Page 64 of Devil's Retribution
My priorities had shifted some since I had learned that Nick was Leon’s son. I still aimed to kill everyone involved in his murder. But now, I had a legacy of his to protect. A sweet, innocent boy who looked just like my brother at his age, and whom Leon would want me to protect at all costs.
The fact that the woman I was now so fond of was his aunt and guardian only sweetened the deal for me. My duties would have been the same either way.
But I was glad to focus more on protecting them. It did not seem like extra work.
It was starting to feel like having a family again.
***
My suspicions about a spy in our midst left me with a lot of phone calls to make. I made them with Emma sitting next to me on my bed, and my arm thrown around her.
Tolya was the first. “We have a leak,” I said when he picked up, getting straight to the point.
“Blyat! Well, that is not news I wanted to hear. Do we have any leads?’
“Whoever they are, Tolya, they are close enough to you, me, and Alexei to have overheard some of our conversations. Charles sent an assassin after his niece earlier today, he was there with orders to kill her and the boy. My nephew,” I reemphasized. Tolya had already heard the news.
“Why do you think that he wants both of them dead now?” Tolya sounded breathless with disgust.
“The theory that makes the most sense is that Charles has somehow learned that Emma is working with us. Maybe even that Nick is my nephew.”
“Which is why you suspect a leak.”
“Yes. The matter was not discussed elsewhere, and we have not spent much time out in public together.” I looked over at Emma, who sighed and laid her head on my shoulder.
“That would explain those bombers knowing when you would be, as well.” Tolya cursed under his breath. “I’ll have to check all of my staff as well as my men.”
“I’ll need you to check more than that, old friend,” I sighed. “Right now, the ones I trust have dwindled down to you, Alexei, and Dimitri. Whom I haven’t been hearing from.” More strangeness. I prayed there wasn’t another outrage behind it.
“I’ll get to work on it, boss.” I could hear the strain in his voice. “Do we have any idea who could be paying off the spy? Graves would not do it directly.”
“No, he wouldn’t be stupid enough to leave a paper trail between himself and any of our people. He has the money for fat enough bribes, but he is not one of us.” I paused. I had my suspicions.
It turned out that Tolya had the same one. “Igor?”
“It has to be. He’s the only former ally who used to have friends among us. Some of those friendships may not actually be former. You know how persuasive he can be.” It had gotten Igor out of trouble many times before he’d overstepped enough that he’d been thrown out entirely.
“I hate the idea that he’s duped any of us into betraying you. But why would he be working together with Charles?”
“I’ve thought about that. This is very likely not the first time that they have worked together. Igor may be the one who sent an assassin to kill my brother on Graves’s behalf. He may even be behind the deaths of Emma’s parents. If so, he has also been the one blackmailing Charles.” What I still couldn’t understand was why either of them wanted to kill Leon, my brother wasn’t anyone important in our organization. Then I remembered back to the information that Dimitri’s men had found, what was it that Leon had come upon, that had signed his death warrant? Only Charles or Igor held the answer... “Now that Charles is away from where Igor can successfully blackmail him, Igor may want to draw him out again. One way to do that is to make Charles angry. The news that his niece has joined us easily did that. But Charles is a coward, and sent his own security man as a proxy to take care of the issue.”
“That the body we took care of earlier?” He sounded very thoughtful as he digested what I’d just told him.
“Yes, the very one.”
“This is a disaster,” Tolya muttered. “What do you think are the chances that Igor knows about your nephew?”
“Better than I’d like. The boy will need to be watched. Once you have cleared some of your men, we’ll discuss inserting someone into his school and having men watch the gates. He’s going back Monday.”
Next to me, Emma shifted tensely. Of course she was worried about Nick. But I was going to do everything in my power to keep him safe while letting him live his life.
“I want you to put an ear to the ground about Dimitri as well. It is unusual for him to wait this long before responding to a call for aid.”
Tolya grunted. “Alexei isn’t coming up with anything?”
“He’s still working on it. I have to check in with him next.” It bothered me that Alexei hadn’t gotten me any information about the blackmail messages yet. It wasn’t like him to take so long.”
“I understand. I’ll get to work on all this and call you when I’ve made some progress.”