Page 121 of Silent Heart

I shook his hand but found myself tugged into an embrace.

“Is that a smile?” he teased.

“Shut up.”

“You tell your pakhan to shut up?” Dimitri frowned.

“Fuck off?”

“Go on, get out of here. Shoot something vile and come back with a better attitude,” Dimitri quipped. “But Kolya, don’t forget to call if you need backup.”

I gave him a nod and shut the truck door. It was going to be nice to stick close to home. I could be here, helping Dimi when he needed it. And the Vlasov Bratva could help me with the Cyber Ops enterprise. Everything seemed perfect, even the bright sunrise poking over the horizon promised a beautiful Thanksgiving Day.

***

The sharp bite of wind cut off the lake. Snow was in the clouds but wouldn’t fall tonight much to my stepmother’s disappointment. Chiara was itching for a good dusting of white to begin the Christmas festivities.

Glancing through my scope, I was glad that it wasn’t pissing little white drops of frozen flakes yet. That would decrease the precious visibility I had from this vantage point.

The bad guys clustered around the train depot, the trafficking operation a raging success…for now.

In the new year, the six recruits would have run through enough tactical operations to have their first strike. I didn’t want to send them into the field until I was sure of their success. While they might have military training—and more importantly, an unbreakable spirit—I wanted them to be Special Forces ready. We needed to strike as an effective unit and drive these traffickers from Chicago in one fell swoop. Then we would holdthe city against any roaches coming back. And with any luck, we would cripple operations throughout the Midwest by this time next year.

But today’s mission was personal, and I was flying solo. Adler had threatened my woman. Beth’s intel said that he was still in the Windy City. Scanning the depot with my scope, I didn’t see the profile I was looking for.He’s supposed to be here.

Sinking my teeth into the finger of my glove, I pulled it from my fingers. I tapped on the phone.

Beth picked up on the second ring. “’Ello!”

Steamers shrieked in the earpiece, and customers garbled in the background. Beth was working.

Crap.I needed her.

“I’m looking at Adler’s SUV, but I don’t see him,” I growled, bending to do another sweep.

“Oh, shoot, you didn’t see my email,” the barista groaned. The sounds of the coffee shop faded, and then there was only her heavy breathing as she no doubt escaped the buzz of the café. “He left town last night. I found out about an hour ago, but I shot you the message asap!”

I frowned. “Where’d he go?”

“He took a group on the road to northern Minnesota. They’re preparing fish houses this weekend so they can put them on the ice as soon as it’s thick enough. They’re working through the logistics of transporting victims on the roads between here and there. I also heard he’s meeting with the head trafficker out of Duluth, Minnesota, about the cargo ships up there. I want to clean that vermin nest out as soon as we have the manpower to do it.”

I hummed in agreement. Closing up my gun, I glowered at the mess below. I didn’t like it. Karl Adler belonged in the Southwest, in his crumbling organization. If he was overseeing something as minor as transport via the road from here tonorthern Minnesota, there was a bigger game afoot. What would entice him to venture that way? I’d wondered that when I heard he was passing through town. But I hadn’t wanted to look a gift horse in the mouth, and my plan was to eliminate this persistent threat once and for all.

And then a darker thought broke. The route from Chicago to northern Minnesota came too close to Harley.

I looked at my phone. She’d updated me every hour, like she promised. Another update, just thirty seconds ago, said that she was taking her horse for a ride before the one p.m. dinner. She said she needed some air.

Two hours was too far. I didn’t like to be away from her. Since I wasn’t going to shoot my target today, I might as well go be with her. Sheild her from her family the best I could. If I sped, I would make it just in time for Thanksgiving dinner with the Kellnhofers—oh, the joy.

I’m coming, Harley.

Chapter 50 – Harley

The dry, bare branches clacked together in a skeletal symphony. Here and there a single leaf clung desperately to the mother tree, refusing to fall to the brackish forest floor and join the decaying remains of its fellow leaves. Thick grey clouds hung low in the sky, setting the mood below to be one of somber mourning. Winter was coming, and nature was nearly dead. There were no insects to call a cheerful tune, no birds sang the melody above. The occasional crow cawed in warning that the time to scavenge was here.

“What the hell’s gotten into me?” I muttered to Lilac.

The mare only flicked her ears and as she continued to pick her way along the hunting trail. There shouldn’t be anyone on our land, but we still wore blaze-orange to be safe. A brave bow hunter might be perched somewhere, ready to let loose an arrow at an unsuspecting stag. Muzzle loader was in season next week, so there wouldn’t be any of those smokey boys out here dropping what bambis they could find.

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