6. Whos your daddy, and what does he do?
Chapter 6
Who's your daddy, and what does he do?
TOMER
D on’t you just love that delightful feeling you get when you suspect you interrupted people talking about you?
All eyes shoot in my direction when I enter the lair. Gathered in a cluster, Mia, Klein, and Shep resemble a bunch of squirrels burying their nuts for the winter.
I freeze two feet inside the doorway. “What?”
“Hi, T,” Mia chirps, immediately leaving the group and cowering to her computer. Her cheeks flame as red as her hair.
The guys mumble unintelligibly, both turning from me to face the whiteboard.
Fucking hell.
“Whatever. As long as you aren’t keeping crap about the case from me or talking shit about Lettie, I don’t care what you were gossiping about.”
Never have. Never will.
Klein placates, “Easy, buddy. Shep was just regaling us with a tale of how cuddly you and Lettie were out in the hallway just now. That’s all.”
Mia perks up. “I didn’t want to embarrass you, but since we’re on the topic, I’m thrilled for you two. Lettie’s the absolute sweetest human on the planet.” She glances at Klein. “No offense, Cal. You’re sweet too. Especially your cake.”
Not sure what that’s about. Not curious enough to ask either.
With a roll of his eyes and a flush spreading across his cheeks, Klein claps his hands and rubs them together like Mr. Miyagi about to fix the Karate Kid’s leg. “Let’s get to work. We may have figured something out about Yuri and Yev’s relationship.”
“What did he say?” I ask him.
“Rather than what he said, it was what he didn’t say that got us thinking.”
Plunking onto my chair in a huff, I smack my palms on my thighs. “I still don’t even know what the highlights of the discussion were.”
Mia picks up my dejected tone, her eyes warming. “Tomer, we’re not hiding things from you. We’re all running in a million different directions. I know you’re used to being at the center of everything, but it’s impossible with this many irons in the fire. We’re all getting up to speed now.”
She’s right. Plus, I’ve been splitting my attention between work and Lettie.
I flick my wrist, rolling it in a slow circle. “Fine. Feathers unruffled. Someone, talk.”
Shep steps up to the whiteboard, uncapping a marker. “Yev was Yuri’s link to Lenkov, potentially implanted there to keep Yuri informed.” He scribbles on the board.“Now that he’s fled, Yuri’s in the dark.”
My head kicks back. “That doesn’t sound like something Yuri would admit with all the vodka in Russia.”
“He didn’t,” Klein explains. “Mia and I were talking about it and realized all the info he revealed was based on knowledge from before Lettie’s rescue, which coincides with when Yev went AWOL.”
Shep nods in agreement. “And when I mentioned the hit on Boss, shock flickered across his ugly face. Try as he may to hide it, I saw it.”
“Damn.” My jaw clenches. “Guess he won’t be much help in our search for Yev. Let’s hope he knows enough about Lenkov’s past crimes to help us take him down.” I glance at Shep. “What did you manage to extract from him?”
“As you’d expect, one of his bullshit riddles before he clammed up and told us to kill him or let him go because he was done solving everything for us.” The look on Shep’s face lodges a chuckle in my throat, a blend of give me a fucking break and I almost took him up on the offer to end him . “Let us listen to Yuri’s fun-filled tale, and hopefully, we can figure it out.”
He tips his chin toward Mia, and she clicks a button. The recording from last night plays through the main speakers.
Shep’s voice is the first one I recognize, harsh and a hair shy of shouting. “I don’t have patience for your bullshit tonight, Yuri. They fucking took a hit out on Boss. And shot an innocent woman in the process. We caught your best fucking guy on video abducting another woman in a bar for trafficking. I’m done being your buddy, Yuri. If Yev is in that deep with Lenkov, you clearly are too. Start fucking talking.”
In his thick Russian accent, Yuri responds, “Shepherd, Shepherd, you get heart attack if you stay angry this way.” He tuts, sounding entirely unfazed.
Not sure what Shep was doing to him to get him to talk, but it clearly wasn’t painful enough.
