“What if we have a celebratory cup of coffee in the cafeteria?” Shaun suggested. “I’ll pay; a thank you for assisting in a fantastic surgery.”
“Ah ha!” Elisa crowed. “You admit the surgery was fantastic. Yes, we must celebrate. They have a very mediocre chocolate pudding in the cafeteria. I will allow you to buy me one of those too.”
Shaun laughed out loud and shook her head. She walked out into the corridor, looking around for her bodyguard. Cooper stepped away from the wall, along with the Prime Minister’s bodyguard.
She directed her words to Dietrick. “Branislav is still under anesthetic. We should know in a few hours how the surgery went.”
He nodded his understanding but said nothing. His gaze was blank.
She supposed it made no difference to him other than a paycheck. Her observation of the Prime Minister and his bodyguards was that there was no love lost between them.
Cooper followed as she and Elisa continued to discuss the surgery.
When they left the surgical ward, Shaun said, “I’ll meet you in the cafeteria. I want to grab my purse.”
Elisa smiled and continued on.
Shaun was still flying high from the success of her surgery when she and Cooper arrived at Elisa’s office. Cooper automatically stayed on the other side of the glass wall while Shaun flashed her ID badge across the metal scanner to get into the office. As she bent over to pick up her purse, she heard a voice behind her.
“Hello Shaun.” She jumped and would have whirled around, but the voice stopped her. “Don’t react!”
Her heart rate sped up and she had to gasp to catch her breath. Her initial thought was that Dasha had somehow found her, but the voice was male.
“What do you want?” She tried to strengthen her voice, but she felt like a trapped mouse. The only way in and out of Elisa’s office was through the glass door. The voice was coming from the direction of the windows. Whoever he was, he could easily stop her from leaving the room before she made it to the door.
“I want you to reach into your purse and collect your phone. Then you’ll pretend that you’re calling your mother.”
Every instinct told her to resist, told her she was in danger and that she should run. But Shaun now had plenty of experience with extreme situations. She could force her breathing back to normal, which supplied enough oxygen to her brain that she could think through what was happening. Whoever was talking to her wasn’t interested in hurting her. Or at least not at the moment. They wanted to talk to her without the interference of her bodyguard, which piqued her interest.
She reached into her purse. Her phone was on top. He must’ve gone through her things. Anger rushed through her, but she pulled the phone out and held it up to her ear.
“Now what?” she demanded.
“Turn around and wave at Cooper, let him know you’ll be a minute.”
She turned, but instead of looking at Cooper, her gaze zeroed in on the man standing opposite her, in the corner between the cabinet and the windows. The only spot in the office where he wouldn’t be visible to Cooper.
“Hello again, Shaun.”
It was the Interpol agent, Francois Moreau. Jozef had told her his name, told her to watch out for him and to contact Jozef immediately if he turned up and tried to talk to her. Jozef had certainly predicted this moment.
“My name is Dr. Patterson; I would appreciate if you do not refer to me on familiar terms. We are not friends.” She wanted to set her boundaries before finding out what this man wanted. She was curious, but not enough to allow him to manipulate her.
Men often pegged women of her profession and experience as a soft touch. They saw her as a helper, compassionate and caring. While she was all those things, she was also a surgeon. She was egotistical, obstinate, and stubborn. She’d learned to use the misjudgment of men to her advantage. If they undervalued her work ethic, they would be left in the dust as she rose through the ranks of the world’s best surgeons.
Rather than showing insult at her comment, he dipped his head in acknowledgment. “Dr. Patterson.”
Her eye caught on a movement as the door to Elisa’s office opened and Cooper’s head popped inside. “Everything okay?”
“Yes,” she blurted. “I’m on the phone with my mom, just telling her about the surgery. She wanted to know.”
A shaft of guilt forced her to drop her gaze. She’d been building trust with her bodyguard for weeks, and now she was lying to him. She hoped the information she could get from Moreau would be worth the lie.
