Ultimate Vengeance (Wanted Men Book 4) (40 page)

Yuri left, and when Sacha looked at Alek, he was alarmed to see something familiar. The return of the fear he’d seen in her eyes when she’d first learned who he was.

Alek sat back in his seat, tired of pushing the late snack of cold meats and cheeses around on his plate. Sacha was next to him, playing with a cooling cup of tea with her free hand. Vasily was across the way, his gaze constantly straying to Lekzi.

All heads turned when Vincente walked into the kitchen. He had his long coat on, his hair was down, and his expression was blacker than a pit in hell.

He nodded a greeting that encompassed the table, his eyes hooding when he saw the baby in Sacha’s arms.

“You mind if I take Alek out for a while?”

The rumbling question V posed to Sacha had the baby turning to look at him. Lekzi’s sleepy smile had him cursing under his breath. He came forward to chuck her gently under the chin.

“Hey, kid,” he said in Italian. “I’m taking your father out to rip a new asshole into the stupid motherfucker who already tried to hurt you. The world will be well rid of him in a couple of hours. I promise.”

Having learned Italian while Gabriel and Vincente had studied Russian, Alek understood every word. V obviously knew where to find Reynard. Popping to his feet, Alek kissed his girls then sprinted upstairs. He changed his clothes, threw his harness and an array of weapons on, and was hoofing it back down in under five minutes.

Anton was waiting at the front door with Vasily and Vincente. Sacha must have been instructed to remain in the kitchen. Alek felt bad for that but got it. She didn’t need to know where he was going. But he’d damn well tell her a gory tale when he returned.

“It’s gonna be a quick in and out,” V was saying. “No offense intended, but the fewer of us, the better.”

“Then three it is because Anton is now an extension of Alek.” There was no room for argument in Vasily’s voice, though V didn’t look as if he wanted to offer one. “You’ll call me the minute you’re on your way home,” he said to Alek, then turned back to Vincente. “You’re lucky I’m not sending an army with you.”

V looked at the ground, ran his tongue across the front of his teeth, then lifted just his eyes to narrow one on Vasily. He cursed. “Fuck. I might as well come clean since you’re gonna find out anyway. We’re heading to a Baikov safehouse.”

The temperature in the room plummeted, but Alek ignored it and opened the door. All he could see was that blue ring around his daughter’s lips. He needed to replicate it around Reynard’s.

Vasily glared at him as he came over and slammed the door again. “From the beginning, Vincente.”

“Maks got a ‘tip.’ Thinks in a roundabout way it came from Sergei because it’s Reynard’s exact location. To be safe, we had a crew comb the area around the specified building to see if it’s a set up; they found nothing. Sweepers are inside now. Maks assumes Sergei is doing away with a loose end by giving us the maggot.” He turned to Alek. “He said to warn you they won’t be able to get into the apartment without alerting Reynard and causing him to bolt, so we’ll be going in blind. As of ten minutes ago, there were three women and three men inside, including Reynard.”

“That’s doable. Let’s go.”

“Who knows about this?” Vasily asked.

V made a circle with his finger to encompass them and Dmitri, who was standing off to the side, scowling like a fucker. “And Maks. He’d be here, but he was elbows deep in something with Micha—”

Vasily nodded. “I know where he is.”

V nodded and went quiet as Vasily slipped his hands into his pockets and started pacing, chin near his sternum, his brows down low. He ended up in front of Dmitri. “Tell me what you think.”

“I agree with Maksim. Sergei wants to be rid of his garbage, and he is giving him to us because deep down he knows Reynard deserves whatever it is we do to him. But I do not trust Sergei not to fuck with whoever shows up.”

“Me either. Would you consider going with them?”

Dmitri looked between Vasily and Alek a couple of times. “You know I love and respect you, Alek,” he said. “But not even for you will I leave my Pakhan open.”

Alek smiled over. “I know, brother.”

Vasily clapped his byki’s shoulder before coming back to Alek. “How badly do you want to make this personal? Because of the circumstances, I would feel better if you let me send in a torpedo.”

