Natalia POV

I walked into Oleg’s parent’s restaurant and spotted him towards the back at a table which seated four.

‘Oleg,’ I called out, and he lifted his head from his laptop to send me a grin.

I straightened my black tight dress as I walked over to him. I was wearing my trusty black pumps and my blonde hair was in a neat bun.

‘Hey Natalia, you look nice,’ Oleg told me, even though his face had only left the laptop for a maximum of two seconds.

I joined him at the table and watched as he continued to type intently into his laptop.

‘Where’s your bodyguard?’ I asked him, looking around the busy restaurant and not seeing any sign of Alexander.

‘Who?’ he asked, eyes no leaving the screen.

‘Alexander obviously,’ I laughed.

‘Oh, he’s at his parents’ house I think. So what do you need?’ he asked me, drawing his eyes away from the screen to face me.

It was rare to see Oleg without trusty Alexander at his side.  When it came to Oleg my father knew that he needed protection. His work for the company was invaluable but he wasn’t the strongest fighter or fastest thinker in life and death situations. If it wasn’t for Oleg’s skills my father’s organisation would be nowhere near as powerful as it is today. It is thanks to Oleg’s skills that the government still had very few images of my brothers and I, that most of our people were able to fly under the radar and that our operations were able to stay as hidden as they were. I understood why Alexander got threatened by my father when he heard that Oleg was put in prison. Guys like him wouldn’t survive in there and people like my father wouldn’t survive out here without guys like Oleg.

Oleg could avoid getting arrested if he had wanted but with the amount of cops on the payroll, we didn’t really need to worry, preferring to spend his time on more high priority cases which drew the attention of those who preferred not to associate with my father’s operations, or even more importantly, those who would stop at nothing to bring my father down.

Oleg was going to have to be careful from now on, well, until I take Wyatt down at least.  

‘I need a new identity. He’s a cop, so if he looks me up on the data base there must be some proof of me. Oh, and I have to be American, if I was Russian it would be too suspicious.’

‘Ok, but how are you going to do that? You have an accent.’

‘It’s called faking it Oleg,  gosh, it’s really not that hard,’ I told him in my best American accent, giving him a knowing grin when I finished speaking.

‘That was actually pretty good, just watch your pronunciation and you should be fine.’

‘How long will it take?’

‘I can have it done by the morning, but I can do all the info now ready for you to read over.’

‘Good,’ I smiled at him ‘I want to get started as soon as possible.’

I ordered some food and waited while my friend created a complete new identity for me.

After some time he finally looked up at me.

‘Ok, your name is Natalie Craig, you’ve lived in Chicago your whole life, and your parents lived in Chicago since they were kids but they are retired now, living in Florida. You’ve got a licence, social secuirty number, work and tax records and an address. I’ve sent all you need to know to your phone, so read it and know it. There’s no room for mistakes here Natalia,' He told me seriously and I didn’t miss the worry his eyes held.

‘I will be fine Oleg, I know how to do this, just trust me, I’ve been waiting my whole life for this opportunity.'

‘I know Kitten, just –‘ he put his hand on top of mine ‘You’re like a sister to me Kitten, I just want you to be safe.’

‘I will Oleg, besides, doing this keeps us all safe. This Wyatt guy could bring down the whole organisation if he gets the right information from the right people. I have to do this, for my father.’

I looked at my watch and noticed the time. I had been there for longer than I thought.

‘Goodnight Kitten, call me tomorrow.’

‘Bye Oleg,’ I got up and walked out of the restaurant, happy to be finally starting my mission.

-----

My apartment was amazing. It was on the tenth floor of an apartment building in the centre of Chicago, with a large balcony overlooking the busy, bright city. I walked through my modern apartment and into my study where I sat at my desk in front of my computer.

I had already printed out all I needed to know for my cover and now I was researching this Dexter Wyatt guy.

I was about to start searching when I heard my roommate come home.

‘Natalia!’ she called out.

‘In here Dominika,’ I yelled back and in a couple of seconds my best friend was sitting at the other desk chair looking at me expectantly.

‘What?’ I asked her.

‘Tell me about your mission! This is so exacting! I thought that your father would have refused, but I’m proud of you, you must have done something to convince him.’

‘Thank Dominika,’ I smiled at my best friend ‘I have to get close to Dexter Wyatt a Chicago PD cop, and find out what he knows’

She looked impressed. ‘Exciting! Need any help?’

‘No I’m just about to do some research on him.’

‘Ok, can I give you some advice?’

I nodded towards her.

‘Remember that you are acting. Don’t make it too personal, it will only end up with you hurt,’  she looked sad and I couldn’t help but wonder if she had gotten too close to someone on her last job that made her want to quit her high level job.

‘I’ll be careful.’

‘Good,’ she kissed my forehead as she walked out of the study.

I typed ‘Dexter Wyatt’ into Google and it came up with a myriad of results.

I clicked on the first one. It was a newspaper article.

The title read; ‘Baltimore Detective Dexter Wyatt Takes Down Powerful Drug Cartel’

The article told of how the young detective personally gained information about a drug cartel which was based largely in Baltimore. His work was ‘Influential in the takedown’. The young detective apparently ‘saved the lives of hundreds when it was discovered that the drug cartel was also dabbling in human trafficking’.

At the top of the article was a picture labelled ‘Detective Wyatt’. The man in the picture had shortish dark brunette hair, with lightly tanned skin. His handsome face was featuring a bright smile that reached up to his sparkling green eyes. The man was wearing his uniform, the well-fitting shirt showing off the toned muscles hidden underneath.  

I memorised his face for future reference.

All other articles were the same in essence.

‘Detective Wyatt is an upstanding member of the police department’

‘Dexter Wyatt saves three lives in hostage situation’

‘Detective Wyatt receives award for taking down crime head in Baltimore’

‘Baltimore Detective Wyatt makes arrest in four year murder case’

Each article painted the young man as an upstanding person who loved his work.

He seemed like an alright guy.

In another life we probably could have even been friends, but he was messing with my family.

He put Oleg in jail and I doubted that he would hesitate to do the same to my brothers or my father.

He had to be taken down, and I would be the one to do it.