“Be sure to tell her what a rockstar you are for saving the Prime Minister from his brain tumour.” She smiled as he pulled his head from the office and turned his back to give her privacy.
Shit, now she would have to tell Fatima about the surgery before Cooper saw her again. This was the problem with lies, they were too easily unraveled.
Her annoyance at Moreau made her voice sharp when she spoke to him. “Tell me what you want and make it good, or I will call Cooper in, which you obviously don’t want.”
He shrugged. “Getting to you is like breaking into the Louvre. Very difficult and a little dangerous. If your bodyguard allowed you to have a conversation with me, he wouldn’t be doing his job.”
Fair enough, though Shaun still didn’t like his methods. “If I’d wanted to talk to Interpol, I would’ve contacted you myself. I have nothing to say.”
“You may have nothing to say to us, but we have plenty to say to you, particularly on the subject of your future husband.”
Red hot fury rushed through her, along with the instinct to protect Jozef. “I have nothing to say to you, Mr. Moreau. If you want to speak with my husband,” she stressed the word, daring him to point out her lack of marriage certificate, “then you can talk to him yourself.”
“Your husband is mafia; he’s been taught since birth not to talk to the police. I want to talk to you because I think you will be more open to negotiation.”
“Then you’re wrong,” she snapped. “I won’t speak with anyone without first talking to Jozef.”
“I thought you were more independent than that,” he chided. “Pity. I was looking forward to having an intelligent conversation with an intelligent woman.”
“If you think insulting me through fake flattery will work, then you haven’t done your homework on me at all.” She picked up her purse and dropped her phone inside. She was done and she was done with pretending. She headed for the door, intent on capturing Cooper’s attention and telling him about her shady visitor.
“Even if it saves your husband from a long prison sentence? Or even death?”
She stopped walking and turned a ferocious glare on the man. “If you had anything on Jozef, you wouldn’t be here talking to me. You’d have him in custody already.”
He smiled grimly. “That is a naïve position to take. While I admit we don’t have a lot of evidence linking your husband to illegal foreign operations, we have enough to bring him in for questioning. We probably have enough to hold him for a while, which could cripple his takeover of the Koba organization. He’s in a delicate position at the moment, it wouldn’t take a lot to destabilize him.”
Now Moreau had her attention. Jozef rarely talked to her about his takeover. She thought it was sort of an unspoken agreement between them. Jozef didn’t want her involved in his criminal activities, and she didn’t particularly want to hear the grisly details. Yet, she was curious. Especially because she saw the recent changes in him. He was becoming more serious and he disappeared at all hours of day and night.
“I won’t help you bring in my husband, if that’s what you’re looking for.”
He shook his head. “Actually, Jozef’s work has caused more good than harm. Though he’s definitely involved in illegal activities, some of which we can prove, he’s also responsible for helping stabilize the governments in this region of Europe.”
Shaun was surprised to hear that Jozef had anything to do with politics. But then, maybe she sh
ouldn’t be. She knew the Prime Minister wanted Jozef on his side. Perhaps this was what Moreau meant.
“If you don’t want to arrest Jozef, then what do you want?”
“His aunt.” The answer was blunt, and it took Shaun a moment to realize who he meant.
“You want Dasha?”
He nodded. “Dasha Koba has been known to us for a long time. Since before she became a Koba, in fact. Her father was not only high up in the Bratva, but he was also a government official. Dasha has danced the line between the two worlds since she was a child. She has become the driving force behind her father’s political decisions. She chose her own husband from among the most powerful men in Eastern Europe.”
That was a shock to Shaun. As far as she knew, Dasha had been given to her husband in marriage and they had suffered an unhappy relationship for years before reconciling. If what Moreau was telling her was correct, then Dasha had been responsible for her own marriage. She had made the decision based on her own politics. It was a stunning revelation. Rather than a victim, Dasha had been the queen, moving everyone else around the board like chess pieces.