“Last chance, Yuri, or I’ll turn my friend loose on you,” Shep warns.
“ Bah. Dante Jones doesn’t frighten me. A cup of coffee in the hospital defeated him before.”
Yuri’s husky laugh cuts through the speakers, crawling over my skin.It’s quickly silenced by a slamming sound, followed by rustling and a pained wail.
That would have been nice to see.
I meet Shep’s gaze, my severe eyes questioning.
“That was Jonesy getting some of his frustrations out from all the jokes he’s endured since his ICU incident.”
“Nice.” I quash my jealousy over not witnessing it.
Or helping deliver the beating.
Several months ago, Jonesy was taken out of commission in the hospital when guarding a patient. Someone spiked his coffee with a lethal dose of fentanyl. Fortunately, a nurse saw him go down, and they saved him. Lenkov-related attack, naturally. I suppose that explains why Yuri knows about it.
At first, no one at Redleg teased Jonesy about the near-death experience. Over time, he’s become the butt of more than a few jokes.
Huh .
My eyes cut to Klein as I recall all the times they teased him about his name and music taste. And Shep over his infatuation with Kri.
And now I’m wondering why I always assumed I was the only one getting razzed. Is it possible I’m not as far on the outside as I always thought I was?
The click of the space bar recaptures my focus as Mia pauses the recording. “Just pointing out that what we just heard was Yuri’s first reference to knowing something, but it’s old news.” She restarts it.
The recording continues with the sound of Yuri’s ragged breathing as he tries to fight through the pain. “Yevdokim got too close to the uh... how you say?”
Shep’s groan sails through the speakers, and I hide my smile behind my cupped hand. He has less patience for Yuri’s bullshit than I do.
Yuri continues, finally finding the words. “Ah... yes. Too close to sun.”
After a two-second pause, Shep fumes, “Yev got too close to the sun? What the fuck are you talking about?”
“Shepherd,” Yuri drawls, condescension dripping from his tone. “You are smart man. Well-read man. Yes? Surely, you know this tale.”
“Icarus with the wax feathers, yeah. No shit. What’s that got to do with Yev abducting girls and working for Lenkov right under your fucking nose?”
Yuri’s response holds hints of agitation at Shep’s dismissal. “Not wax feathers, Shepherd. The wax holds feathers and threads together. Binds them. Can’t make feathers from wax.” His mocking laugh turns into a cough. The rattle from deep in his chest makes my stomach sour. “As legend say, King Minos believe Icarus and his father help enemy of crown escape from a great labyrinth. He imprisoned them for their crime. You remember this part?”
“It rings a bell,” Shep answers.
“The king is very important in tale. People forget him. But he was cause of much suffering. A horrid man.” There’s a weighted pause before he adds, “Much, much more to tale than Icarus’s wings. So much more. You should read it sometime. Very interesting.”
Jonesy speaks up for the first time. “The father built the wings for Icarus so he could escape from the imprisonment, right? His name was something with a D . Uh... Deadish, was it?” There’s a clicking sound. Snapping perhaps. Then he answers his own question, “Daedalus.”
“Is correct,” Yuri replies, a low rumble cushioning the words.
Reaching across to Mia’s keyboard, I tap the space bar to pause the recording. “Shep, I couldn’t tell by the sound of that. Was Yuri impressed?”
He rolls his eyes. “Yeah.”
Klein’s face lights up. “Look on the bright side, buddy. Maybe he’ll talk to Jonesy next time instead of you. Wouldn’t it be nice to sit a visit out?”
“Not likely, considering Jonesy broke his nose. Reset it. Then broke it again.”
Klein and I recoil, physically shirking away from the mental imagery.
Mia resumes the playback once more. “Listen up, guys. He’s about to ramble.”
As expected, Yuri continues spinning his yarn, making each point more theatrical than the last. “Daedalus was master craftsman who built inescapable labyrinth of Crete. They kept minotaur down there. Daedalus was excellent builder. Skilled inventor. And resourceful. You follow?” He pauses, the recording growing silent for a beat. “Because Daedalus and Icarus built labyrinth together, King Minos knew only they could have helped his enemy to escape.”
