Yes, it truly was too. He had her almost every day since then. And it was always just as good. He pumped himself one more time and came in the now cooling stream of water as he groaned her name out, “Raven...”

  He washed his seed down the drain and finished his shower. Drying himself off, he walked naked back to his bedroom and got dressed.

  Stopping in the middle of the room, Yuri knew he wouldn’t be staying in the penthouse today. He was tired of waiting. He would go out himself and hunt his woman down. He got the feeling that he’d better. He felt a cold chill settling down in his gut. A cold vibe that he’d never felt before.

  Raven awoke groaning as pain racked her body. It hurt to even breathe and she couldn’t move her hands. She tried to open her eyes but they were refusing to do so and she could feel something warm and wet along the side of her face. She tried again to open her eyes and found herself laying on a thin mattress in a semi-dark room.

  The room was full of shadows and it smelled of mold and old liquor bottles. The only light came from an overhead bulb in the ceiling. It was a weak light too, barely illuminating the area a foot from her. She could hear muffled noises from outside the room she was in so she knew there were people around her. It sounded like male voices.

  She was tied up and attempted to roll over but couldn’t. She tried now to remember what happened. Then her eyes widened. Micah! They had beaten him up. Two very mean looking men. Large and silent, they had said nothing, just that the man outside the small cabin where they were was out for the count. Jubal... Tears dropped from her yes. She hadn’t wanted any of her friends hurt and now they were. Then these two strange men grabbed her. She kneed one and when he doubled over, the other one with the scar down his cheek had slugged her, and she went down.

  So that was how she got here. And at the expense of her friends. She still couldn’t move her arms and as she tried to struggle, she found out why. Her arms were secured together by a tight rope, biting into her skin that was tied to the side of the bed. The bed itself was little more than a frame holding a thin mattress that smelled of mold and old body sweat. She cringed at the foul scents.

  “So you are finally awake,” a low voice said from beside her.

  She turned her head and saw through a slit of light, the face of a man she didn’t know at all. She tried to speak, “Who...” Her voice gave out.

  “Oh, you have never met me, but I know who you are.”

  Raven wondered for a second if this had anything to do with Tolva. Was it an enemy of Yuri’s?

  “Oh, sweet thief...” He snickered. “You will be leading me to the treasure.” He grinned at her his gold tooth gleaming in the low light.

  Now Raven knew this was about her and not Yuri. Not that it mattered, she was in trouble nonetheless.

  He leaned close. “Tolva is still out there looking for you, but never fear, we have saved you.” He cackled. “In return, you will be leading us to what we need. That figurine and the key to this very city.”

  Raven glared up at him. “I won’t be leading you to anything.”

  His eyes narrowed as he leaned forward. He held something in his hand.

  Raven focused on the object. It looked like a scalpel, sharp and gleaming even in this dim light as he turned it back and forth.

  “After a few cuts, you will be telling me where it is, my dear.”

  “Otasi!” a voice cut into the room.

  The gold toothed man let out an exasperated breath. “Xozir emas Kasha!”

  Raven furrowed her brow. She couldn’t understand what they were speaking. It sounded like Russian but she knew the language well now and it wasn’t Russian at all. It must be Ubek. These men were Heniquin’s family.

  “Yes, father now. You need to come to the front.”

  The man smiled down at her. “Now don’t go anywhere, sweetcakes, we got business to discuss.” He laughed and left the room.

  Raven shivered in the cool darkness. She knew she would not tell this man anything. She had been tortured before by Carlos and one other man in her life and she hadn’t given in then either. This time, they would have to kill her. Her family, her friends, and lots of innocents depended on this.

  She would never kiss Yuri again, never be in his arms. Her children would be motherless. At least, there were the brothers and their wives, so her kids would have good care and love. But Yuri... Tears blurred her eyes. She had promised him that she would be okay and would return to him. And maybe she would, but in a casket, most likely.

