They knew approximately where Krylov would position his outer guards. Gorya was fairly certain those guards would be bored. How often would neighboringpakhanssend their soldiers against Krylov? So far, there had been no reports of that happening. What had been discovered with careful research was that small incidents were disrupting the lair from the inside out. Much like when Gorya had disrupted Patva’s brutish rule. Arms deals fell apart at the last minute because the shipment disappeared and couldn’t be traced. Children who were in the whorehouse for training went missing. There was no sign of them, and they couldn’t be tracked even when Krylov put his best leopards on it. Fires broke out in warehouses. Krylov’s men were becoming paranoid because a leopard seemed to be entering homes without raising an alarm, leaving everyone inside dead and no tracks to follow outside. It didn’t happen that often, but often enough that the men were trying to stay awake at night to guard their homes.
Gorya found it interesting that whoever was wreaking havoc in Krylov’s territory was doing so in a way that was almost a complete duplicate of what he had done when he was a teenage boy. Someone had a plan to undermine Krylov and was methodically carrying it out. His crew had to be careful that they didn’t harm any innocents.
Meiling, Maya, Gedeon and Gorya moved ahead of theothers, spreading out toward the areas they considered most likely to be guarded by sentries. They reached out looking for leopards.
Something’s out here watching us,Maya reported.I can feel it.
Three sentries,Gedeon said.I can take the one straight ahead, Gorya. You’re probably feeling them, Maya.
No, that’s not it. Something else. Meiling? It’s faint. Above us. To the right.
Gorya didn’t make the mistake of looking in that direction, nor did he dismiss Maya’s instincts. She’d never been wrong, even when Rogue hadn’t alerted.
I’m getting a faint reading, but it comes and goes,Meiling agreed.
Gorya could feel a stillness in Maya, as if whatever was watching them bothered her on a level she had never experienced before. He tried to connect, but it was too elusive.
Is it a direct threat to us? A sniper?
Maya frowned.I don’t feel that. It’s a female. She’s puzzled, trying to understand who we are and what we’re doing here. She doesn’t understand why she can’t...
The thought trailed off in her mind before Gorya could catch it, or maybe it wasn’t fully formed. Now wasn’t the time for any of them to be distracted. He was bringing in an army to annihilate Krylov’s lair and free any prisoners. He would have to do it fast while shutting down all communications.
Marzio had handled the fallout beautifully at the harbor. The shifter bodies had been burned. No shifter could be autopsied. The women taken from warehouses had told tales of gunfire and dockworkers turning on one another. It appeared to the investigators as if the workers had become angry and had broken into two factions. Most had been killed outright, and those who weren’t died before the paramedics could save them.
The Carusos had heard the screams of the women andchildren as fires broke out in crates and containers, and they had organized a rescue quickly. His family had become heroes. No one knew where the Anwars had slunk off to, but it was clear they had been the ones involved in trafficking. It was assumed they had used one of their vessels to escape overseas. Marzio was a brilliant man to have orchestrated such a believable scenario in such a short time.
Everyone in New Orleans had bought the story. Gorya considered that by now Krylov would be anxious to hear from his brother. In Panama, Jaoa Escabar Velentez had to be very nervous, most likely demanding that his contacts find his sons and give him an update on their whereabouts. If this venture took more than a night, they could lose the element of surprise.
They had allies in Panama. Connor Vega and his crew were already there, setting things in motion, assembling their army, bringing them in through the rainforest a few at a time. A local tribe Vega was close with was aiding him, bringing in the shifters and keeping them hidden from any others who were friendly with Escabar Velentez. The man seemed to have eyes and ears everywhere in the rainforest, so they would have to be especially careful.
Gorya had a sudden desire to grab his woman and get out of Russia. He didn’t like that she seemed distracted when she was always so focused.
“We can’t have someone potentially warning Krylov,” he mused aloud.
Maya shook her head.I don’t feel that at all from her. Confusion. But she isn’t in league with Krylov. When I attempt to get closer to her leopard, I feel more of a deep-seated rage against him. A determination to end him. She feels about the Krylovs the way I do about the Amurovs.
He remained silent, waiting for her to realize what she’d just said to him. When she didn’t clarify, he was gentle. Guiding her back when she seemed as if she was driftingtoo far from him. He never should have allowed her to come back to this place.
Baby. I’m an Amurov. Timur and Ashe are. Fyodor. Evangeline. You are going to be my wife as soon as we can make that happen. Not every Amurov is a monster.He paused. Allowed humor to creep into his mind and hers.
Perhaps I should rephrase that.
Her laughter felt good. He could always count on those little golden notes of joy to turn him inside out and brighten his world.
She wouldn’t report us to Krylov.That was decisive.
Let’s deal with the sentries and then we’ll find who is watching us and why,Gorya suggested.Maya, you’re the one who has the best chance of spotting where she is. The three of us will go after Krylov’s guards, and you watch our backs.
Kyanite suddenly broke through the brush. He stood for a moment out in the open, taking a long, slow look around, uncaring that he’d disobeyed orders.
Gorya hissed his displeasure at the bodyguard for breaking all protocol. “Have I lost control of everyone?”
“Not sure what’s happening, Gorya, but Bahadur, my leopard, is losing his mind. I meanlosingit. He’s always calm. Steady as a rock. Not now, and he’s determined to drag me up this mountain toward those rocks up there. I know something’s up there and so does he. He says it’s his female. The one he claims belongs to him.”
Gorya knew Kyanite was stressed if he was using the Russian version of his leopard’s name. Normally he would call him Warrior.
“If that’s a female in heat watching us,” Gedeon said, “why is it we can’t scent her? Does everyone have this scent-blocking shit from the Mercier family? Is it sold on the internet?”