“How do you know?” she asked, but she didn’t really need to. Everything she’d seen and experienced at Dasha’s hands led Shaun to believe Moreau’s version of the older woman.
“Her father was extremely forthcoming about the entire family when we picked him up for his involvement in a prostitution ring.”
Shaun wrinkled her nose in disgust. “Please tell me that man is rotting in prison somewhere.”
Moreau gave her that pitying look that told her he thought she was hopelessly naïve. Perhaps she was. After her time spent with Jozef and among the Kobas, she really shouldn’t be shocked by anything anymore.
“He didn’t make it long in the system. He tried to flip on some of his colleagues. They found out.”
Shaun was both fascinated and horrified by what she was hearing. It was a glimpse into Dasha’s life, which helped explain why she was the way she was. It sounded like she was as calculating and corrupt as her father.
Shaun glanced at Cooper who was looking at her curiously through the window, a slight frown on his face.
Shaun held the phone up and wiggled it, holding up one finger to show she would be another minute. He nodded and turned away.
“What do you want from me?” Shaun asked again. “Cooper won’t stay out there forever.”
“We want you to help us bring in Dasha Koba. We have information that she may be in the city. It’s a fair assumption that she might come after you again. She seems single-mindedly focused on your demise.”
A shiver went straight through Shaun. She was certain if he was correct and Dasha was hanging around Prague that it would be a matter of time before she got Shaun alone again. She had a knack for creating situations to her advantage.
“And what happens if she comes after me. You guys bust the door down and arrest her? How do you intend to do this without my bodyguards noticing? They don’t stray far from my side.” She stared at Cooper through the door. His pose was deceptively relaxed, but she knew if she called out to him, he’d be in the office in seconds.
“We can take care of that,” Moreau assured her. “All we need you to do is to get her talking.”
Shaun remembered the last time Dasha confronted her. The other woman hadn’t spoken during the entire attack. Shaun shook her head. “She won’t talk to me. She’ll get me alone and do her best to kill me.”
Shaun felt nauseas as memories flooded her. The poisoning, the stabbing in the washroom. Dasha was brutally efficient. She wouldn’t waste time talking.
“Flatter her intelligence,” he suggested.
Shaun shook her head. “She won’t talk to me.”
Moreau frowned. “You’ll have to find a way. It’s her or Jozef, Dr. Patterson, and we’d rather take the aunt. She’s had her fingers in the Bratva for so long, directing first her father’s activities, then her husband’s, that she would be very valuable to us. However, if we can’t bring her in, we’ll go after the next best person, her nephew.”
Now the Frenchman was negotiating, trying to play on Shaun’s desire to keep Jozef out of prison. She was about to tell him to go fuck himself, but Moreau decided on a different tactic.
“What do you think Jozef will do to his aunt if he gets his hands on her before we do?”
A shiver snaked down Shaun’s spine. The image of Jozef’s uncle, shattered and dying on the floor of their apartment. That was nothing compared to what Jozef would likely do to the woman who’d orchestrated the entire situation. She didn’t want him to have to live with that; to live with being responsible for the death of the woman who raised him.
Moreau went in for the kill. “We can protect her. She will remain in custody for the rest of her life, but if she cooperates with us and gives us the information we need, we can make the rest of her life very comfortable.”
Shaun bit her lip. He had her. And he’d been correct in his first assessment of her, she was a compassionate idiot. She was going to work with this man, work with Interpol, because it would save Jozef from a lot of pain.
“Alright,” she said. “Tell me what you want me to do.”
Chapter Thirty
Saskia’s ears were covered with the bright blue mufflers she used when she was shooting. She’d been shooting more than usual, trying to release some of the tension that had been building up over the loss of control of her life.
She was going back to school again, but if she’d thought her father went ridiculously overboard on the protection detail, Jozef was on a whole other level. He wanted the entire campus crawling with their people, protecting her and, in her opinion, keeping her prisoner.
