“She’s just turned the lights out in the house and moved through to her bedroom, so the team is switching to night vision. Simeon’s finished installing cameras, and once she’s asleep, he’ll install them inside, too.”
“Tell him I want him as close to her as possible, no one else. We still don’t know who Donna’s got reporting back or what she’ll ask them to do, and both Yakov, Stephan, and Simeon are the only ones there I trust right now. They’re also the best trained. If the ghost focuses his attentions on her, I know they’ll at least create a diversion long enough for her to escape.”
And they would. As the mother of my sons and the woman of my heart, they’d give their blood for hers.
The KGB had trained the three men, but after the eyes of the world had focused on Russia, they’d created a different service, hidden behind closed doors and only released for the specialized jobs they were needed for. Their training was intense, and it covered body and mind, so when they came out they were basically emotionless powerhouses.
My father had been made aware of the training and their outstanding achievements during it, and had arranged a visit to them where he’d made them an offer. After a year of seeing the results, he’d met with some of the others, and we now had forty-three of them on our staff.
One might think that hearing they were emotionless would make them awkward or antisocial, but they were still human beings who laughed and would shoot the shit with you. They just never buckled when shit got tough because their self-preservation and sense of fear had been erased completely.
They were the best actors in the world, and ones that could gut you before you even saw them move.
Vadim had been trained for the team, too, but he’d decided he could make more money doing the jobs by himself, so he’d left. He wasn’t as social as the men my father had hired from it, preferring to spend time by himself while he carried out his contracts, but once you had my friend’s loyalty, you never lost it.
And my cousin, Valka, was a female trainee of the special branch. At first glance, people misjudged her as being just a beautiful woman, perhaps on the bimbo side, but she was far from that.
Her ability to charm and use her personality to lower people’s defenses worked well for her, meaning that the marks were caught off guard when she revealed her true self. Then again, they were usually dead minutes after she did that, so it’s not like it was a life-changing revelation to them. Well, actually it was, just not a long one.
She had pale blonde hair, very unlike mine and my brother’s, so people never made the familial connection between us, and was almost ethereal looking, but our eyes were the same.
Even knowing that I had Simeon and Yakov so close to Nell, I had an uneasy feeling in my gut.
“Perhaps I should go and stay with her tonight?”
Not lifting his head from his phone, Zoran muttered, “I wouldn’t advise you to do that, Taras. Right now, we need to know what Donna’s planning, who has the motive to put an order out to kidnap the boys, and install enough cameras and security to have eyes on everything in her house in case the ghost focuses on her.
“You’re going to her will draw attention to her, but it might also trip Donna up, so we won’t know her plans. My feelings are she ordered the kidnapping of your sons, so meeting with her would perhaps force her hand to reveal information.”
This was a possibility that had occurred to me, but it didn’t add up.
“How would she know about the boys? And are we saying that she was responsible for the bomb? Our friendship with the Road Kings is well known now, and I was present when it went off. For all anyone knows, I’m acting as the liaison between the Bratva and MC, to assist with the murders and Nell’s safety for the sake of the alliance.”
Blowing out a frustrated breath, Zoran twisted slightly to look at me, letting me see the seriousness on his face in the passing headlights of another car.
“We don’t have answers to much right now, so we have to let our guts guide us. My gut is saying she has something to do with it.”
Looking back out the side window, I pressed my lips firmly together and then nodded.
“I want eyes on her, ones that we know are ours.” I turned my head to look at him. “Loyalty isn’t guaranteed, so this stays within the circles we know we have the loyalty of. In the meantime, get me the information from the IT department, and once we have what we need the family will go to the Azarovs.”