Page 32 of Venus

“No. Now, we can do this easy or hard way. Choice is yours.”

I’d never wanted to kill someone so badly in my life. Ripper, still in the background but ever alert, started tapping at his keyboard with an increased urgency, the clicks sounding like rapid gunfire. I winced, hoping Victor didn’t hear. Piston muted the volume on the conference call before I could indicate he should. Giovanni’s face was mask of concentration mixed with determination as he watched on in background.

I let out a slow breath, keeping my voice steady. “Victor, you’re not understanding. This isn’t negotiation. Is ultimatum. Leave. Katya. Alone.”

Victor laughed loudly, his humor laced liberally with disbelief. “You really are full of yourself, aren’t you? You’ve tried several times to take me down and missed, Ulyana. What makes you think anything will change?”

“You can only run for so long. Eventually, I will find you. When I do, I’m going to kill you.”

“You’re as delusional as you are stupid,” he snapped. “Give me Katya and I’ll leave you and Millie alone. You can live your life as you wish, not looking over your shoulders anymore.”

I didn’t respond for a moment, giving the illusion I was thinking when I was really stalling. I glanced at Ripper on video call. He held up one finger, indicating they were close. Moments later he gave me thumbs-up. They were in.

“Fine, Victor. She wants to go with you, I’ll bring her to you. But I want your word you won’t harm her.”

“You’re in no position to demand anything, girl.” He was angry now. Likely because he knew he was on the verge of getting what he wanted, but thought I was holding back his prize out of spite. “Now, bring her to me. I’ll text you a location.”

“I don’t think so. We meet at time I set and place of my choosing. You will come alone, or I keep Katya with me.”

“Time will depend on where. Regardless of what you might think, I can’t be everywhere at once.”

“Tell me where you are, and I’ll choose reasonable place and time.”

I thought I heard him growl in frustration, but he said nothing for several seconds. Then, he capitulated. “Fine.”

Ripper gave fist pump. I’d led Victor exactly way we wanted him to go. He gave up his location without fight, so we didn’t have to show our hand. At this point in time, Victor had no idea we knew exactly where he was.

I gave him address. It was bogus, of course, but I just needed him in vehicle team could control. I knew Victor well enough to know any vehicle he owned would have absolute latest technology. Including self-driving.

When call ended, I heard Wylde in background. “Got that son of a bitch! I’m in his phone and can hear everything he says while he has it on him. He’s slumming it at a big-ass estate farm he paid a boatload of money to rent for a few weeks. Private and out of the way. I’m into every smart device on the place’s personal network or the local cellular network. His phone is a satphone. He’s using a Russian satellite network with that. It’s the phone Venus just called. I can hear, see, and control everything around him.”

“I’ve got Trucker and a team on the way to meet him,” Ice said in a low voice. When we get there, can you drive his vehicle into the back of the trailer?”

“No sweat. I’m following your team, too. We’ll get him loaded. You get him to Evansville and the party will begin.”

“Sorry I’m gonna miss this one, Venus.” Lemon grinned at me from where she stood next to Rocket. “I’m there in spirit. Cut off his nuts for me, ‘cause if I was there, that’s the part I’d take.” She gave me a bright smile and a big thumbs-up.

“I will most certainly take care of that for you, little sister.” I chuckled.

“OK,” Piston said as we ended the connections. “We’ve got a two-and-a-half-hour ride to the Tzars compound. You ready?”

“I’ve never been more ready in my life.” I wrapped my arms around Piston, resting my head on his shoulder and turning my face up to press my lips to skin of his neck. “Let’s go kill son of bitch.”

Chapter Fourteen

Piston

Venus was more relaxed than I’d ever seen her. Well, other than after I fucked her into oblivion. We rode side by side to Evansville, her on a bright red Harley instead of her usual pink. I kind of missed the pink.

We rolled into the compound right behind the truck and trailer with Victor Zaitsev inside the back. Venus’s smile widened when they opened the back. Sting’s men weren’t stupid; they’d taken precautions in case the bastard had gotten out of his car and starting shooting at them.

“Do you have any idea who I am?” Victor yelled as he struggled to get free from Atlas and Brick. Once outside the trailer, Atlas zip-tied his hands behind his back and his ankles together, leaving Brick to heave the bastard over his shoulder and drop him into the back of the side-by-side that would take them to the barn the Iron Tzars used as an interrogation room. And to torture when necessary.

Spoiler alert… It was gonna be necessary.

“You’re all dead!” Victor spat as they tied him to a chair. His hands were freed only to be zip-tied to the chair arms. They did the same with his feet, securing each ankle to a chair leg.

“Yeah,” Sting said with a grin. “Heard that one a couple hundred times. This week.”

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