Page 137 of Ripped Veil (Ripped Bratva)
When I rise, Pendergast takes a step back as though he’s terrified I’m going to make a move towards him. If I weren’t so pissed off, I might have laughed. The man looks like he’s about to shit himself.
“Do I need to repeat myself, Doctor?” I ask.
“N—no. I’ll round up the staff,” he stammers, backing out of the door again.
I follow him out into the wide corridor that overlooks the courtyard. A bunch of ravens are circling overhead. It reminds me of an old Irish saying that Uncle Kian used to spout all the time: an unkindness of ravens signifies trouble ahead.
Fucking Old World bullshit. But the sight unsettles me anyway.
I walk down the corridor and stop where Pendergast is ushering his staff to herd up. Some look confused. Others impatient. And a few look like they’re about to piss themselves.
The last group are the smart ones, apparently.
“Is this everyone?” I ask him.
“We have a few doctors on leave today,” Pendergast replies. Blondie comes up to him and hands over a clipboard with a list of names on it. He passes it to me immediately. “Here’s everyone who signed in today.”
“Look at those names,” I tell him. “Who’s on this list but not in front of us right now?”
Pendergast scours over the list for a moment. I know the exact moment when he realizes that someone is missing from the lineup because he stiffens immediately.
“The name?” I ask calmly.
“Avery Michaels,” he says softly, looking up. “Where’s Avery?”
The other doctors look around as though they’ve only just noticed that one of their own has gone missing.
“Tell me about Avery,” I say.
“Uh, well, he is new to our staff here.”
“Of course he is. How new?”
“A week, I believe?”
“Almost two,” the blond man interjects, clearly the teacher’s pet.
I ignore him and look at Pendergast. “I had my father-in-law committed here eight days ago,” I tell him. “And you hired this new doctor seven days ago. Is that right?”
“I suppose it was something like that,” Pendergast says, looking positively terrified now. “Mr. Kovalyov, I assure you there must be some explanation. This is all just a big misunderstanding. No one working for me would ever—”
“This doctor of yours was never working for you. He was working for someone else entirely.”
“He came highly recommended,” Pendergast protests, trying desperately to defend himself. “He had a wealth of experience. We did a background check...”
“It came out clean as a whistle?”
I snort. I have the urge to pull out my gun and shoot this fucker in the face. But I know that’s just my anger talking. In truth, the man isn’t to blame. He hired a doctor that impressed him. He had no idea that the doctor in question had ulterior motives.
But the question remains: what motive could that be?
I’m not sure what purpose abducting Vitya serves.
My best guesses: either they think taking Vitya will serve as leverage in the future. Or else, they’re scared of what he knows. What he’s discovered.
He told me there were spies in my home. At the time, I dismissed his warning as ravings. Now, I’m starting to think that he wasn’t quite as mad as he came across.
“Someone dial Avery Michaels,” I command.
