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“What do you want to do if I find them?”
“Make certain they don’t see the light of day again.” I shot her a quick look, realizing she was hanging on to every word I was saying.
“Where the hell were you during the explosion?”
“They took out a house at the corner of Cheshire and Byrd. But they won’t stay there long. They have two Humvees, and one hell of a load of military equipment. While I managed to take out at least three of them, I’m going to venture a guess they’re not finished for the night.”
“Goddamn it. This was well orchestrated. Damn pigs.”
I laughed and as soon as I did, my chest started to ache. “We’ll do a full sweep later, but I need names. I need locations. Someone is talking.”
“I’ll get Vassily to start searching and call in every soldier. Where are you headed?”
“For now, the safehouse. They’re far too eager to exterminate two targets at once. Do a security sweep of my house, the warehouses, and for fuck’s sake, have the casino secured.” If the bastards got to the casino, I would hang the man’s entrails in downtown New York.
“Sevastian’s already taken care of that.”
I was shocked Stephanie remained quiet, her fingers clawing the dashboard. “Have him double it.”
Kirill took a deep breath. “You’ll have protection at the safehouse within minutes.”
“Good. Make certain Dimitre stays with Tatiana. If anyone touches her, they will die by my hands.”
“I’ll contact you in one hour.”
I ended the call, taking several shallow breaths as the pain increased.
“Tatiana? Dimitre? Are they all under attack?” she asked, her entire body resonating heat.
“Tatiana is my sister, Dimitre my father’s head of security. He will keep her safe.”
“Do you have to worry about your entire family being slaughtered every day of your life?”
“Not every day, Stephanie, but yes, it’s a part of my world. Now, it’s a part of yours.”
“What a sad way to live.”
“Not necessarily.”
“The KGB?”
I laughed. “It would appear a war is about to be fought on our turf.”
“Jesus. That’s crazy. A safehouse,” she muttered. “You need to go to the hospital, not a safehouse.”
“That’s not going to happen. Not right now. Within a few minutes, your neighborhood will be lit up with police officers and fire engines. Trust me, given the recent press activity, the bastards will put and two and two together. Within thirty minutes, there will be cops banging on my door. I’m not in the mood to answer questions.”
“Because they won’t help you. Because they failed you.” Her statement was laced with remorse, an unexpected change.
“You could say that,” I answered.
She took a deep breath. “Fine. You’re not going to take my advice anyway. Get yourself killed.”
There was such sadness in her voice, the sound faraway. As I dialed the number for my father, I had to ask myself what I was going to do with her.
The answer didn’t come easily.
As I carried on a conversation with him, she sat quietly, every so often either looking in her side mirror or turning around to stare out the back window. I could smell her fear, could see the haunted look on her face. She had no true understanding of what was happening, but the realization that I was the only man who could protect her had finally settled in.
