Roksana leaned back against the headboard as she toyed with her knife. Just as Novak had his coin, she liked to keep her knife handy when she needed to clear her mind and think. The Mother of Pearl handle felt good in her hand as she opened and closed it. It had been a gift from her father. He always knew exactly what a girl wanted.

Her Russian blue pit bull, Voin, was lightly snoring as he dozed next to her. His silky, gray head rested on her lap as she scratched him behind an ear. He was being a bit clingy, as he tended to be whenever she experienced a premonition like the one bearing down on her now. “You know, I think I love his ears the best,” she cooed, giving the dog a melancholy smile as his tail thumped twice against her leg.

“Sometimes I think you love that dog more than me,” Oleg muttered as he paced the floor. He was dressed in his usual dark suit, his arms crossed over his chest.

“Oh, don’t be silly. He is very special, though, isn’t he?” She placed the knife on the nightstand and reached down to lovingly stroke a velvety gray ear. Occupying her mind at the moment was a nagging worry about horrors that could be in store for the Glazov family. With no word from Kodiak or Logan, she couldn’t shake the feeling that something bad was coming, and said so.

“I’m worried about Kodiak and Logan, obviously, but it’s not just that. This feels like something poised to strike closer to home, quite literally. I can’t imagine what it could be.” Voin seemed to sense her unease and snuggled closer to her side, huffing out a soft, high whine.

Oleg weighed her words carefully, wondering to himself whether she was just being paranoid or if her concern could be warranted. “Have you taken your concerns to your father?” he asked quietly, knowing that there had been times when Roksana seemed to have inherited the Pakhan’s ability to sense trouble on the horizon, to sniff out the foul stench of betrayal in the wind.

“Yes. He just stared at me across that enormous desk of his for what seemed like an eternity and then told me that all would be well. If he knows anything, he’s keeping it to himself.” She rolled her eyes and snuggled closer to Voin. “I just keep thinking, threats and betrayal can come from unexpected sources. Like those boxers – they owe my father their lives but you just never know. The ones who aren’t particularly successful could probably be swayed if the price was right, I guess.”

“They wouldn’t live to tell the tale, and they know that. I know better than to take your premonitions lightly. Where are you going with this? Do you know something?”

“I know for a fact that Father and Novak are watching one of the boxers. A bad apple, sounds like – he has a fierce drinking problem so you know his judgment’s got to be impaired. I overheard them talking about putting Kolya on this guy’s tail. We’re going to have to watch that drunk bastard if he gets fired. He strikes me as the type who would carry a grudge. I’ve never known an alcoholic yet who took responsibility for their actions, at least not until they were in recovery. Now, if they’re in recovery, that’s one thing – but that’s not what’s going on here.” She didn’t give him time to answer as the words tumbled from her lips. “I think we should do some snooping of our own. I think he’s going to try something. I can feel it.”

“Then that’s where we’ll start,” Oleg said, his voice clipped. “We’ll trail him. If the Pakhan has doubts about him, then you can bet the guy’s up to no good.”

Roksana grinned and rubbed her hands together with glee. “Time to get the gang back together.”

“Back together? Dmitriy and Anastasia have been around since the beginning. You trained her well. She doesn’t buckle under pressure. She’s loyal. I respect that,” Oleg said.

Anastasia’s Bratva journey had been truly one of a kind so far. After a particularly gruesome killing spree for the sake of revenge and vigilante justice, she traded in her old life for a new Bratva identity, complete with a pretty spectacular makeover and combat training. She was Roksana’s protégé but Roksana sometimes wondered who was training whom; she was that good.

“And you helped train Dmitriy,” she reminded him.

“It’s not like he needed it. He’s a natural hacker and can find the skeletons in anyone’s closet. Come on.” He approached the bed and ran his hand down the dog’s back a couple of times, then took Roksana’s hand and pulled her from the bed.

Voin’s head jerked up and he growled lightly as he looked around.

