Chapter Twenty-Nine
The last straggler from Beckett’s install crew closed the door behind him, leaving only Knox’s family safe within the loft. For the last thirty minutes, Knox, Danny and Beckett had tweaked camera angles throughout the building via remote access controls on their computers, each man seated next to each other at the massive dining room table they’d finally found a use for.
Lined up on the opposite side with their backs to the row of six flat screen monitors, Jace, Axel, Trevor and Zeke looked surprisingly calm for the curveball Knox had thrown on family night. Despite all the chaos buzzing around them and the lack of information as to why Beckett was pulling out all the stops, not a one of them had pushed for answers.
Now that the coast was clear, they were about to get an earful. It also meant he was one step closer to having logistics over and done with and Darya next to him again.
On his left, Danny waited until the elevator doors closed on the install crew then nodded. “They’re clear.”
“Good.” Knox twisted to see Beckett ambling back from a trip to the fridge with a fresh Bud in hand. Levi and the women were gathered round the island well behind him. “You checked for bugs, right?”
Beck chuckled and slid into his chair next to Knox. “Ninette’s been draggin’ details out of Darya for the last thirty minutes. Even with her sly references to cover what they were talking about from Levi and keepin’ their voices low when outsiders were close, you think I’d let them talk if I hadn’t swept the place first thing?”
So, he’d caught the same bits and pieces Knox had. Which meant the rest of his brothers probably had as well.
Sure enough, Jace leaned into the table and braced both his forearms on the dark-stained wood. “All right, brother. Break it down. What the hell’s going on?”
“In a nutshell? Some jackass in the Russian mob named Ruslan Sokolov is after Darya.”
Jace stared at Knox another beat, scanned the row of computers on the table, then glanced at the screens on the wall. “I take it the fact that you’ve got this place locked up tighter than the White House means things between you and Darya have shifted?”
“Oh, they’ve shifted all right. She’s mine.”
Axel chuckled and Beckett scoffed a classic I told you so. The rest of the guys shared a mix of knowing grins and eye rolls.
Jace just twirled his ever-present toothpick, the look on his face a mix between humor and pride. “Gotta say, when you go down, you go big. Care to share when you ramped from taking things slow to a quarter mile sprint?”
“About a nanosecond after I found her with her bags packed and ready to bolt.”
Beckett’s head whipped from the screen he’d been looking at to Knox, the surprise on his face no different than if Knox had pulled a gun on him. “What?”
Despite the volume behind Beckett’s question, the women kept on with their chatter, only Darya’s gaze sliding to the men with a touch of curiosity.
Knox cast what he hoped was a reassuring smile her direction then refocused on his brothers. “Apparently, me sleeping with her makes me not only an automatic target, but a fluorescent one with landing lights pointed to it.” He couldn’t give a shit less about being a target, but remembering the punch that had come with seeing her bags packed on her bed kicked his heart up to an uncomfortable rhythm. “I love my family. With what she says this guy is capable of and the risk it could bring down on everyone else, it might have been safer if I’d let her go, but I can’t.” He scanned his brothers. “She’s mine and I’m keeping her.”
“Now, there’s a lad who knows his mind,” Axel said. He looked to Jace. “I’ll back his play.”
Beckett reclined against his seat back. “Took him long enough, but I’m in.”
“Hell, yeah,” Trevor said.
Zeke lifted his Bohemia Weiss. “Then the taken men officially outweigh the free agents, ’cause I’m in, too.”
Danny twisted in his chair enough to lean one elbow on the table and met Knox’s gaze head on. “If I vote yes, does this mean your little black book’s up for grabs? If it does, you get my vote.”
“Not thinkin’ Darya’d let me within a city block of any woman I’d even thought about sleeping with, so yeah.” He crossed his arms on his chest. “Although, I’m a little incensed you’d think I’d actually store the names and numbers of phenomenal hookups on paper.”
Jace huffed out a low laugh. “Well, I’m not gonna say no to Knox nabbing himself a good woman, so aside from passing down Knox’s top ten list, that only leaves one more thing to deal with.” He locked gazes with Knox. “Tell us more about the Russian jackass we’ve gotta take out to get our girl safe.”
For the next twenty minutes Knox did just that, rehashing the same details Darya had haltingly shared with him on the ride to the loft. How she’d caught Ruslan’s attention. About her job with Yefim and how he’d used his ties with another mafiya family to help her escape to the US. How she’d tied the name Koschei and the security footage outside their building together and realized Ruslan was closing in.
