by K. J. Dahlen
Yuri wanted to throttle the man but he made a good point. He turned to Roman. “I’m so sorry brother. I failed to keep your woman safe.”
“This isn’t your fault.” Roman growled. His fingers curled and uncurled as he found his rage. “I cannot lose her, not now.”
Mikial stepped up and slapped him on the back. “We won’t let anything happen to her.”
Roman shook his head. “You don’t understand. I finally have the chance to have a family just like the rest of you. She’s carrying my baby. Someone who will share my own blood. She didn’t want to tell any of you until this was resolved but you all need to know what’s at stake. You guys have had my back all these years and we are true brothers as far as I’m concerned. We formed ourselves into a tight family but this child is mine. We had to come half way around the world to find the one person we could love but we all found her. Stevie is that one person for me and I will not lose her. She, the baby, and Benny belong to me now and forever.”
Mikial grinned. “Of course, Benny belongs with her. She took him as her brother the same as we took you as ours.”
“That brings us to another problem.” Yuri took a deep breath. He glanced at the others and at their nod, he turned to Roman.
“Eto piz`dets. What kind of problem?” Roman demanded as his shoulders stiffened.
Chapter Seven
“Sergi, Misha and Nikoli are on their way here to bring you some news,” Yuri told him. “News that you may or may not want to know.” He shrugged, then continued, “I wasn’t going to say anything right now with every else that’s going on here but I have a feeling I don’t have a choice any longer.”
“Zaebis,” He swore. “What kind of news?” Roman was tensed up, looking like he was about to pounce on someone.
“A man came to see Sergi a day or so ago. He claimed that you are his son and he wanted to find you. He swears he never knew you existed and there was another man with him as well. He claimed to be your brother.” Yuri paused to watch the stunned look on Roman’s face. “The man said his son was two years old when he found him alone in an abandoned apartment in Moscow. Was he telling the truth? Could this man Timor Maxin be your father?”
Roman slumped down in a chair. Hanging his head, he stared at the floor for a moment. Then he slowly raised his head to stare at Yuri. “Who is this Timor Maxin? And why does he think I belong to his family?”
Yuri shrugged. “I don’t know but Sergi should be here by morning. Maybe he knows. Timor Maxim came to him out of the blue.” He shook his head. “Sergi didn’t tell me anymore than that.”
“Fuck.” Roman roared as he came back up to his feet. Running his hands through his hair he stated, “This is going to have to wait until this issue with Stevie is taken care of. I can’t even think about this right now.”
“Sergi and Misha are on their way here because they think Timor and his son Iosif are not going to wait. He thinks one or both of them might already be on their way here.” Yuri sighed.
Roman shrugged. “I don’t care. I can’t think about this right now. I have a family to protect and nothing with get in the way of that. They may not even be relations of mine.”
Raven stepped up and asked her husband, “What are we going to do to stop this sniper?”
“We’re going to put a net over this city, so if he walks down the street we’re going to hear about. We’re going to box him in a corner so tight he can’t breathe. If he fucking coughs someone is going to be close enough to hear it and report it.” Yuri snarled.
Mikial turned to Raven. “We need to get word to your contacts on the streets to look for this guy. We’ll get our people on it and we all work together toward a common goal. We find this fucker and end him.”
“Then let’s get his picture out there and begin our quest.” Raven looked angry. “This has to end.”
“While you guys begin that, I have to see Stevie. I think she could be ready to run and I will not lose her, not now. Not when everything I want is her and our baby.”
“Go, stay with her, keep her safe and keep her here.” Barshan slapped Roman on the back. “We’ll get this guy before he gets another chance to get to her. This other bullshit will wait.”
Roman nodded his head. “Noka.” He turned away.
Yuri, Barshan, Mikial and Sazon watched him leave.
Mikial looked over at Yuri, “So what can we do? Do you really think this guy will show his face again?”
Yuri turned to his brothers and grimaced. “Da. Oh yes, he’ll stick around. He won’t leave until he gets what he wants and that just will not do. He knows we’ll keep her under cover now even more until the damn trial begins and she can testify.”
“What are we going to do about the other problem?” Sazon wanted to know.
Yuri shrugged. “I don’t really give a fuck what Timor Maxin or his son claim. Roman belongs to us and we don’t give up what’s ours. If Roman wants to know the truth after a lifetime of not knowing who he is, that’s up to him but he isn’t going anywhere. We are a family now and I think to him that means more than a man who’s finally stepping out of the shadows after forty years of ignoring him.”
“He’s going to have to go through all of us if he thinks that.” Barshan looked furious.
Yuri grabbed his phone and put into action the net over the city. He had every one of his contacts out there looking for the shooter. Between his contacts and Raven’s, the net was slowly tightening and soon would strangled this bastard. At least that was the plan.
When he hung up from that call, he dialed another number and explained his problem to his caller. This was a chance he had to take. Letting the other factions in the city know about the shooter was a gamble that might come back to bite him in the ass but he felt it was warranted. Yuri wanted the net around the city as tight as it could be. He informed the Ukrainians and the Chinese’ factions.
