Page 125 of Unruly

Zeke cleared his throat. “Under Katya.”

Oh.

The bullet in the back.

She had saved his daughter, and was willing to sacrifice her own life to do it. Cross no longer thought he needed to find something about Katya to make this whole shit-show worth the effort and trouble. She had done that all on her own, really.

“Cece is—”

“With my mother and father, currently,” Cross interjected. “I asked she be taken there from the hospital when I got the call.”

“Oh.”

“It’s time to end this fucking nonsense.”

Zeke agreed. “Not sure how, though.”

“I’m starting to like that whole idea we were given about just going in, getting business done, and cleaning damn house all at once.”

“Even with the police attention like it is right now?”

“Even with that, man.”

“Dangerous.”

“So are they, clearly,” Cross said with a gesture in Katya’s direction.

The woman was still talking to Catherine, and neither of the two women seemed to notice the men were knee-deep in conversation at the moment. Cross was fine with that. He could fill Catherine in on all the details later.

“We know the Russians never gather in large groups,” Cross said.

“Not at the same time, no.”

“So an attack like that, where we just hit them all at the same time, is basically impossible. But we do know who the main heads of the organization are.”

“What do you want—specific details on those men, and their meets?”

“All of that, and whatever else you can find for me,” Cross replied. “Shit, sit Katya down, too, and get whatever you can get from her, too. Women know more than they let on when it comes right down to it.”

Zeke rubbed a hand down his jaw before saying, “We’ll need a few days to get everything ready, and worked out.”

“Not an issue. After tonight, everyone who needs to be locked in for safety is doing exactly that. Men are coming off the streets. Donati business is on hold until I say otherwise. I am not losing one more person to these cocksuckers.”

“Could I see her?” Katya asked.

Her question drew Cross away from his conversation. Zeke, too, looked at his wife.

“Cece, I mean. Could I?”

Catherine passed Cross a look. “She’s not here, is she?”

“She can be,” Cross said, “but only for a few minutes.”

“You’re going into surgery in a couple of hours,” Zeke reminded Katya. “Maybe it would be better to wait until after when you’re home again and—”

“Please?” Katya asked.

Cross touched his friend’s arm to keep him from refusing again. “Cece will be here before you go into surgery. I’ll make sure of it.”