by K. J. Dahlen
Trudy chuckled. “No I don’t think you do. This man is good, we’re talking sniper good, even though he’s never serve a day in the military. He’s never left a trace of himself anywhere. He was buried so deep, it took me this long to find him.” Trudy looked angry again. “But this time I found the bastard and I hope to hell the guys can stop him.”
Dewey leaned over and kissed her forehead. “If anyone can those guys can. They will turn New Orleans on its collective ass to dig him out from whatever hole he’s hiding in.”
Trudy sighed tiredly. “Let’s pray they find him before he finds his next target.” She patted his arm. “I’m going to bed and sleep for a while. I’m tired.” Getting to her feet, she leaned over and kissed the top of his head. “I love you,” she whispered.
Dewey grabbed hold of her and held her tight for a moment. “I love you too, baby,” he whispered into her big belly. He felt his kid kick out at him and Dewey smiled. “Go get some sleep. You did good sweetheart.”
Turning to watch his wife walk away Dewey reached for his phone to call Pappy and pass on the information he had. Pappy said he would pass the information on to Yuri and his people. Dewey took a picture of what Trudy found and sent it along to Pappy to forward to New Orleans.
Looking around the clubhouse, he realized he was alone there. Glancing at the clock, he noted the time and got to his feet. There was nothing more he could do here, so he followed his wife home and joined her already asleep in their bed. Wrapping his huge arms around her small figure, he pulled her into his embrace and closed his eyes. Tomorrow was another day.
New Orleans
Jack Hail peeked over the rim of the roof and watched the hotel and the street below in the early morning dawn. He’d been in this position for two days now and he was getting restless. His mark had been well covered and he’d been unable to get a clean shot.
He was patient for most of his jobs and he studied his mark for days before he finished the job but this one was harder than most. Not because his mark was a woman barely out of her teens but because after his first failed attempt whoever these men were had put her under guard.
There were always people around her and the younger boy. But now time was running out and he needed to finish this job. The trial in Baton Rouge was four days away. His employer wanted this matter taken care of long before then.
He thought if the girl and her brother were gone, whatever evidence they had couldn’t be used against the men and women on trial. The girl wouldn’t be able to tell anyone where she got the evidence therefore, it would be dismissed as hearsay evidence.
His employer was afraid the evidence she had would put his brother in prison for a very long time. If that happened his brother would cause a scandal his family would be embarrassed by, therefore ruining his employer’s chances of a successful run in the state senate.
Jack hated politics and couldn’t stand politicians but his employer wasn’t a politician yet. At the moment, he was an attorney and that was bad enough. His employers never wanted a trail back to themselves but Jack was careful who bought his services. He always checked out the people who paid for his talent and this time was no different. He knew he had to protect himself as best he could because his clients wouldn’t. He knew they would turn on him on a dime if they thought it would save them.
But in the last fifteen years, he hadn’t been caught. He knew how to be careful but he also had his own backup plan. If anything were to happen to him, his attorney would be the one to turn state’s evidence over to the authorities Each and every person who hired him would go straight to jail. This was his way of protecting his wife and daughters against retribution for his crimes.
Peering through his scope again, he monitored the windows of the penthouse apartments. The people inside thought they were safe for now but that, Jack thought was merely an illusion. They would make a mistake and he would be there to take the shot.
Yuri was in his office when his phone pinged with a message. When he looked at it, he read the message from Pappy and his heart almost stopped. He got a big smile on his face and he reached for his office phone.
Twenty minutes later, his four brothers joined him and he handed each one a piece of paper with Jack Hail’s information on it. “Trudy found the bastard,” he announced. “We know his name now anyway.”
“But we don’t know where he is.” Roman growled. His hands ran through his dark hair and over his beard in obvious frustration.
“Now we can do our job and root this man out of his hidey hole,” Barshan assured him. “There won’t be a place in the whole city he will be able to hide.”
Sazon didn’t say anything but he did catch the undercurrent of something in Yuri’s eyes. He was holding something back, something he didn’t want them to know.
“We need to get word out on the street about this man,” Mikial stated. “Maybe Raven could spread the word as well. She has contacts we don’t. If anyone can find him, her people might be able to.”
Yuri nodded. “Perhaps. I’ll pass the information to her and she can pass it along to whoever she wishes. I can get this photo out to our people and they won’t stop searching until they find the bastard.”
Roman got to his feet announcing, “I need to get back to Stevie. I don’t want to leave her alone, not right now.”
“Go and tell her we will find him.” Yuri nodded.
As soon as he left the office, Sazon turned to Yuri and asked, “What else is going on?”
Yuri sighed hard. “We may have another problem.”
Barshan ran his fingers down his face. “What more can possibly go wrong?”
Yuri snorted. “You aren’t going to believe this but Roman might already have a family out there.”
“`Tchyo za ga`lima…What the fuck?” Mikial got to his feet glaring at Yuri.
Yuri motioned for him to sit down. “I got a call from Sergi earlier today. He told me a man from Kazakhstan spoke to him about Roman. He claims to be his father and he wants to meet Roman.”
“How the hell is that possible?” Barshan asked. “Roman has been without a family most of his life.”
