by K. J. Dahlen
“From what I understand, that’s not going to happen.” Misha shook his head him. “There is strong evidence already lining up to condemn everything Ivan has been doing.”
“I need to protect my men,” Maxim insisted. “I will not take the chance they could go back to prison for any reason. They suffered enough and for too long already.”
“I agree with you there.” Misha nodded.
“But we have to catch Ivan first don’t we?” Zeta stated.
“Da, we have to catch Ivan first,” Misha repeated her statement. “And I think we have a plan in the works for just that purpose.”
“What is your plan?” Maxim wanted to know.
“It’s not set up, yet so I don’t have the details. But by morning, things should be in place.”
Maxim closed his eyes and nodded. “Then we will wait and see what happens next.” Looking back at his sister, he patted her hand. “I’ve missed too many years watching you grow up to become the beautiful woman you are today. You are a strong woman, you are survivor and you will get through this as well. You know what our mother went through when your own daughter was missing. You would do anything to protect her from harm.” He sighed. “Well, our mother did the same thing. She died to protect you and after she was gone, you did what you had to do too.”
“I think we should all try and get some sleep now,” Misha told them. “Things are going to happen quickly and I want to be prepared for that. Ivan knows his time is running out, not even he is stupid enough to think he’ll walk away from this. He knows he is being hunted.”
Maxim snorted. “You don’t know Ivan very well if you think he’ll run. He wants both of us dead and he isn’t going to stop until we are. But he messed with the wrong people this time.” He looked over at his sister. “You see that bastard, you shoot him first. Don’t you even let him get close to you or he will hurt you.”
Zeta turned her head and inhaled Misha’s scent deep into her lungs. She didn’t know if she could do what her brother told her, but to protect her daughter and this man, she would do it. She turned her head and staring at her brother, she nodded.
Maxim leaned forward and brushed his lips on her forehead.
Misha glared but didn’t say anything.
Maxim then stood up and walked toward the door. He looked back at Zeta and nodded. Then he went back to his own room.
Zeta looked up at Misha. Reaching her hand up to cup his cheek, she whispered, “I do love you, you know that right? We might not have been together very long but you complete my soul. I didn’t want you to know I killed a man.”
“You protected yourself and tried to protect your mother. There is nothing wrong with that. I don’t blame you for that,” Misha insisted. Then he smiled. “Is there anything else you want to tell me?”
Zeta blushed. “No that’s about all there is.”
“Then let’s go back to bed. I’m hungry.”
“Hungry? You eat crackers in bed?” She scoffed. “Well, I don’t care I’m not kicking o you out,” she teased and giggled.
“Crackers? No, no…I think maybe Zeta on a cracker?” He wiggled his eyebrows as he carried her to the bedroom door. Closing it behind him, the only sounds that were heard was moaning and groaning.
A few hours later, Misha was woken by his phone ringing. He groaned and reached for his cell. He answered the call with his eyes closed. But when he heard the message his eyes opened wider and he pushed himself to a sitting position.
About the same time, someone was pounding on his door.
Zeta sat up and began dressing. Looking over at him she asked, “What’s going on?”
“Get dressed and go to your daughter. We have to move right now,” he told her.
Zeta struggled to pull her clothes on and as soon as she did, she rushed to the other bedroom to collect her daughter. When she joined the others, she found everyone gathered there. “What is going on?” she asked Misha, as she went to stand next to him.
“There have been some developments,” Sergi told them.
“What sort of developments?” Maxim wanted to know.
“Ivan is stepping up his game,” Nikoli stated. “Apparently, when his man didn’t return, he focused on this hotel. There have been two more attempts to get past security. The last one resulted in an attack on my security personal. The first attempt was foiled and the man got away but the second one was taken into custody and then when my men when to talk to him, they found him dead. They don’t think it was by his own hand.”
“What makes them think that?” Maxim asked.
“The man was tied to a chair and couldn’t move his hands when my men left him but when they came back to speak to him, he’d been shot in the head,” Nikoli explained. “What we think happened was the first man came back to silence him. Then he simply walked out the same way he walked in.”
