The Boy from Reactor 4

CHAPTER 82





VICTOR’S PHONE RANG. Kirilo watched the Bitch step into the storage room to take the call. In the meat locker, Victor’s two men were removing the binds from Johnny Tanner’s hands and feet. Kirilo’s two bodyguards looked on beside a slab of ribs. Thirty seconds later, Kirilo’s own phone rang.

“Papa, I’m free!” Isabella said.

“Bella. Is it really you?”

“Yes, Papa. It’s me!”

“You’re free? What do you mean, you’re free?”

“They let me go.”

“They let you go?”

“Yes. They just let me go. They said they could see people were following us, but they couldn’t tell if it was your men or someone else. Since they couldn’t guarantee my safety anymore, they drove me to your apartment in Kyiv.”

“What? You’re home?”

“Yes! I’m home.”

“I’m overjoyed. How are you? Are you okay?”

While Isabella answered, Kirilo cupped the phone and whispered to Pavel, “Isabella’s free. Go get Stefan and the other man. Tell them to be ready.”

“I’m going to take a bath and order something to eat,” Isabella said.

“Good, good,” Kirilo said, returning his attention to the phone. “Lock all the doors. I’m going to arrange for some men to come guard the house. When they get there, call me before you let them in.”

The men who were tracking the Timkiv twins on his behalf must have gotten close, Kirilo thought. Victor, not knowing if it was his men or someone else, didn’t want to take the chance that something would happen to her on their watch, so he let her go. This meant Victor had never truly intended to hurt Isabella under any circumstances.

Still, the Bitch had to die.

Pavel, Stefan, and Kirilo’s other bodyguard were descending down the stairs to the cellar.

Kirilo rushed out of the meat locker and slammed the freezer door shut. He slid the deadbolt in place, leaving Victor’s men, his two other bodyguards, and Johnny Tanner trapped inside.

Victor dropped his phone and reached for his gun.

“Don’t,” Kirilo said, pointing at Stefan and the other bodyguard, who’d already brandished their weapons and were aiming them at Victor from the bottom of the steps.

Victor raised his arms with a look of resignation.

Fists pounded against the meat locker door. The men inside screamed for someone to open it.

Kirilo walked up to Victor, took his gun, and handed it to Pavel. Kirilo ripped his belt from around his waist. He wrapped it around the Bitch’s neck and savored the look of futility in his eyes.

“The key to leverage is to maintain your advantage,” Kirilo said. “Because the minute you lose it, you’re dead.”

Kirilo stared into Victor’s eyes and pulled on the ends of the belt.

Two thumps sounded in rapid succession behind Kirilo. The sounds were muted but loud enough for him to recognize them. They were gunshots. Muted by a silencer.

Kirilo swung around, dragging Victor with him like an unwilling dance partner.

Pavel and the bodyguard were lying on the floor with holes in their heads. Stefan aimed his gun at Kirilo, a silencer attached to its barrel.

“Release him,” Stefan said.

Kirilo removed his belt from Victor’s neck.

“You were right,” Victor said. “Ten million divided by two is not much more than ten million divided by three. But this formula…It really is a different matter.”

Victor took the gun from Stefan.

It was all happening so quickly, yet in slow motion. Kirilo wanted to bargain, to offer Victor a deal in exchange for his life, but he knew it was hopeless. Victor was going to kill him. The Bitch was going to kill him, and there was nothing he could do about it.

“Isabella,” Kirilo said, pleading with his eyes, embarrassed at the weakness in his voice.

“I would never harm my niece,” Victor said. “You have my word as a thief.”

The last thing Kirilo saw was an image of his daughter, innocent and sweet.

The last thing he heard was the suppressed sound of a gun firing a bullet into his brain.