Page 119 of Crimson Flames

“I think I have a plan,” I say, bringing the blade to Sullivan’s face. “But I will need you to hold very still in the process.”

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“Is everything in order?” Damien asks me, stepping into the room that Lev and I have been using to craft our little plan. We arrived back to Norway a day after Sully and I had our little chat, just in time for me to begin executing all of my ideas. Without telling the others, of course.Surprises are my expertise after all.

Lev is on the computer, doing his thing and typing away.

“Almost,” I say. “We have just under two weeks to make it all happen. If we pull this off, we are going to need an award of some kind.”

A red light pops up at the top of the screen, and Lev spins in his chair. “Shit, shit, shit. Someone’s on the property.”

“How many?” I ask, pulling the gun from behind my back and flicking off the safety. “Which quadrant was breached?”

A round of furious typing as Damien arms his weapon beside me.

“Quadrant two. Two men.”

Before he can even finish his sentence, I’m out the door. Everyone would have received a message on their phone, but Nessa was taking a nap, and Boris was out on a supply run with Alexi. I meet Evie in the hallway, armed to perfection.

“Where’s Ness?” she asks immediately.

“In the bedroom. She wanted to take a nap.”

She nods. “You go to her, Damien and I will circle the perimeter. We will protect the kids at all costs.”

I nod, turning toward the room when I hear a door being kicked open. My feet carry me faster than ever before, and the moment I step through the broken-down door, I see two bodies on the floor.

My chest constricts until I see Kai poised perfectly with two knives in one hand and a flaming red gun in the other.

“What the actual feck, Kai?” Nessa nearly screams as she jumps out of the bed. He drops the weapons quickly, his face going red. “Who taught you to throw like that? And who in the hell gave you back that gun? It’s supposed to be in the safe!”

He hangs his head as I bring my phone to my ear, telling Evie where the bodies are before hanging up and going over to the pissed-off mother in the room.

“Ness, he saved you.” It’s only then that she pauses, turning her fuming gaze on me.

Feck, I’m an eejit, I should have let the kid just take the wrath. I don’t want it.

“And just how did he save me, Killer?”

I guess the jig is up.

“We may have helped him dabble in some training of sorts,” I admit when Boris comes running into the room.

“I got the message and came straight here. What happened?”

Nessa doesn’t even pay the bodies on the floor any attention as she swings her angry gaze at him. “Did you know about this?” she asks.

Boris’ eyes pinch together as he stares around the room. “That someone was going to attack?”

“No,” Nessa rolls her eyes as if the poor old fella is supposed to read her mind.For once I feel bad for him. Not like a lot or anything, but it’s clear he is only trying to catch up. “Were you aware Kai has been training with weapons this whole time?”

He rolls his lips into a thin line, which is all the answer she needs. But apparently, she isn’t done yet when she turns her attention back to me.

“Was this your idea? We agreed! I allowed the guns, but I wanted to be the one to teach him! How the feck did he learn to throw a knife like that?”

“Actually,Lisichka,” Boris says, “this was all my idea. My deal.”

Her jaw drops almost as dramatically as the ones in the cartoons as she stares at him in disbelief.

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