Chapter 4

 

He took a deep breath as he left the lab with Emerson. It was obvious by the way Emerson carried himself he was confident. And well he should be. The man enjoyed a long-standing friendship with the prince. It was a well known fact that Emerson ran Aleksi’s life; and got away with it.

“Hello, Vlad. Come to see your mother and Helena?” Emerson’s voice was as friendly as ever and he didn’t pick up from his tone that Emerson didn’t trust him. It seemed he had taken a let’s-wait-and-see attitude. It wasn’t that Emerson didn’t trust him, but he also didn’t seem to be of the mind to give Vlad free run of the palace.

Too bad Emerson had no idea of his skills.

“I did. Now I’m off to see the prince.”

Emerson’s brows bounced. “I’m certain Prince Aleksi will be delighted to see you.”

That earned him a droll look. “Delighted?”

Emerson winced. “I didn’t just use the word delighted.”

“I’m sure that’s what I heard.”

“I’m turning into a…”

“Nineteenth century English butler.”

“Thank you. You’ve cheered me up, as usual.”

“I try.” As they sparred, he strode down the palace hallway to Aleksi’s office. He had finished his pre-mission tasks and knew where the prince ate, slept, worked, played, and even where all the toilets were. There wasn’t much he didn’t know about their prince these days. He had also run extensive checks on every bodyguard and security officer with direct and indirect access to Aleksi.

The problem was that the prince didn’t know this, much less anything about Vlad, and that all needed to change.

 

Lethal was the first word that popped into Aleksi’s mind while watching Vlad cross the expanse of his office. That wasn’t unusual. Vlad had always been dangerous, even as a child. He could sneak up on anyone, could handle his toy sword, guns, bow and arrow, any play weapon better than him, Maks, and Emerson—combined. It was like Vlad had been born to be an assassin.

All in all, a little scary.

Now he stared at this man who hadn’t been a friend, just someone whose name and parents he knew. But Emerson was right. There was something different about Vlad. It took him a little while to figure out what.

The resentment and anger that smoldered beneath the surface all those years ago weren’t present now. Vlad’s animosity had seemingly vanished. It was nice to see there was a person underneath all that antagonism.

He still didn’t want this man within a restraining order distance of Helena.

Not that he had the power to decree that. Not without losing his head. Because he was certain Vlad would sic Helena on him and… he decided not to go there. Although he didn’t have an actual sibling, Helena was one he thought of as a little sister.

Still, it was refreshing to see Vlad looking so comfortable in his own skin. That worked because it did appear that Maks’ younger brother, they couldn’t use the word little, because Vlad had never been small, made peace with himself through the years. Even looking for it, he almost missed the amiable side of Vlad. That lethal edge was still there, only it appeared to have been honed to precision sharpness. And it outshone the friendlier facet to the extent one could quite easily miss the more sociable part.

He was happy Emerson got stuck vetting Vlad before him and Maks. Emerson was the nicest of the three of them. He tended to take people at face value before he dug deeper. One trait Emerson had in abundance was the ability to read people. He was also a great judge of character.

He sincerely hoped that Vlad was on their side.

And why did Helena like scary, dangerous men?

Vlad stopped in front of his desk. He didn’t look sheepish or uncomfortable. Instead he looked like a man on a mission.

“What can I do for you?” Aleksi wished Emerson had stayed.

Vlad reached into his pocket. “Your father wanted me to give you this.” He appreciated when Vlad stopped, his hand curling for a moment, and then swallowed hard before handing over a small, rectangular item. “In the event he wasn’t here.” His voice sounded thick.

“Thank you.” He accepted the object. “It’s a USB drive.”

“Yes.”

“What’s on it?”

“I don’t know. He just asked me to give you this if he wasn’t here.”

“No instructions?”

Vlad shook his head. “He must have assumed you would know what to do with it.”

“Do you have any ideas?” He raised the drive to peer at it.

“I imagine it’ll tell you what to expect in the event of a terrorist attack.”

Certain he wasn’t going to get more info out of Vlad, he nodded. “Fair enough. Admiral O’Riley warned me to not assume terrorists weren’t interested in us.”

“Don’t assume that,” Vlad agreed. “O’Riley knows what he’s talking about.”

“You know Admiral O’Riley?”

“Took some training with him.” Vlad shook his hand. “Nice to see you again, Prince Aleksi.” With a final nod, he turned and left the room so silently he would have never noticed he left the room if he didn’t watch Vlad cross the room, open the door, and exit.

His obvious skills raised the hair on the back of his neck.

There was no doubt Vlad Wellington was even scarier now than he’d been in their youth. Back then he possessed a lot less skills than he apparently enjoyed these days and he was scary enough then. Still, just from this brief interaction he had learned some vital info. The first was that Vlad respected and missed Aleksi’s father.

The second was that Vlad’s respect had now transferred to the new prince. He wasn’t certain what to think about that. It was nice Vlad intended to give him a chance. Yet Aleksi wasn’t so certain he was worthy of Vlad’s respect.

