CHAPTER FIFTEEN

 

 

Kiera

It was good to be back in the hotel again. Having a shower was bliss. I had taken at least three hot showers the first day back, just to celebrate. I hadn’t seen Demetrius at all, though, nor had anyone else.

I ran into Blaze at the hotel bar, and he said that Danger was locked up in his room working on the plan to get in to the building and get Natasha. Blaze said Danger didn’t want to be interrupted.

Blaze and I chatted about how long it might take him to work on the plan. Blaze said he was hoping for a few more days in the hotel. He was enjoying all the free drinks and room service.

But it turned out that the next morning, Demetrius called everyone into his hotel room to tell us what we’d all be doing.

A lot of it was what I had expected.

I’d be offsite for most of it, controlling things in the building’s security system. None of the stuff he needed me to do would be difficult for me, though. It was the standard kind of hacking job that I did every day for the guys in the organization. I wasn’t particularly worried about it.

“And we’ll send Cass down the elevator shaft,” said Demetrius. “Along with Blaze.”

“Man, why am I always with the acrobat chick?” said Blaze, looking annoyed.

“I need your skills to get the girls out,” said Demetrius. “Meanwhile, Ambrose and I will be overriding the locks and getting the doors open, so that you can get the girls out.”

“What about Nikolai?” said Blaze. “That’s the reason we’re getting paid on this job, right? Whacking him? How’s that go down?”

“Well, we’re going to get that in place first,” said Demetrius. “And I’ll talk about that in a minute. But we’ll need your skills for that too, Blaze.”

“Tell me now,” said Blaze.

“I’m getting to it,” said Demetrius. “So, you and Cass go down the elevator shaft, and then you use explosives to blow a tunnel out down here.” He gestured on the schematics. “Then you get the girls out, and then Nikolai’s office building blows, and that causes pandemonium—”

“Wait a second,” said Blaze. “What’s this about a building blowing? You’ve got me blowing the building and blowing a tunnel?”

“Yeah, I’ll get to that,” said Demetrius.

“How the hell can I do them both at the same time?”

“Well,” said Demetrius, “we’re going to sneak into Nikolai’s office building and set the charges.”

“Great,” said Blaze. “Am I going in through the window again, because there’s no way I can carry all those explosives that way.”

“No,” said Demetrius. “When Kiera and I were there watching, we noticed that the place gets pretty empty around nine o’clock at night. Everyone’s gone. My brother Matteo said that Nikolai usually goes to Alexei’s Tavern and has a few drinks each night.”

“How does Matteo know that?” said Blaze. “Can he be sure Nikolai will stay there?”

“Matteo knows because he followed him around for weeks,” said Demetrius. “Idiot even approached Nikolai about Natasha, introduced himself and everything. Nikolai heard the last name Gallo and had Matteo banned from the bar.”

“Okay,” said Blaze. “He goes every night? How long is he there for?”

“There’s no guarantee that he’ll stay out, though, is there?” said Ambrose. “Seems risky, if you ask me.”

“Well, that’s why we’re going to distract him,” said Demetrius. “That’ll keep him out.”

“How are we going to do that?” said Ambrose. “I can’t be there. He thinks I’m a crooked cop.”

“I know that,” said Demetrius. “That’s why Cass will do it. She can flirt with him a little bit, make him think she’s into him, keep him buying drinks.”

“That’s not going to work,” said Ambrose.

“What do you mean?” said Demetrius. “Cass distracts Nikolai. You, me, and Blaze set the charges.”

“What am I doing?” I said.

“We don’t need you for this one, Kiera,” said Demetrius.

I folded my arms over my chest. Didn’t need me? Well, that kind of sucked.

“I don’t know if I’m very good at flirting,” spoke up Cass. “I’ll do my best, of course.”

“No, you won’t,” said Ambrose. “Because you’re not doing it.”

“She’s doing it,” said Danger. He turned to Cass. “Look, you’ll be great. You used to be a performer, right? That involves a certain amount of acting.”

“I was an acrobat,” she said. “I was really far up. No one could even see my facial expressions.”

“It doesn’t matter,” said Ambrose. “Because you’re not doing it. You’re my wife, and I’m not having you flirt with another man. Furthermore, it’s too dangerous.”

“It’s not as if she’s really flirting with him,” said Demetrius.

