Page 75 of Capuleto

"Not a thing. Nikita and I had to make a stop. I took a shortcut, and when we arrived, the bikes were blowing up." That's why we hadn't crossed paths.

"It must have been those damn Chinese!" I exclaimed.

Koroleva approached us with Andrey right behind her.

"The ambulances are on their way," she informed us.

Romeo motioned for us to step aside a bit for privacy.

"We have a mole among us; there's no other explanation. How did they know where we would be? How did they place the explosives without us noticing?"

"They might have done it while we were on the bridge. We parked a few meters away and lost sight of the vehicles. If there's a mole, it was a good moment to plant the explosives," my boss's wife speculated. "Did you notice if anyone strayed from the group?"

"No," I responded. My attention was mostly on the Russian. Andrey said he hadn't noticed either.

"This is a full-scale affront! And it won't stay like this, I don't care about my uncle's or my father's plans. I'm going to end this right now." R went for his bike as Nikita followed closely.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"To pay a visit to the Chinese! I might not know where Cheng is, but I know where to strike."

"You're not recovered and you can't go alone!" his wife yelled.

Romeo looked at her, agitated.

"They're exterminating us like cockroaches! I'm not going to sit by and let them wipe us out. What would you do if it were the other way around and it involved your men? Would you really not go after them?"

She snorted, put her hands on her hips, and extended her right hand to point at R.

"You're not going alone. We're going with you."

"No way."

"If you don't let us go, you're not going either," she threatened. "The ambulances are on their way, and your damn nurse can take care of the injured. By the way, where is she? I haven't seen her among the dead."

"She left twenty-five minutes ago, didn't want to run into you."

"How convenient! The one damn time we need her!"

"What if the person who caused the explosion is still here?" Andrey noted.

The four of us looked around, but we saw nothing to indicate that might be the case. We started asking the men; no one seemed to have seen anything unusual. Everyone had some sort of injury, more or less severe.

"We can't waste time playing Cluedo," Romeo remarked. "Look, reinforcements are arriving."

The ambulances had just parked, and the paramedics began tending to the injured.

Romeo walked over to the bike, and Nikita climbed on in front of him. I went for one of the bikes that were still intact, making sure it started and had fuel. Fortunately, it had the keys in.

"Where are we going?" Andrey asked, climbing on behind me.

"To war."

30

Place your bets

If there was a place to call, knowing that the message would reach Cheng, it was the Dragon Palace.

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