CLASS ACT (A BRITISH ROCKSTAR BAD BOY ROMANCE) (35 page)

“I could work for you,” I offered. I honestly didn’t know what I would do with my life. The idea of entering college and becoming a doctor seemed like a distant memory. “I did a pretty good job patching you up, right? We could make a good team.”

He looked intrigued at the idea. “Let’s put the idea on the back burner. For now, I have to get back into full health and investigate what’s going on with your father’s murder. If we work well enough together, then… I’ll think about it.”

I nodded. “Okay.”

“First, we need to get to my safe house,” Jackie ordered, heading to his bedroom. He returned with his laptop. “Our current location might be compromised. There’s also the police and mobsters who will be swarming this place and asking questions. We need to get out of here and fast. Grab only the bare essentials and let’s get out of here.”

“You’re in no condition to be moved,” I objected. “You’ve lost blood.”

“I’m not like your average man,” he countered. Indeed, he wasn’t like any other man I’ve ever met. “We’re both at risk staying here any longer than we need to. Get ready to depart. We’ll be going down the fire escape from the back. It’s too risky for you to go through the front door.”

I thought of the memories I had of this apartment. I hated it at first after leaving our big house. Then, I started to come around to it. I began to even think of it as my new home.

Now, it felt like a burial ground. It was the place where my father died. It was where my old life ended.

“Okay, let’s get the hell out of this awful place.”

“Good,” I critiqued, taking off my ear muffs. The M9 was a bit large for her size but it had plenty of stopping power. “You just need to be more conscious of the recoil in between shots.”

Kelly nodded and reloaded the gun. “I think I’m getting the hang of it.”

During the past two weeks, I had trained Kelly in how to protect herself. There would be times where she would be alone without me to defend herself. She needed to learn how to handle herself. More importantly, I had big plans for her.

I rented out a private session at a local firing range so I could teach Kelly in peace. It was expensive but most of the money went to silencing the owner. Not that I couldn’t afford it with my sizeable contract payments. Thankfully, she proved to be a quick study.

Then again, shooting at targets at firing range was a world of difference than shooting at people who could fire back at you.

In the safe house, I taught her some basic martial arts. Kelly was less of a natural when it came to hand to hand combat. She had taken her attackers by surprise but a skilled fighter would’ve been able to dispatch her with ease. It was unlikely that Kelly would be able to go toe-to-toe with any of the elite Russian mafia enforcers. However, it would be enough for her to disarm an opponent and escape.

The young woman was curious about my trade as a hitman. I was less keen on teaching her my craft. I didn’t want her to follow in my path. She was just too pure and innocent for me to corrupt.

Nonetheless, I told her of how I worked a contract. I would either receive a dossier on my target or purchase the information myself. Then, I would follow and stake out the target. I would track their movements and find patterns. I would pinpoint the moment when the target was most vulnerable. Sometimes it would take less than a day. Other times I would spend weeks waiting for the perfect opportunity.

Besides, the training kept her mind off her father’s death. She was adjusting to her new life under my wing as well as any college student could. Becoming a hitman helped me deal with the loss of my mother. I wasn’t sure I would’ve liked for Kelly to follow in my line of work.

The sound of gunfire broke me out of my thoughts.

Kelly gave me a sheepish grin. “How’s that for center mass?”

I looked across to see a bullet hole through a bulls-eye. I glanced back at her and saw her hold the gun with both hands. She still hadn’t taken her eye off the sights. “Your form looks good.”

She was a natural shot but I didn’t want to tell her that. It would be better if she never had to fire and kill anyone. This was only to be a last resort.

“You told me you’re looking into why the Russian mafia is after me, Jackie,” Kelly began. “Have you learned anything new?”

“Not much to add,” I admitted. “Other than that’s it’s not the entire Russian mafia. It’s just one branch that’s based in Ukraine.”

She put down the gun. “What do you mean-”

Bringing out a folder full of documents, I glared at her lack of proper gun handling. “Safety.”

She cursed under her breath and put the gun into safety. For good measure, she made sure to unload the gun and clear the chamber. “Okay, what have you learned?”

This information cost quite a bit of money and effort to acquire. Many of my usual contacts either didn’t know what I was after or were feigning ignorance. The few that had information clamped up when I approached them. It took some money to grease their palms before they opened up again. Nonetheless, it had the side benefit of aiding the personal investigation I had on my mother’s killers. Thankfully, none of the informants tried to attack me this time.

