Page 67 of Assassin: Part 1

“Oh, don’t worry, I’ll be sure to give you back your plane all in one piece. I just had to borrow it. I’ll make sure to leave you a little present before I walk off it,” she assures me, a hint of laughter in her voice.

“I don’t want another fucking present from you,” I yell, losing my temper. “You are going to get my fucking plane back here in one piece. Do you understand me, lisichka? Then I’m going to stop you from ever doing this shit again. The way I’m feeling right now, I’m going to strangle you myself.”

Instead of being frightened of my threat—though I’m not surprised—she states, “I’m sure you’ll try to stop me, but, pet, I already told you, I took what I wanted from you, and it will have to tide me over until I can have the real thing again. Don’t miss me too much. I’ll make sure to send you a few more pictures to tide you over. Kisses.”

The call drops, and when I dial back, it no longer connects.

“Where did she go?” I hiss at Leonid.

“Ah, it looks like she destroyed the SIM. Everything’s gone.”

I want to hurl my phone across the room, realizing she’s slipped through my fingers yet again. I look at Leonid. “Search every fucking airfield and hangar listed on the East Coast. Every single one, Leonid. I want to know where she landed or fueled up. She’ll have to be somewhere and on some camera.”

He nods furiously. “Yes, sir.”

My phone buzzes, and while I fully expect to see a message from my pain in the ass stalker, I pause when I realize the message is from someone else entirely.

Rayea Antonova has been secured. You have twelve hours to meet us at your warehouse on the Canadian side of the border. Do not be late. – C.

“Damn it!” I bark when my phone goes black. I shove it at Leonid, who fumbles it but manages not to drop it. “Get me a new phone and fix that one.” I look at Zakhar and Oleg. “We’re heading to Canada. That’s our meeting place to meet Rayea Antonova.”

“Holy shit.” Zakhar shakes his head. “Thank fuck your stalker didn’t pick the bigger plane. I’ll call ahead to get it ready.”

“Oleg, you stay here. I don’t want to risk leaving this place without anyone here.”

He nods.

Leonid stands up, looks away from me but angles his head so his ears are in the perfect position to hear us. Which reminds me…

I pull my gun and press it to the back of Leonid’s head. He freezes, body quivering. “You will tell no one about what you’ve heard in here or seen on that computer today, Leonid,” I warn, digging the barrel in tight. “Or I’ll have Freya use you as her own personal buffet before I finally put you out of your misery. Are we clear?”

“Yes, Pakhan. Of course. Nothing. I won’t say anything.”

I let the weight of the moment hang then pull away. He rushes out like his ass is on fire.

“Kid’s going to change his pants.” Oleg snickers. “I’ll let the men know that you’re on your way and to expect a package arriving.”

I nod. “No mistakes.” I look at Zakhar. “We can’t lose sight of the plan or that she’s the daughter of an assassin. We can’t trust her at any point. She might want her father dead, but that doesn’t mean she won’t make sure we are too.”

Zakhar nods then smirks. “I’m sure I can charm her. The ladies love me. Well, other than your stalker. She apparently doesn’t have first-class taste.”

I ignore his dig. We both know he has no interest in this woman, and the moment he realized her obsessive streak, he’d have shipped her off to the farthest part of the planet.

It still doesn’t stop the jealousy from rearing its ugly green head, but I force myself to ignore it. Our plan is coming together, which means we’re only a few short days away before an all-out war.

My stalker will have to be found by my team. My focus has to be on winning.

I just hope like hell Rayea Antonova isn’t as crazy as her father.

28

LANE

RUSSIA: ONE DAY LATER

Ifucking hate this place, but it still feels like a home I’ve never had. Or something like it. I don’t know what to call it. Getting inside is as smooth as always, with a few dead bodies in my wake. I don’t feel any guilt. The idiots were sacrifices anyway, even if they thought otherwise.

The Butcher never lets his best play guard duty on the obvious entrances. They are the ones he and his team determined to have had no potential but could never go home.