  Grief threatened to overwhelm her but she knew if she gave into it, she would be lost. So instead, she thought about Yuri and her children, safe and sound. Closing her eyes, she felt the safe feeling surrounding her again. It was the same feeling she got when Yuri would wrap his large arms around her.

  For a brief moment, Raven felt connected to him solidly. Closing her eyes again, she lost the feeling but she knew deep down in her heart...he would come for her. She just hoped it wouldn’t be to her dead corpse.

  Chapter Eleven

  Yuri came out into the main room.

  “Boss,” Kosta waved him over.

  Yuri again felt that chill, as he knew this was what had been coming. Raven.

  Kosta pointed at the monitor.

  A man that looked fairly beaten up stood at the entrance.

  “What am I looking at?” Yuri asked.

  “It’s Jubal!” Nicky yelled from across the room. “One of Raven’s old friends.”

  Kosta got on his headset and gave his men the order, “Bring the man up fast!”

  Yuri clenched his fists. “He got her. Tolva has her!”

  His brothers all stared at him.

  Mikial spoke up, “Now Yuri. You don’t know—”

  “I know! Dammit I felt it... something has happened to her.” The chill in him even reached his arms as he raised his hands and rubbed the gooseflesh down. “She’s in trouble and she hasn’t got long.” He rushed to the door and opened it, even though it would be several minutes until the man would be up here.

  Roman came close. “How do you know?”

  Yuri did not look at him. “I just do.” He grunted.

  Sergi came over. “You are so connected that you felt this?”

  “I felt it too...” Nicky stepped up. “...for the last hour.”

  The men all stood silently and waited to see if this was bad news about Raven.

  Yuri felt like he was sinking into ice. Was she dead already? He refused to think this. So he pushed the fear away.

  Finally, the man was brought forward by two security men through the doorway.

  He looked like hell. His clothes were old but torn and bloody. He stumbled forward and grabbed Yuri’s arms. “They took her.”

  Yuri held the man up now as he slumped and brought him to a chair. “Kosta call the doctor!” Yuri sat the man down as his chest tightened some more, he almost couldn’t breathe with the pain. “Who took her?”

  “Two really large men and one had a huge scar on his face. They spoke some foreign language.”

  “The Balstanics,” Viktor spoke as he came from the hallway.

  Yuri looked over at him. “How do you know?”

  Viktor nodded to his men who stood to the side as he passed them. “Your guest told me and he told me where they are.”

  Sazon stared at him. “How do you know he was telling the truth?”

  Viktor paused for a few seconds then he went over to the bar and grabbed a bottle of vodka. “I know it was the truth.” He took the cap off and poured himself a shot. Then downed it. He looked around the room and his face looked a bit pale. “That is all I am willing to say about it. Except that perhaps after he gets through here, the doctor may need to attend to your guest.”

  Yuri nodded at the doctor as he came in then looked down at Micah. “We will get you patched up.”

  “Save her, please?” Micah whispered breathlessly.

  Yuri raised his head and looked over at Viktor.

  The man was speaking to Ivan and Adrik in low tones.

  Yuri marched over to where they stood. “I’m going with you.”

  Viktor raised his head. “I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

  “Not a good...” Yuri glared at him.

  “Yuri!” Sergi called to him.

  He didn’t move nor look at his boss. “This is my woman. If it were yours, would you just sit on your fucking hands? Dying a thousand deaths?”

  Viktor paused and looked over at him. His usual cool blue gaze held a bit of fire now. “You are a man used to giving orders Mr. Anatoly. Not taking them. We cannot have someone there who will not fall in line.”

  Yuri growled and raised his arm, intending to punch the man in the face.

  “Yuri!” Roman grabbed him. He dragged him back, being the only one in the room larger and perhaps stronger.

  Viktor nodded, looking entirely unperturbed. “This that you just did. This is emotion and it might get someone else killed.”

  Yuri roared as he struggled against Roman’s hold.

