Her Lucky Number Thirteen (The American Soldier Collection 13)

“Dusty isn’t exactly a Russian name.”

“It’s short for Dustoyva. Viktor gave him the nickname and it stuck. Anyway, when they returned from war, and serving as Special Forces, they needed work to stay out of trouble and to keep the demons away. Viktor asked me if I could help them like I had helped him when he was young. He thought of them as his brothers, his family, and I could see how close they were. Viktor is my nephew, so of course I gave the men the opportunity to prove their commitment to the family. They’ve never failed to do so.”

Nicolai understood too well what Karlicov was going through. Karlicov always knew he had a daughter. Nicolai didn’t know he even had a daughter until three years ago, and when he, too, tried to find her and attempt to protect her, even if it was from afar, she had been taken and her mother k

illed. He had yet to find her.

Nicolai kept straight faced as they walked out of the building and to the awaiting SUV.

“You and Karlicov are close, too, like brothers so did you always know about Nalia?” Storm asked him.

“Karlicov had saved Nalia from getting into a bit of trouble when she was a teen. She found out about him when she was thirteen and then began to act out, get into some juvenile crimes when she was a kid.”

Storm widened his eyes. “So Karlicov stepped in?”

“He had to. She was about to engage in a more serious crime and against property belonging to a Cuban gang. He confronted her, saved her before she could be involved and her friends that did the crime paid the price. It wasn’t enough to scare her because all she seemed to want was her father’s love and attention. Karlicov kept seeing her without her mother knowing and he had her trained.”

“Trained?”

“In self-defense, weaponry, survival skills he hoped she would never need but felt compelled to have her prepared, just as Karlicov is always prepared.”

“That’s how she was able to get away, to defend herself and kill Raymond. Who trained her?” Storm asked.

Nicolai looked at him. “Boian did.”

“Oh,” Storm said and then licked his lower lip.

“Karlicov saw the changes in Nalia as she was starting college, getting older, more mature and the changes in Boian. He forbade Boian to ever see her again and the training was over.”

“So Boian fell in love with her and she fell in love with him?” Storm asked and then looked out the window.

“You know as well as anyone about how dangerous our lives are. You make sure that you protect Aspen and when you begin to raise a family, you protect them with all you have. Our enemies will stop at nothing to destroy us.”

Storm nodded.

“So this is a big decision by Karlicov to choose Cosivan and Team 13 to find her and protect her?” Storm asked.

“He knows that his fight to protect her from this life was a fantasy, and that now she will need the love and protection of soldiers who will do whatever is necessary to protect her.”

“Team 13 are intense men, to say the least.”

“They aren’t any more intense than you and your men, and they are just as resistant to having feelings, to making a connection and showing any sort of vulnerability, just as you and your men are. It seems Karlicov is now wanting to condone a relationship if it were to happen between his daughter and Team 13. All we can do is hope she accepts them when they find her and she doesn’t try to kill them before they can explain that she’s safe and that her father sent them for her.”

* * * *

Boian slammed the guy’s head up against the wall in the office.

“Please. Please, I don’t know where she is. I don’t,” the Slavic piece of shit replied.

Boian was losing patience. He knew these fuckers caused her to run. She had to be so scared and out of her mind with worry. Three more days and it would be thirteen weeks she was on the run. Thirteen fucking weeks. Boian was beginning to think she was dead or worse, that Scarlapetti had her.

“You know something. I know you fucking do. We’ve been watching this place. Four men just left thirty minutes ago. Where the fuck are they going?” Dusty demanded to know as he stood right by Boian. They were all beyond worried. From the moment they knew Nalia was in danger they all gathered together and planned on helping her. It had been too late when they got to her mother’s house. Boian knew immediately that Nalia had killed Raymond. In that moment he didn’t know why, but now, thirteen weeks later and they knew everything.

He shook the guy and pushed his gun against his throat.

“I will blow your fucking head off if you don’t tell me where Scarlapetti’s men were headed. Then I’ll kill your whole fucking family,” he threatened.

He was shaking, he was so angry and just as the disappointed feeling filled his gut and he was about to release his hold on this piece of trash the man shivered.