Vengeance Aside (Wanted Men 0.5)(70)
“Can you imagine?”
“Wouldn’t that be amazing?”
They spoke at the same time and laughed as they pushed through the steel door to get out to the back alley. It was brightly lit, but otherwise empty.
“It’s too soon any—”
“It takes one time, Dale,” Farah interrupted as she walked around a puddle to look right and left. A light drizzle was falling, making the area around them misty. She frowned as she looked back at the door, and then at the alley again. “Guess we rushed for nothing,” she murmured in a flat voice as she got Dale’s arm in a tight hold and started toward the street that was two hundred yards away. “Fifty bucks says they meet us at the curb.” The quiet mutter sounded annoyed.
They walked at a steady clip while talking about the earliest they’d heard of a woman learning she was carrying. Neither of them looked back when they reached the sidewalk just as Adam brought the Land Rover to a sudden halt in front of them.
***
Lukas pulled his earpiece out and got out of the back of the truck to look beyond Dale and Farah. According to Maksim’s eyes, Dawson had entered the corridor and spotted the girls just as they’d reached the door. Proving it, the slim man in a pressed suit now stepped out of the building into a circle of light—
A burst Lukas knew very well was brain matter blew out from the back of the guy’s head, and he crumpled.
A silent shot from a sniper.
As the girls brushed by Lukas to climb into the back of the truck where Samuel was waiting—Farah didn’t look pleased—a black van zipped past their front end to shoot down the alley. It stopped, two men got out and tossed the body into the back. They slammed the doors, jumped back in, and continued driving to exit the lane at the other end. The light drizzle falling would eventually wash away any fluids left on the ground.
The van disappeared, and as quiet descended once more, Lukas vowed never to doubt Maksim Kirov’s organizational skills again.
He got into the truck and settled beside Dale. She hadn’t seen a thing. Had no idea she and Farah had just been used to draw out a killer who’d done unspeakable things to the women Maksim had found in the freezer in that storage unit.
And she never would, he vowed as he and Samuel exchanged a look so full of relief it choked him up.
TWENTY-ONE
The following evening, before his family, friends, and associates, and Dale’s small group of friends, Lukas married the love of his life. Samuel stood next to him, his proud best man, and Farah—more emotional than Lukas had ever seen her—was at Dale’s side as her matron of honor.
His father, still sporting a bandage over his ear, sat with his brother, Semion, and Vasily. All of the men wore black because even though they were celebrating a new beginning tonight, they were also in mourning for the men they’d lost the night Lukas’s father had been shot. The night Lukas’s life had changed forever.
He and Dale repeated vows, exchanged rings, and shared their first kiss as husband and wife. Through it all, Lukas knew all was well because he’d never seen the dimple flash so often.
They had dinner on the veranda where the ceremony had taken place. White flowers and tiny golden lights surrounded two long tables that had been set up. The Zavrazins and Tarasovs were scattered around both. When Lukas had stood to toast his bride, he’d looked to the end of his table and had seen the reason why Maksim’s confidence had been so great in the operation he’d organized to take Dawson out. Micha Zaretsky, Maksim’s right hand and one of their world’s most accomplished assassins, sat next to him. Garrett Dawson should have felt honored to have been killed by the man.
Once everyone had full bellies and fuller glasses, the tables were cleared and moved aside, and a small band began warming up. That’s when the clink of a solitary glass had Lukas pausing his conversation with Yasha who’d just informed him Nero’s father had been contacted in Detroit with the news that his son’s remains had been found in a whorehouse near the Mexican border. The Zavrazins had sent their condolences and would send a representative to attend the funeral that would be held next week.
The sound of his wife clearing her throat into a microphone had Lukas turning to see Dale standing in front of the band, champagne glass in hand. From the first moment he’d seen her come through the French doors, and every time he’d set eyes on her since, she stole his breath. The way she looked as his bride, wearing what had essentially been his choice, made his chest swell to the point where it felt as if his feet were leaving the floor. Her off-the-shoulder gown was snow white, and it hugged her curves to perfection. The beading around the neckline was minimal, though Dale hadn’t thought so, and the skirt was a tight A-line made up of the finest layers of chiffon. Her midnight hair was drawn away from her face in a gentle style that had the thick mass falling down her back in big curls. He’d had the distinct pleasure of folding back the veil he’d insisted on, but it had since been removed.
She cleared her throat again and smiled a little. Just one side of her mouth—which had been glossed over with a pale pink shimmer that was driving him nuts; he wanted her lips back. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but I just want to say a few words before the dancing begins and people start drifting off.” Her smile grew when her eyes flicked to the corner where Maksim and Micha were with hanging with Paula and Peyton. Lukas noted the twins no longer looked as wary as they had when the boys had advanced thirty minutes ago.