Mr. Blue Cross looked around as if searching for a place to run. Kaz’s men blocked the main opening that we had come in, but there was the fire exit close to me.
He took a step forward.
Don’t do it.
He took another step and raced that way.
“Hell no.” I rushed for him.
He tried to punch me. With a big chest and short arms, he didn’t have much reach. I arched around the punch, swatted his hand away, and sliced his face with the knife.
Screaming, he charged for me.
And then Kaz yanked him by the arms and slammed him into the wall.
Well, my lion let me do most of it today.
I stepped back as Kaz punched him several times in the gut and then slung him down to the ground. Kaz’s other men got to him, ready for blood.
“No. Don’t kill him!” I cleared my throat. “Please. He’s for Boris.”
Kaz’s men paused and turned to him.
I turned to my lion. “Boris and Yuri grew up together. I promised Boris he could do it.”
Kaz motioned for them to take Blue Cross away. They carted the guy past us.
“Mysh.” Kaz took off his jacket, walked over to me, and grabbed my knife. “When I said you could take charge—”
“Did I go too far?”
“It was necessary, but hard for me to stand still.” He wiped the knife on his jacket and handed it back to me. “How are you? I didn’t see you get hit, but. . .”
Swallowing, I pocketed the knife. “I’m fine, baby.”
He slung the jacket over Zahkar’s body.
Sadness hit me. “Are you mad that I killed him?”
“He spit at you.” Kaz frowned. “If I was closer, I would have snatched his head off his body.”
“The Knights of Babylon blackmailed Zahkar?” I ran my fingers through my hair. “Do you believe him?”
“It would’ve been a smart tactic. Jean-Pierre killed the butler, housekeeper, and two men from the security tv room. They could have had something on them too. Blackmail is a great way to get people to do bad things.”
“And, it’s a great way to get things done while keeping your identity secret.”
“Or. . .someone is pretending to be the Knights of Babylon to keep us off their track, while they blackmail.” I let out a long breath. “At least we know who killed Yuri and why.”
He pulled me into his arms. “I would rather know who’s threatening you.”
“Soon.”
“Damn you.” He kissed and held me tight. “You’re deadly, but still I worry.”
I leaned away from those yummy lips. “I could say the same about you.”
“Let’s leave out of the back. I wouldn’t want the strip club to be scared of you with all the blood on your suit. They may be worried about letting you enter again.”
“No. I want everyone to see the blood, especially the dancers.” I shook my head. “Let these chicks see what I’m about.”
He grinned. “Really, Emily?”
“They need to understand. No lap dances for the lion anymore.”
Chuckling, he took my hand and guided me away. “My wicked mouse. You have no competition.”
I better not.
I glanced over my shoulder at the new corpse. I didn’t know who would clean up Zahkar’s body. Being that he ordered the death of Yuri’s mother, I could care less. She had been an innocent women already mourning her son, and they’d rushed into her apartment and beat her to death.
Over a fucking picture. Fuck him.
For Zahkar, I would have no remorse.
Meanwhile, with the small amount of answers more questions came. But now the key to end this would be to find the right question. The fundamental one.
Why not just kill me?
If they didn’t want me around, there had been plenty of chances.
They got the butler and maids. Bothered Zahkar by digging up photos from the past. Couldn’t they have just killed me an easier way? Jean-Pierre snatched my ass right out of Kaz’s bedroom. While the Butcher was smart, he wasn’t a mastermind.
Something is not adding up.
When I was alone in Kapotnya, Surely, someone would’ve followed me and blew the drug house up or even Yuri’s mother’s place. A sniper could have shot me all the times I left the house to go to the building.
The person might’ve gotten chased or discovered, but there were moments where I could’ve been gone. Even with the dead monkey heads and the gorilla. Why not sneak in a bomb? Why the animal flesh? They knew I would find it at a particular moment. There could’ve been a bomb that was small enough to just get me.
Why take great care and use all these resources to terrorize me?
Hold up. Do they really want me dead? I could have killed me by now with less resources.
As we went through the Gentlemen’s club and made our way outside, I started to realize a possibility.
“What’s on your mind, mysh?”
“I believe we’re looking at the monkey head situation all wrong.” I stopped in front of the limo. “They’re not threatening to kill me. No one has actually tried to hurt me at all.”
“That’s a good thing.”
“It also says a lot. If they can get dead animals into the lion’s den, why not simple kill me? Through poison, a bomb, an assassin, a sniper. I mean come on. The Knights of Babylon killed your Aunt Fanya. And I’m sure your uncle’s castle had serious security.”
“The best.” He frowned. “But that’s enough. I don’t want to think about the ways they could’ve tried to kill you.”
“True, baby. However, the point is that they never tried to kill me.” I gave him a weak smile.
He frowned.
“Kaz, think about it. I got more scratches from the French’s kidnapping than I did from this situation. Do they really hate me at all?”
He ran his fingers through his hair. “In some way you’re making sense, but I would rather not think of this at all.”