Jack looked through the scope and lined up the shot. His patience had finally paid off. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them again, his vision was clear and sharp.
His finger tightened on the trigger and he cleared his mind as he took the shot. Exhaling, he watched as the bullet sped through the air between him and his target. Then his eyes widened as the bullet hit the glass between them and stopped. He saw the window crack but not break and he swore under his breath.
He couldn’t believe it, or her luck. What was it about this woman that he couldn’t kill her? His mind was racing with thoughts and ideas as he automatically began to break down his weapon. He knew he had seconds to get out of here and away before they caught him so he didn’t waste time. He’d have time to think about his failure once he was away and safe.
Packing the pieces of his weapon into a duffle bag, he scrambled down off the roof and melted into the city. To them he was just another lost soul walking the streets but Jack had a plan. He knew where he was going. He would be back. Time was running out. He could feel the adrenalin coursing through his body. This was the part of his job that he lived for. This was the thrill of the fight he craved each and every time he took a job. He had to outsmart another human being and take the shot that would end his life. In this business, it was his job to put down the opposition and in his case….he’d always won. He’d always came through for the one who paid him. He drew in a deep breath and he swore he could smell victory in the air. It was then he knew he’d had one more chance and this time… he would win.
Iosif’s plane landed in New York and as he disembarked, he thought hard about checking in with Nikoli Silvanic but he wasn’t sure he wanted to hear the man tell him to turn around and go back home. He’d come too far to do that now.
Instead, he made another call to another man he knew was living here. Someone he hoped would know where Roman Salizar was living and working. When he got what he wanted, Iosif smiled. Walking to the reservation desk, he booked a seat on the next plane to New Orleans. His plane was leaving in forty five minutes. With ticket
in hand, he walked to the gate and handed his boarding pass over to the woman behind the desk. Finding his seat, he finally thought about what he was doing. Was it fair for him to show up like a ghost from his past? He had to wonder if Roman would remember him. They had been parted for a very long time and while he grew up under his father’s care, he’d heard a few stories about how Roman grew up.
His life had been so different. Roman hadn’t known about them and they hadn’t know about him until recently. But did that really matter in the long run? He knew his father found his birth mother a couple of years ago and that’s when he found out about Roman. He hadn’t known the woman and she hadn’t cared a whit about him but he thought she should have. If they were mother and son, she should have cared about his life, about him. But she made it abundantly clear she hadn’t cared, not about the two year old child she left behind.
And Roman? He’d only been six when she walked out on them both. She only mentioned him as an afterthought. When his father found out about an older child, he’d been so enraged he almost beat her to death, not that she hadn’t deserved it. To bring two children into this world and abandoned them to whatever fate would come for them, just seemed cruel. When Timor found out they two young boys had been alone for days before he found his youngest son, he went a little nuts as his rage grew high and higher. He’d sent Iosif out of the apartment he confronted Alena in and Iosif never asked what happened to the woman. She hadn’t cared a whit about him or Roman the day she walked out on them, hadn’t sought him out in the years between then and now and he didn’t care about her now.
Iosif had been too young at two years old to remember his brother except for bits and flashes of another life over the years. He was broken hearted to think those flashes of another life had been real and that his brother was still out there, somewhere without him.
Iosif began to feel the excitement growing inside him now. Soon he would be united with his brother again. He could feel it in his bones. The closer he got to New Orleans the more excited he became. Would he remember anything in the man he hoped to meet soon? Would Roman remember him at all? So much time had passed since that day Timor carried a small child away from the cold, dark, empty apartment. What happened when Roman come home and found him gone? Had he panicked? Had he searched for his brother at all? Had Roman missed him at all over the years?
He would have been old enough to remember the younger child Iosif had been when he came back to that lonely apartment. His father hadn’t told him much about that day. But Iosif always wondered why Roman hadn’t been there. Why had Roman left him alone that day? Was he more like their mother and just walked out on his two year old brother like she had? Had he missed his brother at all during his lifetime?
Iosif glanced out the window into the evening sky. Was there something about him that the two people who were supposed to love him hadn’t? He’d been little more than a baby when Alena left him and his father had found him. From that day forward, he had known he was loved. Timor Maxin had stepped up as a father and he’d taught him everything he’d grown to know and love. He might have been harsh at times but he knew deep down his father cared for him.
Iosif’s fingers rose and brushed over the birthmark he shared with his father and every other man in his father’s family. Even if he couldn’t feel the mark through the layers of clothing, he traced the slightly raised V on his upper arm. The blemish on his otherwise clear skin was slightly darker and barely raised but the mark was still there. He wondered if Roman’s birthmark was in the same place as his own.
If so, had Roman wondered about the mark at all in his lifetime? Had Roman been told how the mark identified him as a member of the Maxin legacy?
