Burned Dreams - Page 76

“Yes,Alessandro. Won’t you introduce us?” Belov smirks.

“That’s Sergei Belov, baby. The guy who almost blew me up during a mission. Twice.” I say, then look back at my ex-comrade. “What are you doing here?”

“We came for a visit.”

“Who’s ‘we’?” I grumble.

The passenger door to Sergei’s car opens and Felix Allen steps out. “It’s business, not a social call. We’re here for a return favor in lieu of payment for the services I’ve rendered.”

“What services?” I ask.

Felix adjusts his glasses and reaches into his pocket, taking out a folded piece of paper. He clears his throat, then begins to read aloud.

“Obtaining several sets of top-of-the-line counterfeit documents. Hacking into federal, state, and local governments databases, and accessing-slash-deleting-slash-modifying various records and information, hacking into law enforcement systems and appropriating confidential information”—he pauses and looks up at me before taking a deep breath and exhaling—loudly—as he proceeds—“thirteen times. Locating and appropriating black market long-range weapons, falsifying or eliminating serial numbers, as needed. Setting up two offshore bank accounts and purchasing . . .”

I can’t help but roll my eyes at the drama queen, then wrap my arm around Ravenna’s waist as Felix continues listing all the stuff he did for me over the years.

“That’s the guy who helped you get out of Z.E.R.O.?” Ravenna whispers.

“Yup.” I drop a kiss to the top of her head while Felix keeps yammering.

“. . . blackmail, calling in favors from Yakuza, as well as two Camorra factions. Arranging the disposal of corpses on a regular basis, hiring then firing a very expensive hitman . . .”

“But he looks so . . . grandfatherly.” She laughs. “If I saw him at a crosswalk, I would offer to help him across the street.”

“He would probably bite off your hand. And him looking like a grumpy old man only makes him more dangerous.”

“. . . acquiring a body of unique characteristics, as well as incurring a storage expense until a set of delivery instructions were received, procuring another body under an extremely short timeline, and the cost of an orchid bouquet.”

Felix puts the paper away and places his hands on his hips.

“Storage expense for a body?” I ask.

“Yes.” He nods. “You requested a six-foot-seven specimen. I had to buy a larger fridge.”

“And the bouquet?”

“My doctor said I needed to cut down on sugar intake. Guadalupe found the body when she was searching for my ice cream stash so I had to apologize for causing her distress.”

I look at the heavens and shake my head. “What do you want?”

“I need you to accompany Sergei on a tiny private mission for me.” He shrugs and brushes the nonexistent dust off his suit jacket. “Nothing too significant. Three days, maybe four, max.”

“What kind of mission?”

“A rescue mission. A short trip to Mexico and back. It’ll be a piece of cake, Az. I swear.”

“I see. If it’s an absolutely meaningless one, why can’t Belov handle it himself?”

“The location is kinda guarded,” the old man mumbles, avoiding my gaze.

“How many men?” I ask.

Felix shrugs but doesn’t reply.

“A hundred and three,” Sergei throws in and smiles. “It's my buddy Mendoza’s compound. Hopefully, he won’t realize it’s me when we storm it.”

“And your brother is okay with you invading his partner’s location?”