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Giana, still curious and trying to be bolder, asked, “How did you get all the nicknames they have for you?”
Misha laughed. “I call her gazelle because she tried to kill me the first time I went running with her.” He looked at Giana very seriously. “I almost died. It was very touch and go.”
Andrei spoke next. “I call her spider monkey because she jumps on my back to hitch a ride whenever she can.”
Viktor said, “I call her sestrichka. It’s a term of endearment for a little sister in Russian.”
Ivan said, “Princess, because she is the goddamn princess.” We all laughed.
I added, “solnishko. Because she’s the light to my dark and she lights the way for all of us.” Sephie turned to me, her eyes slightly wide. I could see the tears forming as she got up and came to me, curling up next to me. I pulled her close, kissing her lips.
Ivan and Misha both said, “Fucking adorable.”
Sephie just grinned at both of them, but then looked to Giana. “Armando is getting his own team of guys set up. You’ll have your own list of nicknames soon.” Giana just looked at her skeptically.
Once we landed, a few of the men that Armando had hired met us at the airport with vehicles. I hadn’t met any of the men Viktor had approved for Armando to hire, but I had complete faith in Viktor’s ability to pick solid men. They weren’t as physically intimidating as my guys, but not many people were. Viktor walked over with one of the men, introducing me and Sephie to him.
“Boss, this is Mike. He’s the head of Armando’s security,” Viktor said.
Mike extended his hand, “Nice to meet you, sir. Viktor’s told me great things.”
Sephie elbowed Viktor in the ribs lightly. “He’s the American security master to your Russian security master. Shall we have a Cold War 2.0, gentlemen?”
Sephie always managed to get the loudest laughs out of Viktor. It was always nice to see. Mike looked to her, clearly surprised, but quickly extended his hand to her. “You must be Sephie. Viktor has also told me great things about you.”
She looked to Viktor, “Dammit, am I going to have to be on my best behavior now? Because that’s really going to put a damper on my plans.”
He laughed loudly again, wrapping his giant arm around her shoulders, dwarfing her. He said, in Russian, “Don’t worry, sestrichka. He knows you’re a little bit evil, in the best way possible.” Her wide smile stretched across her face as she leaned in closer to him.
She looked back to Mike, who was watching her with an unreadable expression on his face. She glanced around quickly. “Let me know when you have issues with Giana. I’ll run interference.” He looked at her, puzzled.
I put my hand on his shoulder. “Just file it away. She’s never wrong,” giving him a half-smile as we walked to the vehicles.
“Yes, sir,” he said, following us.
As soon as we got to the penthouse, we all met in my office. Armando’s men were there, along with all of us. Giana chose to stay behind in the apartment that she now shared with Armando, but Sephie came with us. I think she was curious to meet Armando’s new guys, which I was thankful for. I always appreciated her opinion of new people.
Sephie was sitting on the arm of the couch, next to Ivan. I saw her lean down to ask him a question, but she said it quiet enough that no one else could hear. As she asked him the question, I could see the coy smile creep across his face. He caught my eye. In Russian, he said “Sephie brings up a great point that we can use the new guys to get Andy out. Nobody knows them yet. They won’t be recognized and it’ll also give us a chance to really test them in a real situation.”
I found myself feeling proud once again that she was mine. Sephie looked to Misha, a questioning look on her face. He thought for a moment, then nodded.
Mike looked to Armando, somewhat confused, “Why do I feel like they just decided on the plan and we’re just waiting to hear what it is?”
Sephie looked to Armando, saying something in Italian, which surprised us all. Armando chuckled. She looked at me, saying in Russian, “I told him Viktor makes good choices. That’s why he’s my giant Russian security master.” Viktor winked at her from across the room.
“Gentlemen, we do have a situation where we need to get Andy safely away from Sal’s reach. He’s got very valuable information that we can use to our advantage. Unfortunately, Sal also knows this, so his people are watching Andy. My guys are all well-known, so it would be obvious if they were to be seen with Andy that he’s coming to me. You’re all new faces that no one knows yet, so it’ll be less obvious that he’s coming to us,” I said, talking to Mike and the other two guys that Armando had hired, Chris and Keith.
Mike nodded in agreement. “Where is he now? And how many people are watching him? How difficult is this going to be?”
Ivan spoke up, “We’re gathering that information now. We’ve had people watching Andy’s last known location since we got the call from Andy earlier today.”
“He knows we’re watching his watchers, so he’s trying to be a little more active than he would normally be in this situation, to help us out,” Viktor said. “Communication with him is almost impossible now. He took a big risk contacting us earlier.”
“Do you know his location?” Mike asked.
“He has several spots he can move between that are easy for him to defend by himself. I know where each one is. We’ve sent people to all of them to find out exactly where he is. I expect news soon,” Ivan said.
“How is he going to take three strangers coming in after him, though? I agree that nobody knows us, which is a good thing, but this guy doesn’t know us either. Depending on how well armed he is, that could be very bad for us,” Chris asked.
