More importantly, he’s no longer worthy of his title. Just my being in the car is enough to justify what I have to do, but the added part of purposely endangering his own son…
I gather everything together in one pile, finding a folded manila envelope in with everything else. I unfold the envelope and stuff everything inside.
When I see Nikolai next, it’ll be to put a bullet between his eyes.
My phone buzzes in my pocket. It’s Teddy. “Hey, I’m on my way back,” I tell him when I pick up.
“They hit us, Brother,” he says. He sounds winded, like he just sprinted from one end of the room to the other. “We managed to push them back, but they got her. They took Tati.”
A flood of cold comes over me.No…
“They pulled an okie-doke on us,” he continues. “They hit us from the front and while we were fighting them off, your boy Yanov busted in through the back and grabbed Tati. I tried to go after him, but the sonsabitches swarmed us.”
I’m clenching my jaw, but my mind is already turning. Yanov. I guess Nikolai’s decided that he’s his new main enforcer now. First things first. “Casualties?”
“We’re still whole. Got some injuries that we’re tending to, but we’ll be ready when you want to come down hard on this motherfucker. Nobody busts in on the Red Devils without paying for it.”
“Good,” I tell him. “I’m on my way to Nikolai’s now. Tend to your wounded, then get your people and head over there.”
“You want us to meet up outside the gates?”
“No. I’m going to need you there to keep the dogs at the door while I slit his fucking throat.”
“That’s the what fuck I’m talking about. See you there, Vik.”
I hang up the phone and leave the bank.
