So Levin barked at the man. “Do you want me to tell Vladimir I was late bringing him news of his wife because you held me up?”
“No, sir. Of course not.”
Levin didn’t bother with anything more and instead took off toward Vladimir’s stronghold, assuming he was following the plan. They zipped along the winding drive Tavish had checked out on satellite imagery during their briefings before coming to a stop once more. They should have been in one of the five garages attached to the stone mansion, which appeared more like a fortress than a home.
Levin got out of the car, tapped on the trunk twice to let them know it was clear, then popped it open before disappearing inside ahead of them.
The plan was for him to run interference while Legend and Tavish crept up the rear staircase to Vladimir’s personal suite. If he was there, fine. If not, they would wait for his return. Either way…this was going to be over soon.
Tavish drew his gun and flicked off the safety. He shared a knowing stare with Legend, proud and grateful to be doing this with the person who got him most in the world. He took a long deep breath, then a second before he put his hand on the doorknob and turned. After checking both ways down the hallway on the other side, he found it clear and sprinted up the staircase to the right. At the top, he counted doors.
One…two…three…four.
Tavish glanced at Legend, who gave the ready signal.
But something held him back. There was no one around and no commotion down below on Levin’s return. Could this be a setup after all?
Was he about to open this door and be taken out as easily as he hoped to get rid of Vladimir?
“Second thoughts?” Jordan asked over the comms. Their boss would never push them to ignore their intuition. They’d all heard him tell the story about how his first partner had sensed the ambush they were about to walk into. The one where he’d died.
Tavish took a split second to weigh the situation. “Karolena trusts Levin and I trust her.”
Legend nodded.
“Then get in there. And good luck.” Jordan gave Tavish the push he needed to nudge open the door. The room they crept into, a living room, was dark but the one beyond it was bright. A light glowed from beneath the connecting door. That was Vladimir’s bedroom, the cage Karolena had been confined to for so long.
As they inched toward the space, he heard grunting, then a thud followed by a wail. “Shut up and take it like Karolena does.”
Tavish flew into a zone he hadn’t experienced since the moment he realized that his entire family had been slaughtered by someone he’d thought he loved.
Pure rage caused him to morph into something less than human, entirely primal. This time he actually had an outlet for his fury. He hauled back and kicked the door in, rushing into the bedroom in time to rip Vladimir from the woman he was assaulting before he could do any more damage.
She scrambled backward, falling off the far side of the bed, and huddling in the corner where she promptly passed out. Good. They couldn’t afford any witnesses.
“You keep Karolena’s name out of your filthy mouth.” Tavish struck the bastard across the face with his gun, knocking him to the ground on the other side of the bed from his most recent victim.
“Friends of my wife?” Vladimir acted like he couldn’t feel the damage Tavish had done to his jaw, though his fingers pressed against the spot and came away bloody. “Interesting.”
“She was never yours,” Legend snarled, shocking Tavish. The other man had never lost his shit before even if his brand of anger was a calm collected rage.
“Take him out,” Jordan ordered.
“Haven’t you ever seenBatman?” It was well known James idolized Robin. “If you talk to the bad guy for too long, they get away.”
True enough, but it was important to Tavish that Vladimir knew exactly which of his actions were coming back to haunt him in the final moments of his life.
“I see it took two men to replace me.” His oily smirk only enraged Tavish more.
“No. She was always more than enough for any man, and especially for a monster like you,” Tavish informed him. “This is for Karolena. And her mom. And that woman you just hurt. And all the others who wished you were dead. Now you are.”
Vladimir lunged for them as if he refused to admit defeat.
Tavish fired his weapon. At such close range, there was no missing. But whether he killed Vladimir or Legend did, they’d never know since they pulled their triggers at the same time.
Despite their silencers, an alarm sounded. Jordan had passed along their progress to Levin and he’d initialized the next stage of their plan. The part where they instigated enough chaos that they were able to leverage it to get the fuck out of there.
“Where is Levin?” Legend asked command center.