The fact that Vlad didn’t know what was on the USB device but was instructed to hand it to him personally made him wonder what could possibly be on it. He took a deep breath and paced to his computer. There he slid the storage unit into a port. The screen for opening files popped up and asked for a password.

“He didn’t say there was a password,” he muttered. Yet he had been pretty certain there would be.

Now, out of all the passwords his father had used he had to figure out which one secured this device. Obviously the information contained here was confidential.

He entered each password and was denied.

His father had left him several confidential files. None of them had been left with someone. They had been stored in the family safe that as far as he knew, only he and his mother knew the combination to.

Still, it seemed odd to leave critical information in the hands of one person. What if Vlad had forgotten it? What if he was killed? And why had his father felt he could trust Vladimir Wellington?

“What is that?” Emerson’s interested voice asked from behind him.

“Where did you come from?”

“The secret passage, where else?”

A hidden panel had been added to the prince’s suite centuries ago to protect the prince in the event of war. Or, in more modern times, terrorist attacks. The only person who regularly used it and the ensuing network of tunnels throughout the palace was Emerson. He figured it amused Emerson and he probably stayed busy keeping them clean. He was the only man Aleksi knew who could pass even the strictest white glove test.

“What is that?” Emerson asked again and pointed to the USB stick.

“I was just going to ask that same question.” Maks stood on the other side of his desk.

“See,” he pointed out to Emerson, “Maks used this thing we call a door. You can find them throughout the palace.”

“Regular doors are boring.” Emerson used his chin to point to the USB device.

“Vlad just gave me this.”

Both of his friends turned their full attention on him.

“Vlad as in my brother?” Maks asked.

“The same.”

“What does it say?”

“I don’t know yet. It’s password protected.”

“And the list of your father’s passwords don’t work,” Emerson concluded.

“That is correct.”

They all stared at the USB drive.

“That means it’s important.” Emerson stroked his chin, his gaze assessing.

Maks frowned. “What could Vlad know that we don’t?”

“He seems to have trusted my father.”

“Vlad has always respected your father. I remember a big disagreement he had with the parents. Your father stepped in and Vlad didn’t argue with him. The matter was settled as far as he was concerned and my parents learned something.”

“What’s that?” Emerson asked.

“That if they wanted Vlad to do something, they needed to go through Prince Aleksandr.”

“I wonder why?” he asked this but he didn’t get an answer from either of his two friends and didn’t expect one.

His guess was that this USB drive was the key to discovering that answer.

Now he just had to figure out the password.

***

After he handed over the drive, Vlad headed down the hall. He was sorely tempted to return to the lab. In that room was the woman he longed to spend a lot more time with. There was so much they still didn’t know about each other.

Sure, he had kept up with her life while he was away. Still, he didn’t know all that much about her. She knew next to nothing about him. It had to remain that way. At least until they figured out exactly what they faced during the next few weeks.

It might be nothing. On the other hand it could be an all out war that Rurikstan, as it stood right now, wasn’t prepared for. In fact, they would definitely come out on the losing side as the military wasn’t competent yet. There weren’t enough men who were trained as they should be in order to win the type of battle he suspected was about to befall them.

On the other hand, perhaps the teams he worked with had managed to discourage the different factions they knew were watching Rurikstan and its wealth with greedy eyes. Yet he had lived long enough to doubt that scenario.

The device he kept in his pocket vibrated and he dug deep to remove it. He stepped into one of the hidden passages and then into a chamber that he doubted even Emerson knew about. He had found this room his eighth year. It was fairly spacious and only the former prince knew of its location. Aleksi might not even be aware of it.

The coordinates were likely on that USB stick, but for now Vlad was using the room as his communications center. “Hello,” he said into the device.

“Are you in place?” The voice that spoke was as familiar to him as anyone in his immediate family. More so because this voice had sometimes been his only contact in a few of his darkest hours. The only one he spoke to while he trained in the art of war. It had kept him encouraged, kept him alive, threatened him, helped him.

In essence, this man and his team had become Vlad’s family.

“I’m in place.”

“Have everything you need?” The voice was pure American.

He could name the state and the region where this man had grown up in America. He could do so with any American voice he heard.

“I’m fine.”

“For now.” The voice took on a grim note.

His heart plummeted. “What have you heard?” His own voice reverberated with the same edge.

“The same old. But we’re hearing it from enough different places that we’re a little nervous.”

“And rightly so.” While this wasn’t unexpected, he still hated it. “It’s not enough to deploy a team though.”

“No. If you need anything—”

“You’re the first person I call.”

The voice lightened. “You know my admiral will send us as soon as there’s need.”

“Thank you. I’ll call as soon as things look like they’re about to blow up.”

“Right, Welly. Do that.” The command in that voice was so familiar he straightened.

“I will, Captain, now shouldn’t you go command someone?”

“Cheeky…” The transmission broke up before he heard what his former commander called him, but that was okay. He had time to think up a few favorites. Maybe if he thought long enough he could come up with something especially amusing.

He fired up his equipment and started to do what he did best. This was the culmination of his extensive training. The reason for his entire life… and no one here in Rurikstan even knew.