Page 120 of Tempt Me (Dark Odyssey 4)

The pictures are old, dated as far back as five years ago. The most recent one was at the start of the year. They look like they’re somewhere tropical.

Gibbs is silent for a few seconds, giving me the chance to peruse. I don’t get to finish the perusal though. He sighs when I get halfway through.

“Where did you get all these?” I ask. I only sent him the few from my phone.

“My resources. Your pictures pointed me in the right direction. That man is Diego Montoro, a known terrorist. He’s part of a group called The Ra.”

The moment he says the wordsterroristandThe Ra, the blood drains from my body and I gaze head-on at him.

The mention of terrorist is bad enough, but The Ra are possibly the worst known terrorist organization known to man. They’re anarchists who operate on a global level. What’s worse is, you can’t stop them. Nobody can stop them because their associates are hidden in governments and the military. It’s like a cult of extremists who I know to do all manner of fucked-up shit to accomplish their mission.

“What the fuck are you saying to me?” I say.

“The fucker is a terrorist. He belongs to The Ra. I’ll take the liberty of assuming that’s how your Bratva friends clean up. You seem to be versed in the Ra’s activities?” He seems surprised by this.

“I know my enemies.” There was an incident a few years back that involved one of the crime families in our alliance.

It was in Vegas and never reached Chicago, but we knew enough. Groups like that link up with mafia guys because we can move around and get shit done. We might have something they want or need. They don’t care who you are, as long as you can help them get the job done.

“Good, because believe me when I say I don’t think you want to have anything to do with these guys. I think you’ll want to stay the fuck away.”

“Oh, I most assuredly will be staying away.” Like fuck am I going to be agreeing to anything. After what I saw the other night, that was decline right there. The party was just to look them in the eye. “What are they up to, Gibbs? What else is there?” I need to hear it.

My fucking instincts were screaming at me not to trust these guys, and now I know why.

We’re a breath away from me giving my answer, and the way things were looking, I was going to have to back the fuck down or lose my birthright.

“My guess is that Dmitri and his brotherhood can only be associates. You don’t just see a member of the Ra or speak to them the way he is in these pictures. You have to know them. I also found out some more things about your friends.”

“What?”

“My intel has been searching around in Russia amongst those connected to them. They found a host of events that were never accounted for. Assassinations of notable people who no one can link back to them. They did it though. Their Pakhan is one twisted son of a bitch out for conquest.”

Conquest? so we’d be little more than pawns on a fucking chessboard.

“This is shit, Gibbs.”

“I know.”

“I can’t believe they cleaned up that well that my people couldn’t find shit.”

“Boss, with all due respect. If you didn’t find shit and still didn’t trust them, it’s enough to dig around in other areas. Like you did. This is stuff I had to dig deep for. The fact that my only lead was a link with a terrorist tells all.”

Jesus… I sigh and nod. “My thanks to you, Gibbs.” I sure as fuck know I’ll be using this guy a lot more than I have. “I’ll deposit a bonus in your account within the hour.”

“Thanks, Boss.” He smiles.

I’m doubling what I originally paid him. The guy is worth every cent. Now to action this.

* * *

Pa stares at me, blank and expressionless, as I finish off showing him what I found. He looks pissed as fuck.

I have no patience for his mood today. Something is going on with Ava, and I want to know what it is. I’ve given my fair share of time to these motherfuckers, and I want to be done with it.

I was already done from the wordgo.

I didn’t trust them from the start, and that was enough for me to say no.

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