“And she thinks this Ruslan guy would stoop to leveraging one of us to draw her out if necessary?” Trevor asked Knox.
“She was certain of it. Said he was cutthroat enough to whack his own boss to take over the family.”
“Greedy,” Danny said under his breath. “If he’s ballsy enough to take that route, a woman or kid wouldn’t even be a blip on his conscience.”
“Nope,” Beckett agreed.
Zeke nodded as well. “Makes sense to keep an eye on the women, but if you knew you were gonna claim her, I don’t get why you came here. Yeah, you’ve got more gizmos and gadgets and a whole slew of new screens to keep an eye on things, but we’ve got a hell of a lot more room at Haven.”
He’d thought about that. Had even started to point his car toward 75 North the second he’d pulled out of Darya’s parking lot, but his instincts had taken over and steered him home. She belonged with him. Someplace where he not only knew every nook and cranny, but had eyes on them, too. Not to mention a host of escape routes and easy cover.
Axel chuckled and answered before Knox could wrap words around his thoughts. “Yeah, he’s not budging on that one. Gonna be a while before the caveman lets his new prize out of his bed. Doesn’t mean the rest of us can’t spread out at Haven. Sends the wrong message for us to all be cooped up under one roof anyway.”
“Right,” Jace said. “Best way to tip our hand is to let on we know we’re being watched by huddling under one roof. Better we split up tonight and make it look like it was just a family get together on the off chance you didn’t catch their tail. The women and Levi can bunk with me, Axel, Trevor and Zeke at Haven. Danny, Beckett, Knox and Darya can stay here.”
“That’s not gonna fly with the moms and you know it,” Axel said. “You saw the haul they brought in from the store. Darya’s their new little chick. If she doesn’t go to Haven with the rest of the women, those groceries aren’t comin’ out of the cabinets and their butts will be right here making sure she’s got their kind of support until this shite is over.”
Damn, but he liked that. Not just the fact that the women who’d all but adopted him approved of the woman he’d chosen for his own, but that Darya would finally have the maternal support she’d lost way too early in life.
“We can make that work,” Beckett said. “Got a corner loft open right beneath Knox’s suite that Danny and I can use to crash in when we need to. Ninette and Sylvie can have my rooms since this floor’s secured.”
“Think it’s smart all of us stay visible, too,” Trevor said. “The idea of the women and Levi being exposed rubs me wrong, though.”
“So, we limit the exposure,” Zeke said. “If they go out without us, they do it only with backup.”
“Well, we’ve got plenty of that,” Beckett said. “I’ll rearrange schedules and make sure our top guys are freed up for family detail when we need it.”
Fighting the need to get up and pace, Knox snatched one of three pens he’d tossed to the table while unpacking his laptop and twirled it between his fingers. “So, what’s our next step on Ruslan?” he said to Beckett.
“For starters, I want a visual on the guys following her. I want to know their pattern, how big a crew we’re dealing with and where they’re based out of.”
“You trust your security team enough to farm that job out, or is that something we keep inside the brotherhood?” Jace said.
Beckett shook his head. “Better to keep what we’re researching close to the vest. At least until we’ve got a solid way to spin it. Anyone on our staff guarding the loft will just assume me or Knox have pissed off someone new. If I start putting them on a tail without much in the way of explanations, curiosity might get the better of them. The last thing we need is someone talking.”
“What about Ivan?” Trevor said. “He deep enough in we can leverage him if we need another body?”
Everyone turned their sights on Knox.
Well, that answer at least was a no-brainer. “The way he stepped up looking out for Natalie and banded with us against Wyatt? Yeah, he’s solid. No way he’d lose his shit and tuck tail if Darya needed him.”
Zeke scanned each man at the table. “We take this step, everyone going to be good taking a serious look at him long-term? ’Cause something tells me what we’re dealing with this time around could end with some hellacious dirty secrets to contain.”
“You already know my thoughts,” Trevor said. “I’m the one recommending him, and nothing’s changed on my end.”
“I like him.” Danny edged his laptop back enough to cross his arms on the table. “Never grumbles. Only time he ever balked when I asked for something was when he had a conflict with his kid, and he still tried to juggle.”
“Hope you stopped him before that happened,” Axel said.
“Hell, yeah, I did. Family first.”
“Always,” Axel volleyed back.
Zeke looked to Axel, Jace, Knox and Beckett. “You guys good with this?”