A torpedo was a contract killer. There were those who were known for their clean in-and-outs. Then there were others who would take their targets home and make the eventual demise something that was prayed for.

“I’ve known my daughter a week,” Alek said. “Reynard almost made it so that was all I got. That makes this so personal it’s obscene.”

Vasily gave a reluctant nod that was full of understanding, and it was he who opened the door and led them out to where Alesio was standing next to Vincente’s Kombat T98. When he saw them, Gabriel’s cousin tossed his smoke into the tin at the corner of the garage, kept there for that purpose.

Alesio, who was in his late twenties, was a Moretti right from his raven hair to his green eyes. He was closer to Stefano, Gabriel’s older brother, in height than Gabriel, which put him at a lithe six-one or two, and he’d been blessed with a rosy outlook on life that made him enjoyable to be around. That must drive Vincente crazy.

“Don’t take any souvenirs,” Vasily advised as he hugged Alek hard and pressed a kiss to each of his cheeks. “They only keep the memory fresh. Watch each other’s backs. Alesio, how are you, son?”

A round of brief hugs were exchanged. “Congratulations on the bambina. I hear she’s a beauty.”

The flame in Alek’s gut burned brighter as he nodded. “You heard correctly.”

“This is going to be an enjoyable trip.” Again, Alesio’s expression reminded Alek not of Gabriel but Stefano. “This fuckin’ guy has had it coming for a while now.”

“Couldn’t agree more.” Alek hopped into the truck with V, while Anton went up front.

Vincente tore a Velcro cover off the back of the driver’s seat and unzipped a hidden compartment. As he armed up, Alek rolled down the window.

“Call me,” Vasily repeated, proving he was anxious. “If Sergei is there, you bring him to me.”

“With a bow on his ass,” V promised as Alesio hit the gas and got them moving.

♦ ♦ ♦

Within the hour, Alek was standing in a third-floor apartment in Gravesend with two Baikov sixthes sitting at a kitchen table, their heads down, hands clasped on the back of their necks. The place reeked of weed.

It had been a near silent entry, the only sound coming when Anton had opened the door and Alesio had gone in first. The lookout had managed a “
What the—
” before Alesio had shut him up.

There were three women on the couch, all with their faces pressed into the back, all quiet. Alek had heard V tell them to stay on the level and they’d be free to leave in a few minutes. They’d interrupted the girls firing up their small pipes. Good thing, too, because the drugs had curbed their fear. In fact, Alek was pretty sure one of them had fallen asleep.

“Where is Reynard?” he quietly asked one of the men at the table. When the guy shot him a contemptuous look, Alek didn’t hesitate to press a blade into the thin skin below one of those windows to the soul. “I’ll pop it out and squash it under my heel if you don’t open that fucking mouth. Three…two…”

Buddy winced and got his finger up and pointing to the rear of the apartment.

“Is there a back exit?” V asked the other one.

“Fuck you. Dead men do not talk.”

“You just did.” V pulled the trigger and splattered brain matter all over the mountain of coke the two had been cutting with an unknown substance that smelled bleachy. What was left after a shot silenced by a suppressor was always shocking, which was probably why the guy at the end of Alek’s blade attempted to spring up and make a grab for one of the guns on the table. Vincente’s hand clamped onto the back of his neck before he could move much more than a couple of inches.

“My advice?” V murmured. “Answer the fuckin’ question.
Quietly
. Because this one,” he nodded at Alek, “left home without his patience.”

“Second exit?” Alek asked again.

The idiot’s lips remained sealed, and suddenly it was the principle of the matter. Alek beckoned Anton over and had him hold their mute in a tight grip, his mouth covered. Getting one of the guy’s tattooed hands in the air, Alek spread out his fore and middle finger. Without hesitating, he chopped his four-inch blade down into that V. The weight and sharpness had it sinking in about an inch. They repeated the process twice more, quitting when they reached the pinkie.

“Second exit?” Alek repeated as the guy chuffed through his nose behind Anton’s hand.

He got a nod this time.

“To the fire escape?”

