Dirty Obsessions - The Lion and The Mouse
“I can be rather possessive.”
“I’m not killing that dude because Ava smiled at him. Shit. If anything, she gets more respect for smiling. That motherfucker looks scary as hell. Like a beast or something. Forget about Yefim.”
We’ll see.
In the back of my limo, I yawned and pulled out my phone.
Twelve missed calls showed on my screen.
Maxwell laid out on the seat across from me. “What’s the plan? Paris or some other emergency?”
“We’ll see.” I dialed my first guy who was still in St Peterburg.
He answered on the second ring. “Sir, we have eyes on Akiva and a set schedule. He went to play tennis. He’s due to be back in his apartment in an hour.”
“How many men are with him?”
“Five.”
“Solntsevskaya?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Have twenty of our people inside Akiva’s place. I’ll be there soon.”
“Okay, sir.”
Maxwell scratched his head and yawned again. “We’re not going home?”
“No. We’re going to kill someone really quick.”
“And then shower and sleep?”
“That’s the goal.” I dialed Naveen.
Maxwell closed his eyes. “Cool. As long as we get a good shower in. I smell like drunk ballerina pussy.”
I laughed.
Answering before the first ring could end, Naveen growled into the phone. “You’re not here.”
“Have I told you how smart you are?”
“At least you’re in a good mood.”
“How can you tell?”
“Lately, there’s been a growl to your words.”
“I had a good night.”
“Awesome, because you’re going to have a bad day.”
I shut my eyes. “Give it to me.”
“Kazimir’s nuclear codes are with the Corsican.”
My balls clenched. My blood pressure rose. Silence filled the line. I knew Naveen was giving me time to come back from the threat of a possible heart attack.
Naveen broke the silence. “There is some good news.”
I spoke through clenched teeth. “Don’t you think the good news would have been better to say, then the fact that the perfumed pansies have access to Kazimir’s babies?”
“No, because the good news is related to the bad.”
I barked into the phone. “How could it be related?”
“I don’t think Jean-Pierre knows he has the codes.”
I tensed.
“Feeling better?”
“Explain?”
“First, the Devil and I tracked the codes to that stupid restaurant Jean-Pierre’s cousin started. Shalimar’s.”
“Yeah. I remember. Long ago, Kazimir and I talked to them there. Get to the codes.”
“Once we were about to enter the restaurant, we no longer saw the girl. It was just the guy they call the Comedian.”
“Rafael.”
“It’s hard to remember their names.”
“Not for me, I always picture their names when I think about killing them.”
“Rafael had the codes last night. Then this morning, Jean-Pierre and his lover left.”
“And?”
“The codes were with them.”
“Where did he take the codes?”
“To a perfume shop.”
“What?”
“Then he left her in the perfume shop to go to the Russian bathhouse to talk to Kazimir. But what’s crazy is that—”
“Wait a minute!” I held my free hand up, not sure why. I put the hand down and focused on my breaths. “Why. . .did. . .Jean-Pierre talk to Kazimir?”
“We believe it’s unrelated.”
“Unrelated!”
“Look. This all sounds crazy, but the codes were in the perfume shop when Jean-Pierre left to go to the bathhouse. Meanwhile, all the cousins went with Jean-Pierre to Kazimir in the bathhouse too. I snuck in the bathhouse. The Devil and his crew remained outside.”
“What did you hear?”
“Lots of posturing and back and forth. Jean-Pierre doesn’t like that Kazimir is in Paris. Kazimir doesn’t care.”
“And no mention of the codes?”
“None.”
I ran my fingers through my hair. “You’re right. Jean-Pierre doesn’t know what he has.”
“The whole time the codes remained in the perfume shop. You know why?”
“Get to the damn information.”
“Well, it’s because the lover was in the perfume shop. The Devil is certain she has the codes.”
“Where?”
“It’s on her somehow. Every time she goes somewhere we track them to her. Jean-Pierre never has them.”
Snores filled the limo. Maxwell had his mouth open, eyes closed, and hand gripping his cock.
I gazed out the window and tapped my finger against the glass. “Right now, the codes are with our enemy and no one knows this but us.”
“Correct.”
“How do we get the codes?”
“The Devil has a plan.”
I closed my eyes. “Will we like his plan? He’s already killed several people.”
“I hate his execution, but I don’t think we would have gotten this far without him. Especially since you refuse to get on the job and take care of this yourself.”
I gritted my teeth. “That’s fair. I’ll be there soon.”
“Tonight?”
“Perhaps.”
“That ballerina will be the death of you.”
“Then, it will be a happy death. What’s the Devil’s plan?”
“We have a lunar eclipse in several days. Next Tuesday to be exact. Jean-Pierre rented out the Paris Observatory.”
“He’s into astronomy or something?”
“Something. It doesn’t matter. We’re going to get inside his place that night.”
“And if the codes aren’t there?” I asked.
“Then, we get them from him.”
“The plan sounds like crap. We need this to be exact and well thought out. Any false move could extend the war between the Brotherhood and Corsican. While Kazimir is fine with the war, he won’t be happy if Jean-Pierre has one-half of his codes.”