  Sergi made his way over to him. “Yuri, please. We are wasting precious time.”

  Viktor and his men moved to the door then he turned to face Yuri. “I do understand. I have a woman and I love her very much and I know I would act this same way. But we will save her with keen minds and nothing will distract us. I apologize deeply for this, but we will bring her back to you.” He and his men went out the door.

  Kosta shut the door and looking concerned, he stared at his boss and friend. “They are the best Yuri. The best in the world.”

  Roman finally let him go.

  Yuri felt like fire had replaced the ice for a few minutes, but now it rose up again. “Fuuuccckk!” he shouted.

  All his brothers looked as if they too, were in pain.

  Nicky sat with his head down and wouldn’t look at anyone.

  Nikoli stood next to him and patted his shoulder in a consoling way.

  Sergi sighed and pushed his fingers through his silver hair. For once, he had nothing to say. This was so hard. What could he say?

  Mikial stepped close to the madman who was his brother and handed him a shot of vodka.

  Yuri said nothing as he took it and downed it. He hoped it would burn while going down.

  Instead, the ice inside him... remained.

  Ivan and Adrik made their way down the darkened street. Keeping to the shadows. Thirty minutes ago, they’d already marked where Kitchem Balstanic’s men were watching. Slipping up behind one of the men, Adrik hit him in the head and caught his body before he hit the ground. All of this was done without making a sound, so no one else was alerted to what they were doing.

  Viktor directed them over the headsets as he had the satellite feed where he was in the surveillance van.

  Dragging him back into the shadows, they passed him off to the four enforcers waiting for them. They had been doing this with every man Viktor found with the night vision and Sat view.

  Viktor then watched as he saw two shadows emerging from a side street. He narrowed his eyes and focused his view on the screen. “Bylad!” he swore. “Ivan, 2 men on your six. They are friendlies, please detain them.”

  He then watched with night vision as Ivan approached the two intruders.

  One of the men was an older man in tattered clothes and the other was Yuri.

  As Viktor watched the feed, he saw Ivan hand Yuri the headset.

  “I am here. I will not interfere,” Yuri stated gruffly.

  Viktor wondered why he did not get a call from Sergi about this. He then took a minute to control his anger before he spoke, “I gather the man you are with is one of Raven’s. There’s no time for stories here. Stay to the side with my other men and move only when they do. Keep your headset and you’d better listen to my orders, Mr. Anatoly.”

  “Da. I will.”

  Turning his head, Ivan caught the eye of the men still hidden in the shadows and he gave a nod. As if to say, they needed to keep Yuri with them.

  The first team moved along the street in the shadows as they had been doing, heading to their ultimate goal as the fifth of Kitchem’s men mysteriously disappeared from his post.

  Adrik looked over at the shadows and gave his 2nd team a thumb’s up. “With the ones we just picked up, we should have all of them,” he whispered then showed the universal sign for everything was going according to plan. “Second team stand by.”

  Viktor watched as Yuri stayed with the second team. The man damn well better or he could get everyone killed.

  Now Viktor spoke into the comm, telling them it was time catch the Balstanic family of three, “First team, take them alive if possible. If not, just take them down.”

  As they slipped away into the shadows, Ivan and Adrik paused long enough to receive the message over their headsets. They now moved into positon while approaching an old house.

  Viktor could see that it was in horrible condition. “Your back up is in place. Watch your legs, looks like a death trap.”

  They knew what he meant. Unstable wood and other dangers.

  Grisha and Andrey now joined Ivan and Adrik.

  Viktor then gave the signal. “First team, head in.”

  They now needed to collect Kasha, Vitor and Kitchem, the leader. They assumed that Raven was somewhere in this house. For Yuri’s sake, Viktor hoped so. He swung his sat sight over to second team. “Move up as soon as First is inside,” he ordered.

  As the team of Adrik, Ivan, Grisha and Andrey disappeared at different junctures into the old house, Viktor gave the order. “2nd... go!”