“Think about it.”
“I am. They could have killed you, but they didn’t.”
So, what are we missing?”
He looked past me, silently thinking for several seconds. “Perhaps, they only want to keep us busy.”
“Yes. This could all just be a distraction.”
With a skeptical expression, he sighed. “But, a distraction from what?”
“I don’t know, but that’s the fundamental question.”
“The fundamental question?”
“Yes.”
Opening the limo door, Kaz gave me an odd look. “Then, we need to find out the answer.”
Chapter 30
Misdirection
Kazimir
We road in the limo.
While Emily quietly lay against me, I considered what she’d said.
A distraction? That’s an interesting thought.
Magicians used misdirection as a form of deception. It drew the audience’s attention to one thing in order to distract the audience from another. Managing audience attention was the aim of all illusionists as well as the main requirement of all magic acts.
A distraction?
When Sasha was a kid, he had been a fan of magic. Constantly rambling about it as I tried to listen to my rock music.
According to Sasha, magicians misdirected audience attention in two ways. One was to lead the audience to look away for a fleeting moment, so that they didn't detect the sleight of hand. The other approach was to reframe the audience's perception, distract them into thinking that an extraneous factor had much to do with a particular feat. While the audience focused on that, other things happened right in front of their eyes.
And they never had any idea.
Could she be right?
The main reason why Sasha had come so close to killing me was due to his damn magician theory of misdirection.
Was it all a distraction in the end? What have I been ignoring?
Emily believed that a threat may no
t be there. If so, why hadn’t she come close to being killed? Where were the stray bullets? The explosions? The men trying to grab her in the night?
They went through a lot of trouble to put dead animals in my house? Why not a bomb? Why not make the side of her bed explode? Or even her building? She went in there all the time.
A cult like the Knights of Babylon had been rumored to have hundreds of powerful men. I didn’t like to think of it, but I believe enough influential men could figure out ample ways to kill Emily.
They hadn’t truly tried. With the dead animals and bloody rats, they’d harassed and threatened. Intimidated and disgusted us all. But, no harm had come Emily’s way.
And with each animal corpse, I had changed the direction of my attention—going here and then there. With the monkey heads, I had taken my mouse away from Russia, due to that a battle had come with the French. There’d been a chimpanzee while we were gone, but it was all before Jean-Pierre kidnapping Emily. In fact, I had been considering returning to Moscow.
More misdirection.
When we finally returned, I went back to the business of dividing territories. And the animals appeared again. This time the cult’s symbol dripped in blood on the bedroom wall.
According to Rolan, the cult had killed Uncle Igor’s wife, my Aunt Fanya.
They hadn’t given her a nice little warning on her wall. They had carved her up.
I gazed down at my mouse. Several drops of Zahkar’s blood decorated her blouse and suit jacket. She looked like a sociopath coming from a daily murder. And I wouldn’t have had it any other way.
My little psycho. My gorgeous killer. You are a force to be reckoned with.
She looked up at me. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m thinking about your theory.”
“It makes a little sense. Right?”
“It does, but I don’t want it to just be wishful thinking and we ignore a real threat.”
“No. I think if they wanted me dead, they would have at least come close.”
It scared me to even think of the possibility.
“I’m still thinking about this.” She continued, “Every time you started to deal with brotherhood business, the animals appeared.”
“So, someone doesn’t want me to get things done with the brotherhood?” I sighed. “Or at least, they don’t want me to pay attention to a particular area.”
She let out a long breath. “Who would benefit with you ignoring what’s going on when it comes to territories?”
“The ones in control, and the ones who believe they will be in control.”
She tapped her leg. “So, let’s think about the meetings. Monkey heads came the night of the ball. What meetings were you having the next day?”
“The top ones. Who would be positioned close to me? As well as handing out Sasha and Luka’s territories. That ended, when the monkey heads appeared. I took you off to France. And then when I was in France, I considered having us go back. The next day, the chimpanzee appeared.”
“As if to say, stay in France.” She frowned. “When you had the meeting days ago and gave me Kapotnya, did you give out Sasha and Luka’s territories?”
“No. I only dealt with Russia. Sasha had control of our assets in Italy.”
“And Luka?”
“Small spots here and there, he was mainly helping me with overthrowing the Kremlin.”
She shook her head. “Just a light little government coup. That’s it?”
“Those are the top ones that come to mind. However, I’ll look into the rest. Either way, I never got to that meeting due to the dead gorilla.”
“Wait.” She shook her head. “Italy comes up for the second time today. That’s a sign.”
“It is. In that picture, all the men are dead except three.”
“Your god father who apparently is building a church for no followers. Rolan who is awesome and innocent, and then—”
“Fela.”
She bit her lip. “After seeing Fela in chains, I definitely don’t want to bother him. I don’t even want to think of him as doing anything.”
“But, you have a point, mysh.” My head came alive with possibilities. “Who would have had that picture?”
