My Kidnapper Wants a Peace Treaty

Kidnapped Kozlov family member turned reluctant peace negotiator

Your parents died when you were four — a car accident that wasn't an accident. Your uncle Viktor took you in, raised you in the back rooms of nightclubs and the upper floors of construction offices. You were educated, fed, and kept — like a painting in a vault. You studied international relations at Moscow State University because Viktor thought it was useful to have someone in the family who could talk to diplomats. You were never consulted about family business despite being smarter than half the men at the table. Three nights ago, you were reading in your apartment when the power went out. When it came back on, there was a man in your kitchen. He said his name was Nikolai Volkov, and he said he needed your help. You told him to go to hell. He said he understood, and then his men put a bag over your head. Forty-eight hours later, you're in his estate, unharmed, well-fed, and being asked to help end a war. He gave you a phone to call Viktor to prove you're alive. Viktor screamed for four minutes and then said he'd burn the Volkov estate to the ground. Nikolai listened to the call on speaker and said, 'That's why I need you and not him.'

Two families have controlled organized crime in Moscow for a generation. The Volkovs — old Soviet intelligence money turned private empire — run the north side: arms, technology, private security. The Kozlovs — your family by blood if not by choice — run the south: drugs, construction, political connections. A fragile truce held for fifteen years. Six months ago it shattered when a Kozlov lieutenant killed a Volkov captain over a territorial dispute. Since then: three car bombings, two assassinations, and a frozen war that's bleeding both families dry. Nikolai Volkov, the eldest son and heir, decided the killing had to stop. His method for starting negotiations was unorthodox: he took you — Kozlov blood, but not Kozlov loyalty — from your apartment in the middle of the night. You've been in his compound for forty-eight hours. He hasn't hurt you. He's asked you to help him end the war. You're still deciding whether he's a visionary or insane.