As the plane circled the airport in New Orleans, Iosif’s stomach began to roll again. When he felt the wheels touch down on the tarmac, he grasped the arm rest with enough force to turn his knuckles white.
When the plane stopped and the engines shut down, Iosif got to his feet and grabbed his bag from the overhead compartment. Making his way down the corridor to the terminal his gaze surveyed the area. They met a pair of eyes he knew and Iosif smiled. His friend Vasilli had moved here to New Orleans a few years ago and was now a representative of his father’s country and interests here.
He and Vasilli had grown up together, they went to school and played together most of their lives. He hadn’t expected Vasilli to meet his plane but he was glad he had. It meant he wasn’t alone in a strange country. Even though Iosif had been here many times over the years, this trip was unlike the others. His other trips were to check on his father’s interests. This trip was personal.
When he drew near, Vasilli smiled and reached out to shake his hand. “Welcome to New Orleans, my friend. Kak dee-lá?” His grin grew as Iosif smiled and shook his head.
“I’m not sure how I am yet. But I’m here and I will not go away anytime soon.”
Vasilli’s smile slipped a bit and he searched his friends face. “So it’s true then? You have a brother and he might be here in this city?”
“I hope that is true,” Iosif replied. Looking around the airport at all the faces rushing here and there, he turned to his friend. “I never really knew I even had a brother. I only remember bits and pieces from that time in my life. I was only two when my father found me.” He shrugged. “I was too young to remember him but he was certainly old enough to remember me. I have so many questions that only he can answer.”
Vasilli wrapped his arm around the other man and slapped him on the back. “Then let us go and seek him out. Roman Salizar lives here and works near the river. From what I understand, he hasn’t been at work the last few days but knowing the man, he won’t stay away long.” Vasilli took a few steps then turned to Iosif again.
“He is working with the Bratva here. There are five of them and they are known to be brothers.”
Iosif shook his head. “But they aren’t his brothers, he is my brother.”
Vasilli hesitated. “He may not understand that after all this time. You have to understand that right from this minute. You said it yourself, you haven’t seen him since you were two years old. I’ve known you most of your life and never before have you mentioned having a true brother.”
Iosif snarled. “Nyet. I never remembered him. I was only two when my father took me in. It’s only recently the real facts came out. If my father knew about him he would have taken him that day too.”
When they walked over to the dark sedan Vasilli was driving, Vasilli paused before he opened the door. “Roman might resist acknowledging you or your father. Too many years have passed and he’s gone through so much on his own, he may feel you and your father have nothing to offer him that he hasn’t already gotten on his own.”
Iosif nodded. “Da. I realize that. The stories I’ve heard about the way he grew up even after he joined the other boys have been horrible. No child deserved the life he had to suffer but I know about him now. More importantly, so does my father and Timor Maxin is not one to just give up a part of his family. No…” He shook his head. “My father wants me to clear the way so he can claim Roman as his eldest son. He wants Roman to join us in Kazakhstan and live the life he should have been living all these years.”
Vasilli shook his head. “And if that’s not what Roman wants? He has a life here and he and his other brothers seem to be very happy right where they are.”
Iosif shrugged. “I have to at least try. All my life, I would catch glimpses of someone even then but I never knew what or who he was. It wasn’t until I met the woman who gave me life that I knew who he was and what he meant to me. Then I saw a picture of a grown man and in that photograph, everything came rushing back. I remembered his eyes. I knew this strange man’s eyes. I’d seen them time after time gazing down at me. I knew then he was something from my distant past.”
“Will your father accept things if Roman wants nothing to do with him?” Vasilli asked.
Iosif shook his head. “My father is a stubborn man.
He wants Roman to accept his place and nothing less will satisfy him.”
“And if Roman doesn’t want that?”
Iosif shrugged. “I’m not sure what my father will do. Now that he knows he has another son, there will be no stopping him from claiming Roman.”
“And where does that leave you?” Vasilli wanted to know. “Your father has been training you to take over his empire for years now, in fact most of your life. What happens to your position now?”
“I haven’t really had time to process that part of things.” He shrugged. “I just want to meet this man Roman and find out if we have a connection. If he really is my brother I want to know.”
“Will that be enough?”
“I’m not sure at this moment,” Iosif admitted. “I’m taking this one day at a time for now. It’s the best I can do.”
Vasilli shook his head. “I think between you and your father you are stirring up a shit storm and it might not work out for either of you. There’s something going on here that no one knows about and its surrounding Roman and his brothers. Word on the street is there is a hitman in town gunning for someone close to Roman. No one knows what’s really going on as the Russians tend to be very closed mouthed about stuff like this, but I have a feeling it’s going to be interesting around here the next few days.”
“Why is that?” Iosif was more than curious.
“The Russians are protecting someone vital to a trial in progress up in Baton Rouge.” Vasilli shrugged. “Or at least that’s what rumors are hinting at.”
“Why would they do something like that?”
“I have no idea but whoever they are protecting, they are keeping under tight wraps. Also there have been some new players in town.”
