Ivan nods. “Yes. We know that Kirill is Marius. We still need to identify the one who calls himself Sulla and who knows how many others there are.”
I turn to Kenzi. “The woman who trained you,” I ask. “Madam Therese, she had a cane as well. Did you ever hear her called by another name?”
Kenzi takes a deep breath and thinks about it for a moment. “Maybe. I didn’t recognize it as a name though. Agricola or something. Thought it was some kind of salad mix.”
“That’s arugula.” Dima laughs. Kenzi punches him in the arm and mutters at him to shut it. Laughing, my enforcer rubs at his arm pretending to be hurt.
“Well, they sure are a narcissistic bunch,” Andrei snorts. “Caesar, I’m assuming, is after the great Julius Caesar. Funnily enough, Sulla was a large influence on Caesar’s reign as dictator of Rome. I’d imagine whoever this Sulla is, they know one another outside of the circuit they are running.”
“We know the Dollhouse is a separate entity than the Chameleon Agency,” Dima muses. “It’s been around longer. So, the question is did Kirill start in the Chameleon Agency first and become a member of the Dollhouse or was it the other way around?”
“Does it matter?” Ivan wonders.
Andrei nods. “Your grandfather used to talk about a secret society that called themselves thePotestas Omnis. Which translates to?—”
“Power Over All,” I murmur. Andrei’s lips tilt into a proud smile as his gaze sweeps to me.
“That’s a horrible name for a secret society.” Kenzi scrunches her nose. “Might as well call themselves‘Impotus Omnis’.”
Ivan snorts a laugh while Dima cackles loudly, and fist bumps her.
Children.
But it is good to see them laughing amongst hard and uncertain times.
“As I was saying before I was unjustly interrupted.” Andrei winks at Kenzi to soften his words. “What if my brother inherited the position after proving himself? When did this Chameleon Agency pop up?”
“The FBI had been tracking them for several years. Interpol even longer,” Ivan informs us. “From what I dug up as Agent Archer, the earliest account goes back to the mid 1980’s in St. Petersburg.”
“Around the time my father banished Kirill and the war began.”
Ivan nods. “According to the Interpol database there was a significant uptick in missing and solicited women during that time. Some of the solicited women they found, usually dead with their throats cut, bore the mark of a Chameleon. That’s why they started calling it the Chameleon Agency. The name stuck.”
“I’m surprised he didn’t choose a snake,” Andrei snarls. “Better suited if you ask me.”
“Snakes can’t hide in plain sight.” I cough, clearing my throat at the thought of what a true chameleon the man was. “Chameleons are made to blend into every environment around them. A mirror effect.”
“And I let him.” Andrei leans his head back and huffs out a frustrated breath.
“Everyone did,” Ivan placates his father.Ourfather. It is hard to see the man before me and call him father when the man who I have always known to be him is lying dead just a few feet away. Is this how Ava felt when she discovered the truth about Elias?
“He didn’t fool you.” Andrei places his hand on his son’s shoulder and leans in until their foreheads are touching. “Forgive me my son for being so blind.”
Ivan closes his eyes and breathes. The breath is slow as he lets years of anger and resentment toward his father fade away.“I will always forgive you, papa. All that matters is that we are here now.”
“Yes, we are.” Andrei smiles and then fully embraces Ivan. “And I will never let someone create distance between us again. I swear it to you.” Ivan nods and I can see him struggling to hold back the tears of relief and joy that cling to his eyes like droplets of water on the leaves after a rainstorm.
Everything is washed anew.
Clean.
A fresh beginning.
But who knows what will come next.
five
“Five. Three. Seven. Nine,” Seamus calls out number after number as he works me through the paces in the gym beneath McDonough’s. It has been nearly two weeks since my meeting with Dante and still nothing but radio silence. We agreed not to contact each other unless it is absolutely necessary to keep Christian from getting suspicious.