Page 58 of How Much For a Life of Lies?

“Zatkni´s!” he cursed, and yep, I knew that one. Shut up. Telling me to stop talking was one thing, actually getting me to do it was another.

“So he is your dad, then? Are you pissed you lost out on Daddy’s millions? Thought you’d move drugs for spending money? I guess?—”

“Zatkni´s!” he pressed the barrel against my cheek. At least if he shot me that way, I wouldn’t know much about it, and ten to one it would end me. Of course, the ’korsky would spin to its eventual explosive contact with the ground and we’d both be dead, but still…

“So—”

“Uncle,” Yuri spat, and then dropped his gun in his lap.

“Uncle? Makes sense. So it’s your uncle’s money you want?—”

“Death to him.” He cut me off again, and this time I didn’t have a comeback. Yuri wanted Kozlov dead, Shadow Team, aka me and Zach, wanted intel on his operations, so we were at odds. With Kozlov dead, that meant someone else would move up to take his place. Yuri, maybe?

“I’m turning us around,” I said, sticking to my cover, all while trying to work out what the hell was going on.

“No, Kai Henderson.”

“Sorry?”

“We know,” he said with added drama.

Who knew? My mind raced as Yuri’s words sunk in, the familiarity of my real name sending a shiver down my spine. Danger. I glanced at him ready to ask him what the fuck he meant but he took his gun and placed it back in his holster and shrugged.

“Who are you?”

“Mother revenge,” he murmured.

I connected the dots—he was here to avenge his mom. How? He was here to do what? Take down his uncle. Kill him?

“I can’t let you kill Kozlov,” I said, and waited for the inevitable fallout.

“No talk.” He pointed at his eyes. “Watch.”

Watch? I could do that. Hell, it was what I was here for. We reached the coordinates, and again, it was black, until a familiar ring of lights in a haphazard circle gave me a landing spot—a tight one, but enough for me to land my baby. Touching down at the designated spot, I scanned our surroundings, my senses on high alert.

A group of people from the shadows unloaded the cargo with practiced efficiency—no different from last time, but none of them wore masks, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that we were exposed. If this wasn’t the same team as before, then what happened to the drugs that were supposed to be dropped at the original coordinates?

What the hell, Yuri?

He clambered down, and I followed him out, but Yuri got right up in my face as soon as my feet touched the ground.

“I talk. You stay,” he snapped.

I balked because no fucking way did he order me to stand around with my thumb up my ass. I wanted to understand what the fuck was going on here, because if we went back to base without cargo, from a new drop zone, without cause, then both of us were dead.

“Fuck off,” I snapped, channeling my KD persona with a healthy dose of Kai, confronting the behemoth staring down at me. He leaned in to me, and I reared back until he grabbed my shirt and tugged me closer.

But there was no time for questions, no room for doubt. Yuri’s actions spoke volumes. The way he revealed he knew me meant he was more than just Kozlov’s family; he was a player in this dangerous game with motives of his own that Zach and I didn’t know about.

As Yuri’s grip tightened on my shirt, I met his stare with a mixture of defiance and confusion. Whose side was he on?

“Yuri?”

“Stay.” He shoved me back against the helo and strode into the trees even as the cargo was cleared.

I slipped around the front of the bird, no one paying me attention, heading after Yuri, not bothering to stay in the shadows when I grew closer. Finding the bodies as soon as I was outside the bright ring—ten of them, all wearing masks. The crew had been replaced, so who was working with Yuri now? I spotted Yuri some distance away, talking low and fast with another man, shorter, stockier, with white hair, holding a gun at Yuri’s chest. They were so close, but I couldn’t get a shot off quick enough to get the man with the gun off my… my what? Fellow agent? Co-pilot? Murdering psychopath? What the fuck was he? As if he knew I was there, he turned on his heel and stalked back my way, grabbing me, and ignoring the shouts from the white-haired man behind.

“Walk,” he ordered, although it was more of a stumble-run given he had such a tight hold on me.

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