“Doesn’t matter,” said Ambrose. “That’s not cool. I would never pretend flirt with another woman, not even for a job. It’s out of bounds. No way am I cool with Cass doing it.”

Danger sighed. “Oh, come on, Ambrose.”

Ambrose pointed at me. “What about her? Kiera can do it.”

Demetrius shook his head. “That doesn’t even make any sense. Kiera is a hacker. She doesn’t do anything hands-on. She just sits behind computers.”

“She’d do great,” said Blaze. “You can flirt with Nikolai, right?”

The thought of flirting with Nikolai turned my stomach, actually, but I liked this idea way better than being benched. “I can totally do it,” I said.

“No,” said Demetrius.

I narrowed my eyes. “You don’t think I’m sexy enough?”

He swallowed hard. He wouldn’t look at me. “You’re… fine in that department. But it’s a bad idea. You’re too young for him.”

“Oh, I don’t think he’ll see it that way,” said Blaze. “I think the younger the better, right? He’ll love that. It’ll flatter him.”

Demetrius turned to Blaze. “Just stop. Okay? You’re not helping.”

Blaze grinned. “You don’t want her to do it? Why not?”

“It’s just… not her skill set,” said Danger. “Besides, it’s dangerous.”

“But not too dangerous for Cass?” said Ambrose.

Danger rubbed his forehead.

“You don’t want to watch her flirt with Nikolai, do you?” said Blaze. “You’re just as possessive as Ambrose here. But newsflash, Danger, she’s not even yours. That’s why I am so not down with this whole monogamy thing. You people are all insanely jealous, and I’m free—”

I cleared my throat. “Don’t be stupid, Blaze. There’s nothing going on between Danger and me.” I smiled at him. “Right?”

“Not a thing,” he said.

“So, there’s no reason for me not to do this job,” I said.

Demetrius sighed. “Fine. But if you’re going toe-to-toe with Nikolai, I’ve got to be there.”

“Worried she’ll show him too much skin?” said Blaze.

“No,” said Danger. “I just think she’ll need coaching. You’ll wear an earpiece, and I’ll coach you through it, Kiera. You have no experience with this kind of thing.”

“Neither did Cass, and you weren’t going to do that with her,” said Ambrose.

“Cass was a performer,” said Demetrius, and then shook his head, shoulders sagging. “You know what, never mind. It doesn’t matter. Cass is out. Kiera’s in.”

“Actually,” said Blaze, “if you’re going to be with Kiera, then I could use Miss Acrobat with me, setting charges. I think she’d be good at getting into some tight spots.”

“I can do that,” said Cass, smiling.

Blaze raised his eyebrows at Danger. “Looks like it’s all settled, then.”

* * *

 

Kiera

The bar was darkly lit and smoky, even though it wasn’t legal to smoke in bars anymore. This place didn’t seem to care, because half of the people had lit cigarettes. Ashtrays littered the scattered round tables.

I was wearing a very tight red skirt and a low cut black blouse. I had it from a Halloween costume in which I’d been a she-devil. The costume had included a red wig with devil horns, but I wasn’t wearing that.

Danger didn’t like the outfit. He said it was pushing it.

Blaze approved, however, saying that I needed to keep Nikolai distracted for at least two hours. He said that I couldn’t take any chances. He said that I shouldn’t wear a bra.

That made me blush.

I had to draw the line somewhere, though. I wasn’t going to see this guy braless. That felt like going to a battle without armor. The bra made me feel a little bit protected.

I was nervous.

Theoretically, having Danger talking to me over the earpiece should have made things easier, but he was being his typical paranoid self. He was worried about what Nikolai could do to me, and I could hear it in his voice every time he spoke to me.

What was worse, I was worried too.

I had listened to Nikolai talk about how he liked to break girls. I had listened to him cavalierly order the death of a girl because she was ill and mentally unstable. He was a very bad man, the worst kind of man.

And he was old and fat and ugly too.

How was I supposed to flirt with him?

I stood in the doorway of the bar, watching him.

Nikolai was seated in the corner. He was talking with another member of the Mikailhov family, who was sitting next to him.

“I’m in place,” I said to Demetrius. He was in the bar too, all the way on the other side, sitting at the bar opposite the bartender. He had a good view of Nikolai, but his back was to me now.

“You can hang tight for a bit,” he said in a low voice. “He’s still got company.”

“Okay.” I chewed on my lip. I didn’t even know how to flirt. I had never flirted with anyone. “Demetrius?”