A round of nods and yeses echoed back before Zeke zeroed in on Jace. “Then I say we use him, ’cause I’m in, too.”
Jace grinned at Danny. “Looks like you might not be low man on the totem pole much longer. How’s that feel?”
“Truth?” Danny cocked his head, a little solemnity filtering through his easygoing expression. “Never once felt like a low man with you guys so I doubt things will change.” He shot Jace his own ornery grin. “That said, I’ll take another brother at my back any day.”
A chorus of agreement billowed up, each man lifting their drink in salute and drawing a host of expressions from the crowd gathered round the kitchen island. Most of the women cast their usual eye rolls and smirks. Levi’s frown said he was a little put out he wasn’t with the rest of the guys, but Darya’s face was harder to read. Like she was okay where she was, but couldn’t grasp the need for distance between them.
Understandable. Outside of introducing her to his clan and encouraging the weekly outings with the women, he’d done shit to clue her in to the deeper aspects of the brotherhood. Like how they kept their meetings separate from the women so they could honestly claim innocence if anything ever blew back on the brothers, or the depth of what actions they were capable of. Though, after the wide-eyed surprise he’d caught on Darya’s face when he’d pulled a pistol from his glove box, she’d likely clued in on that last part. He’d give her the rest of the details, though. Tonight. Just as soon as they got their initial plans in place.
Beckett’s voice cut through his thoughts. “Knox?”
Knox dragged his attention back to the men gathered round the table. “Yeah. Sorry. What?”
To their credit, no one gave him shit for the fact that his mind had wandered off, but neither did they waste time diving right back on topic.
Jace tugged his toothpick from between his lips and tossed it on the table. “Beck was askin’ about you not seeing anyone on your tail coming here. You think that means they’re just marking when Darya comes and goes?”
Knox looked to Beckett. “What difference does that make?”
“’Cause if I’m gonna track these guys, I gotta find ’em first. Helps to know where to start.”
Right. Now was the time for logistics. Knox speared his fingers through his hair and fisted it at the top of his head, forcing his mind to rehash the confrontation he’d had at Darya’s house. “With the footage she found, we know they’re at least marking her usual stops. The guy she showed me looked like he was getting the lay of the land more than on surveillance.”
“Yep,” Danny said. “I found it after Beckett mentioned it. Yesterday afternoon. Nothing else that matches the same MO before or after. At least not in camera range.”
“That ties with when the Koschei logins started. Early in the morning but same day.” Knox frowned at Beckett. “If we’re lucky, they’re just starting to dig in.”
“And if we’re not?” Trevor asked.
Knox met his gaze then shifted his attention to Beck. “If they got past the deadbolts and security we put in her apartment, they could’ve had bugs.”
“So we gotta run a sweep to rule that out. What else?”
“Nothing. We walked out of her place with a suitcase. Told her I’d come back for the rest of the bags she’d packed if we needed to.”
“You afraid them seeing her with a bag in tow is gonna send a wrong message?” Axel said.
“I don’t know,” Knox fired back. “Maybe.”
Zeke shook his head. “I don’t think so. You left her car behind.” He focused on Beckett. “If we can rule out bugs, they’d likely just take it as her going somewhere for a few days with a guy.”
“And likely upped the target size on Knox’s back if what Darya says about this guy is true,” Axel said.
Beckett zeroed in on Knox. “If I saw a mark coming out of an apartment with a suitcase, I’d follow her. You sure you didn’t see a tail?”
“Nope. Pulled every trick in the book to make sure of it.”
For a solid three heartbeats, Beckett just studied him, his mind obviously running at top speed. Finally, he nodded. “Okay. Tonight Danny and I will do a little snooping around. See if we can’t use the dark to our advantage and find who’s watching her.”
“I’ll start digging deeper into Ruslan’s background and the Koschei hack attempts,” Knox said. “See if I can set up a trap for whoever’s running Ruslan’s technical end. If they’re ballsy enough to slap their name front and center when trying to slip onto someone’s servers, you gotta hope they’re stupid enough to make a few mistakes along the way.”
Jace nodded. “Right. We’ll get the women we can pry away from Darya out to Haven and meet back here in the morning for an update and plan next steps.”
Axel chuckled low and swirled his tumbler of scotch. “Poor Russian fucker. Doesn’t have a clue what trouble he just bit into.” Axel lifted his glass to Jace. “The Haven men branching out into international intrigue. I fucking love it.”