After returning to the yacht's master bedroom and spending some intimate time with his girlfriend, William fell asleep holding her. But while he was soundly asleep, across the Atlantic in North Brooklyn, New York, Viggo Tarasov and his brother Abram Tarasov found it impossible to get any rest.
An hour earlier, they had received a call from Pushkin's top enforcer, Ted Rensen. Ted wanted to meet with Viggo and Abram and also insisted on meeting the leader Pushkin had planted as a spy within Viggo's ranks.
This request put Viggo in a bind. Meeting with the brothers wasn't an issue, but the spy had already been killed by John Wick.
With no other choice, Viggo decided that Ted, the hyena, had to be eliminated.
However, Ted wasn't an idiot. He didn't immediately agree to meet at Viggo's nightclub as suggested. As the meeting time approached, Ted informed Viggo that the location had changed—the new meeting place was the observation deck on the top floor of the Empire State Building. This sudden change made Viggo, who had already prepared an ambush, feel uncertain.
If they went to the meeting, Viggo feared that Ted might already know about his betrayal of Pushkin, in which case the meeting would definitely be a trap. But if they didn't go, there was the worry that Ted was simply testing them, trying to lure them into revealing themselves.
Before Pushkin was eliminated, Viggo and Abram were just local leaders in New York; they didn't have the authority to rally everyone to their cause. If news of their disloyalty spread, the North Brooklyn branch of the Russian Mafia would immediately fall into chaos.
They needed to wait until Pushkin was taken out before they could justifiably break away.
Finally, the brothers exchanged a glance with John Wick, who was sitting on the couch sipping whiskey. Drawing some confidence from Wick's presence, Viggo steeled himself, thinking of the preparations and contingencies he had put in place.
He donned the bulletproof suit Abram had brought back and retrieved a disc from the safe. Turning to his brother Abram, he said, "Let's go meet Ted."
After sending about a dozen men ahead to scout the Empire State Building, Abram got behind the wheel, driving Viggo and John Wick toward the meeting point. The rest of their men followed about a kilometer behind, ready to provide support if needed. They would get out of their vehicles a block away from the building and approach on foot.
With vanguards ahead, a backup team following, and a top-tier fighter by his side, Viggo finally felt a bit more at ease.
Twenty minutes later, their car pulled up in front of the Empire State Building. The men who had arrived earlier confirmed via radio that the area was secure. John Wick got out first, entered the building, and after surveying the area, gave a nod to the waiting Viggo and Abram.
The two brothers quickly exited the car and walked into the building, taking the elevator straight to the observation deck on the top floor. There, they found Ted waiting with three large men in suits standing behind him. Seeing this, Viggo and Abram finally breathed a sigh of relief—Ted was suspicious but hadn't yet confirmed their betrayal.
John Wick's eyes narrowed slightly as he observed the three large men behind Ted. His instincts told him that these men were similar to the Navy SEALs sent by Yuli Orlov to hunt him down a while ago.
After a brief moment of thought, Wick concluded that these three men were likely Russian special forces. Whether they were from the Spetsnaz, the Signal Flag unit, or the Alpha Group, he wasn't sure.
As Viggo and Abram approached, Ted stood up with a smile and greeted them with a hug. "Good evening, Viggo, Abram. I'm sorry to have to meet you here, but I couldn't get in touch with Kosov. Can you tell me why Kosov and his men have all disappeared?"
Viggo, who had been planning for this moment for days, put on a grim expression and replied with bitter anger, "Of course, you couldn't find Kosov or his men, because I had them all killed."
"Huh!" Ted was taken aback by Viggo's blunt admission, which didn't align with what he had expected. "You dare come here with only one man by your side. There must be something I don't know. Care to explain why?"
"Why?" Viggo didn't even need to pretend as he shot back with fury in his eyes, "Why? I should be asking you why Kosov and his men tried to kill me! Why did that bastard throw a grenade into my office?"
With that, Viggo pulled a disc out of his jacket pocket and said, "This is the security footage from outside my office. It's all the evidence you need to see that Kosov tried to kill me. Not only did he bring his men to attack my office, but he also tried to blow me up with a grenade."
Ted took the disc, surprised by this explanation but also a bit disappointed. He was disappointed that Kosov hadn't managed to kill Viggo—if he had, Ted could have taken out Kosov and possibly taken Viggo's place. Thinking of the vanished Andre, Ted couldn't help but suspect that Andre might have been in cahoots with Kosov to plot against Viggo. After Kosov's death, Andre could only disappear with the money.
Viggo continued, "That day, I was the only one in the office. My luck was better than Kosov's, though. He thought he had a good opportunity, but he didn't know that I was alone that day because I was secretly settling accounts with the Continental Hotel. When Kosov failed to kill me, he was taken out by one of their assassins. Otherwise, I wouldn't have had the chance to meet you here."
Ted stared blankly at the disc in his hand, regretting that he had arranged this meeting because Pushkin was listening in on their conversation via a phone call.
Frustrated, Ted ordered one of his men, "Get me a TV and a player."
"Understood."
A few minutes later, after watching the footage, Ted was left dazed as he glanced at John Wick standing behind Viggo. The video began with John Wick, impeccably dressed in a suit, his hair neatly combed and wearing a mask, knocking on the door and entering Viggo's office.
A few minutes later, Kosov and his men, armed and sneaking along the hallway, reached Viggo's office. After a brief discussion, they prepared to enter. As they reached the halfway point, two of Kosov's men were suddenly shot dead. Kosov and the remaining men scrambled for cover and began firing at the office.
After a brief standoff, Kosov signaled to his men, and two of them, including Kosov, pulled out grenades. But before they could pull the pins, they were shot dead by two precise bullets.
The rest was straightforward. The remaining men, now in shock, were quickly taken out.
Two or three minutes later, John Wick emerged from Viggo's office, gun in hand, and made his way downstairs. The footage then focused on Wick's rampage—anyone holding a gun and pointing it at him, whether they were Kosov's men or Viggo's, was swiftly eliminated. The video ended with John Wick carrying someone out of Viggo's nightclub and disappearing into the night.
Ted, deep in thought, looked up and asked Viggo, "Who was the man your associate carried out?"
"F*** you, Ted," Viggo suddenly snapped, walking up to Ted and yelling in his face, "Don't tell me you didn't recognize my son! You've met Iosef several times."
Ignoring Viggo's outburst, Ted turned to John Wick and asked, "Why did you take Viggo's son?"
John Wick coldly replied, pointing at Viggo, "He didn't pay."
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