“I appreciate you hunting him down for me, Bart,” I told him. “You certainly don’t need cockroaches in your beautiful town.”
The assassin shifted his eyes away from me as if that would really keep down the violence. I gripped his face with enough pressure the pain was evident.
“If I were you, son, I’d try not to piss this man off,” the sheriff told him. “He has a dangerous reputation.”
When the assassin spit toward the sheriff, barely missing him, I smashed the weapon against his face. “Now, you’ll spit blood. What are your orders?”
The fucker knew both languages, grinning as soon as I asked the question.
“Chtoby unichtozhit’ neskol’ko tarakanov.”
Clever. “To erase a few cockroaches”.
I gripped his face again, jerking on his jaw until his mouth was wide open. At least he was afraid of death as evidenced when I shoved the .22 into his mouth.
A few meant killing two birds with one stone was now on the plate. It was a confirmation that my beautiful companion faced the same consequences as I was supposed to face.
One of the other men whistled, but I sensed out of appreciation for my tactics.
“Now, I realize you’re just getting paid to do a job, one that doesn’t afford you any choices, but the one made for you. Kill or be killed. However, I’m going to offer you a piece of advice. Find a new profession. Oh, and one other thing. Call it a bonus.” I kept the weapon in his mouth, pushing the hard, cold steel until his jaws were stretched wide open. “Pereday svoyemu pakhanu, chtoby on sam za mnoy prishol. YA budu zhdat’.”
Tell your Pakhan to come for me himself. I’ll be waiting.
His eyes flashed in return. Now I was just wasting time, but the bait had been set. There wasn’t a Russian pig in charge who didn’t accept a challenge presented on a silver platter. I’d lived after several attempts made on my life. Now he’d be pissed. I pulled the weapon free, wiping it on my jeans before handing it to the sheriff.
“You won’t need this?” he asked.
Chuckling, I threw the Russian another quick look. “Don’t worry, sir. I carry an arsenal with me.” I turned away, laughing softly to myself as the fucker muttered words about how I’d soon be begging to die.
He had no idea what I was made of.
As I headed toward my lovely flower, I could tell she was relieved if not somewhat impressed.
“What do you want me to do with him, Mr. Prince? He did try and take your life.”
“Sheriff. Maybe you haven’t dealt with Russians before but I’m going to venture a guess you have dealt with New Yorkers and even attorneys. Sometimes the best thing to do is to allow the folks who come to collect him know just helpful he’s been.”
He laughed and clapped me on the arm. “I think I hear what you’re saying. We’ll take care of him during his stay and make certain we issue glowing reviews when he leaves.”
“Glad to hear. Just try and keep him for a few days.”
“That I can promise. We’ll find the other one too.”
I hoped so. At minimum, the one who’d gotten away would have a good sense we were leaving town. I’d need to be extremely cautious of the route and where we stopped for some rest.
When I was within a few inches from the beautiful woman, she offered a more rebellious look. A wonderful indication that her resolve was returning. At least for now.
“Prezhde chem umeret’, ty nasladish’sya zrelishchem togo, chto ya delayu s takoy krasavitsey. Ona budet krichat’ moyo imya vmesto tvoyego, poka ya yeyo trakhayu. Skoro ona vernetsya domoy, tuda, gde yey samoye mesto.”
My neck cracked as soon as the words left his filthy mouth. Fleur sensed whatever he’d spouted off had set me off. If it hadn’t been for her long fingers wrapping so tightly around my wrist, the man would be gutted like the pig he truly was.
My thoughts drifted to my father once again. In the sense of being a typical dad taking his kids to football practice or even going to mandated school meetings, he’d been a terrible father. He’d missed birthdays and even a couple of Christmas dinners because of business.
Where I’d once hated him for not being a normal father, whatever the hell that meant, now I was truly beginning to appreciate all that he had taught me over the years. When in the throes of battle, even something as insignificant as what had just occurred was often the best form of interrogation. The assassin’s word vomit had been a perfect example:
Before you die, you’re going to enjoy watching what I do to such a beautiful woman. She’ll be calling my name instead of yours while I fuck her.
But I didn’t need to worry. As soon as I heard a savage thud, Fleur gasped and I glanced over my shoulder. I had to give Bart credit. In one swing of his fist, he’d managed to break the asshole’s nose.
