#viktor*

Eddie was arm in arm with her sister. She leaned against the tall blonde who was anxiously fidgeting until they were taken to a private seating. "Red wine. The whole bottle. Water," she told the waiter immediately as she pulled out the seat for Julien to seat. 

Viktor was just arriving. He was taking care of business before he was able to meet them. He adjusted his gloves as he reached the table, "Good evening ladies." He smiled, taking each of their hands in greeting. Admittedly lingering over Edeline’s. Eddie and Julien mechanically went through the greetings. 

Julien gave a tight smile at the man. He was handsome enough. He seated himself as the waiter brought wine, "Vodka. Top shelf." He ordered as he leaned back in his chair, "So, what called us all together tonight?" Eddie brought her cup closer to her when it was filled and Julien tenderly introduced the subject. "I'm here because your organization has ties to my case," she explained quietly as she cleared the table enough to present him photos of Ryan and indy.

 Viktor was not a cold man, but he was not very welcoming when Julien mentioned business.

"I'm trying to understand things best I can." Her finger came over ryan, "she is very critical condition sir and her brother is unwilling to cooperate with me.” their businesses were not very good bedmates he had learned in the past, "You seem to have very high expectations of information from me. What do I get in return?" He asked as he was brought a glass and a half bottle. As he waited for an answer he methodically unfolded his napkin and wiped the rim of his glass before he filled it up. Eddie took a sip of her cup as she looked at the blonde. 

Julien tried to think of something, "I have money if that's what you mean. If you want something else, even a favor owed, I can see you get your way." She looked down again at the photo of Ryan and gently slid it aside to show the wedding photo. "Please. I'd just like to know what happened." There was the twinge of emotion on Viktors face as he looked at the picture then up at Eddie, "How much information do you need. Specifically." He asked as he leaned forward on his elbows. He wasn't going to give them anymore than he had too. In case it got out.

Eddie narrowed her eyes some at the question. The girls seemed to silently communicate for a minute before agreeing. "Anything. Particularly nothing that is already in the file." Eddie dug through her purse for a yellow paralegal pad and gave it to julien before providing a pen. "I'll give you a few minutes to read over the condensed events."

Viktor licked his teeth before sighing and carefully moving things aside in an orderly manner to open the file with his gloved hands. His brow furrowing as he breezed through what was in the file, "The man in the photo is Stan Johnson, the girl is Ryan Johnson, maiden name West. And it seems you've got her brother Indy Moore." He recapped. Closing the file as he looked between them, "I brought them into the country. Believe me when I tell you I didn't know what they were going to do to them." 

He looked grim as he finished his glass and filled it again, "The three of them were serving in Afghanistan. It was hell over there. From what I know, Indy and Ryan joined for the money, Stan was a vet on his fourth tour when they all crossed paths....As you can tell from the picture, they wanted out. And my, clients, provided that out for them." 

He finished off his drink again as he leaned back in the chair as he seemed to consider something, "It wasn't what they thought though, They used Ryan as a drug mule. They cut her open and she packed on 10 pounds of hard drugs. By the time they got stateside they tried to disappear." 

He sighed again, "I couldn't let that investment get away. I had too many things riding on keeping those drugs out of the wrong hands, but someone else got to them first. They found their safe house, and pulled the drugs out of ryan's stomach one by one. Butchered her. And then they took Stans head as a warning right in front of her before they used her as a personal punching bag and fucktoy then disappeared with the drugs." Viktor explained, his hands rested tensely on the table. he was sure they realized a piece of that story was missing, "And the vigilantes were born."

Julien listened. When Eddie noted the way her sister was bending the knife in her hand, she started to write for her. It had been a long time since she had seen her sister just harden over protectively. "Thank you for your information. You have been a very gracious guest." There was a lack of timbre in her voice as she put the knife back on the table and folded her hands in her lap. 

Eddie turned, her brows knit in concern and she gently put a hand on her sisters shoulder. "Go to the bathroom. I'll be here okay." Julien stood and like an automated doll, she walked away. Eddie exhaled shakily. "I think I'm gonna throw up." 

Viktor sat silently, waiting until Julien was gone. He didn't really have anything else reassuring to say, "Edeline listen to me. You need to stay the fuck away from this." He said very seriously as he touched her arm firmly, "There's a reason they wanted to leave Afghanistan.”She gently displaced his hand off her arm with a shake. "If you're smart, you're not going to tell me what to do. This applies to my sister. She's very strong willed. You could see that obviously." It sounded like a joke the way she said it, but she knew her little sister could take more then an axe to the head.

Viktor sighed, she was as stubborn as ever, "This is way bigger than the mob and vigilantes." He said very quietly, still touching her arm, "The government was experimenting on them. On Ryan and her brother. No one knows exactly what they did, or how far it goes. But they were making them into literal weapons okay? And they poured a lot of money into them, so they want them back. Bad. It wasn't a mob that found them at the safe house..." He warned her, his hand leaving her arm slowly.

