AllFreeNovel
Share Us
What enraged me more than anything was that the family hadn’t been notified of Sergei’s escape four days before. Four days. That would have given the Ghost plenty of time to return to New York. The thought that he’d been following either Stephanie or any member of my family for that length of time was more than just an irritant. The people responsible for allowing his escape to occur would face another level of retaliation once a bullet had been driven into his skull.
Gregory was first on my list.
“A job. An interesting way of putting it. What have you heard and from whom?” I demanded.
He sniffed a few times, tossing his head in Kirill’s direction, his face contorted.
“It’s best if you told me,” I instructed him.
“The news is everywhere but I don’t know who started it. He’s coming back. That’s all I know. I swear to God, Mr. Kozlov. I wouldn’t lie to you.”
I’d seen strong men beg for their lives. I’d been forced to watch them cry even after they’d betrayed my family. This one seemed resigned to his fate. If there was any strand of humanity left in me, a man who could take his punishment without being reduced to a blubbering mess deserved a decent sendoff into another world. It was a shame I was in a shitty mood.
“When?”
“Today. Tomorrow. I’m not sure. But soon. He has a hit list. I don’t know anything else. Nothing.”
I glanced at Kirill. That’s exactly what he’d said to my enforcer. Nothing more. Nothing less. I pulled out my knife, ending his life quickly, watching the man’s blood pool at my feet. As Kirill had reminded me, the asshole was low on the food chain. Information had been tossed out to the lower ranking criminals with no direct ties to any organization. The Ghost was playing a game, knowing we’d hear about his arrival.
As I turned to face Kirill, I nodded to Vassily first. “Get it cleaned up. We don’t need a single inspector to find any scrap of evidence. They damn unions are still all over our backs, the inspectors in their pockets. They’re looking for any excuse to shut the project down.”
“Understood,” Vassily said, the same grin Kirill had shown crossing his face. At least I knew he’d follow my orders to the letter.
“Do we have a new picture of this Ghost?” I asked Kirill. The one I’d given Kostya had been from his arrest.
“Just the one taken eight years ago. From what I was able to find out, his appearance is entirely different.”
“How the fuck did he get out of prison?” He’d tortured and slaughtered two of my father’s best soldiers after they’d tried to protect the family household. For that, he’d gotten life, which was the reason I’d never bothered to have his life ended behind bars. I’d wanted him to suffer like my father had all those torturous years.
“He escaped. He killed three guards with his bare hands, but from what little I heard, there was an armored car waiting for him.”
He’d had outside help, which is exactly what I was afraid of. I headed toward the door, Kirill following me.
“Were my father and brother warned?” I demanded.
“Absolutely, the moment I found out. Where are you going now?” Kirill asked.
I stopped just short of the door. “To save a woman’s life.” As soon as I had her safely tucked away, I’d hunt down Gregory. My instinct told him the man was directly involved, the attorney working for the very people determined to end my father’s regime.
When Kirill grabbed my arm, I fought to keep from snapping his neck.
“What?”
“Be careful, Alexei. If the Ghost does have a hit list, he’ll start with the lower end of the totem pole, taking the lives of the people who disrupted his operation. That could give us time to hunt him down.”
“Yes, it could, but that’s not going to happen.”
Not as long as I was alive.
* * *
Stephanie
A warning.
I’d been given a warning about the most heinous criminal that I’d ever been involved with in a prosecution case, both Harry and Frank very concerned for my safety. The one I’d had dreams about. The one where Gregory had taken the lead. The one where the monster had threatened me on several occasions. I’d never forget the horrible details of the crimes Sergei Politoff had committed, the photographs of the gruesome murders haunting me long after he’d been sent to prison. Sergei was a man with no country. While he was Russian in heritage, information regarding him had only surfaced in one document. It was as if the man was a Ghost.
Not that the Russians had been forthcoming in sending us detailed information. However, what we had learned could be the backstory for more than one horror movie.
