“I do. No secret rendezvous. Noflirting.”
“It’s more than that. No long looks orstaring, no lingering touches, or jealousy at any time.” He lookeda little rueful at the mention of jealousy.
I nodded. “Got it.” I felt awkward andsilly, so I changed the subject after a pause that lasted longerthan I could stand. “What did you mean when you said the missionmight not be worth it?”
He squinted his eyes and wrung his hands. “Idon’t want to burden you with my doubts.”
“If you have doubts, I want to hear aboutthem.”
“It’s just there’ve been so many suspiciousthings about this mission. I’ve been trying to look into whyDivision wants that particular car, and I haven’t been able to findanything. And the secrecy around it is unprecedented. No one knowsabout it, and any time I ask Director Skriloff for more resources,he shoots me down. That doesn’t happen. I’ve always been able toget whatever resources I need to complete a mission.”
“Maybe whoever paid for this mission hadlimited funds.”
“Division wouldn’t take on a project thatwasn’t perfectly funded. I’ve never heard of such a thing. It wouldbe madness. I have to uncover what’s so important about this car. Imean, I’m not willing to risk your life—and Kozlov’s, too— to get acar without a really good reason.”
“Division rarely tells us everything,Jeremy. We just have to trust that the car is important. I havethis feeling we need to stick to this mission. I think in the end,we’ll discover that that car is vitally important.”
“I don’t know if I agree, but I’m not givingup on it, yet.”
“Good.”
“You ready for this tonight?”
“I am.”
“Good, because I hear him coming up thestairs.”
Jeremy left the room.
The doorbell rang. I took a deep breath tosteady my throbbing heart and went to open the door.
“You look nice,” Viktor said, leaning in fora kiss. “Uncle Alexander is going to love you. You’ll see.”
“He better.”
“And yeah, we can’t hang out there afterdinner. He’s got a full schedule. But he did say you could comenext week, too.”
I raised my shoulders to my ears and letthem fall, grinning like a mad cat.
“Have your nerves returned?”
“Nah…I’m excited to really meet him, nowthat I’ve been successful at stealing the cars.”
He grabbed my hand and squeezed. “You rockedthat. He’ll be proud of me for picking you. When we first getthere, I need you to be perfect. Don’t let him have any reason todoubt you. And whatever you do, don’t make me look bad. If you cando that, we’ll have some fun after the dinner, just the two of us.”A deep growl sounded in his chest, and he bit his lip.
“You sure know how to make a girl feelconfident.” I frowned, feeling my muscles tense in irritation.
He chuckled. “Follow me, and you won’t gowrong.”
“Okay, Master!” I gave a snarky shake of myhead.
I reviewed in my mind exactly what I wasgoing to be doing once I got into the house. An upset stomach wouldbe a perfect excuse to flee for the “bathroom” twenty minutes intodinner.
We pulled into the driveway of anaverage-looking house, and he stopped the car. He leaned over to meand kissed me lightly. “Remember, follow my lead.”
I nodded, and we got out of the car. That’swhen I noticed the cameras and the two hulking guys near the end ofthe driveway. Another car pulled in behind us. A strange look ofapprehension played across Viktor’s face as he looked at them. Heled me up the steps to the front door. He rang the bell and thenopened the door and entered, pulling me by the hand behind him.
It was like stepping into another time,another place. The flavor of the house was purely old Russia.Intricate rugs hung on walls and covered the wood floors. It seemedevery surface was covered thickly with trinkets from the old world.It was impossible to miss the strong smell of foreign spices thathung thickly in the air.
A butler took our coats right after weentered the foyer. Two men entered after us, and Viktor turned tothem and said, “I didn’t know you two were coming today.” Hecrossed his arms over his chest.
“Uncle called and said you were bringing afriend he wanted us to meet.”
Had I just seen Viktor cringe at theirwords? They passed us into the next room, and he didn’t introduceme to them. My heart thudded. Viktor stood firm in the entryway. Igrabbed his hand and said, “What was that all about?”
He shook his head in an exasperatedmovement. “Nothing. They’re my cousins, and we don’t get along,that’s all.” His cold fingers told me another story. He swallowedhard. I tried to repress my anxiety by looking at the entryway onceagain. It was hard to imagine that I was in the average,American-looking house I’d seen from the street. There was aheaviness in the architecture and decoration.
Finally, another man, who was obviously morethan a butler, the bulge at his waist front and back confirming it,led us into a large living room. Alexander and five other men,including the two cousins who had passed us in the foyer, sat invarious seats around the room. It wasn’t hard to notice, however,that Alexander’s chair held him higher off the ground than anyoneelse. I wasn’t sure if he’d had the legs on his plush chair raisedor if he’d had all the other furniture legs cut off.
Viktor held his ground at the entrance tothe room. I looked up at him, but he kept his eyes focused onAlexander, whose eyes were on me.
“Viktor!” he called out in his deep, roughvoice, his arms spreading wide to receive him. “Welcome!”
Only then did Viktor move. He nodded, beganhis procession toward the brigadier and said, “Thank you so muchfor having us to dinner. As discussed, I’ve brought Amber Smithtonight.”
“Yes. Yes.” The bratva leader said, hisfingers beckoning us closer just as we reached him.
Viktor leaned into his outstretched arms,and they kissed each other on the cheeks—the typical Russianwelcome.
I pretended to be unsure what to do asViktor backed away and swung
