Page 64 of Assassin: Part 1

He sighs and scrubs a hand over his eyes. “Fuck. This is a fucking mess, Ilya. Getting involved is a major fucking problem.”

“Yes, but we do this, we take out Timur and Simeon, and we will be running the majority of the West Coast. The Butcher, if he’s killed, will be replaced by someone else. Perhaps we have some issues until then, but as long as we make it clear that we were only after Timur, that Rayea did that all on her own, we might be able to avoid this.”

Even I don’t wholly believe what I’m saying, but there’s no backing out, and we both know it.

“Fine,” Oleg groans. “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. I’m going to have Freya chew your ass if this ends up with you dead and Zakhar in charge. We’ll all murder him ourselves with the bullshit he’ll pull.”

I chuckle. “You’ll be Pakhan before he is.”

Oleg’s eyes go wide, mouth agape. “You fucking take that back. Don’t put that shit out there for anyone to even consider.”

Eyes rolling, I turn away. He and Zakhar are two peas in a pod. Whatever, I’m not going to die soon.

At least, that’s my plan.

I wonder if my stalker will show up at my funeral and sob over my casket?

Damn it, no, I’m not going to think about her.

Still, that would be an interesting show.

The knock on the door pulls me from my thoughts. Probably for the best. “Enter,” I bark. The door opens, and Leonid stumbles in, wringing his hands and hunching his shoulders. He looks like every other computer nerd, but he’s a whiz with computers, so I don’t do anything other than point at the computer and turn away from him.

“If we’re doing this, we need to get to work and fast. We don’t know how long it will be for the Chameleon to get Rayea Antonova here. Which means we need to pull Zakhar away from his current assignment and get him going on this.”

“He’s going to bitch and moan so much,” I complain.

Oleg shrugs. “Deal with it. This is more important. And we need to get Simeon back here and go through the plan. If we’re doing the fiancée angle, we need to make sure it’s believable.”

“That’s a damn problem in itself, but we’ll make it work. Call Zakhar. It’s going to be a long night.”

26

LANE

Smirking, I send the message that will reach Ilya’s computer once his people deal with the virus I’ve sent. Need to buy myself a bit of time. Then it’s time to start this plan.

The one I’ve been building and planning for years. The one that will finally give me everything I want.

First, however, it’s time to start the next phase. Letting Rayea Antonova, AKA Aurora O’Brien, know I’m here and her time’s up.

I enter the passageway without worry of detection. I’ve been working for the last couple of days to ensure I have the layout perfectly. Knowing how to get to her room in this giant mansion without detection is child’s play, really.

I should leave some notes for Nico Armani for improvements to his security before I leave. Won’t he just love that?

When I finally reach the exit I need to take, I check the cameras I’ve set up outside. No one moves; the rotation is right on schedule.

I ease into her room, grabbing for the meat I’ve laced with a light sedative wrapped in my back pocket. I have no wish to harm him, but I need him to take a nice nap while we wait for his mistress.

I will never get the meat smell out of my clothes, by the way. Aurora’s dog, Hades, stalks out of the darkened shadows, snarling, amber eyes glowing. “Damn, you’re still gorgeous,” I murmur, smiling. I mumble to him in Russian, the same way I have been for the last few days, until he relaxes. Not petting him—I’m not an idiot—I toss him the meat, and he snatches it out of the air.

I snicker to myself. None of them, not even Aurora, had been the wiser. I really do enjoy these jobs.

They don’t call me the Chameleon for nothing.

It doesn’t take long for Hades to feel sleepy, so I carefully urge him to his dog bed. He collapses with a groan, and within seconds, he’s snoring.

Excellent. Now, all I have to do is wait for Aurora O’Brien to walk through those doors, and everything will start to fall in place.