Page 65 of Call Sign: King
It was Torch who braved an answer. “Ryder, he is not your friend.”
Spinning to answer, Ryder snapped. “I know that, but he has almost as much to lose as I do by Vlad coming back from the dead.”
“We don’t know that. Vlad could have been pulling Alexi’s strings all these years. Hell, we all know Alexi has struggled. He might be relieved to have Vlad resume his place at the head of the family.”
Ryder listened to their arguments. His brain knew they made sense.
But his gut — his instincts — were screaming that Alexi was the key to their next step. Could he even trust his gut anymore?
Yes. The truth slammed into him. His gut had always been against appearing in public with Khloe. He’d allowed his complacency to override his gut instinct that had told him he had to stay in the shadows of Khloe’s life. It had been when he’d stopped listening to his gut that the problems had started, which meant one thing.
“We need to make contact with Alexi.”
“You’re sure?” Torch asked.
“Positive.”
“That’s good enough for me. Let me ping Wrath. He’ll be able to dig up his number.”
Ice’s cell phone rang. He spent a few minutes listening before adding, “Good work. Send the samples off to the lab for testing.”
After Ice ended his call, Ryder waited anxiously for an update.
“We found the plane Vlad took out of Toronto.”
Thank God.
“Where?” Ryder quipped.
“It’s at that small airport just south of Barvikha.” Ice was quick to add, “That doesn’t mean he’ll take her there, but I think we can safely assume she’s in the Moscow region.”
Just knowing he was once again within a few hours distance from his wife soothed Ryder’s anxiety enough to be able to think more clearly.
“He really is stupid if he takes her there,” Ice said, clearly still doubting Ryder’s gut.
But with each moment that passed, he got more and more sure that was exactly where Vladimir would want to exact his revenge.
It was their own ground zero.
Pulling his cell phone out of his pocket, Ryder pulled up his contact list.
He didn’t need Axel’s help in finding a number for his old friend, Alexi. He already had it.
Before he could second guess himself, Ryder pushed SEND just before spinning and taking a few steps away from the bank of monitors.
“I’ve been wondering when you’d call,” Alexi Ivanov Volkov answered in Russian.
Ryder closed his eyes, listening carefully for tiny clues as to how his old friend was taking the news that Vlad was alive.
“We need to talk,” he said, putting his rusty Russian language skills to use.
“Not over the phone.”
Ryder balked. Meeting Alexi would be risky.
“Fine, but you need to come alone,” Ryder replied.
“Only if you do,” Alexi shot back.
