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I press the blade just enough to feel the danger but not break the skin. “You’re a smart guy, Temur,” I tell him, using his surprise to relieve him of his weapon. “You tell me…” I move closer, pointing his gun at his thigh near the central artery. “What happens if I so much as sneeze right now?”
I glance at his gun. “This is a… Sig Sauer P365, isn’t it? I believe it has a hairline trigger. I’m sure you know what happens if it goes off in this part of your leg. You bleed out in minutes.” I tilt my head, holding his eyes. “Or if you move your head just ever so slightly, you might find this knife slipping a little deeper.”
Temur’s confidence falters, his eyes darting between my hand and the gun aimed at his thigh. “You’re bluffing,” he says, glancing around the lobby. “This place is public.”
“Oh, please!” My eyes narrow. “Do you think I give a shit? That I couldn’t have a clean-up crew here in minutes.” I give him a slow, sadistic smile. “I, too, have contacts everywhere.”
“Well fuck me,” Temur murmurs. “You are a Pakhan after all, Belov.”
“Start talking,” I release the knife but keep the gun, keeping it hidden from view but handy. “Why would you think my brother has taken Konstantin and Marco anywhere?”
“We stormed the lodge only to find out it was a trap.” His eyes darken as he glares at me. “Did you know that Stacy was your brother’s spy?”
“I didn’t even know they were married until Konstantin told me,” I remind him. “Besides, Konstantin knew it was a trap.”
“Yeah!” Temur nods and looks at me suspiciously. “I’m trying to trust you here, Belov, and I should be the one wanting to rip your throat out as the traitorous bastard.”
“Then why not come in all guns blazing?”
“Your mother!” Temur tells me.
“What the fuck have you done with my mother?”
“She’s safe,” Temur told me. “Urie and Hannah… not so much.”
“Jesus!” I hiss, “I’m starting to get fucked off again.”
“Tell me where your brother is,” Temur ignores me and grills me again.
“I told you, I don’t know…” My eyes narrow. “If you were listening in on my phone, you’d know that.”
“Your brother somehow managed to shut me out,” Temur tells me. “I think he has Davey as well.”
“Davey?”
“Isabella’s tech friend,” Temur reminds.
This is getting fucking frustrating. It’s like a bad version of Spy versus Spy. “I have no idea who he is,” I tell him. “So why don’t you tell me why you think my brother has Konstantin, Urie, and Hannah.”
“I saw him take them,” Temur tells me.
“Why would he have Hannah?” I frown. “When did he take Hannah?”
“Right after he thought he’d killed me at the lodge and ushered her out of a room he had them locked in,” Temur tells me.
“Impossible,” I tell him. “I messaged Hannah right before I left Ottawa.”
“You didn’t message her, but whoever has her phone,” Temur assures me. He pulls out his phone and hands it to me. “I hacked the video feed from the lodge. You’ll see it’s all on there.”
I get onto his phone, and he flips to the feed. My eyes widen. I can’t believe what I’m seeing, so I turn to him. “What the fuck happened here?” My heart is pounding, and I realize why my gut was screaming at me. There was something wrong with what my brother was telling me. “How can I believe you that you haven’t doctored this?”
“May I?” Temur asks. I hand his phone back, and he dials a number while on speaker and a Russian woman answers. “Can you go to Miss Thompson’s room, please?” He hands it back to me. “The nurse will show how much your brother appreciated what his wife did for him.”
“Here you go,” the nurse says and turns her phone to show me Stacy. She is lying in a hospital bed, badly beaten, with medical equipment strapped to her. “We don’t know if she’ll survive the night.”
Stacy’s eyes open, and she tries to say something. “No, you must rest.” The nurse tells her.
“No,” Stacy breathes. “I need to… talk.” She is struggling, and that is when I see the hand marks on her neck. “Andrey… where… Isab…”