“Was it Ivan?” Dima wanted to know.
“You tell us.” Nikoli brought up a photograph on his Ipad and showed it around the room. The man in question wasn’t Ivan but some of the men knew him.
“That’s not Ivan but he works for the man,” Zhora told them. “His name is Rosco Flemming.”
“And how do you know this?” Sergi asked.
Zhora stared at the man for a moment then said, “Let’s just say Rosco enjoys the pain of others and leave it at that.”
“What do you think he’ll do now?” Zeta asked to the silence of the room.
Chapter Eleven
“That my dear, is the million-dollar question,” Sergi replied. He looked around at the men in the room. “I need to know if you think he would jeopardize the welfare of the hotel guests by placing a bomb to take out everyone, hopefully including you?”
Maxim growled. “Oh, there’s no doubt about that. He would do it. He’d have to be out of harm’s way but yeah, he would do that.”
“How long between when the first man disappeared before the second man was found?” Dima wanted to know.
Sergi shrugged. “A few hours perhaps.”
“That would be long enough to plant a bomb somewhere in the hotel.” Zhora nodded.
Just then, they all heard an alarm sound from the hall. The loud blast of a siren startled everyone. It was a fire alarm and when it went off there were sounds of doors opening and people shouting and screaming in the halls.
“Dermo!” Nikoli swore. “He’s using this to find out if you guys are here. He’s watching those who come out,”
“And if he sees us, he’ll use any means possible to kill us in the confusion of the people rushing out.” Maxim shook his head. “He’s leaving nothing to chance.”
Nikoli tightened his lips. “I’ll have my men begin searching around the hotel.”
“Look higher,” Zeta suggested.
“Why higher?” Nikoli turned to look at her.
She shrugged. “It just makes sense to me. If someone with a gun aims and shoots, the person he shoots will stumble and fall. People around him will go around the fallen man and no one will even realize he was shot until it’s too late.”
“She could be onto something here,” Sergi agreed.
“My men dug into the boat situation. After we found the Zeta had been abandoned, they found he had a backup boat. The name of this boat is Blood Oath. I have some men watching it.”
“Where is the boat harbored?” Misha asked.
“In the Hudson, just outside of the city,” Nikoli told him.
Misha shook his head. “He wouldn’t be able to see anything from the river. He’d have to be right here close enough to see what was going on. He’d want to see the look on their faces.”
“The parking lot,” Nikoli suggested. “It’s close enough to the entrance he could see who’s coming and going from the front doors and if we decided to leave by car he would see the car coming from the shadows.”
“Let’s find out.” Sergi nodded. “Order your men to sweep the parking lot and see what rats they find down there.”
Nikoli
nodded and made the call. Moments later, he got a phone call and everyone heard shots being fired. They waited a few tense moment then the sounds stopped and Nikoli’s man came on the line. “We got them sir.”
“You got who?” Nikoli growled.
“We found three men in hiding. From where we found them, they could see the front doors just as you thought. Their weapons had silencers and they resisted arrest. Two of them were wounded in the struggle but the third man is alive and well.”
“We’ll be down immediately. Keep the third man under guard. Do not lose him,” Nikoli ordered. He looked over at the others. “They got them. Security has three men in custody.”
“Well then, shall we go down and see who our guests are?” Sergi began walking to the door.
Zhora stepped up and reminded them, “There could be more men waiting in an ambush. We don’t know for sure how many men Ivan had with him. We accounted for two and there’s three more we know about. But there could be at least one more missing.”
Sergi motioned for Maxim and Nikoli to join him. “The rest of you stay here until we know who we’ve got downstairs. I don’t want Ivan to get away or get close to you.”
Misha gathered Zeta and Anya in his arms and watched as the others went downstairs. Then he walked over to the wall in the living room and began punching in the code he needed to open the safe hidden there. When the door swung open, the men in the room gasped. Misha had a small armory hidden in the safe and when he turned, he began handing them all weapons.