“Who was his enemy?” Shep asks.
“Some say he was King of Athens. Some say prince. Some say just a great warrior. Others say he half god and half man, like Hercules. His name was Theseus.”
Shep’s groan from the speakers matches the one across the room. “Super fucking duper, Yuri. Thanks for this lovely lesson on fictitious Greek bullshit. What’s the fucking point? And does any of this have a damn thing to do with Yev or Lenkov?”
“Let me explain story, Shepherd. Always in such big hurry. Just listen for once.”
Jonesy’s voice cuts in, his volume low as if trying to prevent Yuri from hearing. “Let him talk, Shep. He’s an amusing old bastard.”
Shep whispers, “This amuses you? Not all the other shit we do that’s actually fun? But this fucker?”
Louder now, Jonesy says, “Please continue, Yuri.”
Without missing a beat, Yuri picks up where he left off. “King Minos imprison Daedalus and Icarus for freeing brave hero of Athens. Where he keep them is surrounded by ocean. They cannot escape by land. These waters were full of King Minos ships. Only way they could find freedom was...” His words trail off, replaced by a whistle.
Shep interjects, “He was doing this to mimic flying.” He wafts his head around, eyes roaming the room in some type of hands-free flying gesture or like he’s tracking a mosquito circling above him.
“Was he losing blood at this point?” Mia snickers. “Because that sounds like loopy blood loss behavior.”
Shep laughs silently, chest shaking. “He’d stopped bleeding by then. He’s just fucking nuts.”
Yuri’s still droning on. “After a while, Daedalus became obsessed with freeing himself and his son while often watching birds fly from the window of their tower. That’s how he think of idea to make wings. And he did just that. Not only a pair for Icarus, but for himself too.”
This time, I’m the one letting loose a pissy whine. “Jesus fucking Christ on a cracker. Is he ever getting to the point?”
“Your guess is as good as ours, T,” Klein tosses while stretching his arms over his head.
“Ha ha ha,” Mia’s gigantic laugh reverberates around the room as she pauses the recording. “Christ on a Cracker. Like the Holy Ghost. The communion wafers. The body of Christ. Ha. Haaah .”
The tension pouring off me at Yuri’s annoying bullshit storytelling is instantly broken.
When the laughter dries up, Yuri’s playback resumes, and my eyes catch on the whiteboard full of names and questions. Possibilities spin through my mind at a pace far faster than Yuri’s fucking Greek Mythology Lesson. The pompous prick.
As if he’s a great orator at a podium, his jaw continues flapping despite nothing useful coming out of his fucking mouth. “He tell his son, don’t fly low because sea water will weigh down feathers. And if you go too high, heat of sun will melt wax. Stay in middle ground.” An angry snarl hides on the underside of Yuri’s tone as he seethes, “All Icarus had to do was fly straight. Do as told. But he couldn’t resist. Hubris cost his life. He was fool.”
“Stop the playback,” I order, bolting out of my chair, inspiration flooding me and allowing me to connect some of the dots. “Yuri doesn’t tell us tales like this without it holding significant meaning. He loves his riddles too much. It’s always a game to him. So we can assume all of this has a fucking point.”
“And?” Mia asks, jumping in as soon as I take a breath.
Shifting my line of sight to Shep, I take two steps closer to the board. “Any chance Yev is Yuri’s son?”
His head kicks back. “Maybe metaphorically, but I doubt by blood. They look nothing alike.”
Mia’s fingers fly across the keyboard, filling the air with comforting clicking sounds. “Oh, come on. Looks don’t always correlate, Shep.”
“If you’re looking for a birth certificate, you won’t find one with a father’s name on it,” I tell Mia, halting her search before she wastes her time.
“Did you seriously just try to tell me I can’t find out who his father is?” With her upper lip curled into a snarl, she draws her fingers up in front of her face, curving them like claws, and hisses at me. “There isn’t a deadbeat dad on the planet I can’t find.”
