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The box—around the same time

They were in the trucks, all of them, including Bozzone and Porter, both of whom had been shot.

The butcher’s hands and feet were trussed, and Tolevi was not being very gentle with him.

Massina looked over at Johansen.

“They’re good,” said Johansen. “They’ll make it.”

“Who is the butcher, really?” said Massina.

“What do you mean?”

“He didn’t want to be rescued. He had a gun on Tolevi. You can see it in the videos. And Tolevi tied him up.”

“He did want to be rescued. At one point.”

“Who was he?”

“The Russian SVR officer who was involved in planning the Ukrainian invasion,” confessed Johansen. “The rebels got tired of him and put him in their prison. He sent a message through his brother that he wanted to defect.”

“Does anyone else on the team know that?”

“It’s need to know. And they didn’t.”