“Yeah?”

“At what point did you first find me attractive?”

“What? Why are you asking me this?”

“I’m assuming you did at one point find me attractive?”

“Kiera.” He was growling.

“Well? You did, right?”

“Yes, fine, yes. What does this have to do with anything?”

“I’m just trying to figure out what it is that I did that started it, so that I can do the same thing to Nikolai.”

He didn’t respond.

I tugged at the end of my skirt. It really barely covered my butt. I remembered that when I wore it at Halloween, every time I sat down, I could feel the chair on the backs of my butt cheeks, because the skirt rode up.

“Just…” There was a hitch in Danger’s voice. “Play innocent. That should work on him.”

“Innocent? But I’m not innocent.”

He chuckled softly.

“I’m not.” I wanted to go and strangle him.

Suddenly, I realized that the guy who was talking to Nikolai was getting up to leave.

I burst through the door, practically tripping over my heels in my hurry to get to Nikolai. He was going to be alone, and I didn’t want that to happen. I wanted to keep him here. My job was to distract him and keep him here. I needed to do that.

“Slow down,” said Danger’s voice in my ear. “Don’t walk like that. Be sexy.”

“I’m trying,” I hissed.

“And don’t talk to me,” he said. “He’ll think you’re crazy.”

I wanted to say something back to Danger, but he was right. I squared my shoulders, and swung my hips, taking slower, more deliberate steps toward Nikolai.

The bartender looked up from drying some glasses. I felt his gaze slide over my body. I gave him a look. His lips were parted.

“Why don’t you get back to work, buddy?” said Demetrius. “Stop drooling.”

It took me a second to realize he was talking to the bartender.

“Sorry,” he muttered to me after the bartender went back to his task. “I didn’t mean to say that out loud. Would you just hurry up and get to Nikolai already?”

First he wanted me to slow down, then to speed up. I didn’t know what he wanted. I tried to strike a middling pace. Faster than I was going now, but not so fast I was tripping over my feet.

Eventually, I reached Nikolai’s table.

Christ on a cracker, what was I going to say to him?

He looked up as I approached. He looked me over, head to feet. He didn’t smile.

But I felt my skin crawl. I didn’t like the way he was looking at me. Innocent, innocent. What’s something innocent to say? I wracked my brain. I really should have prepared before I started walking.

Demetrius in my ear. “Ask him what he’s drinking.”

“What are you drinking?” I asked.

Nikolai smiled. “I believe is called a Sazerac.”

“What’s that?” I said. Oops, should I have waited for Danger to prompt me?

Demetrius: “Good.”

Okay, apparently not.

“Would you like one?” said Nikolai.

“I don’t know,” I said honestly. It didn’t look like it tasted very good. “Is it… strong?”

“Perfect,” breathed Danger in my ear.

Nikolai chuckled. “A girl like you might find it so.”

“But not to you?” I cocked my head to one side.

“No, not to me.” He gestured to the chair next to him.

I sat down.

“Did Popov send you to me?” he asked.

“No one sent me,” I said.

He chuckled again. “Oh, you are quite good. I almost believe you.”

“It’s true,” I said. “No one sent me. I’m all alone in the bar, and I didn’t know who to talk to.”

“So, you picked me?” he said.

“He thinks you’re a prostitute,” said Danger in my ear. “Hand-picked by Popov for him. A gift. But you don’t want that, because he’ll try to get you out of here fast. You need to convince him that you’re just a girl who finds him interesting.”

Great. How was I supposed to do that? “I was supposed to meet my friend Tiffani here,” I said, improvising. “But she texted and said she wasn’t coming. I have to wait for the next bus now, and I didn’t want to be alone.”

Demetrius made a noise in my ear. “No girl would have you meet her in this bar.”

Really? What was it about this bar?

“You must be mistaken,” said Nikolai. “I am sure your friend didn’t mean for you to meet her here.”

I nodded. “Yeah. Here.”

Nikolai shook his head. “She must have meant different bar. There is a place in Georgetown called Al’s Tavern. She probably meant for you to meet her there. It is the kind of place a girl like you would fit in.”

“Oh,” I said. “Maybe you’re right. But it doesn’t matter, anyway, because I’m stuck here anyway.”

“Yes,” he said. “Unfortunate for you. Or perhaps not so unfortunate. Shall I buy you a drink?”