“Should we go out into the hall?” Dima asked.
Misha shook his head. “No, Nikoli’s men are in the hall. Should anyone get past them, then you shoot.”
Time moved slowly while they waited for word from downstairs as to who the men were that were found in the parking garage. Finally, Misha’s phone rang and he answered the call. A smile broke out when he looked at the men. Hanging up the phone, he looked at Zeta. “One of the men is Ivan. We got him.”
“And are we still missing any of Ivan’s men?” Dima asked.
Misha shook his head. “Nikoli’s men boarded the Blood Oath and found the remaining two bodies. Ivan killed them himself when they failed to complete their mission by bringing Zeta back with them.”
Zeta gasped and took a step back. “He did all of this to get his hands on me?”
Misha nodded. “Apparently, one of his men is talking and Ivan is livid. According to his man, Ivan had a buyer for you all those years ago. The buyer still wants you and was willing to wait until he secured you but he added interest on to what Ivan owed him for not completing the purchase. Ivan owed this man big time.”
Zeta tightened her hold on Anya and walked over to the sofa. She could barely stand as she slipped down to the seat.
Misha came over and knelt in front of her. “It’s over. He can’t and won’t hurt you ever again. We can go back to Russia and have our day with the High Council and they will make this right. You don’t ever have to worry about Ivan again.”
“What about the man he sold me to?” she asked with atremble. “Will he be coming after me next?”
“I will not let that happen.” Misha insisted. “The Bratva will hunt him down and destroy him as well.” He paused then added. “You and your family will be safe. I promise you.”
Zeta leaned forward and laid her head on his chest.
Misha’s arms’ wrapped around both her and Anya as he held them both.
By sundown, the hotel had been searched for a bomb and had been declared clear. The guests were al back in their rooms. Sergi’s plane was gassed up and ready to return to Russia with several prisoners locked in the cell area. They were also carrying the men Maxim called the Iron Bears MC. They would all have their day in the Bratva courts and be pardoned.
Everyone single one of them had agreed to testify against Ivan. Ivan was still proclaiming his innocence.
Zeta and Anya were sitting with Misha when the plane took off. Misha held her hand their fingers entwined. He leaned over and whispered in her ear, “It will be alright little one. I’ve got your back, just as your brother and every single one of his friends.”
Zeta turned her head and kissed his cheek. “No matter what happens know that I love you.”
“I love you too.” Misha smiled.
They all slept for a long while. Exhausted from the recent trials of hunting and waiting for Ivan. Then they ate a four star meal that was served up by the staff that flew Sergi and his mean across the ocean many times over the years.
“So, how did you all get to be in America?” Zeta asked Misha.
Sergi and Nikoli looked up from their meal at her question.
The men all looked at each other.
Zeta laughed. “Why is that such a huge question?”
Sergi smiled as he shook his head.
“It is not that it is a big deal,” Nikoli answered her question. “But the men who earned their spot here in America were the reason I am even here.”
“What men?” she asked as she looked at Misha then Sergi and Nikoli.
“The blood brothers,” Sergi answered this.
Maxim and his men paused as they listened now.
Misha smiled. “We are brothers by choice. Blood has brought us together and will forever hold us strong. Brothers we are and brothers we will always be.”
Everyone stared at him.
“What is that?” Zeta looked curious.
Misha shrugged. “It is something the Blood Brothers all toast to whenever they get together. It really has meaning once you know their story.”
Nikoli nodded. “They were kids, all of them young or in their teens. All orphaned in Moscow. To fend for their own.” He smiled.
“Why do you smile?” Zeta asked. “That sounds horrible!”
He nodded. “Yes, but when they banded together, they became a force on their own.”
“They lost a mentor,” Sergi took up the story. “An old man who ran a gym and took them in. The only parent figure they had, I assume?”
“Da,” Nikoli continued. “Then a gang of men killed him when he wouldn’t tell them where the boys were. The boys had faced a few of the gang and beat them for stealing some days before that.”
