Total pages in book: 187
Estimated words: 177397 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 887(@200wpm)___ 710(@250wpm)___ 591(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 177397 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 887(@200wpm)___ 710(@250wpm)___ 591(@300wpm)
“No.” His headshake is as arrogant as the balling of his hand when he places it on his desk in clear warning that his patience is wearing thin. “I want them now.”
Something in his eyes tells me this is as personal as it gets for him as well, but not all of it centers around his mother’s recent hospital admission.
Knowledge that the changeup could swing the needle in my favor permanently sees me offering him a rare snippet of leniency. “Tell me the name you want me to exclude, and I’ll have my man run it through the list.”
His reply isn’t as immediate this time around, but it is brimming with angst. “Nikita Hoffman. Dr. Nikita Hoffman.”
“Running it now,” Konstantine announces, talking through the earpiece I’ve rarely been without over the past two weeks.
His fingers stroke the keyboard a handful of times before he cusses.
Mercifully, he isn’t a man I need to pry answers out of.
“She’s on the list, but you may not want to announce that.”
I pretend I can’t feel Maksim’s beady eyes on me. “Why?”
“Because Maksim isn’t the only one fond of the Good Doctor. So is your girl.”
When my phone dings, I remove it from my pocket and then mimic Konstantine’s expletive. The image he forwarded is grainy. It represents what I was staring at earlier. Zoya standing next to a brunette woman at the check-in counter of Maksim’s hotel.
Even if I hadn’t seen her in the multiple surveillance updates Konstantine compiled on Zoya’s trek across the country, the image makes it obvious that they’re close.
After a deliberation not long enough to truly determine where my loyalties should lie, and a quick scroll through the information Konstantine forwarded about Dr. Hoffman, I lock eyes with Maksim and say, “She is on the list. But…” I’ve never seen a man more desperate for an out than the one sitting across from me. “Something seems off with her inclusion.” My gut announces this… and perhaps the orifice in my chest I thought would never return to is pre-black sludge days.
Maksim appears seconds from demanding answers by the removal of fingers, but I realize I’m not the only one with a bead-like device in my ear when he slants his head for the quickest second before he wraps up our meeting with a quick-worded snap. “I need to take this.” When I don’t immediately jump to the command in his tone, he adds, “In private.”
Since the interruption occurs at the same time I spot Mikhail walking Zoya to the hotel’s elevators, I nod in understanding before exiting his office.
Konstantine’s deep timbre rumbles through my earpiece two seconds later. “We got someone piggybacking off our feed. Want me to force them out?”
I stray my eyes to Maksim’s office for the quickest second before shaking my head. He’s so immersed in watching whatever is playing on his laptop that it will take his hacker longer to realize Konstantine is returning the favor than learning our system isn’t the one he should be infiltrating.
If his crew wants information, they need to immerse themselves deep in the federation’s bowels.
“Are you sure?” Konstantine asks, obviously having eyes on me since I didn’t vocalize my reply.
“No,” I answer, once again taking the honesty route. “But you should be used to that by now, right?”
I steal his chance to reply by removing the bead from my ear, dropping it to the ground, and then crushing it under my shoe with the first step I take in Mikhail’s direction.
Another battle is in my sights, and it is far more appealing.
I just need to settle my brother’s confusion first.
Mikhail looks set to unload a lengthy interrogation on me, but since I have far better ways to occupy my time while Zakhar sleeps, I butt in. “Why is she here?”
I assumed Zoya was in this part of the Trudny District for me. She has the gall to put any man in his place—even one as cocky as me. I was proven wrong when her taxi veered west upon exiting the airport instead of south.
Although Zoya is the best person for me to seek answers from, once again, I have better ways to occupy the time I didn’t know I desperately needed until I saw her in the flesh for the first time in weeks.
“She wouldn’t say,” Mikhail discloses, tightening my jaw. “But she seemed genuinely surprised to see me here, so I doubt she knew this is your home turf until I told her.” His chuckle pisses me off, though not as much as what he says next. “She wanted me to tell you that she is only here for three nights, and that she will stay out of your hair if you agree to do the same.” The remainder of his reply matches the thoughts in my head. “I told her there was a fat chance of that happening but I’d pass on the message.”