Page 56 of Oblivion
And Kaiser did as well.
He stopped at the same time I did, his tail high up, his ears perked back, and his entire body strained, ready for whatever was coming. But it wasn’t about what was coming at us. It was what was standing right in front of my house.
Three unknown SUVs were parked on my front lawn, with one more on the side of the road, right behind my car. The windows were tinted black, and I didn’t need to be a genius to know that they didn’t belong to Cillian or his friends. Besides, if we were expecting company, he would’ve told me about it.
This was The Syndicate.
I wrapped Kaiser’s leash around my hand and started walking toward the house, expecting at any moment that they would get out of their cars. But they never did.
I walked over the lawn, on high alert, yet I knew that there was no running now. I was tired of running, tired of constantly being afraid.
Kaiser sniffed at the door, growling softly as I pushed it open, and I knew there was someone inside.
“It’s okay,” I cooed at him. “They’re not going to hurt us,” I said, but I didn’t believe my own words.
I dropped the plastic bag with his food on the floor as soon as we stepped inside. It didn’t take a second for them to appear in front of me.
Three soldiers stood in front of me—two coming out from the kitchen and one from the living room. But unlike the ones in the hospital, these ones didn’t wear masks. I recognized one of them, but not the other two.
“Andrei.” I nodded at the one standing in the middle, while Kaiser stood in front of me, covering me with his body. “It’s been a long time.”
Andrei grinned at me. “Could’ve been longer to be very honest,” he said. “But I must say, I’ve missed having you around.”
“I’m pretty sure the rest of your buddies don’t feel the same way,” I mumbled, looking at the other two.
They were unarmed, or at least they seemed to be.
But Kaiser didn’t trust them, and neither did I.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, spreading my legs. The three of them weren’t the only ones here, that much I knew. If it came down to a fight, I was heavily outnumbered, but I could run.
Or at least I could try to run.
“We came here to talk,” a voice came from the living room. It was a heavily accented voice, and I immediately knew who it was.
I only met him once in my life, and from what my father told me, he was the nightmare haunting the streets of Eastern Europe.
My uncle walked into the hallway from the living room, stopping right in front of the soldiers. He looked so much like my father, it was almost like seeing a ghost—the same blue eyes, the same dark hair streaked with silver. But he was taller than my father, and the viciousness in his eyes was worse than anything I had seen in my father’s eyes.
“You’re here to kill me,” I stated, never moving my gaze from him.
I could fight, I could run, but Lazar Aster was not the kind of a man that would ever give up.
“No.” He shook his head. “I came here to talk,” he said and took a step forward but Kaiser suddenly stood up and barked at him.
He grinned at the growling Kaiser and then looked up at me. “I see you have quite a protector there.”
“I do, but he’s not the one you would need to worry about,dyadya,” I murmured, narrowing my eyes on him. “You already tried to kill me once.”
“Oh, that wasn’t me,” he murmured. “Those men are no longer part of The Syndicate.”
“You mean, they’re no longer on this Earth?”
“Well…” He shrugged. “They attacked my niece, my darling Katya,” he said.
“That’s not my name,” I gritted out and pulled Kaiser closer to me.
“Katya, Katya, Katya,” he started and took a step backward. “No matter how much we try to run away from our true selves, it is almost impossible.”
