THE GATEKEEPER

That coil of sickness in my gut winds tighter. She's right not to trust me. I am the man who murdered her father. Her blue eyes swim with tears. "I lost him," she moans.

I brush one of the tears sliding down her temple away. "Maybe we can find him. I will help you, Valkiriya." "Why are you so kind to me?"

I ignore her question. "What were you doing breaking into my desk?"

"Looking for information-the list of who lives here. A building diagram." "Why?"

Her eyes droop closed, then open. "I came in grief. Directly from the morgue and a visit to the crack house where my sister lived. They told me there was no boy with her and hadn't been for several years. So, I came in hope and dread that Mika had attached himself to the bratva to survive. The police officer told me you take in Russians."

Ah. So, this was who she meant when she said she was told we would help.

The story is coming together.

"Who are you working with?"

She shakes her head, pressing her lips closed. A soft moan issues from behind them.

"Who, Kira?"

"The..." she appears to be fighting the drug. "FBI."

I go still. Fuck.

"What do they want?"

"They wanted me to plant bugs and..." Again, she seems to be trying to stop herself from speaking.

"And what, Kira?"

"I sent the code to the front door."

"What else?"

"Photos of the lobby and stairwell. Also of the HVAC system."

"Where did you plant the bugs?"

"In both elevators and the pottery studio. Under your desk. I'm supposed to put one in your pakhan's office."

I scrub a hand over my face. Thank fuck Ravil didn't have time to see her yesterday. I will have to tell him, though. And soon.

"Who is your contact with the FBI?"

She shakes her head. "My boss has the contact. He said if I helped them get into the Kremlin, they would help me find Mika."

"The name of your boss?"

"Stepanov. Anton Stepanov."

"The name of his FBI contact?"

Again, she shakes her head. "I don't know. Stepanov won't tell me."

A knock sounds on my door.

Blyad'.

I throw a blanket over Kira's naked form, quickly replace the zip ties on her wrists and ankles and go to answer it.

As if things weren't already bad enough with Kira bugging the building and working with the FBI, when the door swings open, I find my pakhan. Which means I'm fucked, and so is Kira.

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Maykl

Ravil has a deceiving manner of appearing laid-back. Casual. As if he couldn't order your murder with a wave of his finger.

Now, his hands are tucked in the pockets of his designer slacks, his button-down is open at the throat. Behind him stand Maxim and Nikolai.

I make an attempt to appear equally casual. "What can I do for you, Pakhan?"

Ravil blinks once. Twice. The silence is excruciating. Then he says, "You can tell me what's going on with the woman in your apartment."

I attempt to swallow and fail.

There's nothing that can be done. No way I can keep any of this from him. Kira is working with the FBI. My boss may kill her. Her fate is out of my hands now.

I go for brief and direct. "I allowed her to enter the building the night before last. She came to Chicago to claim her dead sister's body and find her nephew. That much is true. But what I didn't know until recently is that she is politsiya working with the FBI in exchange for information about her nephew."

Ravil tips his head to look past me. "Where is she now?"

"Zip tied to my bed."

Nikolai's brows flick ever-so-slightly. Maxim's lips twitch.

But Ravil is unamused. "When were you going to tell me about this situation?"

Heat prickles up the back of my neck.

In the bratva, betraying a brother is cause for death. In my experience, this rule can be invoked for the slightest transgression. Many things can and have been construed as betrayals. Certainly, my allowing Kira to infiltrate and bug our building could be seen as more than a failure to do my duty. It could be seen as a betrayal of my brothers.

I steel my chest like a soldier in the military rather than a crime organization. "Immediately. I've been interrogating her this afternoon."

Ravil raises his brows as if he doesn't believe me.

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I absorb the gaze without flinching. Showing him I am still loyal, despite my fuck-up.

"She's secure? Can you leave her?"

I nod.

"Come to my office."

"Get her phone or any electronics she brought with her," Nikolai says.

They wait for me as I get her purse and phone.

In the elevator, I put my fingers to my lips, searching for the bug. I find it behind the handrail. A tiny green light indicates it's on.

I hand it to Nikolai, who inspects it, then turns it off.

Maxim rummages through her purse. Nikolai takes the phone and discovers a handful more bugs in the sleeve on her case. I was an idiot not to find them.

Blyad'. Does that mean the FBI overheard the entire conversation I just had with Kira?

But no, the bugs in her phone are not lit with the same green light. They haven't been turned on.

Maxim inspects Kira's politsiya badge and her passport.

"You used the truth serum on her?" Maxim asks.

I nod. "I couldn't bring myself to torture her. She is..." What? Heartbreakingly beautiful? Has me wrapped around her finger? "A small thing," I finish lamely.

Nikolai rolls his eyes. "You mean you fucked her, and now you can't stop thinking with your dick."

I bristle, but Nikolai is my superior. I can't tell him to fuck off, much as I'd like to.

"Did you?" Ravil asks in that mild manner of his.

I grit my teeth and nod.

When we get to the top floor, Ravil points at the bug in Nikolai's hand. "Turn it back on and leave it in the hallway. If they don't know we've found them yet, I'd like to keep it that way."