“Knock yourself out. But you might want to?—”
Meaning no harm other than being silly, she cuts me off with another hiss, and I bust out laughing. Just flat out crack up.
Klein attempts to soothe the hell cat. “Easy, tiger.”
“Yeah, ghost. Simmer down. The men are working,” Shep says, obviously trying to get a reaction out of her.
As if choreographed, Klein and I take large steps away from Shep, both heading in different directions.
“Oh, you just made the wrong enemy, bucko.” She points two fingers at her eyes, then flips them out in Shep’s direction. “You better watch your back and your credit score. I’m coming for you.”
Shep fakes a yawn, patting his mouth three times with an open palm.
Klein clears his throat, spinning to face the board and returning to his position beside Shep. “Before blood is shed, let’s recap, shall we?”
I move back in as well. “Good call.”
With the whiteboard behind him, Klein resembles a professor. “At the beginning of Yuri’s tell, he said Yev flew too close to the sun. Thus, Yev is clearly Icarus.” He pauses, writing Icarus beside Yev’s name. “And given how snide Yuri was when speaking about King Moana or whomever, we all agree Lenkov is the king in the story. Correct?”
A laugh stutters free from my chest at his comical butchering of the king’s name. Shep follows suit, sniffling through a chuckle of his own.
Klein ignores us, writing Lenkov dash King M in the top left corner.
From behind us, Mia begins humming. Although I can’t be sure, I suspect it’s a song from the film.
Lettie made me watch it with her a few nights ago. Not a bad flick. One of the few times I don’t regret giving her the remote. Plus, she sang along, which made me hard as hell. I ended up with my head between her thighs by the time they were freeing the mystical island lady from her curse. Maybe we should watch that again tonight.
When she said thank you after her second orgasm, I replied in the most non-Tomer way imaginable. By singing the chorus from Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s song in the film, “You’re Welcome.”
I’m grinning like an idiot when Klein utters a gruff rumble, jerking me back from the memory of Lettie’s vibrant laugh and how it rang like a bell inside my soul.
“ Fiiine . What’s the King’s dumb name then, oh wise ones?” Klein bemoans through a smile, somehow managing to be simultaneously annoyed and delighted. “And how do you spell it?”
“Minos,” Shep answers, still biting back his amusement.
“M-I-N-O-S,” Mia clarifies, and Klein spells it out on the board.
When he’s done, he wiggles his head and shoulders, letting his jaw fall slack. “Is that better? Sorry I’m not up on my Mythology. Sue me.”
A feminine voice rings out. “What’s that now?”
That wasn’t Mia.
Turning to see who it is, my eyes land on Sue. She stands in the doorway, a blank look on her face and her laptop tucked under one arm.
“Sorry, Sue. I said... sue me . As in, take me to court,” Klein rambles uncomfortably.
She takes a tentative step into the lair.“Did you get subpoenaed?”
Mia stops what she’s doing and spins her chair, beaming at Sue with some of her patented charm. “Ignore him, Sue. He was just using the expression to be dramatic. He isn’t being sued.”
“That we know of,” I interject, oddly inspired to stir the pot.
Klein scratches his eye, flipping me off in the process.
My grin splays wide across my face to the point of discomfort. If things continue like this for me, I might sprain my cheeks.
Sue’s frame relaxes, posture loosening with relief. “Oh good. If anyone were to get in trouble with the law, I’d have expected Aaron or Jonesy. Possibly Mia. Sorry, girl.”
Mia snort-laughs, then shrugs her shoulders. “When you’re right, you’re right. That’s why you’re our profiler.”
A moment of awkward silence settles before Sue starts edging back toward the door. “So you don’t need me then?”
“No,” I begin to dismiss her, then immediately change my mind. “Actually, Sue, hold up. Would you like to come in and help us think through some shit Shep got out of Yuri last night?”
With eagerness, she takes a giant step into the room, more than reclaiming the space she’d just vacated. “Is it one of his riddles? Like the spatula?” She’s barely able to restrain her excitement.
