Four tours, two hundred and forty-three kills, gunshot wounds, death, dismemberment, stab wounds, burn wounds from IEDs—I’d never seen anything that’d made me hesitate.
Until tonight.
The rage of seeing her restrained and beaten was enough to make me lose my mind, but when she didn’t want me to even touch the restraints imprisoning her, I hesitated.
I fucking hesitated.
The one goddamn thing she didn’t need at the single most crucial moment in her life was me being a goddamn pussy.
“Ink,” Talon barked through the com. “We got a situation downstairs. Need you, stat.”
I glanced down at Fedorov’s body. I fucking hated myself for not making him suffer.
“Ink!”
“On my way.” I stepped over him then walked past the two dead guards in the hall and went downstairs.
Talon stood in the entryway with seven women in various states of undress. Scared out of their fucking minds, they huddled together.
Talon, with a rare scowl on his face, gave me a slight shake of his head. “I found them in one of the tunnels making a run for it.”
“Let them go.”
Talon looked at me like I was crazy. “They’re fuckin’ naked and none of them have papers, let alone money.”
Goddamn it. “Find some clothes.” We were in a fucking mansion with thirteen bedrooms. “Then cut them loose or call the cops.” The authorities could fucking handle it for all I cared.
“No police!” One of the woman said with a thick Russian accent.
Neil stepped into the entryway. “They are illegal.” He switched to Russian and addressed the woman who’d spoken up.
She nodded once then shook her head. “No,” she said vehemently before saying something in Russian.
Neil glanced at me. “They don’t want to be deported. They want to work. Luna said you have a contact.”
My mind on that fucking bedroom upstairs, I stared at him.
“The triplets,” he quipped.
Fuck. The billionaire real estate triplets, Jagger, Jacek and Jarek Black. They owned an exclusive sex club. I’d done a job for them once.
“Call them,” Neil demanded.
I didn’t give a fuck who dealt with the women as long as it wasn’t me, but even I could see how fucked up it was to send them to the Black brothers without consent. “That’s going from one shit situation to the next. They’ll be better off with Immigration.”
Neil glanced at the woman he’d spoken to and said something in Russian. She immediately nodded.
Neil turned back to me. “They know why they were recruited. They have no objection to working for the triplets as long as they are compensated.”
Who the fuck was I to judge? I pulled out my personal phone and scrolled through the few contacts I kept. I called the brother I’d dealt with the most.
Jagger picked up with music playing in the background. “Not sure if this is a good sign or bad that you’re calling.”
“I need a favor.”
Jagger laughed. “Sure, whoever you want. Come down to the club and pick one the girls.”
“Not that kind of favor.” I rattled off Fedorov’s address. “Get here ASAP.”
He sobered. “Key Biscayne?”
“Yeah.”
“Give me ten minutes.” He hung up.
I nodded at Neil. “Ten minutes. The property cleared?”
“Ja.”
“How many?” Intent on finding Irina when we’d breached the property, I hadn’t bothered with a body count. I’d put the first guard I’d seen in choke hold and demanded to know where she was. Once he’d told me she was upstairs, I broke his neck then I shot the two armed guards outside the door to Fedorov’s bedroom. I didn’t even take any satisfaction that Fedorov had taken my earlier warning seriously and posted men outside his bedroom. I was too fucking enraged at myself for letting him take her in the first place.
“There are three restrained in the kitchen,” Neil answered.
“Luna and I got two with the women,” Talon added. “Another one was gettin’ busy in the study.” He glanced at one of the girls.
Fuck, we needed to contain this. Without Luna here and his ties to law enforcement, I could only think of one solution. I glanced at Neil. “Fire?”
“No.” Neil tipped his chin toward the girls. “Get the women out and we will talk.”
I nodded and glanced at my watch. “Affirmative.” Luna had walked out with her three minutes ago. It felt like a fucking lifetime.
“Go,” Neil commanded. “He has not yet left with her.”
I didn’t hesitate. I ran through the house to the garage and hit the door just as Luna was carrying her out to one of his SUVs. The sight of her bare feet hanging out from the blanket both gutted and enraged me.
I lashed out at Luna. “I said I didn’t want any more of your men on this.”
Luna looked over his shoulder as he opened the back passenger door. “Good thing I wasn’t stupid enough to listen.”
He was right. If he’d listened, we’d all be on Neil’s Cobalt, the seven women included, and I knew Irina enough to know she would’ve hated more of an audience than she’d already had.
