Page 218 of Eight of Swords, Part Two

‘It’s not worth anything if you don’t at least try to figure it out,’ Kade tells him. ‘I mean it.’

‘I know you do.’

Riley paces slowly. ‘So if you killed the person responsible for the staged kidnapping going wrong, your ritual would be fulfilled, right?’

‘I guess, yeah, but again, Troy Harker is dead.’

‘What are you thinking?’ Kade asks.

Riley stares ahead at the walls. ‘Nothing.’ When he looks back, he’s shuttered. ‘Listen, you and I will talk later, OK? I have to take care of a few things. Sorrenko will fill you in on the rest.’

‘Why Sorrenko?’

‘Because Iron Star and the Front are allies now,’ Vasily tells Kade easily, taking a bite of the sandwich he made, which Kade didn’t even get to try. ‘Friends. Chums.’

‘Allies for now,’ Riley corrects sternly. ‘Tanner, stay with him.’

‘I don’t take orders from you.’

Riley stares him down easily. ‘And yet you will.’

Lachlan tongues his cheek, says nothing.

‘Riley—’

‘I’ll find you later, promise.’

Kade can’t argue. Wouldn’t know where to begin.

Riley leaves.

Vasily stands, wiping crumbs onto the table. ‘Your friend Luca,’ he tells Kade without the slightest preamble, ‘came looking for his brother-in-law, Danya Yashin. Danya,’ Vasily explains, ‘was my brother also.’

‘When did Luca come to you?’

‘Around five years ago, he came to find Blaire, who Danya had mentioned in his letters, to see if she knew what had happened to him. His body was never recovered from the Estate, but Blaire told me…’

‘Told you what?’ Lachlan asks, like he’d rather perish than hear the answer but needs to know it anyway.

‘She told me he was dead by your hands.’

Lachlan swallows, gaze dropping. ‘Yeah. He was.’

‘When Lucas came to Blaire, we did not yet know Riley or Jules were alive. Blaire trained Lucas for a few weeks. We planned to use him as an infiltrator. No one could get near the Tower, thanks to Céliane. We had heard rumours about the ruling psychopath of Iron Star, but had no verification. We sent Lucas in, but we never heard from him again. We had to write him off entirely, assumed he was dead. I have not seen him in five years, but I never forget a face.’ Vasily gives a small smile. ‘I am glad he betrayed us for you, Jules. I do not know the reason, nor does it trouble me. I am simply glad you had a friend for the last five years.’

‘Thank you for telling me,’ Kade says.

‘Of course. I tell you the rest on the way to my nice car. Come.’

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Kade and Lachlan walk Vasily to the garage tunnel.

‘So,’ Kade says as they descend the tight staircase. ‘You and Riley.’

‘Riley and I have agreed to peremiriye,’ Vasily says.

A truce.