Page 19 of Collapsed

“Ha, that cunt has never been trustworthy. He’s like a rash you can’t ever scratch. But I’m sure he said there was a meeting, but not what it was for. That is how he gets around the Volkov’s with his life; he thrives in half lies,” I retort with an annoyed chuckle.

I hang up, not letting Jaxxon say anything in return. Sliding my phone back into my pants pocket, I look at the team as I flop down on the couch and kick my feet up on the glass table in front of me.

“Well, men and Prince-y, I have a lead on where Ivan might be,” I announce, and Prince-y growls at his nickname. Katia rolls her eyes at my antics, and Firecracker snickers, obviously approving of my name for her friend.

“Are you going to share with the class, or are we playing twenty questions?” Prince-y snarks, and I smile at him.

“Whispers in the empire is that there is a meeting of some sort at my warehouse on 8th Street tomorrow at seven PM. Could be a trap, or could be good information, either way, we should go and play detective. Personally, I hope it’s a trap.” I rub my hands together as a sinister smile covers my face. “I love getting caught in traps and killing my way out of them.”

“So, tomorrow, we will go to the warehouse. Conrad, pull up the most current blueprint of the warehouse, that way Alexie can show us what we need to know,” Stryker commands. Right away, Conrad nods and starts typing away on his laptop. I wonder if he is half-robot. I should stab him somewhere superficial and see if he bleeds blood or oil. He is always at the ready with an electronic.

“Okay, here we go.” Conrad spins the computer around so we can see, and I grab it, pulling it to me to study for a second. Turning it back around so the screen is facing the group, I stay behind it and point from above.

“Once you walk in, there are two offices, one to the left and one to the right. The left one is always empty because it was to be mine, but I never spent much time there. The one to my right was my Papa’s, and it should be locked. I have the only key now that he is dead like a fish. After that, there is just open space with our inventory; guns and other weapons to the back and drugs to the front. All of them sorted into alphabetical order, of course. The far right outer wall is where the two loading docks are for our trucks. Lastly, this far right corner in the back, which here says quality something, that is a sleep room for the workers or guards to rotate out on shift, and the room next to that is a lounge of sorts. Nothing posh, just a small kitchen to cook and a bathroom.”

“So, in your opinion, how should we enter so we can have access to this meeting?” Stryker asks.

“Easy, we should go in right here. There is a hidden door right here that leads directly into my Papa’s old office. Then from there, we can blend in with the crowd as long as we are dressed the part. No fancy suits, only the top men wear them.” I roll my eyes at the face Stryker makes. He is about to get himself a nickname if he doesn’t settle down. Prima, short for prima donna, is already panicking that he’ll have to wear pants that are not designer.

“Conrad, you are coming in with us, no running comms or tech for you this trip. BJ can run them from home as long as we are on the same channel. Everyone is going in except you, Katia. I don’t want to hear a word about it either, you are not trained in battle. You will slow us down, and that could make a difference in getting Nat back or not. We can start your training once our woman is back,” Stryker demands. I turn my gaze to Katia because I can’t wait to see how this pans out.

“Okay, I’ll stay here,” Katia replies with a small smile.

What? That’s it? No outrage? No tantrum? Who is this woman?She notices me looking at her intently, and she winks at me before turning back to Stryker. They are staring at each other in– Oh, I see what’s happening. Prima has a little crush on Katia. He’s hoping to slide into bed betweenMalyshkaand her.

“Let’s get some sleep, tomorrow is going to be a long day,” Stryker says as he dismisses us. I head back to my room and lay down, staring up at the ceiling, and thinking of all the ways I plan to kill people tomorrow night.I can’t fucking wait.

I’m standing by the door to the penthouse, waiting for the rest of the team to finish gearing up. They join me within minutes, thankfully, or I would’ve been forced to leave them and go off on my own again. Katia comes over and wraps her arms around me tightly. “Bring her back, Alexie, and kill that bastard when you see him,” she tells me. She turns to walk back toward the kitchen.

“Katia!” I call. She turns around, looking at me with a questioning look on her face. “Come here.” She strolls back and stops when she is just one step away from me.

“I’m fine, Alexie. I’m not mad this time, I promise. I was there when the plan was made, and I understand it. I just don’t like being left out,” she tells me, assuming I’m worried about her being upset at being left behind again. Reaching down to my ankle, I pull a gun from the holster. “Here,” I tell her, handing her the gun.

She looks at me wide-eyed. “Alexie, I can’t take that. I don’t even know how to use it.”

“Katia, you’ve watched all the movies, and you’ve seen me andMalyshkado it. Aim, release the safety, and squeeze the trigger. That’s it. Shoot anyone who opens that door who isn’t us,” I tell her.

“How will I know it’s you if you just open the door?” she questions.Smart girl.

“We will announce that it’s us, and you know all our voices, but I’ll go one moose track further. I’ll say dragon after I knock. Our own little code word so you know it’s us.” She nods her head and takes the gun before giving me a quick kiss on the cheek. Then she heads back to the kitchen to make herself some food.

We ride the elevator to the lobby before exiting The Plaza and getting to our vehicles. We are taking two vehicles. In case something happens to one, we will still have a way to leave the warehouse. When dealing with Ivan, it is best to be one step ahead of him, or at least try to be.

I get into the passenger seat next to Stryker, who’s driving, while Conrad makes sure we are all on the same channel as Rainbow Sparkles back home. She is running our comms and monitoring the small button-like cameras on our shirts. She can alert us if one of us has eyes on Ivan. He is not taking us down one by one this time.

Prince-y and Firecracker are in the vehicle behind us and will park down the road a bit before getting in with us to finish the ride. We ride in silence, just preparing for what is to come. It isn’t a long drive since we have avoided rush hour and all the busy roads. Like I mentioned, I know this city like the back of my cock.

As we get closer, I motion out the window for Prince-y to slow down. We stop on the side of the road for a few minutes, long enough for Marcela and him to jump into our vehicle before finishing the drive up to the warehouse. Pulling up outside the large building, I notice that there are only four other cars in the lot, not that that means anything since there could be way more inside than there appears to be.

“Okay, I will let us all in through the secret door, and then we will be in Papa’s office. Once there, we should stagger out so as to not raise suspicion. Coming out one at a time and blending in with the other people going into the meeting.” I turn and look at everyone in the car to see if anyone has anything to add. I am met with silence, which is fine with me, I prefer to be listened to and not questioned.

We move our asses to the door quickly. I put the key hanging from my neck into the keyhole and push the door open. We rush through and into Papa’s office. It is exactly how I remember, which means Ivan doesn’t have the key and hasn’t wanted to be in here badly enough yet.

We wait, sitting in the office in silence. Stryker and Conrad are rifling through the office and desk full of papers, hoping to find something of use. They won’t, Papa was meticulous at order and keeping things locked away in the vault of his mind. I know because he told me while he was training me to take his place.

That thought makes rage burn through me again. It was my privilege to kill Papa, just as he did his father before him. Ivan took that from me, and I will get my revenge for him stealingMalyshkaalong with stealing my papa’s death.

Finally, it is time. I hear the first rustle of voices coming through the entrance right outside the main door to the office. Cracking the door, I look out for a second before shutting it quickly again. “I’ll go out first. The rest of you can filter out how you see fit. But I want to go out first to get a read on the room and see what this meeting is about,” I tell them.

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