Page 3 of Bratva Warriors 4
Chapter Two
As soon as he hit thetrees, Felix heard a birdcall.Halting, he looked up into the trees above him and he made out a figure in black.
One of the Ghosts was perched there and he pointed in the direction Briar went.The exchange was done in silence as that’s just how it was with the Ghosts.
Felix nodded and turned in that direction.He moved carefully and soon he saw her ahead of him.
She was staying in the shadows and watching everything that went on around her.After a long moment she stayed as still as a statue.
Felix stood in the darkness waiting for her to move.He frowned when she didn’t and was about to step out when he felt someone behind him.He froze and raised his hands slowly showing whoever was behind him that he wasn’t carrying a weapon.
Someone stepped close and an older voice whispered in his ear, “Who are you and why are you following Briar?”The voice sounded gravely.
Felix could smell old cigarette smoke on the man.He slowly turned around.
Pippy stood beside him, but he wasn’t alone.
Felix could sense others standing there in the shadows.He looked at Pippy and said, “There was trouble earlier and Briar had to defend herself.Nikoli Silvanic was there as well and between them they had to kill three men.Then a fourth man stepped out and a man Briar calls Willy, tackled him.A man we knew a long time ago in a place a long way away from this city.He turned out to be a traitor to the Bratva and he and his family formed a cult.The cult was nothing but a band of dissidents that want to topple Russia, and the Bratva.They even brought their fight here to America.”
Pippy nodded.“Yeah, we've been tracking them for a while now.Just watching...you understand, trying to protect New York.We live here too and we don’t want the likes of them causing trouble here.”
“Neither do we.”Felix nodded.“Briar is looking for them and I want to be her backup.We are also looking for Sergi’s son.He was taken from the airport but we are unsure who has him.We’re hoping it’s his own security but it might be the last remaining family members of the Dmitircoffs.If it is, Misha could be dead soon.I hear his sisters are vicious and would kill him to make their own escape.”
Pippy looked over Felix’s shoulder.
Felix immediately got the impression someone else had joined them.He turned his head.
Briar stood behind him.She had known all along that he was following her.“Felix, it would be better if you went back to the hotel and waited until we could find out where the sisters are staying.”
Felix shook his head.“I can’t leave you alone.You might get hurt.”
Briar chuckled.
Felix heard the soft chuckles coming from all around him.He didn’t need to look for these street people, he knew he wouldn’t see them anyway.
“I can take care of myself and I know these streets a hell of a lot better than you do,” Briar assured him.
Felix just stared at her and said, “That might be true but I cannot in all good conscience leave you to go forward without backup.Artem would want me to do that.”
Pippy cleared his throat and said, “She’s got all the backup she needs.The whole city will step up for her.”
“Da, I can see that,” Felix acknowledged.“And I can even appreciate that fact, but she is still one of us too.She is also my long-lost cousin and I just can’t leave her out here alone.Please understand that.”
Briar sighed hard.“You call me cousin and while that might be true, I don’t know you.I left home a very long time ago.The man that brought me so far away from the place that I was born, just left me alone here when I was nothing more than a child.Pippy found me on the streets and he raised me on the streets.It might not be ideal for you to understand that, but that’s how I grew up.These....”She pointed out Pippy and several of the others still hiding in the trees.“...people are my family.They watched over me as I grew up.They never left me alone.I grew up with a hundred uncles and aunts and more cousins than I can name.A few of them are old enough to be my grandparents too.That has been my life so far.It’s been hard and at times I’ve been cold and hungry but I survived because of the people I call family.With them, I am never alone, I was never looked down on and we all helped each other.”