“Zahkar claimed to not have it. I actually believe it. He killed because Yuri had it. I’m sure Zahkar was going to figure out what the Knights of Babylon wanted and then destroy that photo.”
“I believe Zahkar didn’t have possession of the picture either, not until the Knights of Babylon brought it to him. You stabbed him good. Zahkar could never lie through pain.”
“So, someone gave him the picture as a threat—”
“And more misdirection came. He killed one of your men. That put a pause to brotherhood business.”
“And no new monkeys appeared.”
“Rolan assumed only Fela could have had that picture in the first place. None of the living would want a copy. None of the dead would have passed that legacy down besides Zahkar’s father, Adrik who was killed by Fela.”
She ran her fingers through her hair. “But, let’s think about this. When we were in France with the kidnapping, no dead animals showed up. We returned. No dead animals. Then, we’re dealing with the miscarriage, the war with the French, and even the doctor’s visit. No dead animals. We go to Prague for the funeral. Still, nothing. It wasn’t until after the first brotherhood meeting where the disruption started back up.”
“Misdirection. We turned our attention to something else.”
“The French returned.”
“And there were no dead animals.” I nodded. “We’re busy looking at what they want us to focus on.”
“Who’s in control of Sasha’s territory right now, especially Italy?”
“No one. That’s what has been the problem. All of our assets have been open. The few men Sasha had left are probably down there, fattening their pockets, but no one is truly in charge.”
“Rolan and you talked about Black Axe trying to take over the Cocaine Capitol. If you’re busy and no longer mediating discussions, would it help Black Axe gain control?”
“Definitely. The Italian mafia and the brotherhood have a long history. If the Sicilian’s Cosa Nostra needed help, I would rage war on any of their enemies. The brotherhood and the Sicilians are as close to gangster bffs as two groups could be.”
She grinned. “I’m kind of surprised. I see you both as very different.”
“Yes. The Italians have a strong set-in-stone hierarchical structure. We Russians have a looser association and less structure. It allows us to pop up, disappear, and then pop up again, while the Italians are more grounded and set in.”
“Or are you just bias?”
“That could be true but make no mistake. The Italians aren’t church ladies. The classic mob is a scary being to behold. Dealing with them provides all the trappings of politeness and civility, but with brutality lurking just underneath the surface like a shark, ready to drown and bleed you when you’re not looking.”
“Who do you think are more violent—Russians or Italians?”
“We are. We are also more unpredictable. Italians wouldn’t hurt or threaten government authorities without a vote from the head of their families and a long discussion. We wouldn’t care or think twice. For us, no one is above the brotherhood. No one would be given a second thought.”
“Then, if I was Black Axe, I would want to work more with the Italians than you. It sounds like the brotherhood is more violent and less stable. I would want to keep you all out of the mix as much as possible.”
“That is why many use the Italians as a middleman, when dealing with us. And they keep us as mediators.”
“This makes sense. In New York, I’ve seen the Russians and mob work together sometimes.”
“Yes. In the USA we work together very well, especially in prison. And when the Soviet Union collapsed, Russians who fled to Brighton Beach, New York had assistance from the top Italian families.”
“So. . .t
he Italians probably wouldn’t be distracting us?”
“No. At least not the Sicilians. They would want my focus in Italy. Who knows what Sasha had going on in Italy or even what deals he may have made? And at this time, I’m sure Fela is taking advantage of my disregard to this matter.”
“Fuck.” She ran her fingers through her hair. “I don’t want this to have anything to do with Fela.”
“You don’t even know him.”
“But Zakhar’s father had him in chains. That makes me have a sense of loyalty to Fela.”
“Perhaps, that was exactly what Fela was looking for. This is why he chose that sort of distraction.” Everything began to fit together. “Who else would understand his dealings with the racist Russians, but a black woman? After we killed Sasha, whispers of the lion and mouse rose. Many sought to find out who the mouse was. Even Jean-Pierre had spies trying to figure out your identity. Initially, he thought you were a man.”
“Then, he kidnapped me, and the French figured out who I was.”
“As well as the Yakuza,” I added. “I’m sure the Dragon had spies all around at the time. Once he got an image, I know he would’ve gained favor by telling others who you were.”
“In New York, I thought no one was as gossipy and catty as gangsters. Is that true on the international front?”
“Yes, indeed. After New York and Prague, I’m sure by the time we got to Moscow, Fela’s men might have known of your identity and importance to me too. My uncle and he were close. Fela even had men that served as security for Uncle Igor’s castle.”
“If Fela was close to your uncle, he might’ve known about the Knights of Babylon.”
“Maybe, Fela was the only person Uncle Igor could have told.”
“Igor did see Fela in chains and naked long ago. They both shared secrets. They both knew each other well.”
“If we continue with this theory,” I tapped my fingers against the door. “Then, Black Axe has someone close to me spying for them.”
“Someone who would benefit from spying for them.”
“A person that would want Sasha’s Italian interests.”
She slumped her shoulders. “Or. . .we’re all wrong and someone is trying to kill me.”
Dirty Passions Page 34