Page 58 of Exacting Vengeance

Kyle looked at Jack, and they both shrugged. Neither of them had known that.

“Things are heating up in Little Poland,” Mike continued. “He’s worried it will be a blood bath with a lot of innocent people caught up in it.”

“No wonder he’s partying like there’s no tomorrow,” Jack said. “If The Crew goes to war, Deke’s partying days are over.”

Kyle stood. “I’ve got work to do.” Like figuring out where in Illinois Yuri and Nikki disposed of their kidnapping victims’ bodies.

If Mike’s CI came through with the accountant, he’d still need to find those bodies. Without them, all he’d have was the money. Whoever the accountant was, they couldn’t assume he’d have personal knowledge of where the money had come from, let alone where the bodies were disposed.

Two hours later, he was still staring at an online map of Illinois, searching for what, he had no idea. Jack and Mike had long since gone home.

Thinking back to his days in Chicago, he knew in his gut Yuri and Nikki had personally transported the bodies. It was unlikely they would have driven them far. There would have been too much risk in getting pulled over. They’d have stuck close to home but not too close.

He zoomed out on the map. There was State land, Federal land, suburbs, and some private undeveloped land. If he were Yuri, he’d want those bodies to remain undiscovered forever. The only way for that to happen would be to bury them on property he and Nikki controlled or even owned. Smart of them.

More online research got him nowhere.

Illinois had over 2,900 lakes, some natural, some man-made. As if that weren’t enough, the state also had around 84,000 ponds of varying size.

His phone vibrated, and he opened up the incoming text from Victoria.

Sorry I missed your call. I went next door to help Father Sergei with something. I’m going to take a hot bath and go to sleep early.

Rather than text back, he cued up her number but stopped and set the phone on his desk. An hour ago, he’d called her twice but she hadn’t picked up. Then he’d reached out to the security guy he’d hired—ironically, the guy’s name was Guy—who’d informed him Victoria had gone next door to the church. Guy had also let him know the moment she’d returned to her apartment. Considering he’d called twice, he’d expected a return call, not a text.

He smiled as the image of her naked body half submerged in bath water brought to mind other images. Ones of her lying beneath him as he’d thrust into her slick warmth and watched her come.

It occurred to him that, since she’d come back into his life, he’d been tortured less and less by thoughts of the past. His past. Now he had the future to think about. Like, could he really have one? With Victoria.

Their reunion had been rocky, to say the least. They’d come a long way in such a short time, but there were still issues to figure out. Being with her meant they couldn’t have children of their own. As it always did when he thought about his child, his gut squeezed with so much sadness it still hurt. But the idea of living the rest of his life without Victoria in it was unimaginable. Ten years ago, he’d started falling for her. He couldn’t lose her now. They could always adopt.

He looked at his phone, tempted to call her again or at least text back. Today was October 17. Tomorrow was Victoria’s birthday. Her real birthday, not the one he’d seen in Victoria Kelly’s background check. The year was the same but not the month and the day. One more layer of secrecy to her new identity.

Kyle had lost count of how many times he’d thought about her over the years. Especially on her birthdays. He’d wondered where she was, hoping she was finally happy and hating the nameless, faceless man she’d celebrated with.

He cued up another phone number.

“Hi, Kyle,” Gina said after two rings. “What’s up?”

“Who is that?” he heard Jack say in the background.

“Your brother. Kyle,” she said in a muffled voice, as if she had her hand over the phone.

“Tell him to get a life,” Jack shouted loud enough to hear.

“He says to get a life.”

“I heard.” He chuckled, admiring the humorous love his soon-to-be-sister-in-law and brother had. “I could use your advice.”

“I love giving advice.” She laughed. “About what?”

“I need to buy a gift. For a woman,” he added.

“Ahh, this is getting juicy.” He could practically hear her rubbing her hands together. “Would this be for anyone I’ve met? Someone perhaps with coppery-brown hair and blue eyes?”

The woman’s powers of perception were scary-accurate. “Yeah. I don’t know what to get her. I thought you could help.”

“Happy to. Okay, so, I know who this is for, but I’ve only met her once, so I don’t know her. Tell me about her. What does she like? What does she do for a living? Does she have any hobbies? What are her favorite colors? Does she wear jewelry? Why don’t you get her a fancy piece of jewelry?”