  He watched as they all moved. He and Matvey were third team. Viktor then ordered, “Take me there.”

  The van’s engine was already running and Matvey drove it to the street where all the teams now were.

  Chapter Twelve

  Sergi, Misha and Nikoli were watching the same feed as Viktor had keyed them in on the raid almost 45 minutes ago.

  Sergi stood up and yelled, “Yuri! Trakhni utku! Dammit, how did he get there?” He looked around. “With watching the monitor... I didn’t even notice the crazy man was gone!”

  Nicky now stood and came over. “Please calm down, Mr. Constantine.”

  Nikoli stared at him. “You helped him to sneak out of the suite, didn’t you son?”

  Nicky nodded. “Yes, I did.”

  Yuri’s four brothers all came over to stand behind Nikoli.

  “How could you do such a thing?” his father asked Nicky.

  “Because he knew,” Roman spoke now. “As we all know. Yuri has to be there. If any of us were in his place, we would HAVE to be there.”

  Sergi let out a heavy sigh. “Bylad...You all need to be sent back to soldier training in Russia. This was—” he halted. “This could have blown the whole operation!”

  Misha laid a hand onto his father’s shoulder. “Dad, it didn’t. And I can understand why this happened...” He looked around at the men in the room. “...they always stood by each other and this time is no different.”

  Sergi still looked upset as he slowly sat down. “Well, it isn’t over yet. For Raven’s sake, I hope that you all are correct.”

  They all gathered around the monitor to watch, though it was hard to see very much.

  “May God be with them,” Sergi whispered his prayer aloud.

  Yuri watched Viktor’s men scatter and get into position at different entrances after the first team went in.

  He moved forward. He could feel that Raven was here. Thank fuck, he did feel this. She was still alive. He hoped he could trust this as a certainty and that it wasn’t just hope by itself.

  Once inside the house, his eyes adjusted to the dim interior. The main room was a mess. He saw the man he knew from his photo as Vitori, being trussed up by Ivan and Adrik. Even in the low light, he could see he was big man, maybe about 350 pounds and the tazor’s the enforcers had used were still buzzing on the dirty floor. He imagined it did take more than one to take the man down.

  The men must have been playing cards as they were scattered all over and the table was turned on its side. They had opened bottles of beer spilling out and this all showed him that they weren’t paying attention to anyone but themselves.

  What he didn’t see was Raven.

  He searched the inside of the house again, and still did not find any sign of her. But he did finally find a closed door at the far end of the second hallway. He stared down at the floor while remembering what Viktor had said earlier about the house being unsafe. Yes, he saw broken boards and he skimmed along the wall. He now held his glock in his hand.

  “Yuri,” came Ivan’s voice over his headset.

  He dare not answer even with a whisper, as he was close to the door.

  “You need to wait until we get there—”

  A scream rent the air.

  Raven’s scream.

  Yuri sucked in a breath and moved closer, staying in the shadows. He was about to storm the door when it opened from the inside and a huge man walked out.

  The man was looking back at someone in the room. “Have fun, Otasi.” He laughed then shut the door.

  Yuri silently moved back a bit and removed his knife. A birthday gift from Nikoli way back.

  The scarred man stiffened as he passed Yuri, then he slowly looked around. His eyes were scanning the hall, almost as if he knew Yuri was there.

  Yuri glared at him, he needed to hurry before this Kasha warned his father in the room where Raven was obviously being held. Kitchem could kill Raven before he could even get in there.

  Without another sound, he stepped out of the shadows, reached up behind him, took him in a hold, and neatly slit his throat.

  The man gasped then released a gurgling sound as Yuri eased his 300 or more pound weight to the floor. All done in silence.

  Ivan and Adrik showed up in the hall and halted when they saw him laying the dead hulking man onto the floor.

  Yuri raised his finger to his lips, then stood and pointed to the door at the end of the hall.

  They nodded and stepped in closer.

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11