Chapter 56 Sienna
SIENNA
When I woke a few hours later, Dimitri had ended our call, but left me a text.
Dimi
Polina has breakfast and coffee ready when you wake up. Take it easy today, malyshka.
I might be slow to respond for the next 24 hrs but call if you need anything.
I have a surprise for you soon.
Polina and Maxim had fussed over me when I emerged from my room, spoiling me with all my favorite breakfast foods and an extra large cup of coffee.
When I disappeared to the sunroom with a fresh determination to catch the Souleater, they popped in regularly with meals, snacks, and drinks.
Both tried to gently encourage me to take breaks and go outside—a reasonable request since they thought I was playing endless hours of CozyScape—but I couldn’t let my focus slip for a moment. The stakes were too high.
Hours later, after the sun had set and everyone had gone to bed, I sat back in my chair, blinking like I’d just come up for air from the depth of the oceans. My stomach clenched with waves of nausea and sweat soaked my armpits as I stared at the blurry black-and-white photo on my computer screen.
It was him. The Souleater. Alive and in Chicago.
Atlas had been adamant that the Souleater would be in Europe, but after weeks and weeks of nothing, I’d expanded my search to the United States.
Everything I’d uncovered about the Souleater told me he was the last man on earth who would be content to live like a ghost. His journals were filled with tirades about how power was his birthright and he would do anything to reclaim it.
As a Russian with known connections to the criminal underworld, it wasn’t far-fetched to think he could have his sights set on the American Bratva.
Nothing I’d found so far suggested any connections between the Souleater and Rustik, Dimitri’s father.
Even so, the Souleater might assume that Dimitri’s Bratva was an easy target since he hadn’t been the Pakhan for long.
Whatever happened in Russia to make the Souleater fake his death and disappear for five years might have been enough for him to try starting over in the U.S.
I’d spent days hacking into transportation surveillance systems across the country, and it had finally paid off when I got a ping from Union Station.
The Souleater had entered Chicago on a train.
The usual satisfaction I felt after solving a puzzle was absent.
This monster had no right to be in my city, to pose a threat to my new family and unborn child.
He needed to be eliminated immediately before he had the chance to slip into hiding again.
Now that he was on my turf, I could easily track his movements through the city.
Each thump of my heart rattled my ribcage as I searched through the train station’s camera footage with trembling hands.
Finally, I found footage of the Souleater getting into a car.
I switched to the city’s CCTV footage, tracking the car to a shipping yard north of the city.
He had driven there alone, and no one was there to meet him.
I didn’t understand it. Why would he be in Chicago without backup?
It only took seconds to identify the program the shipyard used for video surveillance. I had already started the process of accessing it when I realized the step I’d missed. I pulled up my chat with Atlas.
Hedgehog
I’ve found his location
Atlas
Are you serious? Where? Russia?
Hedgehog
Chicago
Atlas
what the fuck
Hedgehog
He’s at northern shipyard now. He drove alone from union station. Im trying to see who he’s meeting
Atlas
I’m 2 hours away. Don’t lose him.
Hedgehog
2 hours?? I thought you were in Paris
Atlas
I left for the states earlier today for a different reason
Hedgehog
Serendipitous timing
Atlas
Let’s hope so
Minutes later, my computer monitors displayed each camera view of the shipyard surveillance system. My eyes stayed glued to the screen while I tracked the Souleater’s progress through the shadowy aisles of shipping containers. Where are you going? His wandering seemed purposeless.
Atlas
Update
Hedgehog
He’s still there just walking around. I don’t see anyone else.
Every passing second ratcheted up my anxiety. The Souleater could leave at any minute. Come on, Atlas. Hurry. This may have started as a client job to help with my boredom, but now I was just as invested in the Souleater’s demise as Atlas.
One of the camera feeds on my screen flickered. Then another. I sat forward, ready to run a diagnostics on connectivity, when every single camera flickered off.
“Shit. Shit. Fuck.”
My heart raced as I frantically tried to get them back online, but no matter what I tried, the camera feeds remained blank.
Hedgehog
There’s interference on the surveillance cameras in the shipyard. I don’t have eyes on him anymore. How far out are you?
Atlas
Fuck! I’m still 45 mins away
My heart sank. By the time Atlas arrived or I got the cameras back on, the Souleater could have vanished into thin air again. How long would it take to find him a second time? And what strikes might he try to carry out against the Bratva—my new family—in the meantime?
I chewed my lip. I was only a fifteen-minute drive from the shipyard. I wasn’t stupid enough to think I could take out the Souleater on my own, but the shipyard was huge…
What if I slipped inside unnoticed and tapped directly into the security system? That way, when Atlas arrived, I would have a location to give him.
I slowly opened my desk drawer and wrapped my fingers around the cold barrel of the new gun Maxim had gotten me. A cacophony of voices bounced around my mind—some shouted at me to stay home, but louder voices urged me to channel Leona and the Albanian women and take action to destroy this monster.
I pushed to my feet. I could do this. Drive fifteen minutes to the shipyard, connect directly to the surveillance feed, and maintain eyes on the Souleater until Atlas arrived.
Nothing was guaranteed. The Souleater might already be gone by the time I arrived, but I would hate myself forever if I didn’t try.
As quickly as my pregnant body could, I pulled on black sweatpants, a black sweatshirt, gloves, and winter boots.
Vovk stared me down with a look of pointed disapproval.
My lips pursed. If I were smart, I would tell someone where I was going.
But if I told Dimi, he would immediately be on the phone with Maxim, ordering him to keep me from leaving.
I could text Sofiya or Juliet, but they were likely asleep and if I wasn’t back by morning, it would be too late for them to do anything to help me.
Every second I stood here, wavering, increased the likelihood of missing this tiny window of opportunity.
I could not allow my daughter to be born into a world where the Souleater roamed free as he searched for new victims to mutilate.
Decision made, I raced to the bed, organized my pillows under the covers so they vaguely looked like a sleeping person on the off chance that someone checked on me, put my laptop and gun in my custom designer bag, and gently pulled my bedroom door open.
The house was dark and quiet as I slipped out of the room and headed to the massive underground garage, Vovchyk hot on my heels.
I’d previously taken full control over the house’s security system, so it took seconds for me to disable the alarms. I grabbed the keys to an armored SUV and turned to usher Vovchyk back into the house, but he refused to go.
No amount of whispered begging and shoving could get the wolf to stay behind.
Too aware of each second ticking by, I finally gave up and opened the car door for him.
Minutes later, I was racing down the deserted road to the shipyard.