Page 5 of Rescued

Another layer between me and a fastexit.

The men halted, unable to pass when the guard made no motion to stepaside.

"No weapons allowed into the dining room." He met Ryder's cool gaze. "That includes your hidden knife, Mr.Romanovski."

Ryder kept his face a blank expression as he quickly assessed his options; admit he had brought a weapon in against the original instructions or deny packing and risk a pat down that would have the guard finding not one but all three of his secretedthreats.

He went with his gut, reaching down to his left pants leg, lifting the fabric to reveal the hunting knife strapped to his shin. He handed it over to the guard without apology, ignoring the smirk on the man's face at thinking he'd outsmarted the guest to the estate. Little did the asshole know, Ryder still had a Ruger .38 Special and syringe full of poison hiddenaway.

He normally would have been asked to forfeit his cell phone to avoid allowing recording devices into the heart of the conclave, but Ryder knew from past visits that the room he was about to enter had thick walls and electronic blocking equipment ensuring no recordings could be made of the events occurring inside. The Bratva conducted the most secretive business between the four medieval inspired walls of thekrepostorfortress.

A mammoth table took up the center of the immense room. With seating for twenty, it was the perfect location for doing the dirtiest of deals. Chairs for support personnel lined the wall closest to the door while the shorter walls at the ends of the long table held counters full of expensive food and drink to be served to the family and their guests. Still, there was room left to fit additional tables in the room should the occasion call forit.

It was the far wall that was difficult to ignore for any warm-blooded dominant. Punishment and torture devices hung from dozens of hooks, leaving room for the small platform in the center of the wall where a whipping post and stockade stood prominently. The platform had been empty the last two times he'd visited, but today an unfortunate submissive hung limply from the hook high above her outstretched arms. It was easy to see the unyielding whipping post she was attached to had done its job well as the entire back of her body, from shoulders to calves, was a crisscross pattern of raised welts left from what looked like a heavy duty bullwhip. Droplets of blood pooled in about a half-dozen spots where the whip had dug toodeep.

This was no playful BDSM scene. The moaning young woman had been whipped brutally and then left on display for the dominant men as if she were a decorative table centerpiece. Ryder wasn't playing with any typical crime family. The Volkov Bratva had worked hard to earn the ruthless reputation they now enjoyed, reminding him he had to be half-crazy to keep coming back for more after all of the shit he'd already been through for thisassignment.

"Nicolai, welcome! It's good to see you back in town after your trip away." The family patriarch himself stood to greet him, approaching as Ryder had stood frozen near the door to observe the unfortunate woman ondisplay.

Ryder turned in time to greet the elderly man with the customary welcome of affection reserved only for his inner circle, double-kisses on the cheeks. It had always felt odd that a man of such violence still chose to observe the old-Europeantradition.

Viktor turned his attention to the cries of the bleeding victim in the room, tsking his disapproval. "Such a shame to have to mark such beauty. I'm sorry you missed observing her lesson, but her discipline session couldn't wait." He continued on, answering Ryder's unspoken question. "The little bitch is a spy for the Linenkos. Artel found out she's Ivan's illegitimatedaughter."

The dangerous Moscow families were the equivalent of the Hatfields and McCoys in America. If it were true, it had been a suicide mission for her to try to gain access to the enemy's lair. Despite her still being alive, Ryder suspected the Volkovs would be sending her back to her father in a body bag as a nice 'fuck you'message.

"Not very smart, are they?" Ryderquipped.

Viktor barked a laugh. "Never have been. They'll learneventually."

"Yes, sir. I bet they will," he agreed with hishost.

"Sit. Eat. The lobster is fabulous. We had it flown in, ofcourse."

Ryder and Alexi each took an empty seat a few chairs down from the host, careful to leave room for the two missing Volkov brothers to sit next to their father. The middle son, Oleg, was already seated on the other side of the table, enjoying his meal. He didn't bother standing to greet the newest arrivals, making it clear he didn't feel they were worthy of theeffort.

