Page 81 of To Have and To Hold

Looking confused, Adrian translated the warning again for Volkov in Russian.

Volkov’s eyes bulged as he called for his guards.

Jano lowered his gun and unsheathed his long blade. “Por mí padre.” He slit Volkov’s abdomen from the right to the left. Rei pulled the naked woman from the tub by her arm as Volkov’s intestines fell to the water. Blood bubbled from his lips as the horror settled in his dark stare. For a split second, Volkov reached for the bloody organs as if to hold them in place. Using the same blade, Jano sliced left to right across Volkov’s neck, the realization of his ultimate death prevalent in Volkov’s expression. A millisecond later, he crumpled into the tub. The red water sloshed against the white-tile backsplash as his head and one arm dangled over the side.

I stepped back from the growing pool of crimson.

Leah stared at Volkov’s open, lifeless eyes as his lips were agape.

Rei held his hand over Leah’s mouth. “Your turn.”

She shook her head wildly.

He lifted her as she kicked her legs. “Fuck,” he cursed as she bit his hand.

“I won’t tell. Please don’t kill me,” she pleaded.

Jano walked toward her. “You won’t tell because you will die.” He nodded to Rei.

Rei grabbed her hair. “This is for what you did to your daughters.” He slit her throat the same as he had done to the guard in the loading dock. As her eyes fluttered, he added, “You have a grandchild coming who you will never see.”

She gurgled as he let her go, her head hitting the tile with a thud. Dark red blood pooled around her.

I didn’t know what she’d done to her daughters, but the shock and recognition in Leah’s eyes as death came for her told me she knew what she’d done.

By the time we left the bloodied bath, Piero and Lorenzo had carried the guards’ bodies into the condo, leaving them on the marble floor. We slipped out the same way we entered—through the back hallways, accessible only to staff, and down the service elevator. Nick ran lead as we slowed by the service door.

Had anyone found our van?

Cracking the door, Nick surveyed the loading dock and the parking lot beyond.

At 8:07 p.m. we drove away, relief flooding my circulation.

“Send the soldiers to the abandoned building,” Jano said.

Sebastián replied, “Sí, jefe.”

“Back to Midtown,” Rei said, patting me on the shoulder.

Hours later,the Midtown DC was clean as a whistle. The crates of weapons were hidden, and the technology Sebastián and Rei had brought with them was packed and ready to fly north to Sacramento.

Wanderland had operated without any unusual instances. There were still hours to go before it closed. I called Horace and told him to keep the extra guards vigilant.

The cartel chiefs I’d vouched for carried out the raid at the abandoned building. The hideout would need to wait. After the intel Adrian heard, the abandoned building was our target. If human trafficking was involved, it couldn’t wait until Monday, not with the Volkov bratva’s leader dead in a tub of blood and human waste. The nine of us waited for word from the chiefs regarding the soldiers’ progress.

I received the call a little before midnight. Eight sets of eyes were upon me as I answered the phone.

“Esta hecho.”

“It is done,” I relayed to the men around me.

“What did they find?” Jano asked.

“El patr?nis with me,” I said. “I’m putting you on speaker. He has questions.”

“Did you find Herrera?” Jano asked.

“No,jefe. Weapons and ten women. We lost two soldiers. They lost all six that were here.”

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