Page 71 of Kings of Violence

Yuri gets closer to me and claps his hand on my shoulder. “That’s your expertise, right? Technology. You’ll gain access to it.”

“I know in theory how to do it from the outside,” I say, my brows furrowing. “But I’ve never actually tried.” I shake my head. “I do know how to do it from inside the network itself, but that would mean finding the server room and hacking into their internal network.”

Nikolai blinks at me.

I huff out an exasperated sigh. “It means I need to beinsidethe building, Nikolai,” I say. “I’m a cybersecuritystudent, not an expert.”

Yuri’s hand on my shoulder tightens. “You want us to believe you haven’t done any of this before? When you managed to get inside your dear Papa’s laptop?”

I blush because Yuri isn’t wrong. I just don’t want to give my hand away too early. And I’m not lying about needing more direct access. All my self-teaching has been focused on software, not hardware—especially not outside network lines.

“Well, if you want to paint a huge target on our backs while I spend hours trying to figure out how to splice into their network and also potentially tip them off that somebody is even attempting an infiltration…”

Nikolai rolls his eyes. “Fine. We’ll get you inside. Yura?”

Yuri lets go of me and hefts his gun once more. “It’s more fun this way anyway.”

“For you,” I mutter. “You’re not the one who has to figure this out at gunpoint.” I look pointedly at Yuri’s gun. “You have enough over my head already, all right?”

“Think of it as practice for your graduation project,” Nikolai answers with a smarmy grin. “Your profs will be very impressed.”

“Yeah,” I say, deadpan. “So impressed that I hacked into a secure compound looking for weapons for the fucking Russian mafia that my mobster father tried to hide from them.”

And did hide from them, rather successfully, at that.

“Look, with any luck, some idiot left a sticky note with their password on their desk,” I say.

“People don’t really do that,” Nikolai says, eyeing me skeptically.

“They absolutely fucking do,” I retort. “Not that I have time to inspect every computer in the building. But it’s not as easy as splicing into a network and getting access to every—” I realize he and Yuri are staring at me without much comprehension. “Yeah. Let’s just get inside and I’ll see what I can do.”

Yuri puts his arm around the small of my back. I tense, but that doesn’t deter him. He leads me toward the building, steering clear of the cameras, while Nikolai follows a few steps behind.

The bag with my “hacking tools”—aka my Bratva-provided laptop—presses against my thigh.

“Can’t use the back door,” Yuri says quietly. “There’s cameras there too.”

“There’s a window that was cracked open,” Nikolai says. “I’ll give you two a boost.”

“A boost into what could be a snake den?” I ask. “We don’t know who’s in there. And unless you want to give me a gun to protect myself…”

“Not a chance,” Nikolai says quickly. “Yura will go first.”

Yuri looks up at the window in question. “I’ll have to get on your shoulders.” He grins at Nikolai. “Are you strong enough for that?”

“Are you tall enough for that?” Nikolai counters. “Even if I put you on my shoulders, you might still not be able to reach.”

“Are there any cameras on the second floor?” I ask, ignoring their bickering.

“I can reach,” Yuri mutters. “And I’ll check for cameras before I get in.” He motions to Nikolai, who rolls his eyes and braces himself against the wall.

I’m skeptical about this upcoming feat of acrobatics, but Yuri gets his feet first on Nikolai’s waist, then onto his shoulders. They’reusing the wall to help balance, but I have to admit I’m impressed by how quickly they managed to do this.

Of course, with both of them distracted as they are, this would be the perfect opportunity for me to sneak off—if I had anywhere to go, or if I didn’t care what happened to my mother, niece, and nephew.

So I’m still stuck.

“Stand straighter,” Yuri mutters, to which Nikolai makes an annoyed sound.

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