Bone Deep(23)

Unless they’d been broken and reconditioned to overcome that fear. His heart, the one that stopped beating seconds ago, settled into a pounding rhythm.

She was tragic and never had he hated Joseph Bombardier more than he did then.

“Do not pity me, Asinimov. I have killed people for less,” she said in a hard voice.

She was beside him and he’d not even heard her. “I cannot pity strength. But I would kill Joseph Bombardier with my bare hands over and over again. And I would do it for you alone, Bone.”

She didn’t give him First Team’s rote he-is-ours speech. Instead she stared at him, digging into his soul with those eyes and nodded.

Dmitry had never known such an honor. She accepted his decree as if it acknowledging his claim. It humbled him.

Honor among killers—he’d never thought to find it and yet these women were the epitome of the word. Joseph may have created them but they’d found their own way in his hell.

“The sea is close by, yes?” she asked.

He nodded.

“I would stop there before I see my sisters.”

He would take her wherever she wanted to go. He led her to the waiting vehicle. Raines stepped from the driver’s seat and nodded at them, opening the rear doors.

“I see you made it out of Arequipa alive,” Bone said to the other man.

Raines didn’t smile but his eyes crinkled at the corners. “Before you blew everything up? Yeah, me and my men got lucky.”

“Blade and I enjoy explosives,” she told him with a shrug.

“Really? It was hard to tell,” Raines replied, giving up on his attempts to contain his grin.

“We’ll try harder next time.” She glanced around. “Where is Grant?”

Dmitry chuckled. “I do not think Adam would appreciate seeing your Mr. Fielding right now.”

He settled her into the seat and she turned to him. “He is not mine but I am curious as to why Mr. Collins doesn’t want to see Grant.”

Dmitry sat across from her, watching. “Let’s just say, Adam and Grant Fielding do not see eye to eye.”

Her response was a low hum and then, “Adam found Arrow. It is as it should be. She would have given up her life for him. I did not understand it until…”

She trailed off but his interest was piqued. “Until?”

She didn’t answer him. “Why did you come to Russia? You had to know I would return here after I finished what I’d begun. Whatever issue you have with me could have waited and would have saved me considerable effort and time.”

The Bone Breaker was goading him. He stared at her. “Vadim Yesipov was my father’s blood brother. They were both from the Ural Mountains in Siberia. They made a pact as teens to rule Russia and as they grew older, they saw their dreams become a reality. When my mother and siblings were taken from us, my father returned to the Urals, hiding in his despair until he was a man I did not know anymore. He was hard, bitter, but he was still my father. When Vadim had him killed, the responsibility for avenging my family became mine. You and your sisters are not the only ones who have lived for vengeance, Bone. My father was murdered on orders from his blood brother and the man looked me in the face for years and lied as I tried to find the information to damn him for it. He was mine.”

“Soiling your hands with Yesipov blood doesn’t earn you vengeance. Besides, Yesipov was just a puppet. It was always Joseph who steered that ship.”

“There were two captains. Tell me, Bone, did you realize there were two heads of the Bratva?”

Her eyes were cold when they met his. He was becoming familiar with the warning shivers that ran up and down his spine. Bone held secrets he couldn’t fathom. But he wanted to now and God help them both because he was a tenacious son of a bitch when he wanted something.

“I have known the hierarchy and structure of the Bratva for years, Asinimov.” She said nothing else and in her silence were more questions.

“You’re afraid of heights,” he ventured.

She shrugged. “I don’t know that I understand what it means to be afraid. I don’t know that any of us can distinguish fear anymore. We can recognize it in others but it is a defeatist emotion and one that was trained and then conditioned out of us. Heights were used against me, yes, but it is the memories of the ropes that bound me that prevent me from overcoming my dislike for being above the ground.”

He turned her words over in his mind, searching for hidden meanings. They were there but elusive.

“You are of Jewish descent?”

She raised an eyebrow. “Is this truth or dare, Asinimov?”

He chuckled. “I prefer the truth, but I’ll take what you give me.”

“My parents were originally from Bethlehem but they moved to Jericho shortly after they were joined. Benyamin and Dinah Ramler. I was born in the shadow of Masada. Perhaps my fear, as you call it, of heights began there. My parents migrated twice a year, walking the entire distance from Jericho to Masada—skirting the edge of the Dead Sea. I played in the fortress as a toddler, came close on several occasions to going over the side.”

It shocked him that she’d answered. With Bullet and Arrow it had been like pulling teeth for Rand and Adam to discover any information about them.

“You look surprised I would share the information with you.” She shrugged and the action was dismissive. He didn’t care for it much. “My past cannot hurt me unless I allow it to. And since it seems you want to have a 'let’s chat and be friends’ session, I’ll go one step further.