I took the cell phone I had from Luna and handed it to him after he put her in the vehicle and shut the door. “Give this to her.”
Luna clipped out a nod and took the phone as he got in the front passenger seat.
This was fucking killing me. I should’ve been the one getting her out of here. I should’ve been the one holding her, and I sure as hell should’ve been the one taking care of her. Not fucking Luna. The hand not on my AR15 fisted and I leveled Luna with a look. “Take care of her.”
“Copy that.” He shut the door and they took off. As the vehicle rounded the bend, it had to pause for a Maserati coming up the driveway.
Jagger pulled his car up right in front of me, and he and his brother Jacek got out.
Both blond, both the exact same height, both with the same haircut, I could tell them apart only from their shirt colors and dispositions.
Wearing a light-colored shirt, Jagger eyed my weapon and smiled. “You didn’t tell me what kind of party this was.”
His brother Jacek didn’t say shit and he didn’t smile.
“Inside.” I walked back into the garage and closed the door.
Jagger glanced over his shoulder at the closing door. “What’s up with all the secrecy?”
“I’ve got seven Russian illegals inside who don’t want to be deported.”
Jacek crossed his arms and spoke up. “Not our problem.”
“Seven Russian women,” I clarified.
Jagger smiled wide.
Jacek shook his head. “We don’t sponsor work visas and we don’t hire off the books.”
Jagger clapped Jacek on the back. “Yes, we do. Ignore him. They hot?”
I didn’t fucking know, I’d barely looked at them. I nodded once.
Jagger grinned wide. “Let’s meet them. They speak English?”
No clue. “Yeah.”
“Jagger,” Jacek clipped. “We can’t afford the heat on this.”
Jagger laughed. “We can afford anything we want, brother.” He walked into the house.
Jacek looked at me. “This is Viktor Fedorov’s house and there’s a body at the guard shack where there should be a guard.”
“It was his house,” I corrected. “Now he’s dead.”
Jacek cut to the chase. “Is this going to come back on us?”
He wasn’t an idiot. I didn’t lie. “Only if one of the women says something.”
He eyed me for a second. “This makes us even.”
Fucker had balls. This wasn’t close to equitable in my book. Seven women didn’t compare to a deadbeat father with two decades of dirt on his sons and a team of lawyers I’d had to handle, but I gave him the win. “Copy that.”
“Do I want to know what happened to Fedorov?” he asked.
I gave Jacek credit. He’d never served, but he was shrewd as fuck and he didn’t take shit from anyone. The brothers’ entire empire was built on Jacek’s decisions. “He mistreated his wife.”
A rare smile spread across his face. “Let me guess. She’s a young, hot Russian and she’s now yours?”
“Need to know.”
“Of course. Need to know.” He walked into the house.
I made to follow and my cell vibrated. I glanced at the display and swiped across the screen, then I waited for Luna to speak.
“She’s at your place and she’s refusing medical attention. I didn’t get a good look at her, but there wasn’t any blood on the blanket. Your call.”
“Leave her.” I didn’t thank him. I was still too fucking pissed at him for overstepping.
Luna sighed, but he didn’t comment.
“Speak,” I demanded.
“She’s not talking.”
I wouldn’t either. “She doesn’t have to.”
“Jesucristo, she’s going to have to talk eventually, and she needs clothes, at a minimum. Grab something from Fedorov’s and I’ll have Collins run it over.”
She wasn’t going to wear a fucking thing from this house. “I’ll get her clothes. Leave her alone.”
“I already fucking left, pendejo. Chill the fuck out. I’m waiting for the elevator.”
Luna rarely lost his shit. “What happened?”
“Nothing happened. I took her exactly where you wanted me to take her, which was not where she wanted to be. You need to get your shit together. You pull me out in a fucking hurricane for a damn pick up, get me caught in the crosshairs of some asshole’s scope, you take out one of my men, then I’m explaining four dead bodyguards to the cops only to turn around and have another half dozen of them down along with a dead Russian arms dealer. How the fuck am I supposed to explain that? I’m pissed the fuck off.”
Neil stepped into the garage. “Put Luna on speaker.”
I didn’t know how he knew who the hell I was talking to, but I’d ceased questioning his shit years ago. I put the phone on speaker. “Neil’s here.”
“What the fuck are we doing to contain this?” Luna snapped. “We’ve got one hell of a cleanup.”
“I will call ATF,” Neil interjected.