I wave her inside. “Yep. Come on in.”
As she bounds over, she sets her laptop on the side table and continues to the wall to stand beside me, Shep, and Klein.
“What do we have so far?” Her eyes scan the board, sweeping astutely from side to side to take it all in. “Wait. Is that?” She points at Yev’s name, narrowing her eyes to crescents. “Icarus? Like the Icarus Complex? Does Yev suffer from that?” Without waiting for a reply, she keeps studying the board while quietly intoning, “Overcompensation as a result of inferiority and grandiose aspirations. Fascinating.”
Louder and still without eye contact, she asks, “How did you figure that out? Is it on the recording? I’d love to hear it. Or did you hack his medical records?”
Shep puts his hand out, reaching slowly in Sue’s direction. “Hold the fuck up.” There’s no anger in his tone, just a baffled amusement. “There’s an Icarus complex? Like a psychological disorder type of thing?”
She meets his gaze while nodding with vigor. “Oh yes. Most definitely.” Facing the board, her eyes keep searching. “Lots mythological tales have parallels to psychological conditions, often getting their names from the characters in the stories. Take, for instance, the Oedipus Complex.” She closes her eyes, face pinching. “Not only mental health terms, but physical health ones too. For example, Hymenaeus was the god of marriage in Greek mythology, ergo the term hymen , which according to the patriarchy is when the female should finally lose that part of her anatomy.”
Instantly, I’m reminded of my first night with Lettie, and warmth spreads from my chest, landing on my cheeks.
When no one speaks—because what do you say after learning a fun fact about the hymen—Sue faces me.“You didn’t answer me. How did you find out about Yev’s diagnosis?”
She’s completely unaware of the awkwardness. It’s so fucking relatable it hurts.
“We didn’t,” I start, but the sentence stalls.
All my attention is hijacked so my mind can play out the possibility that Yuri may have been referring to mental health rather than figurative roles. Then again... to what end would he provide that information to us?
Klein steps up when he notices I stopped mid-thought. “Sue, we weren’t talking about mental health. Yuri told Shep the story from Greek Mythology about Icarus, his dad, the feathers, the evil king, and all that. We were getting ready to decide who in this shit show was starring in which role from the tale. He said that Yev flew too close to the sun, so we put Icarus by his name.”
“Oh. I see.” Her head and shoulders hunch forward. “Sorry. Got ahead of myself. I can go if you want so I don’t distract you again.”
If she were Mia or Lettie, or hell, even one of the guys, I’d pat her shoulder to reassure her. But Sue doesn’t like much physical contact. Since I’m standing beside her, I brush my shoulder against hers gently. “No, you’re good, Sue. Stay. You’ve given us another angle to consider. Klein, write it at the top. As we listen to the rest of the playback, we’ll see what else Sue picks up along those lines or any others.”
She glances at me with fleeting eye contact and whispers, “Thanks, T.”
Once Klein jots that on the board, he turns to Sue and gives her a brief recap of what we’ve heard during the first part of the recording.
While he’s doing that, Mia joins us at the board. To me, she says, “I give up on finding Yev’s dad.” Before I react, she holds up her index finger. “For now. Giving up for now .”
“If you want other files to analyze about that cocksucker, I’ve been digging up crap on Yev for a while now. Maybe you’ll see something I didn’t.”
She inclines her head back toward her workstation. “Show me?”
“Sure.”
By the time we get to her desk and I start directing her to the file, all the conversation in the room dries up. When I glance over at the team, they’re looking at me expectantly.
“What?” I ask.
Klein responds, “Sue’s all caught up on what we’ve heard and discussed thus far. She already knows the mythological references. Waiting for you before we resume listening to the recording.”
“Give me a second.” Redirecting my focus to Mia, I point out the shit fuck’s file.
Mia arches a brow at me, inquiring about the file name. “MFKL one?”
“He’s got the top honors on my fucking kill list .”
