grandfather. Ruben’s brother.

  Irena. Irena Abromovich. Mendel’s sister. Max’s wife. Nadia’s mother. Was sent to the gulag.

  Kasporov. Igor Kasparov. Artur and Victor’s supervisor in the KGB First Directorate.

  Kolya. Nikolai “Kolya” Reitman. Kolya is the Russian diminutive of Nicholai and Nick’s Russian nickname. Sofia and Mendel’s son.

  Larissa. Vera’s classmate.

  Leonid. KGB agent.

  Lilya. KGB agent used as a “dangle” to seduce targets.

  Max. Max Abromovich. Mendel’s brother-in-law. Sofia’s former mentor. Irena’s husband. Nadia’s father. Was sent to the gulag.

  Maya. Maya Gregorovich. Artur’s wife. Mother of Aleksei. Semyon’s daughter.

  Mendel. Mendel Reitman. Sofia’s husband. Kolya’s father. Was sent to prison for teaching Hebrew and has been released.

  Mikhail. Mikhail Gregorovich. Artur’s father. Yana’s husband.

  Nadia. Nadia Ambramovich. Max and Irena’s daughter. Mendel and Sofia’s niece.

  Paul. Paul Salvatore. Sofia’s CIA handler.

  Petya. Petya Morozov. Gennady’s brother. Semyon’s nephew. Vera’s classmate.

  Renata. Renata Soifer. Sofia and Vera’s mother. Kolya’s grandmother. Ilya’s wife.

  Ruben. Ruben Soifer. Edik’s father. Ilya’s brother. Sofia and Vera’s uncle. Frequent host to foreign visitors.

  Sasha. KGB agent.

  Semyon. Maya’s father. Artur’s father-in-law. Chief of the KGB Second Directorate, also known as the Spymaster.

  Sofia. Sofia Reitman. Mendel’s wife. Kolya’s mother. The target Artur has been charged to seduce. A spy for the CIA.

  Vera. Vera Soifer. Sofia’s sister. Renata and Ilya’s daughter. Kolya’s aunt.

  Victor. Victor Zhirov. Artur’s KGB partner.

  Yana. Yana Gregorovich. Artur’s mother. Mikhail’s wife.

  Yosef. Yosef Koslovsky. Artur’s undercover alias. Mikhail’s Jewish friend who was killed in the army. Yana’s former fiancé.

  GLOSSARY

  Babushka. Old woman or grandmother. Also refers to a head scarf tied under the chin. Plural is babushki.

  Blyad. Swear word with multiple meanings.

  Borscht. A soup made with beets.

  Bozhe moy. My God.

  Dedushka. Old man or grandfather.

  Goluboy. Blue. Also a slang term for gay.

  Konechno. Of course.

  Kopek. Coin currency equivalent to one hundredth of a ruble.

  Kutletka. Cutlets.

  Matryoshka. Nesting dolls. Plural is matryoshki.

  Mezuzah. A scroll inscribed with biblical passages from Deuteronomy 6:4–9 and 11:13–21, placed in a case, and hung on the doorposts of Jewish homes as a sign or reminder of faith.

  Pilmeni. Dumplings.

  Ponimayesh. You understand.

  Refusenik. A person in the Soviet Union who was refused permission to emigrate, particularly Jews who were refused permission to emigrate to Israel.

  Samizdat. Self-publishing house. Also refers to the copying and distribution of forbidden materials.

  Shtetl. Term for a small Jewish town or village in Eastern Europe.

  Sla va Bogu. Thank God.

  Tak. So, thus, like.

  Yarmulka. A scullcap worn by some Jewish men.

  Zhid. Russian slang term for Jew.

  COPYRIGHT

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2018 D. B. S
huster

  Cover Illustration Copyright © 2018 Crime Bytes Media, LLC

  COPYRIGHT NOTICE

  All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

  LICENSE NOTICE

  This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author’s work.

  The author and publisher have provided this e-book to you for your personal use only. You may not make this e-book publicly available in any way. Copyright infringement is against the law. If you believe the copy of this e-book you are reading infringes on the author’s copyright, please notify the publisher at: crimebytesmedia@gmail.com.

  Table of Contents

  To Catch a Traitor

  DEDICATION

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  Chapter ONE

  Chapter TWO

  Chapter THREE