Chapter 39 Emil
EMIL
Ipeered down at the man on his knees. The special agent who'd dared to set Sadie up to be hunted by the Cartel scowled at me. Like he had any right to give me a dirty look. Like he had any power to do anything of the kind.
Tilting my head to the side, I considered how I’d kill him. Most hits were murders of necessity. I came, I killed in the most efficient means possible, took a picture or video for evidence, waited until they were dead, and got out of there.
Ending the life of this motherfucker was personal.
“You’re in for a world of pain if you think about trying anything with me.”
Next to him, the other agent that the second guard had pushed to the ground, let out a low groan of misery.
“Shut the fuck up,” he hissed.
“No.” Special Agent Hufford spat at me. “I’m not going to act like this punk is getting away with a single thing here. Release me.”
I smiled wider.
“Release me!” he shouted.
The Dubinin guards glanced at me.
“You have no right to hold me here. No right to act like you’re some figure of authority.”
I put my hands in my pockets. “Interesting. From where I’m standing, you’re in no position to run your fucking mouth at all.”
“I’m in the position to—” He flinched as I pulled my hand out of my pocket. In my palm rested a pair of syringes. I hadn’t been “working” much lately, but I did happen to get these out of my glovebox when Sadie’s call came in.
“Don’t you dare,” he warned, wiggling to get free.
“Oh, I dare.” I borrowed Sadie’s technique of holding him, reaching out to grab the agent’s hair. Twisting it sharply until he cried out, I wrenched his head back to expose his neck. Without further delay, I jammed the needle into his flesh.
A tip of my head was all the indication the guard needed to hoist him up and carry him to the car.
“You fucking asshole. You’ll never get away with this. You’ll never—” He fought to back up, to no avail. I grabbed his hair and pulled him forward to shove the second needle of a sedative into his neck.
He’d be too loud to handle here. He’d be one of those idiots who would bluster and try to whine like he could stall his way out of death. There was absolutely no hope for mercy for him.
He was dead.
“Take them,” I told the other guard.
He nodded and carried him away.
Before I turned to join them, I called Ivan and requested his backup.
Both of these agents would be restrained, but I wanted someone else there to rein me in. If I got carried away with torturing these assholes, I’d need someone to bring me back to sanity.
He didn’t protest, saying both he and Alexsei would come to assist.
Hours later, I waited for the agents to wake up. They groaned, coming to slowly.
Hufford was still acting like the tough guy he really wasn’t.
“You’ll never get away with this,” he shouted. “Never.”
I glanced around. “According to whom?”
“Me!” he screamed. “Some filthy scum of a Mafia punk won’t be the end of my legacy!”
Davis, the younger one, didn’t speak. He was smart enough to face his fate. With a gulp and tears building in his eyes, he glanced around the dimly lit room and knew this was the end. Unlike his superior, he wasn’t disillusioned into some fantasy that he could get free.
This was the end of him.
Both of them.
Now there would be real closure.
I rubbed my brow, not interested in dragging this out. Pathetic men who blustered and bluffed were such a pain in the ass. I didn’t want to spend hours here, waiting for the torture to kick in so he’d talk.
Ivan sensed my reluctance to linger. “You want us to handle this?”
A guard stepped forward, cracking his knuckles. He was a big, beefy guy, a recent recruit who was proving to be an expert at interrogating those who were the least willing to speak. “I can handle it for you, Emil.”
I smiled.
“You know what?” I nodded in acknowledgment to my cousin.
Ivan had recently decided to take a step back and be more of a supervisor for my father rather than someone on the front lines.
It was a fine time for me to do the same.
I didn’t need to kill every target. I no longer needed my job and to kill to stay busy.
It was a flimsy excuse of thinking my life was full, to just have that purpose.
Now I had Sadie and Carina to live for, and I would.
“I’d appreciate that. I’ve got a fiancée and our daughter to get home to.” I clapped him on his back.
“You do just that, Boss.” He grinned, showing off his missing front tooth and looking that much more diabolical.
“We’ll extract all they can share,” Alexsei said, eyeing the agents.
Because he was so focused on security, I knew that he said that with the intention to get all from them that he could.
Any secrets, any plans, anything that could threaten Sadie or Carina.
Or even me. That was his specialty, providing security, and I trusted him to do as he said he would.
Instead of staying, I went home to Sadie and Carina.
I found them in the living room, resting while the rest of the house was mostly quiet.
“Oh.” She smiled. “I thought it’d be a while before you’d be home.”
I went to her and kissed her before sitting next to her. Carina was asleep on her chest. Every time I gazed at her, I was in awe all over again. “I let the others handle it. Hufford was going to be a whiny bitch and drag it out.”
She laughed once. “Yeah. I bet.”
“Want to head to bed?” I asked. “You look tired.”
“I am.” She yawned. “Who knew dress shopping could be so exhausting?”
I smiled and took Carina so she could get up. “Plus the adrenaline rush of sneaking up on your former boss and realizing he was still watching you.”
She nodded. “He won’t be anymore.”
You got that right.
“Did you find a dress?” I asked.
She gave me a saucy smile. “I found the dress.”
I grinned as we headed up to my room. “You'd better start resting more each night until our wedding, then. Because I know I will be excited to take that gown off you and make love to you as your official and lawful husband.”
She laughed. “You? Lawful?” she teased.
The next morning, Alexsei greeted me downstairs.
“You get him to talk?”
“Hugo did.” He cringed. “That man is a twisted genius.”
I winced. “I can imagine.” Killing people was one thing, but having to dole out torture required patience I seldom had.
“He talked, and then some. Davis was more informative, but we have a file from all they shared.”
I poured coffee. “Did they own up to anything specific?”
“Hufford wouldn’t. Davis did. He knew all about how they were setting Sadie up to fail.
Thwarting her research. Holding her back.
Hufford and Davis had stakes in the Obsidian Eye group and they were clearly unhappy about our stopping them.
They were also threatened after our assault.
It seems some leaders blamed them for two-timing them and ordering the hit. ”
I smiled.
“I’ve also contacted your favorite hacker for more assistance in this. Simon will begin looking for all evidence of hits placed on Sadie. All records of her cases from the agency will be wiped clean.”
“Good.” I patted him on the back as thanks.
I never liked to leave loose ends, and with those agents trying to sneak up on her, I was confident no other surprises would pop up at us.
“How’s she handling it?” he asked. “It sucks that she had to deal with that right before the wedding.”
I shook my head. “She’s fine. She was fine enough with it that she handed them over to me.”
Alexsei chuckled. “That’s what you need. A woman who can keep her temper in check and be patient not to pull the trigger when she really wants to.”
He could describe any part of Sadie’s personality that he wanted. It wouldn’t persuade me any further. She was what I needed just because she was who she was.
“Want to join me in getting the boys ready for another wedding?” he joked.
I laughed, agreeing to help him babysit. It seemed like a full circle that I had helped Alexsei watch Lev and Misha for Ivan and Raisa’s wedding night. Next week, they would watch Carina for me and Sadie.
I couldn’t wait. Not just because she should be cleared to actually celebrate, but because there would be no obstacles for the rest of the world recognizing that she was mine, my little agent, and she always would be.
All was well with the last of the loose threads tied up now.
I was at peace to enjoy and look forward to making her my bride.
All will be well.
And I would keep my wife and daughter safe for as long as I lived.