“Tut-tut-tut!” I snapped. “And somehow, Borya fell from the building, during a fight none of you could win by—” Since heoffered no further elaboration, I whipped my Grach from the shoulder holster and poked the barrel against his eye. “You couldn’t finish this fight?”
“Ny-nyet, sir,” he murmured.
“Listen, I’ve fought jujitsu, Muay Thai, judo, tae kwon—” I slammed the gun’s handle against his ear—“do! Etcetera.”
“Simona,” he murmured, rubbing his shoulder against his bloody ear.
“Simona, what?”
“She came. I think she was expecting a party. She spoke with the father and the smart-looking one. Keith or something. They used hushed tones. Then she ordered us to allow their departure.”
Simona? My niece. I needed to speak with her. “You could’ve told me this minutes ago!”
As I turned toward the tinted windows of the building, the doors opened. In a suit, Simeon and his team strolled in.
He hugged me. “You all right, Vassili?”
“I will be. Soon. You have a superjet, but this is … quick. Thank you,brat.”
“I was in Wine Country. Anastasiya headed to the house?—”
“What?” I groaned. I had less than twenty-four hours to brief my wife, per our unwritten contracts. Attorneys. My time, however, began … an hour ago and not last night.Da. I had twenty-three hours.
“Don’t worry. They’re discussing the usual, another vacation. Such planners, we won’t be bothered. After we separated, I flew to the MacKenzie house in Long Beach.”
My brow lifted. “You’ve been busy. I’d already sent men to the home.”
“Ah, your team? They left the door unlocked,spasibo.”
Rather than reply to his thanks, I barked, “What did you do?”
“Nothing.” Simeon shrugged.
“What did you do?”
“The structure has not fallen.”
“What. Did. You. Do, Simeon?”
“Enjoyed a few new guns. Twenty rounds per second. Extended magazines. That’s…how many bullets in the ten minutes it took me to riddle the home?”
He looked toward his team.
“Uh …” one said.
“Ten thousand bullets?” Another offered.
“Use your brains.” He turned away with a head shake, muttering the correct number. “Vassili, it was silent. Suppressors. The works. Like I explained, the structure remains.”
“I want answers. Remember what I told you, submission?—”
“Is strength under control!” Simeon shouted. “How can I forget?”
“Don’tforget this. Three Scots left with my”—my lips narrowed to nonexistent—“my little girl! Guess who let the rest of them leave The Red Door?”
His brow lifted.
My index finger bumped his chest. “Tvoya doch’.”
