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Toro, Bergia
Saturday, 30 January, 4:19 p.m.
––––––––
Aidan shook his head as he took Piotr's weapons from him. He asked Szymon and the rest to sit down while I fastened Piotr's hands and feet with plastic flex cuffs. Once his hands were secured behind his back, I removed the glove.
My husband winked when our eyes met and again shook his head. The latter might've been Commander Walker. It had to be hard for him to work with me when he never knew what I would do next. Neither do I most of the time.
"This isn't sticking to the plan."
In my ear, Rowan laughed. "Bro, you knew the moment she smelled blood she would go in for the kill."
"Orcas can't smell blood. Never compare me to a shark."
A line didn't appear between Astrid's brows, but she squinted. Her Botox is good. "Who are you talking to?"
"Just one of our team members, he's trying to remind me how much I love hunting criminals." I held up a hand and stared at nothing in particular, as if listening. "Yes, and I also hate those who enable sexual predators to prey on innocent children. The people who allow these horrid creatures to destroy that which we should protect at all costs. People like you."
Ylva smiled and snuggled into her father's arms. Szymon pressed his lips to his daughter's blonde hair. "I told my mother but she didn't believe me. My father was fighting in the war when it happened. Babcia confronted Mikolaj; that's when he ordered one of his BSS operatives to murder her."
I threw my hands in the air. "Why did you not protect your daughter?" Aidan grabbed me when I lunged towards Astrid.
Her eyes grew bigger when she realised she couldn't get away from my wrath.
"My father tried to protect me. He sent someone to kill Petrov and Volkov."
Szymon hugged her tighter.
"Ivar failed his mission because someone tipped Volkov off. Why did your mother do it, Piotr?" I asked.
Ylva pushed out of her father's arms but before she got to her feet, I instructed her to remain in her seat for the duration of the evening's festivities.
"Why do you keep calling him that?" she asked.
I gestured for him to tell the truth to the woman he had deceived from the first day they met. Instead, he kept staring at his feet.
"Okay, I'll tell her the truth, seeing as you don't have the balls to do it. Ylva, meet Ivar and Ivana's son, Piotr. Look at his right hand? Do you know what it is?"
Ylva shrugged. "Of course, I'm not stupid."
Aidan crossed his arms over his chest. "No, stupid, you're not. Fin, what's the word I'm looking for?"
I smiled at my brilliant husband. "You're going to need more than one. Manipulative, narcissist, psychopath, diabolical, as this conversation progresses, I'll add more to the list." His neck warm against my lips as I joined him. I stood by his side, in more ways than one, and will for as long as we can avoid death.
Szymon tried to push to his feet, but the barrel of my gun showed him the way back down. "Take a nice deep breath and relax. This is going to take a while." I handed my Glock to Aidan, removed another from my right boot and disappeared into the dining room.
Out of the royals' earshot I asked, "Okay, boys, it's time. ETA?"
"Fifteen minutes. Quinn can't join us, so it's just the four of us," Rowan said.
I nodded and stared at my reflection in the oversized mirror hanging on the wall. Not yet time for Botox. Although, it felt as if the week's events had added fifteen years to my face. "Do you have everything?"
"Of course, Mrs Walker, your husband gives very precise orders. Szymon's free-pass made it much easier bringing everything into the country. Poor fool." Liam chuckled. To hear him laugh lifted a weight off my shoulders.
"Right, I'm going to get this party started. Eli, I need Ragnar's location. This all goes down the porcelain throne if I can't put a bullet between his eyes."
I tapped a finger to my lips. "That's the contingency plan. Please remind me why Commander Walker didn't approve my kill request?"
"Woman, I can hear you," Aidan said in my ear.
Eli cleared his throat. "I can't give you his exact location, but he's in Bergia. I've set up alerts for all the ports and borders. If a camera catches his face, I'll know."
"Thank you. Keep Lizzie at home and please go check on Ainsley."
"Your property looks like a military base, Fin. Same as mine. No one is getting to them, I promise you. Ryan is armed to his teeth, and so is Heather. They're keeping Ains indoors; lucky for you it's raining. Her screen time might not be at a mommy-approved level today."
