Page 19 of Devil's Retribution
I grunted acknowledgment. I had spent half my morning cleaning up the mess from Layton’s escape, including making some strategic payments to certain law enforcement and media interests, gathering information, and spreading disinformation.
The cover story was now fabricated from rumors about an attempted armed break-in at Emma’s house that had led to a conflict between members. Predictably, Graves disdained the police too much to give a statement correcting those rumors. His own secretiveness was working against him—while keeping too many people from coming sniffing around my business.
But this Layton person bothered me. He seemed to have all the competence that his boss lacked. He had nearly shot me twice from his perch in the trees, and my incapacitating him had been down to luck in the end. Having him present during the exchange, when we freed Emma and the boy and put a bullet in Graves’s brain, would definitely cause complications. Especially if we weren’t able to locate his sniper’s nest in time.
“Layton is going to be trouble,” I predicted. “Find out as much as you can. I want to see if he can be bought off, or distracted, before we go forward with the meet with Graves.”
“You got it, boss.” Puppy sneezes in the background now. I fought a smile. Maybe being a dog dad would encourage my youngest lieutenant to grow up, and stop James Deaning around Hollywood quite so much.
He hesitated. “How are our guests doing?”
Some would have thought Alexei soft. Too sentimental to be one of us. But his kind streak had been a touchstone for me more than once. I needed a kinder viewpoint at times, and I knew it. The fearsome reputation I enjoyed, my position, everything I had gained in my career, they had come with a cost.
I sighed as I put my phone on speaker and started the engine. “The kid’s scared but being brave. As for the doctor, she is…”
Her face flashed into my mind, full of anger and determination fighting fear. I remembered the protective way she’d put herself between me and the boy. The steady way she’d held my gaze. Her calm defiance in the face of a situation where her only hope was the mercy of others.
“Intriguing.”
Yes, that was the right word—although the moment I said it, I felt my throat tighten awkwardly. She intrigued me. Not just with her physical attractiveness, but with her mind, her spirit. Her strong will.
Some men couldn’t handle a woman with a backbone. Soft, inadequate men like that needed women to make themselves small so that they could feel big. But I had never been so insecure, so weak. No. Her will and brilliance did not detract from my own.
It only made me want her more.
I coughed into my fist, realizing how that must have sounded. “She has a lot of courage, and she did her best to help the boy cope with the situation. But she’s angry. Very angry. And I cannot say that I blame her.”
“No, of course not.” He let out a sad little laugh. “How are we sending the ransom message?”
“Anonymous email. He’s online almost constantly.” So far, almost everything had gone to plan. Hopefully this would too. “Asking for five million for both, delivered personally.”
I pulled into traffic, ignoring some idiot who blared his horn at me when I wouldn’t let him cut in front. Alexei was saying something about liquid assets. “Nonsense. Five million is pocket change for this man. He’ll have at least that much available.”
“And if he balks about showing up alone?”
“We send him a finger in the mail.”
He sucked air. “Jesus. Viktor!”
“Not hers, you asshole. We have connections in the coroner’s office, remember? He just has to think it’s his niece’s. The idea is to scare him, not mutilate her.” Sometimes his mind went to the absolute worst conclusion no matter how I phrased things.
“Oh.” He hesitated. “How long do you think this will take?”
“The ransom demand is going out in two hours. He may guess who we are, especially since he was apparently spying on his niece and got a look at me. But I’m not concerned. Considering how closely he has her watched, he won’t stand by and leave her in our hands any longer than he has to. It may take a few days, but he’ll cave.”
“And what happens at the meet?”
The van in front of me stopped short and forced me to pump the brakes. I hissed through my teeth in annoyance. “We send the girl and the kid home. And as soon as they’re out of sight and hearing, I’ll put a bullet in Graves.”
The faint echo of glass breaking rose in my memories, along with the image of my brother slumping over.
“Possibly several bullets.”
***
It was a long day. I had to have Tolya bring our captives their lunch, because after sorting out and sending the ransom demand, I had my usual business to deal with. Tasks to assign. Offenses to address. Kalashnikov had been spied moving guns in, via bakery trucks. I would have to come down on him for breaking our treaty to make a quick buck.
The whole day, as I dealt with my duties and waited on Graves’s reply, my mind kept going back to Emma. Emma, whom I intimidated without meaning to, but who would not let herself be silenced, no matter how diplomatic she felt she had to be. Emma, whom I desperately wished I’d met under almost any other circumstances.