Luna swore. “That prick agent Ben Olsen you know?”
Neil didn’t nod, he didn’t even blink. He stood perfectly still. “We give this to him.”
“How the hell do we know he’ll leave us out of it?” Luna argued.
“I will tell him to,” Neil stated.
I wouldn’t fuck with Neil if he told me to do something, but I had to at least ask if he had leverage over the agent. “What do you have on him?”
“He owes me a favor.”
“That doesn’t tell us shit,” Luna quipped. “Everyone owes you favors.”
“You are out of options,” Neil warned. “I will call ATF.”
“Mierda. All right, all right, but wait until I get back there and do a sweep of Fedorov’s computers before you call. He has shit on Marek, and I want to wipe his security cameras.”
“Fine,” Neil answered.
Luna exhaled. “What’s up with the women? Do I need to bring more transport?”
I looked at Neil.
Neil answered. “The triplets are taking them.”
“Are they gonna talk?”
“I spoke with them. They will not say anything,” Neil confirmed.
“How’d you manage that?” Luna asked. “None of them spoke English.”
“I speak Russian.”
“Christ,” Luna muttered. “Of course you do.”
“We are wasting time. Get back here, wipe the computers and we will handle the rest.” Neil inclined his head once at the phone.
I hung up. “What’s up?”
“Is your female going to talk?”
“She’s not mine.” Not at the moment.
“Is Fedorov’s wife going to talk?”
I ground my teeth. “No.”
He ignored my denial of her being mine. “You will have repercussions once you go public with her.”
“I’ll handle it.” I’d kept myself alive this long. I wasn’t a fucking idiot.
“It will appear that you orchestrated this.”
“Nothing’s going to come back on me. If Luna does his job and wipes the computers and if your ATF agent does his, my name will stay out of it.”
“That is a lot of ifs.”
“Your point?”
“You have handled your business alone up to this point. No man is an island.”
That’s why I fucking wanted her. Any damn way I could have her. “I don’t plan on staying in the business. I’ll be fine.”
Neil stared at me like he could see every fucking lie I was telling myself. “The female does not deserve a warrior who brings the battle home with him.”
I threw it back on him. “One day, you’re going to be that proverbial warrior.”
“We are not discussing me.”
“I wasn’t aware that we were having a discussion at all.” He was lecturing.
“We are not.”
Fucking great. “Anything else?”
He opened the garage door. “Have Luna’s man drive you to the female. Tend to her. We will handle the rest.” He looked over my shoulder.
Sure enough, a Luna and Associates black SUV was pulling up the driveway.
If I was a bigger man, I would’ve fucking thanked him and told him I owed him. But I didn’t. A weight the size of every mistake I’d made with Irina sat on my chest, and I couldn’t fucking focus.
I walked to meet the SUV as Luna got out. “I need a ride.”
Luna nodded and glanced at the driver. “Collins, take him wherever he needs to go then check in.”
“Roger that.”
I hated not driving, but I got in the passenger seat. Luna inclined his head once and shut the door.
“Where to?” Collins put the vehicle in gear.
I glanced at the clock on the dashboard. Nine fifteen. Fuck. “I need to get some clothes.” I set my AR15 on the floor behind my seat, dumped my extra magazines, then shrugged out of my vest.
He gave me a sideways glance. “For the girl?”
“Yeah.”
“Target’s still open.”
I unstrapped my thigh holster and shoved my 9mm in my back waistband. “Fine.” I untucked my T-shirt to cover my weapon.
We drove for ten minutes before he spoke. “Tyler did two tours. He knew what he was doing earlier.”
Could’ve fucking fooled me. “Yeah?” I didn’t wait for a response. “Then why were your targets under control within a few shots while he kept unloading on his?”
“Both of mine were in the front seat. The windshield was easy to breach. Tyler’s second target was behind a body. The projectile wasn’t in his favor.”
“And that made it okay to fire into a vehicle with two innocents?”
“Not how I would’ve handled it, but he wasn’t firing at the women.”
“One was shot,” I reminded him. Not that I gave two fucks about her mother.
Collins didn’t comment as he pulled into the parking lot of the store.
“Drop me off.” I took a few bills out of my wallet and handed them to him. “Get her some food then meet me back here.”
He pocketed the money. “You want anything?”
I thought for a second. Would she eat with me? Fuck, would she even let me into the condo? I shook my head. “No. Give me ten minutes.”
“Got it.” He pulled up front.
I walked into the fucking store.