Sean spread his hands, mouth twisting a little as he looked askance before finally shrugging off Tomas’ accusation.“I went back to the States because shit got too hot in Belfast.Yeah, my people cut our losses, but can you blame us?Especially after what happened with Cillian?”
Tomas’ eyes flashed with anger as he stabbed one thick finger at Sean, voice rising.“Ye dinnae bother ta keep reciprocity.Ye an’ yuirs nae worth ta fuckin’ time we spent on ye.”
“Emmet didn’t keep reciprocity with you either,” Sean shot back.“So don’t fucking blame me for clearing out when it looks like you did the same fucking thing if you’re here making deals when we both know you’re shit at them.”
Tomas lunged across the table, arm swinging forward.“Ye shut yuirfuckin’—”
Alexei grabbed Tomas’ fist before it could meet Sean’s face so fast his partner didn’t have time to intervene.Alexei slammed Tomas down onto the table with lightning-quick reflexes, breaking several alcohol bottles using Tomas’ face.
Tomas yelled around the crunch of his nose breaking, blood spattering over the tabletop.The ceramic knife Alexei had hidden up his sleeve was now pressed tight against Tomas’ throat at the curve of his jaw, nicking skin.He ground Tomas’ face into the broken glass and spilled alcohol, ignoring his shouts of pain.Alexei stared down at the Irishman, the snarl on his face all teeth, gray eyes like chips of ice.The click of the safety on Katie’s Beretta .380 ACP being switched off was enough incentive to keep Tomas’ partner frozen in his seat.
“Not like your attitude,” Alexei growled in a low, dangerous voice.“Not like yourface.Maybe I carve off,da?”
“That one is not worth your time,tovarishch,” the beautiful brunette woman at the other end of the table said as she crossed one long leg over the other, the little black dress she wore clinging to every curve.“And I would hate to see you ruin such a nice suit if you cut his throat.Otpusti evo.On ne budet mishat’.”
Alexei acted like he didn’t hear her, keeping his knife right where it was.
Jamie looked away from the problem Alexei had well in hand and smirked at the woman.“I swear, he ruins his suits as an excuse just to piss me off and get out of business meetings.That’s enough, Alexei.Let him go.”
Alexei pulled the knife away from the Irishman’s throat, spinning it between his fingers a couple of times before gripping it again.He pointedly wiped the blade clean of any blood on the Irishman’s jacket before retaking his seat.If Alexei sat a little closer to Sean than when he’d first claimed a spot, no one mentioned it.Katie calmly tucked her gun back into her clutch and placed it beside her on the couch.
“I believe we’ll have to continue our business later, Tomas,” Niko said, eyeing the mess on the table as the other man moaned around a literal mouthful of glass.
Tomas’ partner hastily hauled him off the table, speaking to him in a low voice as they stumbled out of the circle of couches and chairs, heading for the exit.Several club security people followed them down.Zara appeared immediately with two other women by her side to quickly and quietly clean up the mess Alexei had made.Once the blood was wiped up and the glasses and bottles replaced, Niko grinned widely at his remaining guests, leaning forward to grab a bottle of vodka and pour out a round of shots and pass them out.
“You keep interesting company, Jamie.Can I call you Jamie?”Niko asked in an ingratiating way.
Jamie waved aside the question in favor of throwing back his shot, careful not to let the glass touch his mouth in any way to keep trace DNA off it.Fingerprints wouldn’t matter; their identities were fixed.The vodka up here was crisper and cleaner than the brand they’d had downstairs.“If people aren’t interesting, they bore me.”
“What is the phrase you Americans use?”the woman down the table said.“Ah, yes.I will toast to that.”
She raised her shot glass in Jamie’s direction before tipping the vodka down her throat.One of the two men closest to her promptly refilled her glass with more vodka.Jamie caught a glimpse of a familiar tattoo ringing the man’s wrist before his hand was out of sight again.
Yes, they are exactly who you think they are, Katie murmured in his mind.
“Niko here seems to have forgotten his manners where you are concerned.You know my name, but I’m at a loss as to yours,” Jamie said with an easy smile.
“Oksana,” she said after a moment, declining to give a surname.“It’s always a pleasure to meet a man who knows how to do business.”
Jamie wondered if that was her actual name but pushed aside the thought for later.“You’d be surprised what you can accomplish when you find the right people.”
Her gaze traveled slowly over their group, taking their measure.“And what do your people do?”
“Cybersecurity,” Katie answered smoothly.“Jamie kindly agreed to get my company off the ground once we left the Marines.”
“Interesting.”Oksana took a sip of vodka, the gold-and-diamond bracelet wrapped around her wrist glittering in the light.“Niko and I were just discussing the need for security in some of my investments.”
“Perhaps we can set up a meeting to discuss it further.Root Source, Inc.has veryflexiblesecurity options for the discerning client.I’m sure we can work something out.”
“I believe that would be a beneficial use of my time in the near future.”Oksana’s gaze slid Jamie’s way.“Will you be joining us for that meeting?”
In his mind, he heard Katie swearing, her presence filling his thoughts and pushing every last one of his own out of the way.
Say no.Say no, right now,she ordered in a furious voice that burned through him.
Jamie, never one to ignore his second-in-command when she sounded like that, shook his head.“I trust my people to do their job without me needing to micromanage them.Katie is more than capable of handling the decision-making responsibilities of her company.”
Oksana went still in her seat, her gaze flickering for the briefest second toward where Niko sat before returning to Jamie.“I see.”
