Page 21 of Cruel Russian King
That's how many days passed since I was back at the Bratva headquarters and how many days since I’d held Ninel in my arms in a fucking grungy alley. I heard the alarm for the garage go off while I was working in the office and noticed that Ninel was sliding into one of the SUVs instead of one of the flashy cars. She scored a point for that and another when I tracked her car to the front of one of my restaurants.
Work was beginning to catch up on me and Yegor and Zahkar needed me back on the front lines. We got attacked twice in the past week and we still have no fucking idea who ordered the hit. With me being gone, I assigned one of my guards, Ruslan Voronin, to watch over Ninel.
I informed him about her trip to the city and her desire to go back, which she'll more than likely try to do on her own. I warned him that she'd also slipped through Lev's guards when she was living at their family mansion. I needed him to stick on Ninel like gum underneath the desk of a damn highschool. And if he let her slip away he'd have to deal with my wrath.
He was the only guard allowed in the house. The only rooms off limits were my office and our bedroom.
It's also been three days since Ninel refused to eat breakfast with me, stating that she was an adult and had a right to refuse a meal if she didn't want it.
A part of me wanted to withhold all meals from her until she chose to eat but I also reminded myself of the peace treaty, clause fourteen the Protection of Basic Human Needs clause. It stated that any intentional act by a member of one family to withhold or deny basic human needs, including, butnot limited to, food, shelter, and clothing, to a member of the opposing family shall constitute a direct violation of this treaty. Offenders shall be held financially liable, subject to forfeiture of seventy percent of all net profits derived from illicit or controlled substances for a period of twenty-four consecutive months.
Is that the only reason why you don't want to see Ninel go hungry, Artie?
I shook my head and climbed behind the wheel of my Jaguar, heading to headquarters.
An hour later, I sat behind my desk, Yegor and Zahkar in front of me.
“Any update on who the fuck blew our warehouse to hell?” I snarled. Millions in arms and ammo, gone.
“All systems at the warehouse and within a five-mile radius were on a loop,” Yegor stated.
“How the hell did they get past our systems?”
“The only way that could happen is if we have a mole,” Zahkar said. “Between our systems and Lev's, our intel is the best on U.S. soil.”
“We better not have a fucking mole!” I snapped.
A mole in our grid lab would be like hunting for a strand of hay in a haystack. That's how fucked up the situation would be. They’d know every trick in the book to cover their tracks.
“Safin got anything on his end?” I asked.
Yegor shook his head. “Like us, Timur and his team are digging through hours of footage trying to catch something.”
“We need a trap. How the hell do they keep getting one up on us? The only ones who we've never found any evidence on after an attack is this fucking ghost enemy,” I growled.
“Like Zahkar said,” Yegor replied, “we could have a mole. And if we do, Lev probably does to.”
“How do we find a mole, that's probably one of our own hackers?” I ran a hand through my hair. “If we start digging, they’ll know, they have access to every database in the faction.”
“God, I hope it’s not a mole,” Zahkar muttered. “We don’t have time to research every single member with paper and pen.”
Yegor exhaled, rubbing his temple. “We have to start somewhere. Let’s narrow it down to anyone who had access to every building hit by this ghost enemy.”
Over the next three hours, we compiled a list of names to investigate. When finished, Yegor and Zahkar exited my office, leaving me alone with my thoughts, and a growing sense of unease. These attacks started two years ago. What are they waiting on to show their hand? Are they gathering more alliances? Just fucking with us?
A few minutes later, my cell rang. It was Konstantin Zorin, head of my Grid and my eyes everywhere. He answered only to me.
“What do you have for me, Konstantin? Any information on the attack?”
“No, sir. Not yet. We’re still investigating. I’m calling to let you know that Mrs. Rykov’s brothers have started actively searching for her.”
“Anything else?”
“No, sir.”
I hung up.
I thought hearing that those Safin bastards were looking for Ninel would bring some satisfaction. Instead, myanger flared…memories of how worried we’d been when Vera disappeared from Vegas surged back. Yegor and Zahkar had found her first, at Jaroslav’s.