“We’ve talked about this,” Oleg warned the dog, much to Roksana’s amusement. They had rescued the pit bull from a dogfighting ring earlier in the year and the pooch had an almost mystical connection to Roksana. He had cockblocked Oleg more than once early on, but they had come to an uneasy peace over time.

Voin looked from Roksana to Oleg and back again, then rolled over and spread out across the middle of the bed on his back and was soon snoring again.

Roksana picked up the knife from the nightstand and followed Oleg to the door. “Careful, now. This knife’s sharp, you know.”

“It should be, as much as you sharpen it. I swear, every time I see you, you’ve got that knife or a baseball bat in your hand.”

“Oh, ha ha.” She barely had time to close the blade and slide it into her pocket as he tugged her out into the hall toward the security operations room that served as Dmitriy’s home base.

Dmitriy didn’t bother looking up from his computer monitor. He could hear Roksana bitching at Oleg long before they got there.

Anastasia could only laugh as the couple entered the room. “I could almost feel sorry for you, Oleg, until I think about how sadistic you are.”

“Typical,” he grumbled. “Sadists always get a bad rap until you need us to do your dirty work.”

“Well, I say ‘sadist’ with all the love I can muster because you’re right. There have been many times when you’ve been just what we needed to deal with an enemy.”

Dmitriy took the time to turn around and look at Oleg, “I have no interest in breaking all the bones in an enemy’s hand, so better you than me. I’m not that patient. I’d just as soon put a bullet between their eyes and be done. You just keep doing what you do.”

“Breaking fingers is fast becoming a lost art. What fun is there in just cocking and locking a Glock and then putting a bullet in a man’s head? Where’s the sport in that?”

Roksana answered for him, “Yeah, we want to hear blood-curdling screams.”

Dmitriy shook his head. “You’re as much of a sadist as he is, Roksana. It takes all kinds in this life we have chosen.” He pointed at her, wagging his finger as he continued, “You have inherited your father’s sadistic streak.” The remark only made Glazov’s daughter swell with pride. She was as capable of mayhem as any of her male counterparts.

“What can I do for you two?” Dmitriy asked, ready to see if he’d analyzed the situation correctly.

“We need all the info you can gather on that fighter, Bjarke. Roksana overheard”—Oleg cleared his throat “—her father and Novak talking about putting Kolya on his tail to see what he’s up to.”

Anastasia started laughing, “Overheard? Yeah, right. Eavesdropper. And you can bet your ass your father knows it too. He lets you get away with murder—literally.”

A flash of fear crossed Roksana’s face. “You really think he knows?”

“Girl, please, he knows that and everything else you do. Nothing gets past the Pakhan. But you already know that.”

All Roksana could do was nod her head because she of all people knew that what Anastasia was saying was true.

“I’ve already started the research on Bjarke at the Pakhan’s request.” He handed a file to Oleg but Roksana snatched it out of his hand and started studying its contents.

“Are you going to tell Kolya you’re tracking Bjarke too?”

“Hell, no,” she answered without looking up. “It’ll give us a chance to watch him too. The more the merrier.”

Anastasia said what they were all thinking. “You don’t trust him.”

“I don’t trust anybody. Under the right circumstances anyone can turn.”

“You better fucking trust me,” Anastasia huffed as she crossed her arms. “I fucking gave up my identity for the Bratva life.”

“I don’t mean it like that. All I’m saying is that under the right circumstances most people would betray their own mother. I trust you guys, you know that. You’ve proven yourselves when it counted but I don’t know Kolya well enough to be sure of him. And this other guy, Bjarke, is nothing to me. My father brought him here and gave him a chance when no one else would. But he has proven to be undisciplined. He’s blowing the chance of a lifetime. I’m not about to let him ride off my father’s dime and get away with it.”

“I hear you. Now let’s go get the bastard,” Oleg said.

As crazy as his wife seemed sometimes, he would always support her. Yes, she tended to overreact, but so did he when it came to matters that involved her. Oleg was known for being a cool-headed assassin, but he had learned over the years that if Roksana had a gut feeling about something…she was usually right.