In the house, she felt like a stranger. It looked the same, but it wasn’t. Her parents were gone, her sister was gone, and in their place was Jozef and Shaun. She loved and respected her cousin, but she knew he was hunting her mother.
Her mother!
The bitch who gave birth to her and then ruined all of their lives. Still, she didn’t want her mother to die. She’d pleaded with Jozef to allow her to take care of their mother, to imprison her and keep her safe. Of course, he wouldn’t. He couldn’t. Saskia could accept that, but she couldn’t find it in herself to forgive.
She suspected Jozef knew what was in her heart. He watched at all times and doubled her guard when she was around Shaun.
Shaun was complicated. Well, actually, she wasn’t particularly complicated. She was a do-gooder with a big heart who was navigating a new and deadly world. Saskia felt for her, but she was also impatient.
The things Shaun was learning to come to terms with were things that Saskia had learned as she learned how to walk, talk and navigate a dark world of illegal dealings. She’d watched and absorbed as much as she could while she grew.
Shaun was an unexpected wrench in the Koba operations, but also a breeze of fresh air. She’d led to the downfall of the family, but she was also responsible for bringing to light secrets within the family.
Complicated.
Shaun thought Saskia was being cool and taciturn because of the incident in the shed when Shaun had kicked Saskia out rather than allow her to question Adam. Though she’d been angry, she hadn’t stayed that way. Instead, she’d been proud of the way her soon-to-be cousin-in-law had handled herself. Tough and in charge of the situation. She’d managed the guards like she’d been born to it. Like Saskia would have done in her place.
No, Saskia was keeping her distance because she had her own shit to figure out. Where was her place in this family? Where was her sister and her mother? Should she stay and continue with her studies? Should she try to find Leeza or Dasha? Or should she disappear? For good this time.
She was so absorbed by her thoughts and her shooting practice that she didn’t notice anyone come into the gun range. It wasn’t until she stopped to replace her clip that a tap on the shoulder jarred her back to her surroundings.
Saskia slammed the clip
home and spun, raising her gun.
A woman she’d never seen before stood opposite her.
She was young, maybe around Saskia’s age. Though she was beautiful, her features were serious and her eyes were hostile. She had ebony skin, short, black hair and wore combat clothes. She stared down Saskia’s gun as though daring her to shoot.
Saskia lowered her weapon, assuming the other woman wasn’t a threat, or she would have shot Saskia instead of tapping her on the shoulder.
She dragged her mufflers from her ears.
“Who are you?” she demanded.
“That’s what I want to know,” the other woman responded, her eyes narrowing as she looked Saskia up and down. “I haven’t seen any other women around this place. I know you are not Dr. Shaun Patterson, so who are you? A guard?”
Saskia laughed, unable to help herself. She was as far from a guard as you could get.
Saskia was wearing a pair of low-riding jeans with a rainbow ribbon for a belt and a black T-shirt that sat just above her bellybutton. The shirt was emblazoned with one of her favourite metal bands, Mechanical Poet.
The other woman looked like more of a guard in her green fatigue pants, tight black T-shirt, and combat boots.
“I’m Jozef’s cousin, Saskia.” She held out her hand.
After a moment’s hesitation, the other woman took Saskia’s hand, squeezing it in a tight, no-nonsense grip, before dropping it. “Ayaan Radik. I am the new hire for Mr. Jozef Koba’s elite team.”
Saskia’s brows went up along with her esteem for her cousin. He really was bringing the Koba organization into the 21st century.
Apparently catching Saskia’s expression, Ayaan scowled, misreading Saskia’s surprise. “You don’t think I can handle myself with these men?”
In fact, Saskia thought the opposite. There was no way Jozef would hire anyone, let alone a woman, if she couldn’t handle herself. Still, Saskia couldn’t let this chance for mischief pass. She wanted to see exactly what Ayaan was made of.
Goodnight, Sinners (Sinner's Empire Book 3) Page 20
