Free The Russian Deception by Alex Lukeman

message to the world. We want everyone to know the truth."
    "Whose truth? Yours? Why would I believe a bunch of thugs who grab me and my friends and put a sack on my head?"
    Josef gestured with the knife. "Would you have come otherwise? The hoods were necessary to keep you from knowing where we are."
    Nick couldn't feel his hands behind his back. The plastic ties had cut off the circulation.
    "If you want me to listen to you, you'll have to stop treating us like prisoners. Cut the ties on our hands. Consider it a goodwill gesture."
    Josef gave him a careful look. "Give me your word you will not cause trouble. My men are nervous and some of them don't like Americans. There could be an accident. You understand?"
    "Do it, Nick," Selena said. "It's the only way we're going to get the story."
    "You should listen to her," Josef said.
    "All right. I give you my word. No trouble. Now cut these damn ties before my hands fall off."
    Josef said something and one of his men came forward and cut the plastic ties around Nick's wrists. Nick brought his hands around front. The skin was dead white and he could feel nothing at all. His fingers were useless.
    "My friends, too."
    "Be careful," Josef said. "A false move would be a very bad thing for you to do."
    "I heard you the first time," Nick said.
    Josef motioned and the same man who had cut Nick's ties went behind Selena and cut hers. Then he went to Lamont and Ronnie. When he was done, he stepped back and leveled his AK at them.
    "I'm listening," Nick said.
    "We support the 11 October movement," Josef said. "That alone should convince you that we are not the ones who tried to kill Todorovski."
    "If you didn't do it, who did?"
    "The Russians."
    Nick was surprised. He hadn't expected that. "Why do you think it was them?"
    "That pig Mitreski gets his instructions from Moscow. You saw how many people came to the square to hear Todorovski speak. Macedonia is on the verge of a color revolution that will sweep Mitreski from office and put Todorovski in his place. Mitreski knows it and so does everybody else. I know Todorovski. He is a true patriot and he fears the Russian bear. He will be a strong ally for the West. The Russians are worried about him."
    "That doesn't prove they tried to kill him," Nick said.
    "We know it was them because we have someone within Mitreski's circle. During the last week Mitreski has been in daily contact with Moscow. The Kremlin is unhappy about Todorovski. Mitreski has asked for new military supplies. He has been discussing the coming revolution and requested assistance. Moscow regards Todorovski as the voice of the resistance."
    "What kind of assistance does Mitreski want besides weapons?"
    "Volunteers. Fighters to uphold his regime. The excuse is the stability of the Macedonian state and internal threats to our Slavic heritage. "
    Russia had long considered itself the protector of Slavic culture and Orthodox Christianity in the Balkans. Moscow's obsession with the area had been evident during the Yugoslavian wars when the Serbs acted as surrogates for Russian ambition. But this wasn't the 90s. Things were different now. The planes were faster, the missiles more deadly, the rhetoric more rigid. Everything had become much more dangerous. With Orlov established in the Kremlin, Russian paranoia was higher than ever.
    "Like in the Ukraine," Nick said.
    "Yes."
    "Shit. That would complicate things."
    "You begin to see," Josef said.
    Feeling was coming back to Nick's hands. He waited for the pain he knew would come. A little longer tied like that and he might've lost a finger or two.
    "When we left Skopje, Mitreski was sending troops toward the Albanian border," Nick said.
    "He thinks war with Albania will divert the people's attention. He's wrong. We will fight to defend our homeland if we have to but it will not change anything. Mitreski must go. There is still time before war begins, but not much. You must tell the West that Mitreski is conspiring with Moscow to provoke