“Say yes,” said Demetrius.

“Yes,” I said, smiling.

“It’s good,” Danger said. “He believes your story. Now, you’ve just got to keep him talking.”

How was I going to do that?

Nikolai was signaling a waitress to come to our table. “Did you say that you were a student?”

“Yes,” I said. “At, um, American University.”

“Don’t get too into yourself,” said Demetrius. “Ask him questions.”

Like what? I fiddled with my fingers under the table. “Do you come here often?”

“Seriously?” said Danger.

Nikolai laughed softly. “I own this place, so yes.”

“You own it?” I looked around, pretending to be impressed.

“It only one of the many things I own.”

“Wow,” I said.

“Better,” said Demetrius.

“So, how long have you owned this bar?” I said.

* * *

 

Demetrius

Kiera was sickeningly good at flirting with Nikolai, and even things that I thought were missteps turned into advantages for her. It was because she was captivating on her own. Most people wouldn’t notice, since she hid behind her computers, but she was a beautiful woman with wit and intelligence. And when she turned her big eyes on a man, there was no way he could resist her.

But I had to admit that I didn’t like the fact that she’d turned those eyes onto Nikolai, even if she was only pretending.

I felt possessive of her, and I shouldn’t.

I had already decided that it was better if I was out of her life completely. I used to think that by staying close to her, I could protect her. But the arrival of Giovanni the other night had proved me wrong. He never would have come there if it hadn’t been for me. I had insisted on staying with her, ostensibly to keep her safe, but my presence had brought danger to her.

If I could get her away from this job somehow, then I would.

But as it was, it would be easiest to get this over with.

And then I would change my ways. I would stop going in to headquarters, stop following her to lunch, stop being close to her. I would leave her alone, because I was no good for her. Not in any way.

I had always known this, but now it was even more clear.

I only wished that I didn’t know the things that I knew about her. That I didn’t know how perfect her breasts looked when her nipples were drawn taut. That I didn’t know how she smelled when she was aroused. That I didn’t know the noises she made when she was coming.

I was an idiot.

Fucking her made me feel like she was mine, but she wasn’t.

She would never be mine.

Knowing that didn’t make it any easier to see her with Nikolai, though.

I made it through the evening, coaching her through various conversation topics. She laughed when he made jokes, she asked all the right questions, and she held his attention wonderfully.

After about two hours, I figured that the others should have had enough time to place the explosive charges. They were small charges, placed in strategic spots in the building’s supports. They would sit inert until they were remotely detonated. I didn’t know a lot about them, since Blaze was the expert, but I was sure that they would demolish the entire small building which held Nikolai’s office.

To be sure they were finished, I fired off a text to Blaze, and he answered almost immediately that they were on their way out.

I turned my attention back to Nikolai and Kiera. “Okay, Kiera,” I said. “Time to wrap this up.”

At the table, Kiera looked at her phone. “Oh,” she said. “I’ve got to go. I’m going to miss the last bus.”

“Go?” said Nikolai. “Oh, you must not. Stay for another drink.”

“I can’t get home without the bus.”

“I will take you wherever you want to go.”

“You’ve been drinking.” Kiera shook her head. “You seem like a very nice man, but I don’t get in cars with drunk drivers.”

“I have driver, of course,” said Nikolai.

“Oh,” said Kiera. She shot me a panicked look. “Well, I still can’t… I should be getting home.”

“Please stay,” said Nikolai. “We were having such a nice time.”

“Get up,” I told her. “Just get up and start walking away. Be polite, but firm.”

Kiera got up. “I really did have a nice time. But I just need to go now. Thank you, and it was nice meeting you.” She started to back away.

He reached out and grabbed her arm. “You aren’t leaving.”

“Please, let go,” said Kiera. Her voice was shaking.

I stood up. This was getting out of control. I could approach, pretend to be a bystander who saw what was happening and wanted to intervene. But did that make sense? No one would intervene with Nikolai Mikailhov, not in his own bar.

“Do you have any idea how many drinks I have purchased for you? I would not make such an investment if I expected you to simply walk away.”

“I thought you owned the bar,” she said, yanking her arm out of his grasp. “Do you really have to pay for drinks?” She started to back away again.

He got out of his chair and came after her.

“Stop it,” she said, looking around. All the other people in the bar were minding their own business.

Nikolai seized her again.

That was it. I had to do something.