"Chrystos," Danil cursed in Belarusian as he watched Dora Katsaros stroll out of his favorite coffee shop with a to-go cup in her hand. She scrolled through something on her phone and he sucked in a breath as she stepped off the curb without looking. A biker swerved around her, shouting.

Danil bounded forward, but before his very eyes, her smile and a few quick words had the biker blushing and smiling right back. And, Jesus, apologizing to HER. Even though she’d been the careless one.

Danil gave in and pinched the bridge of his nose against the headache that was quickly forming there. This woman had the world wrapped around her finger. He refused to be a part of it.

Unfortunately, she very clearly was a part of his world. As she was everywhere around town. He'd seen her almost once a day for two weeks. Mostly at the precinct. He'd been there taking care of his clients, and she'd been there for God knows what. Either because she'd been dragged in on more charges, or more likely, because she was using all that charm to make nice with a few cops she'd like to have in her pocket.

Either way, Danil had steered clear of her as best as he could. She was a complication that his family did not need. Hell, she was a complication he didn't need either. He scowled at her as she flirted with the biker.

He'd seen her in the supermarket the other day. She'd been buying apples. Turning them over in her hands to check for bruises. He hadn't liked how it had made him feel. Seeing her doing something like that. He preferred to think of her as Dora Katsaros, professional snoop. Not Dora Katsaros, human being. Very pretty human being. Very pretty human being with an ass that made a man want to beg for mercy.

Dora looked up from the biker, her eyes drawn by Danil's intense stare. Her body tensed when she recognized him. Good. So she wasn't immune. He considered turning and heading to the meeting he was already late for. But there she was, staring him down as if she owned the sidewalk she was currently standing on, one hip out and a little smirk on her face. Without considering any further, Danil tucked his hands in the pockets of his well-cut suit and strolled over to her.

He completely ignored the douche in the bike shorts whose eyes were glued to her chest.

"Ms. Katsaros."

"Mr. Malashovik."

"Goodbye," Danil said to the biker. The man's face recoiled at the tone, but he took the hint, pushing away on his bike with one last wistful look at Dora.

"That was rude," Dora said, hiding her smile behind her to-go coffee cup.

"You've been rude," Danil responded. "You've made me late for my meeting."

"And exactly how did I do that?"

"You almost got yourself run over in the street and made me come over to see if you were alright. And now I'm late for my meeting and don't have time for coffee."

"I wasn't in any danger from Henry," Dora nodded at the biker's departing back. "He had my best interests at heart."

"Henry?" Danil scoffed. "Did you get his telephone number as well?"

Dora hid her smile again. "We didn't have the chance to exchange information as we were interrupted by a very rude man."

Danil opened his mouth to quip back but she beat him to it.

"How do you take your coffee?" she asked, swallowing some of her own.

"Black."

She took one more swig of her coffee before she shoved the half empty cup into his hand. “It’s the least I can do, Mr. Malashovik," she said, striding away from him down the street, a slight smile on her face like she knew she'd won that round.

Twice in less than ten minutes, Danil found himself standing on the street and scowling at her back. He took a swig of her coffee and scowled even further. It was black, the way he liked it. But he'd be damned if it didn't taste like her.

 

 

***

 

Dora parked her car in the same place she had last time, about a mile or so through the woods from the testing site. Far from the motion sensor lights or the cameras. She tracked soundlessly through the woods.

She wasn’t scared of what was in the woods with her this time. Not like the last time she was there. There were no tripping skitters up her spine this time. And besides, she was better armed. She held her bear mace in one hand and a small Taser in the other.  In the pocket of her bomber jacket was her good camera and some rubber gloves.

She was leaving that site with evidence if it was the last thing she did on this earth.

She found the same place where she’d scaled the fence before and went easily over. Cursing as she tore her jeans at the exact same spot as before. “Come on, Katsaros!”

She could practically hear her father’s voice in her ear. Never make the same mistake twice. It was something he’d said to her a hundred times if he’d said it once.

Shaking it off, Dora landed like a cat and immediately trotted in the direction of the abandoned outhouse. She could see it in the distance, her mind’s eye already filling in the contents. It spurred her on and she picked up her pace.

“You there!” a voice yelled from her left.

Dora damn near jumped out of her boots. A small, panicked scream ripped out of her before she got a hold of herself. A bright light flashed in her eyes and by the time Dora could see again, she recognized the cop who was pacing toward her.

Well, it was time to pay the piper, Dora figured as she heard the familiar sound of handcuffs being removed from a belt. You sneak around enough, you get caught. She’d certainly been caught enough in the last few weeks to have her reconsidering a career in cat burglary. But she tried not to feel more than a mild disappointment. It was only setting her back a night. She’d come back and explore more a second time.

“You there!” the cop said again. “Put your hands in the air.”

Dora did as he asked. “Officer Crowley, it’s Dora Katsaros. We met last week when you, uh, arrested me? I’m so glad you’re here. I’ve been terribly lost for hours. Can you help me find my way home?”

When the cop called for backup from his partner, and slapped the cuffs on her wrists, Dora took it philosophically. There were only so many arrests a girl could talk herself out of in one month. Besides. If she couldn’t talk herself out of the precinct on this one, she knew somebody who she was pretty sure would bail her out.

 

***

 

Danil was running through the woods with his brothers. The weak spring sun was like lemon on the air. He could taste it. His excellent vision narrowed in on a glossy, wet spider web in the distance, but they tumbled on, the four of them. He heard a bird somewhere over his shoulder and jumped. It was a loud-ass bird. And it would not stop ringing. Wait. Birds didn’t ring.

Shit.

Danil scrabbled for his cell phone on the nightstand. He didn’t even bother opening his eyes. He knew by the scent in his room that it was still the middle of the night. Which meant that some prick was causing a ruckus in some precinct and the cops had had enough. They called in the lawyers when they needed the rowdy ones to calm the hell down and get the picture. It was just his bad luck that he’d apparently been assigned this case.

“Malashovik,” he growled into the phone.

“Hey there, Dan. This is Bill Mumford over at the Southern precinct in Cheney.”

Danil said nothing. He needed Mumford to get to the heart of the matter before the sun came up.

Apparently Mumford got the picture. “We picked up a woman over here who’s requesting your services.”

“I’m a public defender, Mumford. She can’t just pick my name out of the phonebook like I’m an ambulance chaser.”

“She’s not looking for a lawyer, she’s looking for bail money.”

And now Danil was wide awake, sitting up fast so that the sheets pooled around his hips.

He didn’t have to ask, he already knew exactly who it was.

“It’s a lady by the name of-”

“Dora Katsaros,” Danil interrupted. “I’ll be at the precinct in 40 minutes.”