"Zihov, huh…"
Natasha hadn't been far away; she was at the hotel speaking with some of the security folk while the kids were doing their round of competition. When Barnes had called her (and Steve) to let them know what had happened, Romanoff had come, immediately, casually ambling up to stand near Bucky, who had moved off to the side and well out of hearing of any of those who were straggling in the hotel lobby.
"That's the name he gave."
"Blonde guy? Scar on his face?"
"That's him. Who is he?"
No sense asking if she knew him, obviously.
"He's an information man for the Russian mob."
"What's he doing here?"
Barnes wasn't surprised that Natasha knew mobsters. Especially Russian ones.
"That's a good question," she replied. "He isn't supposed to be here, so he'd better have a good reason."
"Convention center is off limits to the mob?"
"Peter is."
"How do they even know him?" Bucky asked, curiously. "Much less be off limits to him…"
She smiled at his confusion, a reminder that she was far more relaxed with him, now, than either of them would have ever believed, and she looked at her watch.
"We have time," she replied. "Let's go talk to the others and I'll tell you some of it."
"Alright."
OOOOOOOOOO
"There are 10 male student and 15 female students in a class. How many ways are there to select a group of 7 students of which 2 are males and 5 are females?"
There was an immediate sound of a ding as the bell was hit, and the moderator turned to the team that had hit it.
"United States."
It was Ned who answered.
"One hundred thirty-five thousand, one hundred and thirty-five."
"Correct."
Pleased noises from the rest of the team but Ned wasn't preening, yet. They were doing well, but the Australians were a good team and in the competition they were mixing categories in a way that they'd never dealt with, so anything could be possible for the next question.
Sure enough, the next question had nothing to do with math – although it was ridiculously easy.
"Why is the sky blue?"
The Australian team hit the bell, but Peter's reflexes were much faster, and the moderator once more turned to the US team. Peter answered.
"The Rayleigh scattering."
"Correct."
Standing in the back of the small room, watching, Clint Barton shook his head.
"Are you learning anything?" a voice asked him in his ear.
He smirked even though Fury couldn't see him. The ear buds were high tech but they weren't visual capable.
"These kids are stupid smart," he answered, softly, so he wasn't distracting anyone. There wasn't any concern, though, since he was far enough away that no one had even noticed him, much less could hear him. "What's up?"
"I'm going to send Coulson in to take over for you," Nick told him.
"Oh?" They probably didn't need to do it, but SHIELD was making sure that there was always someone in the room with Peter when there was a round going on. They didn't really expect someone to make a move on the boy, but they weren't willing to take any chances. "Why?"
It was his rotation to watch, and the change meant that something was going on. SHIELD (and Nick, in particular) didn't like changing things if it could be avoided.
"Romanoff will brief you. Meet her in Peter's room."
"Roger."
He'd wait for Coulson, of course.
OOOOOOOOOOO
The hotel bar was an elegant place, which was fitting for a hotel of the caliber it was located in. It wasn't particularly busy, just then; mainly there were people eating lunch and having a drink with lunch. Probably people who were already tired of all the little dance kids. When Romanoff walked in with Barnes matching her stride for stride, the two didn't have any problem spotting Zihov, who was sitting at a table in the corner, out of the way of other patrons and also out of earshot of anyone else.
He was sitting alone, but Natasha didn't miss the man who was standing at the bar. He had a drink in front of him, but it was untouched and he wasn't showing any signs of a meal or any other reason for being there. She didn't know him, but she and Barnes both knew the type. Zihov looked her way as they walked over, but he didn't stand. Not as a measure of disrespect, Natasha knew, but more to keep from drawing attention to them.
"Alex."
"Natasha." He glanced over at Barnes for a moment. "New guy?"
Meaning that he looked Bucky up but wasn't able to determine who he was. Which was saying something when it came to a man who lived by finding out information at the higher levels. Maybe not as high as SHIELD or the Avengers, but not all that behind.
Romanoff shrugged as she seated herself across from the man.
"Something like that." Barnes sat down, too, much for the same reason that Zihov didn't stand. "What's up?"
If he was off put by her lack of niceties, it didn't show.
"There's a meeting, tomorrow," he said, lowering his head as if worried about someone reading his lips. "Of a bunch of very important men."
She didn't ask who, but she did frown.
"Here?"
"At one of the rooms in the convention center."
"Are you kidding me?"
"I wouldn't do that."
Of course.
"Tell King to postpone it."
"He didn't call it," Alex told her. "We don't have any control over the timing, and those that did call it don't know about your kid and wouldn't care if they did. The convention center is a favorite place for them to meet, because it's defensible and they know it well."
It was clear that he was serious, but it was also obvious that he didn't have any say in the matter.
"They're not worried about so much security?"
Meaning SHIELD.
He shrugged.
"They probably haven't even realized it, yet. Their security guys will start arriving in the morning – and so will ours – and the major players will be at the convention center by noon."
"How long will the meeting last?"
"A few hours."
"Is it a friendly meeting?"
"It's going to be tense," Zihov replied. "There's a lot of talk about someone trying to make a move in one of the other organizations."
"Not yours?"
"No. Joel's got total control, right now. There's no threat from us to this meeting. Joel was invited because he's an ally. We didn't know your guy was here until I sent a few guys down to get a look at the place and they reported seeing you – which obviously got some attention. Joel sent me to tell you – in person – as soon as we figured out what was happening."
She scowled, but she definitely did appreciate the warning.
"What floor is the meeting on?"
"Top floor. We're closing off the entire thing – for security. No way you can move your thing?"
Romanoff shook her head.
"No. That can't happen."
Not only because there wasn't any place that they could hold such a large grouping on short notice, but also because there wouldn't be time to move it even if they could find such a place. Not even the compound as a last minute option.
"Who's coming?" Barnes asked, curiously.
Zihov shook his head.
"That's not something I can tell you."
"We don't need you to tell us," Natasha assured him. "And I do appreciate the warning."
"What are you going to do?" Alex asked, clearly concerned – and with good reason. "What can I tell Joel?"
"We'll figure it out," she said. "And I'll contact you to let you know."
"Joel told me to tell you that we'll do whatever you think needs to be done to keep your boy out of harm's way."
She didn't miss that he never actually called Peter by name. Whether on purpose or not, she wasn't sure, but it was a good thing.
"I'll talk to Nick."
"Alright."
Warning delivered; he didn't have any reason to stick around. And he didn't. He nodded to Romanoff and then to Barnes and stood up and headed for the door. A moment later the man at the bar followed him out.
"What do we do?" Bucky asked.
"What I just told Alex. We talk to Nick."
"And Stark?"
"Yes."
