CHAPTER 42
FRANCIS
Francis was sitting, less than patiently, in a dark van. He reflected on his telephone conversation with Luca, and the mistakes he’d made when a text from his new phone indicated that the perimeter had been cleared. Francis, along with three of his men, got out of the van and crept toward the compound. He was experiencing a moment of déjà vu as he stepped over the deceased.
It was dark and eerily quiet as they stepped inside. They cautiously moved through the dark halls of the compound until they reached a room that was well lit. Francis entered the room and came face to face with his loose ends: the daughters of Vladimir Romanov. To his surprise, the oldest daughter, whom he’d thought to be no older than fourteen, didn't look like the same little girl he had last seen. She was overly made up and wearing a tight dress and high-heels. She looked like a woman; a young woman, but a woman nonetheless. And she no longer had the look of a frightened girl in her eyes. What Francis saw in her eyes was hatred.
When Luca had called him with the information that had been extracted from Beverly, Francis could hardly believe that the young girl was capable of exacting such revenge. But after one look at the viper standing before him, he believed.
The young woman crossed her arms and spat what had to have been Russian obscenities at him and his men. Francis chose not to respond. Instead, he grabbed her by the hair and yanked her around, pulling her back to his body. Francis unsheathed his blade as she fought, unsuccessfully, to get away. Her sister’s blood-curdling screams did not deter Francis from slitting the girl’s throat. Francis watched as the girl’s blood splattered on the face of her younger sister. When her body went limp in his arms, Francis tossed the woman to the side and repeated the act on the younger sister. He looked toward his soldiers who stood completely frozen, seemingly in shock. He dropped the younger sister to the floor and ordered his men to search every inch of the compound. Their orders were to kill every living thing.