Zeta gasped.
The entire crowd of men all remained silent as they listened.
“Then these boys, led by Yuri, he was the oldest at a mere 15 years old. They took on this street gang of adult killers all by themselves. The people in the streets spoke of how these kids were saving them from these criminals. They faced the type of men Ivan has working for him in fact.”
“A group of boys?” Maxim asked sounding doubtful.
“Da.” Sergi nodded. “They beat them down too. Except a trap was set for the boys.”
Nikoli nodded. “They gathered my attention and Sergi’s. We heard about this trap. So, I approached these brave boys in rags, who were as tough as they come. I tried to recruit them and they spat in my face at the time.” Nikoli then proceeded to tell them how the boys became Bratva Brothers…
Nikoli had looked around the shabby run down gym and simply cocked an eyebrow. He searched the shadows and finally found the boys lurking there. He nodded to each one but didn’t say a word to any of them until he found all five. Then he straightened his shoulders and addressed them, “Zdravstvuj,” he greeted hello. “My name is Nikoli Silvanic. Recently, I’ve heard of you five and I want to know more about you.”
“Just what have you heard?” Yuri called out without revealing himself.
Nikoli smiled. “I’ve heard that you have taken on the leadership of the Silver Fish, Igor Gustave, and that you’re willing to do battle against him. Voyna, war…” He paused then asked, “May I ask why you’ve targeted him and his gang?”
Yuri smiled as he answered Nikoli’s question, “He disrespected a friend of ours. We’re teaching the man how to respect his betters.”
Nikoli snorted. “The man has no respect for anyone but himself. Udači! Good luck with that.
”
“What can we do for you, Mr. Bogach?” Roman finally asked.
Nikoli chuckled. “Mr. Money Bags?” He snorted. “Not hardly.”
“What can we do for you, Mr. Silvanic?” Yuri finally asked.
“I don’t know if you know who I am, but your struggle with the Silver Fish has not gone unnoticed,” Nikoli replied.
“Not gone unnoticed by whom?” Sazon wanted to know.
“I’m Bratva,” Nikoli admitted.
“Nyet! I think you should turn around and leave this place.” Yuri growled. “Menja v pokoe! You aren’t wanted here. Noka… just say goodbye.”
Nikoli exhaled a deep breath. “All I ask is that you hear me out.”
“There is nothing you can say that will ever change our minds about the Bratva,” Yuri informed him. “They are nothing but bullies pushing other people around and taking what they want.”
Nikoli shook his head. “You don’t know that. Maybe that’s the way they ran things years ago, but the Bratva is changing. It just all takes time.”
“So what the hell do you want with us?” Roman asked.
“The five of you are a force that’s been recognized as something that could be big.” Nikoli assured them. “Apart, you are only one person but together, you are a wall that no one can crush. I want to train you on how the world works. I want you to work for me.”
“Don’t you need someone’s permission for that?” Barshan sneered.
Nikoli growled. “We are not animals, despite what you seem to have heard. The old days are gone, hopefully for good but the Bratva isn’t the dirty word it used to be anymore. Yes, we are an organization to be reckoned with but we aren’t like we used to be. We have become civilized much to our older generations discord.”
“We still do not want anything to do with you or your organization,” Yuri told him. “We do just fine on our own.”
Nikoli stared at him for a moment then said, “I think you can bring a sense of what’s right and wrong to the Bratva. I’ll admit I looked into your backgrounds and I couldn’t find much there. In fact, I couldn’t find anything written on paper about any of you. But I’ve been watching you for a while now and I like the way the people around here protect you. There has to be a reason for that. A reason for that kind of loyalty. They won’t talk about it, not to me and not to the Silver Fish. Especially not to the Silver Fish. I’ve seen you guys helping everyone you come into contact with, even if it’s only a smile you give them. You make them feel better. Ty sil'nyy… you are strong. They know someone out there is watching over them and they return the favor. That type of thing is very important to me. It tells me what kind of people you guys are.”
