Page 8 of Deadly Hacker

“So simple,” muttered Luka.

“Effective, though,” said Rad.

“That’s when you gave me the coordinates,” said Mikhail.

“Exactly. I watched you all converge on the vehicle from the police station.”

“From there, we ambushed him. More cops on payroll arrived to help close down the scene and take down the perpetrator,” said Vadim.

“It was tempting to kill him right away after what he did,” Luka admitted. “But it was too risky, firing at him with Kira’s father in the car.”

“I met with the others to interrogate Fedorov. We needed to be certain that nobody else was involved in his little stunt. It took several hours. He was detoxing as we tortured him. Rest assured that Fedorov suffered exquisitely in his final hours,” Rad said.

“And we’re sure he acted alone?” Mikhail asked.

“Da. By then, most of Rurik’s crew were dead or beaten into submission. They were only loyal to Turgenev, not to each other. Fedorov was on his own,” said Luka.

“And now he’s finished. We returned the car to its owner, cut Fedorov down, and tidied up the crime scene before any civilians could even notice,” Rad concluded.

“All thanks to Rad’s quick work,” Luka said, looking at him with genuine appreciation.

“A team effort, as always,” said Rad graciously. In truth, he was prideful about his work and used to tooting his own horn, but he knew it was better to be a team player under Mikhail’s roof. Still, he was an essential weapon in their arsenal in the modern day and age, and everybody understood that.

“Good to see your skill set shine,” remarked Mikhail with a wry smile.

At that moment, Polina reappeared in the doorway carrying a gorgeous, dense, towering Russian royal cake. “The Korolevskiy,” she announced, setting it down on the table.

“Wow,” said Andrei.

“Incredible,” Luka agreed.

“Polina, could you separate a few slices for Luka to take to the Rudavins?” Mikhail ordered. The cook nodded and immediately whisked them away to the kitchen for packing.

The Pakhan cleared his throat and said, “Now that we’ve discussed what happened with Fedorov, it’s time to move on to the next mission. Rad, this time you’ll be needing your gun rather than your laptop.”

CHAPTER4

EMMA JEAN

Emma Jean was positively vibratingwith excitement. It was a beautiful Friday morning, and she was beaming as she walked into the gym. She was early, the first to arrive after the administrative team, but she had been awake since before the sun even rose. TGIF had a bit of a different aura for Emma Jean; she did look forward to the weekend, but Friday was the day of the week she treasured most. It was Little Tykes’ Day, which meant she had lots of preparation work to do before the young kids and toddlers arrived for their special sessions.

“Good morning,” she chirped at Kaylee and Quinn, who were standing near the elevator with clipboards and a stack of paperwork.

“Morning,” they chimed in unison.

“How are the interviews for Franklin’s job going?” Emma Jean asked.

“We’ve been very busy,” said Quinn.

“We had a couple of promising candidates, and there will be a few more today,” said Kaylee. “Do you have everything you need for Little Tykes’ Day?”

Emma Jean nodded. “Yep. Everything is stashed away in the studio. I’m about to start setting up right now, actually.”

“Fantastic. The sign-up sheet seems to get longer every week,” Quinn said.

Kaylee agreed, “Yeah, the classes are really catching on with the local community. I’ve seen Flex and Flow mentioned on community message boards for disability resources lately.”

“I’m glad the locals are loving it as much as I love teaching them.” Emma Jean smiled. “Good luck with the interviews today!”

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