Another nod.

“Thanks for your cooperation.” As Alek headed down the short hallway, his focus on nothing but Reynard now, he heard the puff of another suppressed shot go off.

A hard shoulder to the back sent Alek stumbling past a closet. He looked back to see V spin, his duster winding around his feet like a cat wanting to be fed. The Reaper shoved his hand through an opening in the fabric flap hanging in the place of a door, and with one yank, a guy was jerked out of the closet and slammed into the wall opposite. He hit hard and just happened to be head-first, which had him crumpling like a marionette whose strings had been cut. Ashes fell from his hand as it opened.

“There’s always a surprise,” V muttered as he dropped the guy and motioned Alek ahead. “Think the asshat would’ve thought to put out his joint.”

Alek moved faster now, knowing the head bang had to have been heard. He came to a small area that housed a loveseat, a closed door across the way, and a rickety desk. As he got close enough to see what was spread out across its surface, he felt a wave of heat billow outward as if an atomic bomb had gone off within his body. There were pictures of Sacha and Lekzi. A few were recent because Sacha was in winter gear and pushing the large stroller. Two others had been taken last year—and stole Alek’s breath—because they showed Sacha pregnant.

With his heart pounding at the beauty of her, he pocketed them and forced himself to move on after silently vowing he’d get her there again as soon as her body got on board with his plan. There were fake IDs in Sacha and Lekzi’s name, two bus tickets to Boston, a handful of syringes, and two small bottles. One was a prescription sedative, the other a small brown vial with a tree on the front. He picked it up, remembering Yuri mentioning Lekzi could have been poisoned by a plant extract, but he couldn’t read the label because the writing was Chinese. V picked up a chart with doses and two weights circled that were approximates of Sacha’s…and an infant’s.

As they exchanged an enraged look, the sound of someone hitting the fire escape stairs and running for their life came. Alek pocketed the vial and grabbed the syringes. He pointed for V to follow the racket, and then he was gunning for the stairwell inside the building. Reynard had chosen to go up rather than down.

Alek dove by the others—had to knock Anton into a stack of beer empties—and was coming out onto the roof within seconds; the only place to go since the building was only four stories. Sticking to the wall of the enclosure, he popped his head out but didn’t have to bother pulling it back to avoid a shot because V already had Reynard doubled over and backing away as he shook his head at the Reaper’s vicious expression.

Reynard Novik, the man who’d attempted to murder Alek’s seven-month-old daughter, walked right into his arms.

Even though he’d barely had to exert himself, Alek’s chest was pumping, his lungs and heart working overtime to accommodate his rage. To start, he hammered three solid shots right into the middle of Reynard’s face, then for Vasily’s sake, asked, “Where’s Sergei?”

“Balls deep in your woman?”

Alek kneed the fucker hard enough so that his would never produce sperm again then threw him to the ground next to the stairwell enclosure. “Get him on the wall,” he said to Anton and Alesio.

He took a brief trek around the rooftop, sucking in the frigid air as he looked at the mostly darkened units in the surrounding buildings. He felt an urgent need to gut the cocky sonofabitch without doing the smart thing, which was to ask a goddamn question or two.

Once he felt able to control himself, he went back to find Reynard pinned to the rough brick. Alek palmed his blade again and snapped his hand out to quickly slash left then right. Reynard’s top and bottom lips split open like two well-done sausages. Blood began running off his chin as the guy howled.

“I suggest you shut the fuck up and use that mouth wisely,” Alek snapped. “You’re going to die regardless, but I’ll make a deal with you.” He waited until Reynard quieted before going on. “If you give up some information, I won’t hand you off. Because you tried to kill my child, that guarantees you a long and luxurious stay in Rapture’s basement, and you know what that will entail. One thing; the best medical care in the world, because I’ll personally make it so Yuri takes a daily trip into the city to patch you up so you’re as good as new for the next round. And the one after that. And the one that follows.” He came in a little closer, preparing to be spat on. “Do you really want to know what the human body is capable of withstanding at the hands of a man like Maksim Kirov?”