Page 128 of Pistols and Plush Toys
“Fuck.” Nikolai growled. Now he was getting out of bed, reaching for his robe. “Do not let them leave. I will call Eisen, see what is going on.”
“Alright,” Gerard said. “Just let me know what you want to do, yeah?”
“Ten minutes,” Nikolai promised. “Someone is with you?”
“Pyotr is with me,” Gerard said. “Nadia is outside.”
Good. Nikolai didn’t want him alone if shit was about to go down.
“Ten minutes,” Nikolai said again, and hung up.
Nikolai went downstairs and got himself a glass of water while the phone rang. On the fifth ring, he got Eisen fresh out of bed.
Nikolai explained the situation and was met with swearing in Polish, German, and Hungarian, which he honestly found to be a promising sign that Eisen wasn’t the issue here. Especiallybecause while Eisen was old and quick to temper, just as Gerard said, he’d always been a solid supplier. His family had been in the gemstone business for generations.
“I will find who is skimming my stones,” Eisen promised when he got over his initial anger. “Don’t pay for the shipment, I’ll call it back.”
Nikolai thanked him and they hung up. He texted Gerard on the trip back to his room, then finished his glass of water and climbed back into bed. His adrenaline was still high, but he tried to begin calming himself down.
His phone pinged several minutes later, and it was Gerard again, sending a thumbs up emoji and the message that he was leaving with Pyotr and Nadia. Nikolai made a mental note to loop Meredith in when it was a more reasonable hour.
For now, it was almost three in the morning. Nikolai needed to go back to sleep, otherwise he’d be useless the rest of the day.
He set the phone back on the bedside table and closed his eyes. He could still hear it ringing, could feel his heart thumping harder than it should.
It was fine. The issue would be handled. They’d find the rat and take care of it. Everyone was still on high alert, so it wasn’t like they were short staffed on security right now. Everyone was safe, for the moment.
Eventually, he slipped back into sleep.
***
When Nikolai woke next, he had the sinking suspicion that it was later than it should be. It hadn’t been his alarm that had woken him—the light in his room was too bright.
He groaned, reaching for his phone, and found that he should’ve been up to two hours ago.
The biggest alert on the screen was for a meeting he was supposed to currently be in, pushing down a stack of calls and texts.
His phone, which was on do not disturb still.
Fuck.
Nikolai stumbled out of bed. He didn’t immediately go through the messages, but instead headed for the bathroom. If anything had been an emergency, Meredith or Gerard would have just called his burner. So no one was dead and nothing was blown up. Everything else could wait until he was at least dressed and decent.
He rushed through his morning routine, pulling on smart clothes to make him look more put together than he felt. As he did so, he wondered if Eisen had gotten back to him on the rat, and if anything had been done to send a message about it. He still needed to talk to Meredith and give her a heads up—Gerard would be asleep right now, after his night shift.
Once upon a time Nikolai had been able to pull all nighters or wake up in the middle of the night for emergencies and not have it affect his next day. But not anymore, not in his forties.
He needed coffee, but first he pulled out his phone on the walk to the home office, skimming through the messages. An update from Gerard when he’d gone to bed that everything was good, regular updates from stores and staff, and–
There was a text from Meredith in the secured group chat. It was a hidden message. He clicked the message to reveal it and to start the timer that would delete it.
Meredith:Apparently Katyana had an interesting conversation while picking up my morning coffee.
Nikolai stared at it. It had been sent twenty minutes ago. Gerard was on last night, so he was dead to the world right now. Nikolai was the one who was supposed to be up.
Nikolai:What NOW?
Meredith’s typing bubbles showed up immediately, and Nikolai closed the door to his office, throwing himself into his chair as he waited.