She wrote these things down. He was being very wordy and she was very content with the information gathered. It was incredibly useful. "Thank you. And by the way, the only favor we're doing you, is me not sticking a fork in you. Don't touch me again." She took the files gingerly as not to scatter the important documents and tore the yellow pages to put them in neatly with the rest. "So don't expect anything from us" 

In the light, she couldn't confidently say she had actually see him before.

"Edeline," he stated in a greeting that was far too formal. Her sister gave a nod of her head as her black heels clicked on the ground as he offered his arm to her. Watching Eddie politely decline was confusing. Julien liked to think she knew her sister well. This dinner showed there were still some details in her sister's life that she was not ready to share. 

Viktor led them to a secluded corner in the restaurant and lifted his hand to get a waiter's immediate attention. The women sat with their hands in their laps. Menus were set before them. Julien swallowed uncomfortably. "A red wine for me. Water for my sister. And whatever he wants." The blonde glanced at her sister uneasily as she watched the brunette fold her hands politely in her lap. The astute square of Eddie's shoulders made her look as if she was sitting next to Edmund in the courtroom knowing full well that the opposing legal team was going to be slaughtered. 

Viktor ordered quietly. 

"Show him the pictures," Eddie stated as silence fell over the table. She felt uncomfortable sitting at the table and shifted as she took the files and photos for Viktor to look at from her purse. He took the manilla colored file from her with his gloved hands. In some way, it reminded her of E when he was in court trying to hide his obvious deformities to look more like a man and less like someone who had a clear brush with the criminal kind. 

He dusted the surface as if it had something invisible dust only he could see before opening it. Julien tilted her head as she watched him thumb each page with a grim expression. "Are you ready to order?" a waiter asked. His eyes flicked across the table at the women, "No." 

Julien reached nervously for her water to take a sip as she watched him leaf through the papers and photos for a full fifteen minutes in silence. "They killed about eighteen of mine," he stated after a thoughtful moment longer of silence. His head tilted to take a good look at the blonde lawyer. She looked vaguely like eddie with her big brown eyes. His eyes drifted over the scar on her forehead. 

"We run drugs. We run people," he told the woman as he leaned back in his seat. There seemed to be some special consideration. "Is that all?" she asked as she looked at the man. "I'm afraid so." His answer made the blonde grit her teeth, "You could have told my sister that over the phone. You've wasted my time." Her voice had lowered and her eyes had darkened as she pushed away from the table. 

"We ran her." 

She stopped and sat back down at the table. "Continue." Like Eddie her hands were folded neatly into her lap as her brown eyes burned fierce holes into him. The waiter came again and he was dismissed with a quick order for all of them.

 "It wasn't our proudest moment," Viktor started as he looked over Julien's head as he recalled what he could remember with a light narrow of his eyes, "We opened her up. Sowed drugs into her. With the advancement of technology, we changed out strategies. We wanted to hit both both of these nails on the head. It was what we thought would be the cleanest way to get our hands into the trafficking." 

He had left the file open to the wedding photo. 

"She wasn't cooperative, so we made her cooperative." Viktor tapped the photo of Stan and Ryan. "I didn't give the orders. Someone else did." Her brown eyes looked down at the photo. She sat riged. He had admitted his organization had ties to her case and that they had actively hurt her client and killed Ryan's husband. "So, the russians had stan killed?" 

In the morning, she feels numb. She’s alone in her hotel room, sitting in a pink robe that had been waiting for her. Breakfast is served mid morning on the balcony, her selection is soft and she has a choice of pink champagne, a herbal tea and water. She downs her medication with a flute of champagne as viktor joins her. He never directly looks at her, not since eddie died and she wonders why every time she’s in his presence. 

The Russian knew from the beginning when he came to her with information about the west-Moore’s she would never stop looking for answers. He produced a packet for julien and she was surprised it wasn’t more evidence or clues— her eyes welled up in tears at the beautiful portrait of her sister sitting at her vanity lacing up her corset. 

“Where did you get these?” 

Viktor only gives a pressed smile. He has never said where he gets his information. The photos are intimate and she has to have full minutes to hours to absorb them all as she wipes her face, “thank you.” She hugs the photos to herself as he pushes a bit of the soft food towards her as a cautious, unpressuring suggestion to eat. She only pushes the food away as she pours herself another glass. 

“Thank you for Mary, that was a nice touch,” she added much more quietly. Eddie and Mary are so similar in personality and attitude that it’s near hard to tell them apart if she wasn’t smarter. “Anything for you,” he states simply and quietly as he rises, a gloved hand over his suits buttons to keep his tie secure as he gestures for her to come back inside. 

She sees the new array of toys that she’ll be playing with and sent back to the West-Moore’s who will have silent questions about the equipment. He had started supplying them with her requests a few years back in a desperate grab after the cabin had been burned down. “Again, thank you viktor.” He nods and she always sees that same glint of sad pain in his eyes. “How long do you intend to stay?” He asked her and she wants to say she’ll stay here forever. That she’ll stop fighting a battle that isn’t hers. 

“Maybe a few more hours.”