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“Three, Lana.”
“Wrong.” He starts blinking rapidly as I point my gun at his head. “There is only one.” A flash of confusion adorns his face, and then I do what needs to be done. I shoot the two men beside him, and they fall dead to the ground. My gun is safely tucked away, and I sigh because I am officially tired and bored.
I walk past the guard who is still alive and give him an order. “Clean the trash up.” I don’t wait for his response or even wait for a reaction; I have more important manners–the inside of the armory needs to be inspected.
***
It’s well after midnight, and Emin and I are done with the inventory of the armory. Earlier I thought I was thoroughly fucked, but I was wrong.
I am royally fucked.
That bastard Noa hasn’t taken any weapons; no, he has taken something much more valuable–information. He went into my study; I have one in each location, and he found the files on every employee I have. The estate and the armory are the places I value the most, and this is the reason why. It was a conscious decision to have all important documents stored digitally at the estate, with paper versions in the armory. I like having both because technology can fail you. And it failed me tonight.
Hana hacked into my high-level security systems while Noa took away everything else. While I have underestimated them, they did the same thing with me. I look between the lines, and Noa told me a lot without talking to me. He talked to me through his actions, and that motherfucker sang like a bird tonight. I am talking about this with Emin in my study as we sit opposite each other.
“Color me intrigued, how did he tell you anything?” Emin asks incredulously. The corners of my mouth move upwards as I produce a menacing smile. This is my territory, and they tried to piss on it, to claim it.
“Noa’s modus operandi for taking out a high-ranking hit is to do it himself, but he leans heavily on his team. Adam is on the lookout to snipe out anyone, Sara is on his tail, while Josh and Oliver come in from another entrance.”
“So? There was a blood bath here tonight, Lana. Noa couldn’t have possibly done this by himself.” Emin makes an excellent point, but he is wrong. Noa is certainly capable of doing this–he is strong-willed and a ferocious animal when he is in his element, which is close combat.
“Let’s walk through this,” I tell Emin, and he straightens his back. “The only entrance used was the front door. The murdered guards were not sniped, stabbed in the dicks, or had their faces smashed in. And an M was carved above their hearts.” Aside from the last one, the MOs belong to Adam, Sara, Oliver, and Josh, and they weren’t here. My guards were assassinated by what I think is a large blade and bullets because all my walls are painted in blood. That is Noa’s MO, unfortunately.
I see Emin nodding along, but he still can’t believe it. What is it with my employees and their inability to think further than what’s in front of them? I remind myself to hire more competent employees next time.
“I thought maybe they all carved ‘M’ into the guards,” Emin suggests, and I scowl at him. He starts nodding and realizes that what he said was stupid. He knows well enough that in our world you are never allowed to copy a sign-off. For that indiscretion, death is punishment.
“Explain the rest, because I’m still not getting it,” Emin retorts, and I oblige.
“Noa,” I take in a deep breath whenever I say his name, “is slipping. He did this all by himself because revenge is clouding his judgment.”
“That makes sense. But, if he wanted revenge, why doesn’t he just follow you and kill you himself?”
“Killing me is only the icing on the cake; he wants the whole damn thing. He wants information and to destroy me.”
“Because you fucked him over first.” Emin looks at the floor and smiles while shaking his head.
“What now?” I ask him.
He looks at me and slowly cocks his head. “Maybe he didn’t kill you in that basement because he still loves you.”
“No. Next topic.” I change the direction of our conversation quickly. “We need to install more effective security protocols, not only for the estates, but for our employees.”
“Agreed. Noa will try to do anything to kill them.” And that is something that scares me. He is descending into madness, which makes him more dangerous. He has nothing left to lose. Oh no…
“Where does Hana live?” Emin stops all movement because of my question. He shakes his head furiously, while my grin grows wider.
“Lana, with all due respect, are you fucking serious?” I wave off his concern and ask him again, but this time with more urgency.
“She lives twenty minutes away from Noa’s penthouse in Sarajevo. Why are you asking?”
“Because, dear Emin,” I stand up and motion for him to follow me, “Noa still has something to lose, and it has a pretty face with a brilliant mind.” I explain to Emin what my plan is with Noa’s brilliant cousin, and he declares me insane. His opinion is of no matter to me, so I don’t pay it any attention, as his job is to listen to me.
On the drive to my estate, we also discuss how he might have found the armory. The only explanation I have is that he has something I left…
1. "My sunshine" in Bosnian.
Chapter seven