“When a lot of people hear about the Italian mafia or the Irish mob,” I began. “They think of some large amorphous blob under one guy. In reality, what we know of as the Italian mafia is a bunch of different families competing or working with each other. Hell, they might be at each other’s throats one day and working with each other the next.”

“I see…”

“The Pastore family is the biggest and most powerful Italian family but it’s one of several families,” I continued. “It’s the same with the Russians. Only one branch of the Russian mafia has a vendetta against you.”

Kelly nodded. “So who exactly is after me?”

“Some nasty group of men working under the banner of a Russian word I can’t pronounce,” I answered. “It roughly translates into the ‘Black Fang.’ It’s a fitting name for a pack of wild animals.”

The college girl gulped. “Who’s in charge of them?”

“The name ‘Mr. Gregori’ keeps coming up,” I answered, showing her a photo of a middle-aged man in a business suit. You’d never guess this man was a drug kingpin. “Not much is known about him other than he’s a Ukrainian national who overthrew the previous head of the group. Seymon Gregori had a vendetta against anyone Italian when a weapons deal with a Sicilian based criminal group when wrong. That was during his days was a small fry but the incident stuck with him. When he came into power, he cut off business ties with the Italians. He’s gotten too big for his britches that he’s getting into arguments with fellow Russian gangs. The only thing keeping him in check is the risk of the FBI or CIA breathing down his neck.”

Kelly stared at the bearded man in his fifties. “It’s blurry.”

“Gregori keeps a low profile. That’s the best photo anyone has of him since his days as a foot soldier.”

“I think I heard Howard say that name,” Kelly mused. “Why were they after me and my father?”

I shrugged. “That’s something I’m still trying to figure out. From what I can piece together, it had to with the company your father worked for.”

The college girl rubbed her forehead. “The Atlantic Corporation? They’re just this big conglomerate that sells everything from diapers to car insurance.”

“They also sell banking services,” I replied. “It’s not unusual for criminals to keep some of their wealth in a legitimate bank for legal or tax purposes. You also need a place to put your money somewhere after laundering it, especially when it reaches a large enough sum. Gregori seems to have an account there under an alias.”

“What’s so important about this bank?” she asked. “What’s so important that you’re willing to kill a man over it?”

“If I had to guess, then it would be that he needed your father’s help in moving the money,” I replied, stroking my chin. “That Harold character was likely working with the Black Fang. He may not have had the same level of access as your father. The bank would red flag the account if there was any unusual activity surrounding it. Perhaps, they had hoped to get your father to act as an inside man.”

Kelly’s eyes widened in shock. “Daddy was head of security…”

“He would be in a good position to move the funds and cover up their tracks from the inside. I suppose you were going to be collateral if your father didn’t cooperate. Needless to say, things didn’t go as planned.”

“Why go through all of this?” she asked in exasperation. “Why was the Black Fang willing to kill someone over a few million dollars?”

“A few million? Try billions,” I said to her shock. Most people don’t realize just how much crime paid. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have criminal organizations. “It looks like Mr. Gregori is getting desperate to hold onto his fortune. The authorities have already frozen his assets in other accounts. The Atlantic account is his nest egg. He even came to America to handle it personally.”

“The police are chasing after him?”

“Try the CIA,” I said. “Word on the street is that he’s made some enemies in Langley. They’re after him because some of his dirty money has been linked to terrorist cells in Russia. Likewise, the KBG back home might be moving in on him as well. He used to be able to bribe the KBG into turning a blind eye on his activities. However, he’s gotten too big for his shoes and the KBG want to cut him down to size. It’s why he’s been acting so reckless.”

Kelly eyes brightened. “Will the CIA be able to get him? Can they put him in prison and get justice for my father?”

“Better them than the KBG,” I chuckled. “They’ll torture him for a few days before dropping his body in a ditch in Siberia. At least with the CIA, he can cut a deal and maintain some level of his wealth. If he cooperates with the CIA, Gregori will probably end up serving reduced sentence in a white collar prison. He’ll be out in five years with most of his wealth intact. That’s assuming he doesn’t change his identity and vanish off the face of the earth to escape the authorities.”

A look of panic appeared on the woman’s face. “What do you mean, Jackie? There’s a chance he’ll escape justice?”

“Last I heard, the bureaucracy of both organizations is keeping them from getting the green-light to go after him. If he doesn’t get his money out of Atlantic National Bank, then he has a chance to escape to some forgotten corner of the world.”