Yuri nodded. “Da. I know, that’s the one thing we all had in common. But in Roman’s case it might not be true anymore.”
“What are we going to do about this?” Sazon wanted to know.
“That’s just it,” Yuri explained. “This man wants to meet him and claim his as his son. I don’t know how Roman is going to respond but we can’t put it to him, not at this time. With the threat on Stevie and Benny, plus…” Yuri trailed off; just remembering his next statement wasn’t known yet.
“Plus what?” Barshan asked as he narrowed his eyes while staring Yuri down.
“It’s not my place to say.” Yuri told them.
“Not your place to say what?” Mikial demanded.
Yuri thought for a moment then decided to tell them, “Roman and Stevie are having a baby. She didn’t want to say anything while this other threat was upon us. She wanted our focus to be on finding this man but you all deserve to know.”
Barshan grinned. “But this is wonderful news. Why didn’t she want to tell us?”
“She thought about leaving here to protect Roman and our brotherhood.” Yuri growled. “She said some asinine thing about putting us all in danger and she couldn’t be selfish.”
Mikial rolled his eyes. “As if Roman would ever let her go, especially now.” Then he paused and asked, “Does he know?”
Yuri nodded. “Da. She told him and frankly, he’s thrilled. She asked him not to say anything yet. That’s why you don’t already know.”
“So our little family is going to get bigger soon, huh?” Sazon grinned. “I for one am thrilled by this news.”
“I think we all are.” Yuri smiled. “This is our reward for surviving our childhood. We’re all stronger together than we are apart and now we all have families, children we can watch grow up as our parents never got the chance too.”
“We’l
l have to keep an eye out for strangers coming to New Orleans,” Sazon reminded them. “We can’t lose Roman. He’s one of us.”
Yuri held his hands up. “Let’s concentrate on one problem at a time.” Tapping the photo on his desk, “We need to find this man first and time is running out. The trial in Baton Rouge begins in four days. He will do whatever he can to stop her within that timeframe.”
“Was Trudy able to find out who hired this man?” Mikial asked.
“I don’t know that yet.” Yuri shrugged. “Pappy is supposed to call me later today.” Just then, his phone rang and when Yuri answered it he frowned as he listened to the caller. When he ended the call, he looked over at the others. “That was Nikoli. He said Sergi and Misha were on their way here. He’s flying down tonight. Sergi and Misha will be here by morning. It seems they are expecting trouble from Kazakhstan.”
“What kind of trouble?” Sazon asked.
“Timor Maxin and his son Iosif came to see Sergi the other day about Roman. Sergi told him to wait until he had made initial contact with us but he doesn’t think Maxin will wait. He wanted to give us a head’s up.”
Sazon got to his feet. “We need to protect Roman against this. With the threat against Stevie right now and the new baby, this might be more than he can handle at the moment. Even if he is the strongest one of us, everyone has their breaking point. And for this to come out of nowhere, this might just be too much for him.”
Mikial shook his head. “I’ve heard of this Timor Maxin.”
“What have you heard?” Yuri asked.
“I’ve heard that he’s a bastard in his own right. He’s ruthless and doesn’t care about the rules.” He shook his head again. “If Roman is his son, he will insisted on taking him back to Kazakhstan with him. We may never see him again.”
“He would never leave us or Stevie and Benny.” Sazon looked troubled.
Mikial shrugged. “Not willingly, he wouldn’t but you know how the Bratva is. They can get to anyone and moving a body overseas in not hard for them. Roman could be snatched off the streets and wake up in Kazakhstan.”
“Not on my fucking watch.” Yuri growled and his hands curled into fists. “Not on my watch.”
“We won’t let that happen either,” Barshan assured him. “We will always have his back.”
“I’ll get more security around the hote,.” Yuri assured them. “If either of these men show up we will contain them until things settle down and we can think.”
“Why have we never heard of this brother before?” Mikial asked out of the blue.
“I think we have,” Yuri admitted. “Do any of you remember that winter Roman got so sick? The one just before we all met Nikoli? One night he was delirious and began speaking of someone by the name of Vlad. Don’t any of you remember that?”
Sazon nodded. “I remember him being sick. You and I huddled his body to share our body heat with him. He was in a high fever that night. We didn’t know if he would survive until morning.”
Yuri nodded. “That’s very true but he began mumbling that night about Vlad. We never asked who he was. I’m thinking he might have been Roman’s younger brother.” Shrugging he told them. “That might not be the name he is called any more. Sergi told me his name now was Iosif, but maybe he couldn’t tell anyone his real name. He was only two when Maxin found him and took him away from where they lived. Roman supposedly wasn’t home at the time but I can’t imagine him leaving a boy that young alone for very long.”
Sazon snorted. “He never would have left his brother alone at all unless there was a very good reason. Where was their mother?”
Yuri shrugged. “She was already gone according to what Sergi says. She abandoned the boys days earlier.”
“Any mother that would do that doesn’t deserve to be called a mother,” Mikial remarked.
Yuri nodded. “At least our own children will be cared for and never be abandoned like we were.”
“They won’t go hungry or be cold either with no one to care for them,” Barshan said.
