Ivan Petrov

Chapter 8

The Mayor Building, Tverskaya, Moscow, Russia

The lift arrives at the mayor's office, and Ivan and Colonel Stanislav, the senior guard earlier on, came out from the lift.

"I cannot walk you any further after letting you in the office," said Stanislav. "I believe you know what to do from here?"

Ivan looks at him for a while, not giving him a response before looking at the doors to Mayor Smirnov's office. His secretary looks at them, then Stanislav reads to her the order.

"The Mayor would like to see Ivan Petrov," said the colonel. "Bring in tea for both of them."

"But... the Mayor only drinks coffee," corrected the secretary.

Stanislav was stunned for a moment, tried to respond back but Ivan cuts in.

"That's not a problem, I'm good with coffee too, miss," he proceeds to walk to the door. 

The secretary quickly chases up to him and she knocks the door, to which Smirnov answers.

"Come in."

The secretary opens the door for Ivan and he enters, then shortly she closes the door behind him, leaving him and the mayor in the same room.

"Mr Petrov," smiled Smirnov as he smokes a cigarette while watching the news. He grabs the remote and turns the volume off. "You have been famous in this city... country recently."

Ivan takes a seat, while still visibly having scratches around his face from the earlier on confrontation with Dmitry.

"I believe you have already met... agent Dmitry, was it?" asked Smirnov as he reaches a cigarette and offers him.

"No, thank you, sir," said Ivan. "I don't smoke anymore."

"A healthy person!" Smirnov chuckles as the secretary comes in with a tray of two cups of coffee in royal-looking cups. "Look at him, Irina! A Russian who doesn't smoke!"

Irina the secretary did not reply as she serves the cups to them, but only smiled before she left the room, allowing them to resume on the conversation.

"So tell me, Mr Petrov," Smirnov breathes heavily and looks at Ivan. "How has the city been treating you thus far?"

Smirnov's passive-aggressiveness is not getting anywhere to Ivan, in fact, Ivan just looks as calm as ever.

"It has been good," replied Ivan as he takes the cup closer to Smirnov and drinks it. "Dmitry was a fine man, a good agent, loyal to the State. He fought well for it."

He puts the cup back and takes a sip of his own one, and smiles lightly at the mayor.

Smirnov chuckles, seeing what Ivan has done. "Not bad... checking for poison in our cups. I like it."

Smirnov takes a sip from his cup, knowing that he is now safe. He now starts to delve deeper into his interest with Ivan.

"So, Dmitry is dead, if I interpret it correctly?" said Smirnov. "But then, let me tell you this, you've only touched the tip of the iceberg."

"What do you mean by that, Smirnov?" Ivan decided to ask the mayor without any formalities, showing his disdain for him indirectly.

Smirnov reclines onto his chair. "I know that he killed your girl who you view as your daughter. I know that it was the Bratva involved in it-"

"Where's her body?" interrupted Ivan.

Smirnov hesitates for a while, "in the morgue, don't worry. We did not burn her."