Moving Target (Target #3)(18)

“And you know less than you think. People are rarely what they seem, Dima.”

His gaze drops to my side. “Put that away before someone gets hurt.”



Reluctantly, I let go of my weapon and indicate that Benjamin should continue.

“There’s a rumor, recently started, that Konstantin has a long-lost daughter and he’s looking for her. There’s a reward in the millions for her safe return. Not sure if the safe part is sarcasm. They should really make a font for that.”

I glance at the woman sitting near me, looking for a resemblance to my mentor. To the man who taught me to drive, to watch and wait, to kill without losing my humanity.

My father was old when I was born—I was unexpected surprise.

Thirteen years later, after my mother died of breast cancer, he and his brother, who is the head of the Bratva, sent me to live with Konstantin. There was nothing my father thought he could teach me. He didn’t have it in him anymore and my brother was getting deeper into the drug scene.

Even I could tell when he was high. It was a source of embarrassment for our family.

“And you think Chloe could be that daughter?”

He shrugs. “She fits the description. Her birth certificate lists a Conrad Riggs as her biological father. According to the little information I could find, that was Konstantin’s name while he worked undercover as a KGB agent in Virginia. He married a Sarah Beauchamp—by all accounts, he had no other motives to marry her than love. She had no connections. No money. No family. Nothing that would earn him a higher rank or get him access to classified information.”

“That should surprise me, but it doesn’t.” My mentor always loved Mother Russia, as he called it, but he was also a well-known romantic. “I will speak to Chloe about this.”

“I don’t think you should do it here. There is every possibility that he is looking to tie up loose ends. Perhaps Chloe or her mother know something they shouldn’t.”

Fear ripples through me, but I ignore it. Giving in to fear will do neither of us good. I have to be calm. I have to think things through. “Agreed. I will do it later. Ease her into the possibility. Perhaps she could call her mother and ask for more details. Maybe there is a picture.”

“That wouldn’t help. They all wore disguises.”

I glance at Chloe and Morgan as they chat animatedly. “Don’t we all… Don’t we all.”

Benjamin and I talk of other things, our eyes constantly scanning for danger as we do. While it’s imperative that we stay safe, Chloe does need to eat, and I cannot think of a safer situation than this.

Well, beyond my home in Praiano.

“I’m still trying to figure out what Leonid’s role was in all of this. He hates me, yes, but to harm her before she is delivered to Amsterdam… that makes no sense. And Konstantin has not contacted me again.”

“Perhaps he’d rather do than say.”

I grunt. “Now you sound like me.”

“Fun isn’t it.” He smirks at me.

The server arrives again, and I turn to Chloe, but she’s gone.

Morgan’s blue eyes meet mine. “Where is she?” I grate out.

“Chill, blondie. She went to the bathroom. I watched her ask the hostess and everything,” she says defensively.

“I believe you.” I scrape my chair back. “It’s her I don’t trust.”

“I thought you were a couple.”

“We are not a couple, but it is my job to keep her alive.” Actually, it’s more than a job, but that’s none of their damn business.

Ben stands, holding his hand out to Morgan. “Give them time.”

“Totally,” she agrees.

I start for the restrooms. Ben and Morgan are on my heels.

“Did you at least leave a tip?” Morgan asks.

“No tip needed,” Benji counters.

“Still a tip is nice.”

“You know I left a tip.”

“Well, there goes my impression of a bad boy.”

“I can still be bad.”

Enough. I round on them. “Save it.” I check the bathrooms. They’re empty.

“Let’s go,” I say, motioning to the lovebirds still cooing at one another. Jealousy eats me alive.

“She left on her own or was she made to leave?” Ben asks as we stand in the entrance.

I look both ways, trying to decide which way she went. “Doesn’t matter.”

“If you’re looking for your friend,” the hostess says. “She was telling people that she lost her passport and needed to find the American Embassy, but they were either tourists without a clue, or didn’t speak English. There is no embassy here, but I couldn’t catch her in time. She went that way.”

“Grazie.”

“We will find her. She doesn’t have that much of a head start.”

“It’s not the head start I’m worried about,” I counter. “It’s who finds her before we do.”





11





Chloe

“If you don’t mind, I need to use the ladies’ room,” I say to Morgan, all nonchalant like.

“Sure thing. I’ll be here when you get back,” Morgan says.