Leopard's Run (Leopard People 10)

Why? Timur turned toward the water spraying at him from every direction. Most gave up within the first fifteen minutes when Timur started on them. Gavyn had chosen his loyalties and he’d remained true to them, prolonging his life when his suffering could have been over in minutes. Just minutes.

It had taken far longer to find out about the man named Anton Lipin. The man was one of Lazar’s most trusted men. He infiltrated every law enforcement agency with ease by using his Interpol identity that had been carefully constructed over the years. He’d been sent as soon as word had come in that Mitya and the others had been sighted. He’d taken over running the hit team. He had direct orders from Lazar and only he knew what they were. No one dared disobey him. Lipin was ruthless and thought nothing of killing one of his own men.

It had taken some time to get the information that Anton Lipin had served as a sniper in the military and was one of the most decorated soldiers among the leopards in Lazar’s lair. He was responsible for more kills than any other.

Gavyn had been adamant that Anton would not have gone against Lazar’s orders. Anton had served him faithfully for years. It was said that if you were talking to Anton, you were talking to Lazar. He wouldn’t go against Lazar’s orders.

The question nagged at Timur. Why would Anton try to kill Timur when Lazar had specifically ordered otherwise? He’d returned to the subject over and over, and Gavyn had remained certain that Anton wouldn’t. Yet he had. Unless … if orders had changed in the short time between when the first hit team had been sent for to kill Ashe and when the second team was dispatched, could they have been changed again?

If Lazar had put out a hit specifically on Timur, Gavyn had known nothing about it, although the general consensus was if Timur was dead, it would be easier to get to Fyodor.

Cursing, Timur stepped from the shower, caught up a towel and wiped the droplets of water from his body. Naked, he drew on gloves and finished stuffing his blood-covered clothes and shoes in the bag lying on a narrow bench. The room was cement with several drains in the floor. Even the inside of those drains was cleaned after each use. Few people knew about the rooms below the house, but just in case, every precaution was taken.

Timur dressed and waved his hand toward Kyanite and Rodion. He didn’t envy either man on cleanup duty. What was virtually a crematorium was located down there as well. The body and the clothes of anyone attending the interrogation would be burned and then every ash collected until not a single particle was left behind. Those ashes were then taken far from the estate and disposed of where no one was likely to find them, or if they did, have a clue what they’d discovered.

He climbed the narrow staircase to the hidden hallway leading behind the walls of the estate. Fyodor hadn’t been the one to install those rooms beneath the house, that had been Antonio Arnotto. He’d had secret hallways and hidden rooms scattered throughout the mansion. He’d lived his life in the spotlight, appearing to be a shrewd businessman, but no criminal. There had been countless bloodstains in the room long before Timur even brought his first prisoner down those stairs.

It was interesting to him that Ambroise had immediately noticed the discrepancy in the measurement of the walls and that he’d told his brother about it. He’d drawn the entire layout of the house, and if he knew there were hidden passageways, he could have easily guessed where they were and where they led. All four of the Tregres were tied to the perfume business and the opium in some way. Christophe had worked there as a teenager, and Ambroise worked designing labels for them. Beau and Gilbert worked in distribution. All of them knew Charisse and Armande, the owners. There were ties.

Gavyn hadn’t been able to tell him anything about that family or the opium other than that Ulisse was a distributor. Timur used the door in Fyodor’s master bedroom rather than chancing stepping out where the others attending the meeting might see him and know where the hidden doors were. They were allies, but he didn’t believe in taking chances with his brother’s life.

Fyodor and the others were waiting for him. Jake Bannaconni and Drake Donovan were bent over a table, looking at a drawing. Joshua Tregre and Mitya Amurov sat in armchairs near the fireplace. Elijah Lospostos and Eli Perez stood talking together, just to the right of the fireplace. They all looked up when he walked into the room. Most of the bodyguards were absent, but Gorya and Sevastyan, as members of Fyodor’s and Mitya’s families, were also present. They looked Timur over quickly, knowing the kind of toll interrogating leopard prisoners took on a man.