3. Killian #3
Oleg has his back to us and is holding Barrett Emerson at gun point as he faces Ash Griffin and his three brothers.
As hostages go, Barrett is a poor choice.
The entitled prick and the Griffins have been at war for most of their lives.
Of more concern to Ash, and the reason for the stand-off, are the pair of soldiers behind Oleg who are pointing their weapons at two of his brothers.
The Griffins don’t make it obvious, but they know I’m here. No one else is looking in my direction and I intend to keep it that way.
“As quiet as you can, lads,” I whisper to my men. “Kat, sorry, but you need to stand down for this one. We know what we’re doing.”
Ignoring her scowl, I crack open the door, grateful it doesn’t squeak as I slip into the corridor.
The nearest Bratva soldier is keeping Hunter in his sights.
He doesn’t know I’m behind him until I press the barrel of my gun to his temple and clamp a hand around his mouth.
In a coordinated move we’ve perfected over the years, Mikey grabs the guy’s rifle before he can pull the trigger or drop it.
Oleg is busy informing Ash of his demands. He hasn’t noticed he’s one man down, but as Mikey drives our prisoner backwards to the stairwell, the second soldier turns. He stares down the barrel of Conor’s Glock and is frog-marched into the stairwell to join his comrade.
While Oleg prattles on, unaware that he’s lost any leverage he had over the Griffins, I take in more of the sobering scene in front of me. Bodies litter the floor. Two of them are my men, Lorcan could have been another. Someone’s going to pay for that.
Ash catches my eye only briefly. Let’s do this.
I’m creeping up on Oleg when Katarina appears next to me. I hate to say it, but she’s even stealthier than I am. There’s a glint in her eye that’s full of fire and fury, and just like that, I get why she’s here. Oleg. Whatever history they share, it won’t be a pleasant one.
I’d seen first-hand how her half-brother, Ilya treated women when we’d taken him down at the secret base he’d built in the Nevada desert. Oleg and the other deserters were part of his human-trafficking network. If he touched Katarina…
My trigger finger twitches as I aim at the fucker’s head, but I hold fire as Ash starts talking.
“I’m surprised you didn’t learn from Ilya’s mistakes,” he says. “You really shouldn’t mess with us. And at least Ilya was a worthy opponent. You’re just…” He looks Oleg up and down. “An idiot.”
As I take a step closer, Katarina nudges ahead of me.
I give her a ‘get out of my way,” look and she glowers in response.
My eyes widen in rebuff, but she points to her chest. She wants the kill?
Sweat beads my brow. Whatever he did to her makes me all the more determined to shoot him myself.
I shake my head and point to my chest. I got here first. She glowers some more.
“Ilya was the idiot,” Oleg is saying. “He let himself be gutted by a woman for fuck’s sake.”
I stop gesturing and tilt my head towards Oleg. It’s like he’s just made his last request. I shrug. Katarina wins.
Her high heels make no sound on the carpet tiles, but I’m surprised Oleg can’t hear the sway of Katarina’s undulating hips as she comes up behind him.
I’m distracted by her arse again and almost miss how she withdraws a knife, and in one swift movement, presses it against his neck.
He stills immediately, but a thin line of blood is already trickling down Katarina’s blade.
He swallows a gasp as I appear in his peripheral vision.
Katarina leans over his shoulder. “Ilya wasn’t gutted,” she whispers in his ear. “I have it on good authority that Quinn sliced his wrist before her lover put a bullet in his head.” Quinn is Reid Griffin’s woman and I wish I’d been in the room to see the couple in action. That’s true love.
“Kotenok…” Oleg gasps in Russian while keeping a tight hold of a trembling Barrett. I’d almost forgotten about Oleg’s redundant human shield.
Katerina’s blade presses deeper and the trickle of blood becomes a stream. “I’m not your kitten.”
She emphasizes the word. Is that what he called her when…?
“But I’ve been waiting for you to join me,” Oleg insists. “We can have so much fun together.”
“Oh, Oleg, the only place I’ll be joining you is in hell,” she purrs. “Keep a seat warm for me.”
“Kata–”
Katarina severs Oleg’s vocal cords as well as an artery, and blood spurts over Barrett before he can stumble out of the way.
Oleg drops and when his head hits the carpet, I shoot him in the back of the skull.
Pleased with my reenactment of Ilya’s death, I turn to wink at Katarina. My romantic gesture earns me a scowl.
Leaving Ash to deal with family matters, I open up comms to check in with my brothers. What’s left of Oleg’s cohort are either attempting to surrender or fleeing. They’ll succeed at neither. They don’t deserve our mercy.
It’s only after I’ve checked over the dead and wounded that I go in search of Katarina. Search is the wrong word. I’ve been aware of her every move. She disappeared into one of the bedrooms while the mission was winding down, and she hasn’t come back out.