“ Heh, heh . Nice.” While rapidly loading documents, she tosses, “Hope there isn’t one of those for me.”
Barely able to restrain my smile, I goad her some. “I deleted your MFKL file when you helped me save Lettie.”
Shep’s unable to keep his reaction in check, barking out a laugh and widening his eyes at Klein.
“Yeah. Tomer makes jokes now.” Klein throws his hands to the side in an I give up gesture. “You’ll get used to it.”
“Not sure I’ll ever get used to that.”Shep taps his capped marker on the board. “Let’s get back to this. Daylight is burning, and we’ve still got more of Yuri’s bullshit to suffer through.”
We all nod and refocus on the wall, except Mia who will be forever buried in that monitor. Fine by me. I’m going blind looking at that shit. I’d love her eyes on it.
Sue raises her hand. “Before we listen, can I ask a question?”
“Sure,” Klein and I say at the same time.
“Why does Yuri dislike Lenkov?” She tips her chin at the board where Klein wrote King Minos beside Lenkov’s name. “Wasn’t he in the mafia with them? And he turned on them, right? So wouldn’t Lenkov hate him instead of the other way around? I feel like I’m missing something.”
Shep answers, knowing the past better than any of us. “So back when Yuri was part of the bratva, Nikolai’s father was still the pakhan. Although they were incredibly close, they came to blows many times. Those frequent disagreements are what ultimately allowed us to flip Yuri. He gave up intel to put the eldest Lenkov away, along with many of his generals. For a brief time, the Lenkov Bratva was almost a thing of the past. And then Nikolai Lenkov resurrected it. To my knowledge, they never got along. Ever . No clue why on Yuri’s end, but I’ve always suspected that Nikolai knew Yuri turned on his father, but he couldn’t prove it. However, at that point, Yuri should have lost access to what was happening inside the bratva. Yet somehow, he was always in the loop.”
Heads nod around the room as we follow along.
Shep points to Yev’s name on the board. “If we’re right about our new theory, then Yev had to be feeding Yuri intel on Nikolai Lenkov’s activities. Always keep an eye on your enemies, right?”
“Yev’s the only possibility?” Sue asks, a healthy dose of skepticism in her even tone.
Shep’s eyes widen. “If not, he’s certainly the most likely. Mia’s been pulling footage from the men going in and out of Yuri’s strip club and hasn’t found any of Lenkov’s known associates. Except Yev.” He mashes his lips together, his nostrils flaring with a forceful exhale. “Everything Yuri told us last night focused on the past . I fully believe he knew nothing about what’s been going on since we raided the trafficking house. Incidentally, that’s the night Yev disappeared. Yuri lost his source. He’ll never admit it, of course. Too much pride.”
“Hubris,” Klein tosses, throwing it back to the mythology. A smile overtakes part of his mouth. “Maybe Yuri is Icarus.”
The others in the room, including me, object with some version of no, nah, or no way.
Sue grabs a notepad off the desk and scrawls across it. “What did Yuri say about the hit man they sent after Boss?”
Shep leans against the wall, crossing his feet at the ankles. “Only that he wasn’t surprised considering how much Lenkov hated us after the fallout from the Franco Financial case.”
My windpipe tightens. The same fallout is what got Lettie abducted. “Did Yuri indicate whether he knew their plans for Lettie?”
Klein arches his back for a quick stretch. “I don’t think he had any idea who she was, let alone that they planned to take her. Either Yuri’s concealing his role in it, or Yev kept him entirely in the dark about the trafficking shit.”
From what I recall from Shep’s past dealings with Yuri, he’s always claimed to be anti-trafficking, which made it easier for them to flip him to take down the eldest Lenkov all those years ago.
I face Shep and hold back my irritation as much as possible. “Did you ask him flat out how Yev ended up mixed up in that? It’s one thing to keep your foot in the door to provide intel, but a whole other to seemingly enjoy that level of brutality like Yev did.”
“Yep,” Shep answers, popping the P sound and rocking back on his heels. “No surprise to any of us, but he answered with another riddle. This one was a bit more obvious.”