I didn't care, nothing mattered as long as the ones I love remained safe. Those in Marcel, and the three Walker brothers with me. Nothing is more important than family. How could Astrid turn her back on her own daughter and allow Ylva to be raped? How many times? Once, twice? It didn't matter. I cursed like the soldier I am.
"Finley, don't." Rowan warned.
I ignored him, ran full speed in to the sitting room and used the added momentum to slap the queen. Perhaps bitch-slap is the correct way to describe it. Screw playing chess when I can go in for the kill. This mother didn't protect her child; she deserved whatever I decided to do to her.
Szymon didn't flinch or try to stand up for his wife. A sly grin spread across his face. I nodded when our eyes met. "You're welcome. Now, where were we? Oh yes, Piotr's tattoo."
Aidan placed his arm around my shoulder when I returned to his side. "How many of you are there?" he asked Piotr.
The silence sucked the air out of the room. I dropped to my haunches in front of Piotr. "Your mission is over. Ivana begged us to offer you a position in our organisation, of course we complied, but we lied." I laughed at my little rhyme. "This won't end well for you. You'll suffer for your part in the murders of twenty-five people. Here is where you hold some power. Talk, and I'll gift you with a quicker death. If you don't, let's just say it's going to take me longer to cut you open than it did with Petrov. Don't worry, Ivana will be right there with you. Aidan and I can tag team a blood eagle. As for Ivar, I haven't decided what I'm going to do to your daddy. It all depends on what you and mommy tell me."
"If you touch my mother, I'll kill you."
I pushed to my full length and patted the top of his head. "Now that's how family should feel about each other. Good for you, Piotr. Even though she didn't raise you, the bond is still there. I respect both of you for it." I did.
"How many?" Aidan growled. The sound made me turn to him and nod my approval. The man keeps on getting sexier. For a split second I wondered what a psychiatrist would say about me, and the bond between Aidan and me. The things that turn us on, the way we react to certain situations. Then again, it didn't matter if people didn't understand, they haven't survived, or seen, what we have.
I tapped the barrel of the Glock to my forehead and stared down at Piotr. "Last chance, before I make you bleed. No, wait. I'm going push a funnel down your throat and force organophosphate poison into your body." I counted the other methods on my fingers. Poison from the golden poison frog. Bury him alive. Hack off his hands. A lethal dose of insulin. When I extended my left pinkie I added, "Burn you alive."
Eli cleared his throat. "Voice recognition confirms it. He placed the call in Abu Dhabi."
Where's Ragnar? "I believe Commander Walker asked you a question."
Piotr stared at the coffee table.
Szymon spoke first. "Aidan, you're a guest in my house, a man I considered my friend. What's going on?"
I almost slapped Szymon for trying to appear aloof and confused as to the true reason for our visit. An elaborate, and very loud song chimed through the house. "Fantastic. Right on time as always. Ladies and gentlemen, the reaper has come for your souls. Ylva, I'm still a little on the fence about you."
I sashayed to the front door and pulled it open. Rowan handed me more guns than I needed, at that moment, and stepped past me into the house. Liam carried my laptop bag over his shoulder and pressed his lips to my cheek. "Rowan's the reaper, I'm the angel of death."
"You're no angel, brother. Neither am I." I hugged Liam hard and returned to where our guests waited. No, they weren't our guests in their own home, but I was about to put on a show for them. Not a pretty one, or one they were likely to tell their friends about.
While I connected my laptop to their television, Aidan answered Szymon's earlier question. "You betrayed me. For that alone, I should put a bullet between your eyes. However, I'm not as quick to act as certain people in this room. Yes, Fin, I'm referring to you."
I giggled, and pressed my palms to my eyes, not caring if it smeared the mascara. "Touché, dude. Perhaps it will be in their best interest to know who's the crackerjack in our team."
"That's not the correct use of the word crackerjack." Aidan pursed his lips when I turned to give him my death stare.
"English isn't their first language. Thank you for undermining me in front of them, Professor Walker. Answer the king so we can get this show on the road. I've waited a week to kill their firstborn."
Szymon tried to push to his feet but sat down hard when Rowan and Liam lifted their rifles, aiming at his chest. So much for being the ruler of the land, and commanding officer of an army when you can't even do as you please in your own home.