It’s done, Lotus. Get the guards to look the other way.
They are. Get out of there.
Gedeon exited the apartment and hurried down the hallway to the corner where the guards were conferring once more. Their leopards were already calming due to Meiling’s influence. He joined her and they made their way to Klim Zima’s luxury suite. Zima’s apartment was on the northern end of the palace and had a similar entrance to the one Ilari Morozov had, although his patrolling soldiers seemed far laxer.
Meiling distracted the guards at the double doors, allowing Gedeon to slip inside the apartment. Klim was in nightclothes, dozing in front of his massive television screen in his media room. Gedeon slipped up beside him.
“Klim. I just wanted you to know, before you die, that you lived your life stupidly. You should have found a mate for your leopard and someone to love you. Nothing you have is worth being alone and rotten inside.”
Klim opened his eyes. His leopard stared at Gedeon with sick, crazed eyes. He nodded. “I know, but it was too late to turn back.”
Gedeon broke his neck. It’s done.
Come out now.
Meiling was like a breath of fresh air in his mind. He wanted to cling to her. There was no malice in her. No need for revenge or an eye for an eye. She wanted evil stamped out, but she didn’t think in terms of making them pay. Because she was able to be so calm and think that way, she allowed him to be the same.
Gedeon was grateful for Meiling’s calming effect as he entered Makar Turgenev’s apartment. This was the man who had initiated the murders of his family. He was responsible for the murders of the family in North Korea as well as Meiling’s family. The hatred and fear had originally begun with this man. Gedeon didn’t want to feel that same hatred. He didn’t want any part of Makar Turgenev’s legacy in him.
As he walked silently through the man’s living quarters, Gedeon was struck by how lavish and decadent each room was. Unlike the other apartments, Turgenev hadn’t collected art or spent his fortune so much as hoarded it. There were gold bars stacked in several rooms. Other than enormous plants and a variety of beautiful water features in each room, the apartment’s décor was mainly about the life of its occupant. On the walls were photographs of Turgenev duplicating the poses in portraits of powerful men from the past. He had them on the walls in every room. Some were paintings. The portraits were all of him. There were mirrors everywhere.
This was a man who appeared, on the surface, to be self-absorbed and vain. One might accuse of him of feeling superior to everyone else. Looking around the apartment, Gedeon got the impression it was just the opposite. He believed Makar Turgenev had no self-esteem and was doing everything in his power to build it.
There on the shelves in his library was an entire section of self-help books on building self-confidence. Self-image. This man had crushed the other families out of real fear. He had been afraid of them, so much so that he had devised a plan to wipe them all out so their children wouldn’t have gifts that could allow them to slip past his guards, enter his home and confront him, just as Gedeon was doing.
“Turgenev. I think you know why I’m here and who I am.”
Makar Turgenev stopped in the middle of doing a kata. He wore nothing but a loincloth as he performed his evening ritual before going to bed. He kept fit, practicing mind and body fitness regimens in order to be in as good shape as possible at all times.
“Volkov? I wondered about you. You were too confident. No one has ever been confronted by all of us and handled it the way you did. You impressed the others, but you made me suspicious.”
“And yet it was still easy for me to get to you.” Gedeon allowed amusement to creep into this voice.
“Why are you here?”
“You call yourself justice,” Gedeon said. “But I seek justice. You plotted the murder of my family and Meiling’s family. I’m here to see that justice finds you.”
Makar glided closer, drying the sweat from his hands and face with a small towel. “That may be rather difficult if I don’t agree to it.”
“Then agree,” Gedeon said and moved into Makar’s attack.
The older Russian sprinted toward him, teeth bared in a vicious snarl. Saliva drooled in two long strings from the corners of his mouth as he snapped at Gedeon. His hands came up and he pushed a wall of flames at Gedeon.
Gedeon was prepared for whichever dragon move the Russian would choose to use. He had pulled every drop of water from the air in the apartment as he’d moved through it. Knowing he’d need it, he called on the water features Makar had incorporated into his décor. The rain clouds were already heavy, and the moment the flames rose seeking him, Gedeon countered the dragon fire with a leap into the air. His soaring move took him over the wall of flames as he dropped the deluge of water on the fiery blaze.