Oleg was the brother Ryder had the least interaction with. Each of Viktor's sons was the brigadier or head of a different family specialty. Nicolai worked with the youngest, Vladimir, most often as he was the head of the arms and weapons wing of the family. Oleg led the trafficking of all types of illegaldrugs.

But it was Artel who was the most dangerous of the three men. The eldest Volkov, who would one day inherit the helm of the family when his father died, was the most ruthless of all the rest combined. Dealing in human trafficking, slavery, prostitution and assassinations, Artel was responsible for the disappearance or death of more people annually than ISIS and Al-Qaeda combined. The only thing that kept the western world from knocking at the front door of the mansion was that the majority of those impacted happened to also be enemies of the USA and her allies. Instead of bombs or tanks, the US instead sent in men like Ryder to keep tabs on the family's dealings. He was only authorized to intervene when absolutelyrequired.

Once he was seated, he realized he had an unfortunately unobstructed view of the suffering woman. She would most likely be dead before he left the mansion. Not for the first time, his gut clenched at the thought of walking out of a meeting like this, unable to help some unfortunate victim who had inadvertently been stupid enough to get caught up in the danger of associating with the crime family. Unfortunately for her, his mission had a higher purpose and would protect hundreds if not thousands of innocent people with the intel he gathered from the inner sanctuary of theBratva.

At Viktor's nod, a previously unseen serving girl dressed only in a jeweled waist chain with matching nipple rings, pushed from her knees to her feet in the far corner of the room, crossing to the buffet. She filled two plates with the gourmet food and then turned to deliver them to the two newest guests at the table. She returned minutes later with a bottle of the expensive champagne the family drank likewater.

Only once she had returned to her kneeling position, head down and palms up on her spread thighs, did the elder Volkov speak betweenbites.

"I'm pleased you've joined us tonight, Nicolai. I was bothered by news of your injury a few months ago while doing business for the family." The elder man hesitated as if he were choosing his words carefully. "I sent Artel to make sure you were receiving only the best medical care, but he found you'd left the hospital without warning. No one knew where you'd gone." At this pause he stared at Nicolai with an unreadable expression that had Ryder's pulse spiking. "It was a bit alarming when we couldn't find a trace of you for several weeks. We're..." he smiled indulgently before finishing his thought. "We're relieved to see you return to us alive and well after your mysteriousdisappearance."

Ryder controlled his breathing, staying calm through sheer will. He'd expected the question and was ready. "I'm sorry if my convalescence caused you any concern,Pakhan." He was careful to use the proper term of respect for the head of the family. "As soon as I was well enough to travel, I called in a favor from an old friend in Poland. He was able to transport me to a trusted hideout I've used when such unwelcomeaccidentsoccur. I appreciate your consideration, but as you can see, I was well cared for." He took a casual bite of the lobster dripping in butter and then cut into the thick steak on hisplate.

"Vladimir was especially glad you returned and with the double order of the always welcome SVKs. Still... your absence isconcerning."

Oleg finally looked in his direction from across the table. Ryder felt the weight of their combined mistrust and knew he was at a dangerous juncture. "My apologies for not checking in once I'd recovered sufficiently, but in order to keep the family safe, I had installed an auto-destroy feature on my cell phone so no unwanted attention could come your way should someone find it if I was incapacitated. Without your private numbers, I didn't know of a safe way to contact you without drawing possible attention to the family by whomever it was who had tried to killme."

Ryder held the gaze of the older man, refusing to be intimidated, as most men would be when lying through their teeth to the devil. Thirty seconds later, Viktor Volkov broke into a broad grin, apparently satisfied with hisexplanation.

"Very wise, Nicolai. I only wish all of ourshestyorkashowed the same resourcefulness in adversity." The elder man took another bite before he continued on. "It makes me pleased that Artel chose you to handle one of the family's most important missions we've had in a longtime."

Ryder had been expecting them to ask a favor since Alexi's hint on the drive. Still, his heart rate spiked higher knowing any important task the family asked him to complete would be dangerous, not to mention it was most likely a renewed test of his loyalty after his unexplained disappearance and suddenreappearance.

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