Desolation Road (Torpedo Ink 4)

Alena rolled her eyes. “Destroyer? Ruiner? What the fuck, Czar? He calls himself a name and builds himself a rep and joins them. They believe him because he stands around looking like a hard-ass. I’m telling you right now, the man is a spy for the Russian. If he didn’t go to school at the same one Gavriil attended, for more than a couple of years, then he either was a golden boy and was cut loose because he sold someone down the river, or he attended one of the easier schools and skated by.”

Absinthe winced at the real venom in her voice. This was personal. She carried a real personal grudge against the man and every single member of Torpedo Ink had to hear it in her voice, just the way he did.

“Ice? Storm? Since your sister refuses to tell the truth and I don’t want Absinthe to have to use his skills on her on his wedding day, I’m asking you both a direct question. There is no way you aren’t aware why your sister is holding a grudge against Rurik.”

Alena went white. “That is so wrong, Czar. I have the right to vote not to admit a new member into our chapter and I just did.”

“You have every right to vote no. I haven’t called for a vote. We need information and that’s what we’re doing, gathering information. Actual facts, not that you don’t like him because you think he’s an asshole. Or your bullshit lie, that you’re uncomfortable around him.”

Czar’s fury nearly shook the room. For the first time, Alena seemed to be aware of it. Whatever grudge she was carrying against Rurik Volkov paled in comparison.

“Ice?” Czar prompted relentlessly.

Ice was the eldest of the twins by only a few minutes, but he was still the acknowledged older brother. Ice sighed. When Czar demanded answers, when he, as president of Torpedo Ink, demanded anything, he was given a response out of sheer respect.

“When we were teens, Rurik would sometimes show up at some of the same events where we were working. Clearly there was more than one target, so we ended up knowing one another by sight. Once in a while, he would have his sister with him.”

He looked at Alena, who shook her head and then looked down at the table, both hands in her lap, twisting her fingers together. Absinthe put his hand over hers, trying to ignore the images pushing into his head as her distress level rose with her brother’s telling of the past.

“Sorbacov held a huge dinner for his political friends, a fund-raiser, but he brought along several men and women as well as Storm, Rurik, Calina, Alena and me to the event. The men and women he brought were clearly to be used by his political friends who wanted to play. We were barely into our teens, the girls not quite there, but Sorbacov was selling us to the highest bidder. Not everyone knew it, of course. He was in his element, acting the wonderful statesman while brokering the sale of children for his perverted friends.”

Alena looked up at Czar. “Do you really need to hear this?”

Czar just nodded. “It isn’t like we all didn’t suffer rape and torture, Alena. It was a daily occurrence. Continue, Ice.”

“Once everyone else was gone and the winners of the bidding had thoroughly used us all, Sorbacov proposed a new game to be held, a challenge between Rurik and my brother and me. We were a year or so younger and he was, well, colder and a little deadlier. So Sorbacov thought it would be fair to pit two against one. While we met the challenges, the two girls would be passed around to the men and women to be used any way they liked. They could use them together, beat them, hurt them, whatever they wanted. And we’d know. The money had to equal the raised stakes. We would be shown what was happening to our sisters between each of the challenges to spur us on. The winner would be allowed to leave the schools permanently. Go live with other relatives.”

“I see,” Czar said. “And the challenges?”

Ice shrugged. “Those betting were allowed to help choose. Clearly, they wanted time with the girls, so they made each of the challenges difficult and as long as possible, involving running and climbing, physical fighting, that sort of thing. Rurik was extremely fast, but there were two of us and we had Alena to protect as he had Calina. It was … ugly. In the end, he won.”

Czar turned his cool, piercing gaze on Alena. Absinthe knew what it was like to have those eyes on him. Czar had a way of seeing too much. “You are holding a grudge against a man because he won a fight as a teen against your two brothers? He was fighting for his sister as your brothers were fighting for you. Is this your reason for disliking this man?”