“Maybe we should ask Stevie if she knows about the brother.” Mikial suggested. “If Roman has ever spoke of him, it might be to her.”
“You could be right about that,” Yuri stated. “I’ll find a way to ask her. Then we’ll all know more.”
“I think we should tell Roman about this,” Sazon advised them. “If he were to find this out by anyone other than us, he’s going to be pissed about it.”
“You might be right about that,” Yuri agreed. “I just don’t want to overload him at the moment.”
“How would you feel if you were in his shoes?” Mikial asked.
Yuri paused and glared at each and every one of them. “I’d be pissed as hell.” Running his hands over his face he said, “I’ll find a way to tell him.”
Mikial got to his feet as did the others, “Let’s get the word out on this man. We have to first find him and put a stop to his threats before we can move forward with the rest of this.”
Yuri picked up the photo and snapped the edge of the photo on the table. “We won’t let anything happen to any of them,” he vowed.
Chapter Six
Sabine Pass Texas
Trudy frowned and looked over the information on her computer. She’d been digging into the backgrounds of the people soon to be on trial in Baton Rouge. Most of them were slime bags true, but this man seemed to have the most to lose if the trial went forward.
Dewey came into her office and sat down beside her. “What’s ya doing babe?”
“I think I may have found who hired the killer.”
“Really?” he raised an eyebrow. “That didn’t take long.”
Trudy shrugged her shoulders. “It doesn’t if you know where to look.”
Dewey narrowed his eyes and glared at her for a moment before he sighed and shook his head. “What did you find?”
Trudy smiled. “At first nothing. Anyone of them could have hired this man but you know me, I dug a little deeper. I found this.” She handed over the paper copy of her searches to him and waited while he read it.
Dewey looked over at her. “This might just be reason enough to hire a killer.” Grabbing his phone, he placed a call to Pappy.
When he was finished with the call, he glanced over at his wife. “He’s going to follow up on his end and bring this news out into the open. This bastard Nick Bennett is an attorney from Oklahoma City. He’s there representing Eugene Harris. If he’s blood relation it might hurt his political aspiration if the trial goes against his brother, especially if all the evidence comes into play and people find out just what a degenerate Eugene Harris really is.”
“Even if it doesn’t, I’d like to ruin this man for his part in all this,” Trudy vowed.
Dewey chuckled. “I never knew you were the vengeful type.”
Trudy turned her head slowly and glared at him. “Well, you should have known it. I hate people who think they are above the laws we all have to live by. It isn’t fair to the rest of us little people.”
“Pappy will take care of his ass and if he doesn’t, I have a feeling Silas and his good ole boys might have a hand in it. I’m sure Pappy will pass this new information along to the right people.” Shrugging he said, “If not I’ll make sure our Russian friends get it. A smear campaign might mean more to the people of the state of Oklahoma than Baton Rouge. We want to make sure he’s fully disgraced.”
Trudy chuckled. “I like the way you think husband.” Leaning forward, she brushed her lips against his.
Dewey grabbed her and held her to him while his mouth covered hers. His tongue speared into her mouth and his hand dropped down to her full breast. “I think you need a nap. You’re tired aren’t you?”
Trudy groaned against his mouth. “I think you might be right.” Pushing back her chair, she held out her hands to him. “I think I need help getting up.”
Dewey’s eyes crinkled as he smiled and gently pulled her into a standing position. Rubbing his large hand o
ver her belly, he felt the baby kick. Kissing her gently on the lips again, he whispered, “I can’t wait until this little one is born. I do so want to meet him or her.”
Trudy smiled. “Me too. Only a few more weeks to go.” She peeked at him from under her eyelashes. “Do you regret not knowing what sex the baby is?”
Dewey smiled. “Not for a minute. I never thought about a kid, so the sex never bothered me. As long as it’s healthy, I don’t think I even care.”
“Now about that nap.” She ran her fingers down his chest to the waistband of his jeans. “I’m really getting sleepy.”
Dewey grinned and hurried her out of the room.
Baton Rouge…
Pappy hung up the call from Dewey back in Sabine Pass and wanted to throw his phone against the wall. They were back at the clubhouse and he and Jackal were sharing a drink.
“I almost hate to ask,” Jackal told him. “Did your buddy have bad news?”
Pappy glared at him for a moment. “According to Dewey, Trudy found evidence that Nick Bennett could be behind the attack on Stevie. He’s the only one that really has something to hide here.”
“And what does he have to hide?”
“The fact that Eugene Harris is a member of the family.” Pappy sneered. “Apparently, he’s the father’s bastard child.”
Jackal spit out the liquor he just tried to swallow. Turning his head, he stared at the other man. “Really? Wow, that might ruin any political setup old Nick might have. Especially if the trial goes bad for his brother.”
Pappy nodded. “That’s what we’re thinking.”
Jackal rubbed the back of his finger along his jaw while he thought. “You know something.”
“What might that be?” Pappy turned his attention to Jackal.
Jackal pointed between the two of them. “Now you and I have too much to lose if we were to confront Nick Bennett.”
“I’m with you, but what else can we do? I’d hate for the man to get away with this shit.”
