“You went to Russia for Yesipov?” Rand asked in a hard voice.
“It was but one reason. It is important to note here that from the time I signed on with Trident, I have been your man. It is this company’s interests that have held sway in every decision I’ve made. That doesn’t mean I didn’t do my own searches for my father’s killer and the people who took my sisters and mother.”
“And?” Adam demanded harshly.
“I was made aware of Trident as I searched for a group of female assassins known as First Team. They were whispered about in the underground circles as the preeminent assassins. Expensive, but if you approached The Collective through the appropriate channels, they could be paid to dispose of anyone for the right price. If I could get my hands on them perhaps they could help me discover what had happened to my sisters. It has always been my feeling Joseph Bombardier was wrapped up in it all somehow.” Dmitry stood, walked to the bar and poured another vodka. He drank it in one swallow, let the burn track a path to his gut and then he sat back down. “Anyway, Trident was looking for the same women and it made sense to join with you as our goals lined up. What began as a way to discover more about The Collective became a friendship and now a partnership with some of the best men I know. But I have information to share with you now and it may change how we view things from here on out.”
“So you weaseled your way in under false pretenses and have operated under the radar waiting for the right time to make your move on the ones responsible for your father’s death?” Rand asked in a silky tone.
Dmitry nodded. He would not lie. “Yes.”
Rand sighed. “You have done no more and no less than any of us have in our quest to end The Collective. Your motivations are your own and you have more than proven that Trident is your number one concern. But I would hear your information and I will tell you that if you lie to us again, you will pay for it, Russian. My stake in this fight has risen dramatically and while that’s not something I ever expected, I will kill for Gretchen.”
Dmitry got up and walked to the window. “Understood,” he said. And then, “Minton was revenge and a warning for Joseph. When Bone killed him and her sisters watched, it was simply another way to get payback and goad Bombardier. But then Bone took Yesipov’s life in Russia and I realized that was First Team’s next move. But Bone is not finished. There is another head of Joseph’s Russian snake and she will go back soon to set that move in play. I thought Yesipov was mine so when your women asked me to follow Bone, I was more than ready to do so in the hopes I could take Yesipov and bring Bone back—as you Americans say, easy peasy, no muss, no fuss. But Bone took him and I let her because she gave me something I’d been searching years for—she gave me Ninka.”
Rand’s dark eyes speared Dmitry to the spot. “Ninka is the lost one they speak of. Bone yelled her name as she broke Minton’s neck. What is she to you?”
Dmitry nodded, the pain fresh and vicious. He remembered his sister. Remembered her fair hair and bright smiles. Her blue eyes, so like his own, so like their father’s, had been filled with happiness and laughter. He remembered her sweet voice and laughter. To know Joseph had cut her down like chafe sent hot burning pokers burning straight into Dmitry’s heart.
“Ninka was my sister and she was with Bullet, Arrow, Bone, and Blade before she was killed.”
Saying the words hurt. But it was an ending he’d expected for years. Many times he’d prayed for his sisters to have died rather than suffer the hell of childhood slavery or prostitution. Apparently, his prayers for Ninka had been in vain.
“There is more, Dmitry. Something else you’re holding back,” Adam said intuitively.
“There are more killers after First Team. Joseph calls them his Sciariorum. They are the male equivalent of First Team. Bone fought two of them in the woods surrounding Yesipov’s mansion. They are mean. They are vicious,” Dmitry parlayed.
“But they are not First Team,” Rand acknowledged.
Dmitry shook his head. “They are and they are not. They have an entirely different skill set. The fact that they are stalking First Team tells me one thing.”
Adam laughed. It was low and ugly. “Joseph is scared.”
Dmitry nodded this time. “That is all I know—all I have kept from you and all the new information I have. I searched for my sisters and now I know that one was killed soon after she was taken. Your women, Bone and Blade, did as much as they could to save her but in the end she was too fragile for Joseph Bombardier.”
“She was too good for that place of death, Dmitry Asinimov. She was too pure and beautiful for the hell we were created in,” Arrow’s voice sliced through his pain, bringing fresh blood but also cauterizing his wound.