A throbbing begins in the base of my skull. “I’m almost scared to ask, but what was it?”
Shep roughly scrapes his scalp. “No matter how gifted a chef may be, he cannot make prime rib out of kholodets.”
I’m going to assume Yuri sees himself as the chef in that metaphor, making Yev the disgusting pile of shit he tried to make into a decent human being.
Sue takes a seat at the table, resting her notepad in front of her. “What are kholodets?”
“I asked the same thing,” Klein asks. “It’s meat jelly.”
My gut clenches at the thought.
If outrage had a face, it would be Sue’s. “Jelly? Like what gets served with peanut butter, the world’s most perfect food? With meat in it? That sounds horrific. How could they?”
“It gets better, Sue.” Shep’s face contorts like he’s sucked a lemon. “They usually make it with pig feet, ears, and tails. It’s basically pork-flavored gelatin with bits of meat byproducts jiggling around. Cold. Served cold . Somehow, that makes it far worse, which doesn’t seem possible. Yet it is.”
Sue cups her mouth with her hand, her face blanching. A retching sound emanates from her throat. Mia notices and springs into action, racing over with a trash can.
“I’m okay.” Sue waves her off but takes the wastebasket. “I’ll keep it just in case.”
Mia glares at Shep, striding back to her workstation. “Strike two. Thin ice. That’s what you’re on.”
My toes tap inside my shoes. “Where were we?”
Klein seems to be on the same hurry the fuck up page as me. “So after that lovely visual, Shep pressed him. Eventually, he admitted Yev was a bad egg. Almost as if he wasn’t surprised he did something to harm women.” Klein turns to Shep. “What was it he said along those lines?”
“Surprisingly, that was as straight an answer as Yuri has given.” Shep glances to the ceiling, “He said, ‘I wanted to kill him myself after he hurt one of my girls. But I cannot hurt my comrade this way.’ And then he lowered his head. Started clamming up after that.”
My hands ball to fists. “Since Yuri doesn’t have any daughters that we know of, I assume he’s talking about one of his strippers.”
“That’s what it seemed like,” Shep confirms.
Mia pipes up at that. “Isn’t that fucking peachy keen? Yuri knows Yev has a history of violence against women. Only he doesn’t do anything about it because he’s his friend.”
“Even better, he allows him to keep working as security at the strip club,” I pile on. “Didn’t know that bro code was a thing in Russia. Mia, how do you say dicks before chicks in Slavic?”
Despite the morose topic, laughter travels around the lair.
Shep scratches at his scruffy cheek, a twinkle in his eyes as he sizes me up. “That is not the reaction I expected from you. Pfew . Only here a few days, and Lettie’s already making the work environment better for all of us.”
“She makes everything better,” I blurt out the private thought. Oh well.
Mia and Sue make cooing sounds. And wait... Klein does too.
Whatever.
“Speaking of Lettie, Boss asked her to fill in for Peggy for a while,” I offer, willingly engaging in a discussion irrelevant to the mission.
It’s unlike me to lose focus, but it just feels... so damn nice to not be spun up with frustration all the time. Even my relentless need for vengeance is reduced to a manageable hunger, made more bearable by the people around me and the woman down the hall. I know we’re going to get those fuckers eventually. None of us will stop until we get justice.
Having that certainty is . . . freeing.
“Where’s Peggy going?” Klein asks me, yanking me back into the moment.
“She’s unsettled by the heightened threat level and wants to spend time with family up north.”
“Not a bad idea,” Mia throws over her shoulder while digging through Yev’s file. “I wish we could send away all the nonessential personnel for their safety.”
The room is silent except for the click of Mia’s mouse.
“Find anything yet?” I ask her when she leans back and links her arms behind her head.
Her frame goes limp, head lolling around her shoulders. “No. Let’s turn the recording back on. Maybe we’ll find something else. I need to percolate on the whole Yev’s dad thing. I have a strong feeling we might be on to something.”
I do too.
Let’s hope we’re not both wrong.