IX (II) - THIS IS NOT A SHOT YOU SHOULD TAKE IF YOU'RE A ROOKIE

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Moodlist
Smoking On My Ex Pack - SZA
fuckwithmeyouknowigotit - JAY Z featuring Rick Ross
SAOKO - Rosalia
Return The Favour - Keri Hilson featuring Timbaland
NEED IT - Kaytranada featuring Masego
Autodéfense - Lous And The Yakuza

MoodlistSmoking On My Ex Pack - SZAfuckwithmeyouknowigotit - JAY Z featuring Rick RossSAOKO - RosaliaReturn The Favour - Keri Hilson featuring TimbalandNEED IT - Kaytranada featuring MasegoAutodéfense - Lous And The Yakuza

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The Last Meeting
Paris, France
Late September

"We have been looking for Dmitri Vasiliev for a long time now. Angelo, you in particular, have your own issues to rectify with the man. The Don also has some retribution he'd like to exact against him. I have reason to believe that he is hiding in Turkmenistan, after falling out of favour with the Kremlin. See, Putin was not best pleased that Vasiliev ordered the assassination of an American Citizen on US soil. By doing so he overplayed his hand." That was the last thing any of them expected me to say.

I continued.

"Turkmenistan is virtually impossible to get into. There is no way that he can be reached there, even with some of my best assets. Instead, I have located one of his old enforcers, a man named Fedir Kovalenko. He is the man that administered the lethal dose of nerve agent that killed the late Antonio Leone, may he rest in peace." A moment of silence passed for the man who's actions set in motion the irreversible sequence of events that brought everyone in the room together today.

"Kovalenko? He's dead Vanessa. I heard it on old Bratva chatter." Raymond was shocked, his words coated in surprise. Having severed ties with his old employers, he was somewhat out of the loop. But Kovalenko was a big player and his alleged death was an even bigger deal.

Instead of answering, I slid a file across the table, and Ray wasted no time picking it up.

"Within that file, you will see photographs of Kovalenko in Vienna a week ago. He's working there as a financial advisor. We believe him to still be in contact with his boss, as his only connection to the West. I am confident that working him will allow us to smoke Vasiliev out." Angelo looked at me with incredulity.

I'm Miss Make It Happen now, nigga.

"How did you get this shit, Vanessa?" Poor Angelo, he had no clue.

"A lady never reveals her sources." More than that wasn't required at that moment.

"When you say 'working' him, what do you mean?" He knew what I meant.

Not killing him.

"I meant what I said. It will take a while to flip him and even longer to get him to pull Vasiliev out of hiding. But it will happen. And we'll be there to catch him when it does." The way he cleared his throat let me know that he didn't agree with me.

"I appreciate what you have done so far, Vanessa. I really do. But out of the two of us, I am the more experienced. I believe that handing this over to me now would be the best way forward. After all, that is what we are here to do, no? You are handing things over to me to lead on." Our audience were subtly moving their eyes back and forth, as if spectating a tennis match at Wimbledon.

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