Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 79211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
But even Aria hasn’t been able to identify the perpetrators.
“Alright, I’ll fill you boys in on what I’m thinking here.” Her fingers fly over the keyboard like she’s performing a magic trick. “We have two informants that we can trust, and I think—”
“Maybe trust,” I interrupt. “I’m not convinced. You know we haven’t released them yet, right?”
Mikhail’s eyes narrow on me. He doesn’t like that I interrupted his wife, but we can deal with that later if he wants to be a dick about it.
“You still don’t trust them?” she asks, her eyebrows rising. “Seriously?”
“Of course not.”
“What will it take?” she asks, giving me a curious look.
“A decided show of loyalty. Some skin in the game. Talk is cheap.” I shrug. “They need to fucking bleed for us before I’ll trust them.”
“I agree,” Mikhail says soberly.
“As do I.” Kolya nods in agreement.
“Alright, alright,” Aria says, shaking her head. “Simmer down. All I was going to say was that they might be able to point you in the right direction.”
I shake my head and Mikhail and I respond in unison. “No.”
Aria sighs. “This is driving me batshit crazy.”
“You and me both,” I mutter. “The masks mean we can’t use facial recognition.”
She contemplates her laptop screen. “And the quality of the video looks like an iPhone at a rave. I just think your prisoners might have some useful info is all.”
Dmitri Petrov and Pavel Kuznetsov turned tail on their former mob after the death of their pakhan, Fyodor Volkov. Before he hung himself in prison, Volkov’s life mission was to decimate my family. He kept his men at odds and controlled them with intimidation tactics. There were no leaders, a sham of a hierarchy, and in the wake of his death, they’ve begun to fall apart.
Petrov and Kuznetsov turned themselves in to Mikhail following Volkov’s suicide. We’ve had them in holding now for several months. They haven’t had any contact with former associates. I would know because they’re under my charge.
“Maybe if you sent me in.”
Mikhail curses and grips her more tightly. “Are you out of your mind? Khristos, Aria. You’re not going anywhere near them.”
“But if I could ask the right—”
“Enough.” Mikhail rarely raises his voice to her but what she’s suggesting is unthinkable. For all we know, they could be moles. Patient moles, but moles nonetheless.
With a sigh, Aria logs out and leans back thoughtfully against Mikhail. “Do you guys know about the sequoia tree?”
Jesus. I clench my jaw to keep from snapping. I’m fucking tired and I don’t want some fucking science quiz—
“Aleks.” My gaze snaps to Mikhail. He doesn’t say another word. My name is only a warning. It’s uncanny how he can read my mind.
I blow out a breath and shut my laptop. My eyes need a break anyway. “Yes. The sequoia tree is one of the largest in the world. They can grow up to something like three hundred feet in height and they’re so big in circumference, some of them have actual tunnels large enough for cars to drive through them. What about them?”
Aria gives me that smug look she sometimes gets when she beats me in a hacking race. She’s lucky I love her like a sister.
“And what can you tell me about their roots, Aleksandr?” she asks in a tone a teacher might use when asking a student to recite the alphabet.
I’d tell her to fuck off, but Mikhail’s watching and I still value my life.
“Don’t know anything about the roots,” I admit through gritted teeth.
Aria’s eyes glow with triumph. She loves one-upping me.
“One might think they have massive roots, right? But no, they don’t. Their roots are quite shallow. It isn’t the depth of their roots that makes them so sturdy but how far they spread.”
Kolya’s eyes twinkle at her. He slowly nods, and Mikhail gives her a little squeeze.
“You guys are sequoias. Kings of the jungle. Volkov who? Good riddance. He thought he was going to overtake you guys, but no way. And lucky for you, he was so full of himself he practically self-destructed on his way out.”
She fires up her laptop again. “So yeah, you’re right. This isn’t looking good. While you’re strong financially, our group is comparatively small. While you’re strong physically, you’re still lacking reliable manpower to fortify. And while we’re doing our best to grow,” she says, patting her ample belly, “it will take time that we really don’t have. Mikhail was right when he suggested a marriage with the Bianchi family, Aleks. We need to consider further unions as well for the other men.”
“Yes. We’ve suffered three physical attacks and two cyberattacks since Volkov’s death. We aren’t the only ones who want to capitalize on his demise,” Kolya says. “We need to solidify our alliances sooner than later. We can’t underestimate the potential for ruin if we don’t.”