I pressed send.
“ ‘K?zn,” Yuri called out as he strode the length of the pool, dark hair mussed from sleep, jaw tight.
My eyes rolled. “Bad news?”
He gave a single nod. “Da. US military database breached. Registered unauthorized access. Surveillance trace pinged nearby too. Marine operations. Triggered an internal alert.”
I raised a brow. “Name?”
“Corporal Rainita Howard. Cyber ops.”
I stared across the Hills while the name hung in the air. The name meant nothing. No red flag. No whispers from my CIA contacts. Not on FSB radar. Not advised by my Interpol friend, who often updated me on the watchlist. It was a ghost name. Unremarkable. That bothered me more than losing my belt years ago. Anatoly had wanted to kill the fighter. I’d wanted to meet him in the cage again. Louis “The Legion” lostmybelt to some chump before I could vindicate myself.
“Yuri, you tell Sim?”
My cousin hesitated. “Nyet. Yourbrat. You call him.”
Smart. “Was she acting alone?”
“Can’t say. Our contact said she’s skilled. The second they identified the breach, the system corrupted. But I’ve been told it was a targeted inquiry. Rainita Howard searched foryou. Specifically.”
I narrowed my eyes, squeezed my handgrip strengthening tool, which I’d kept since my days in the octagon. “Howard didn’t target the organization?”
Yuri swallowed hard. “Nyet. Just you.”
Silence coiled around my ribs. That was the problem. The bratva had enemies. But someone just pulled the trigger on surveillance that close to home?To me?
My gaze tracked the edge of my estate again. No security team patrolled the Hills. No rifles glinted under the gray morning. None of that. I prided myself onthat.
“Rainita Howard means nothing. She’s a tool.” I sipped tea and set it down with care. “Find the hand.”
I picked up my other cellphone. Ancient. Voice only, no app, no other connections. Limited to family and trusted circles. “Yuri, call Borya. Increase Natasha’s protection. Let it be known she’s safe with our MacKenzie associates.”
Yuri raised an eyebrow. “All of them?”
“Da.” I didn’t blink. “She’s allowed to fall in love. The additional detail is not to engage unless necessary. Borya remains the only visible asset to her.”
Yuri completed a slow nod of understanding. “Da.”
I found the number in my head and dialed Simeon. The phone rang. I muttered, “He better not have done anything stupid again.”
We hadn’t clashed since Moldova. But Sim was Sim. Dangerous. Brilliant. Unpredictable. He acted in absolutes, swathed in ideology, launchingcleansingacts of violence.
The call connected, and I spoke in Russian. “I am your left hand …”
“I am your right hand,” Simeon replied without hesitation. The code. The trust. The bond.
“You know a Rainita Howard?”
“Rainita? Howard?” The words floated around. “Nyet.”
“You sure?”
“You doubt me,brat?” Simeon snapped.
I let out a breath. “Just making sureyouhaven’t pissed off someone who now wantsmedead …again.”
He paused. “I’ve been quiet. Focused on family.”
