“Don’t be afraid of a good Russian welcome!”He gave a deep chuckle as he released me. “If I decide to let youdate my nephew, you will become a pro.” His obvious and thickRussian accent was somehow inviting and repulsing at the sametime.
Not knowing what to say, but knowing Ineeded to appear humble, I said, “Thank you, sir.”
I thought I saw his eyes narrow slightly,and I wondered if the “sir” was inappropriate. Then again, if Isaid the right things each time, he’d certainly get suspicious.
“We are only waiting on one more person toarrive, then we will begin. So, tell me. What is it about Viktorthat caught your eye?”
All that came to mind was the terriblefeeling I had whenever I was with him, but I said, “Actually, I’msorry to say, I was quite rude to him when I first met him. I canonly blame it on nerves of being a new student.”
“Is that true, Viktor?”
“It is. But I didn’t let that dissuademe.”
That’s when none other than Jericho steppedinto the room. I couldn’t help it, I jerked away at the sight ofhim, and it didn’t go unnoticed. Alexander cocked his head to theside and while looking at me, said, “Jericho. Thank you forcoming.”
The butler entered the room from behindAlexander and said, “Dinner is served.”
No one moved until Alexander stood up.Everyone followed him into the dining room. The table was expertlyset with dishes of decadent foods I’d never seen lining the centerof it. The butler helped Alexander sit and motioned for us all totake our seats. I sat next to Alexander, Jericho was across fromme, and Viktor was clear at the other end, sitting next to someoneI assumed was Alexander’s wife. The others sat in the remainingopen seats.
Once again, no one moved to fill theirplates with food until Alexander put a skewer of what looked likemeat on his plate. He passed it to me, and I took a very smallportion.
“Not a fan of lamb?”
I’d never had lamb, but said, “Not at all,there are just so many new and exciting dishes on the table, I’dlike to try them all without having to change into sweats toaccomplish it.”
He chuckled. “This good Russian meal willchange your life forever. American food will have suddenly lost itssavor.” His eyes laughed as he looked at me.
“S-Dub is quite pleased with your abilitiesand, quite frankly, I am too. You seem to have made quite asplash.” Alexander stabbed a piece of meat.
“It’s a bit of a surprise to me, also. Iguess I really wanted to impress Viktor—and of course, you.” I tooka bite of food, convincing myself that it wasn’t that bad, and Ididn’t need to know what it was.
“So, tell me. What is it about stealing animpressive car that turns you on?”
I cleared my throat.
“I mean,” he said, stretching the wordmean out, “What is it that gets you excited about stealingcars?”
I considered my answer. It needed to be onethat would make him trust me. “There’s a rush when I succeed,that’s for sure, but really, I just love becoming the best atsomething. Give me a task, and I will not only do it, but I willexcel.”
He bobbed his empty fork in my direction andcontinued to eat, asking chit-chatty types of questions as he did.The questions, while seemingly unimportant, truly had weight. Alarge grandfather clock chimed, letting me know we’d been in thedining room for twenty minutes. I needed to make my move soon. Iheard a few big booms outside, and colorful lights shone throughthe sheer curtains to my right. My team had come through with adiversion. I hoped it would at least get the attention of one guardaway from the dinner and its guests.
An almost imperceptible nod came fromAlexander, and I noticed one guard make his way out of the room. Imade sure to drink an excessive amount and made sure everyonenoticed that I had. Twenty-two minutes after dinner began, I turnedto Alexander, who had kept me talking most of the night, and askedif I could be excused to the ladies room.
He glanced at my empty cup, and I blushed.“Yeah, unfortunately, I tend to drink to calm my nerves.” I put ahand to my stomach.
Alexander put his hand over mine. “I’m sorrywe’ve made you feel nervous.” His eyebrows rose, and his eyespierced mine.
I resisted a cringe and said, “Don’t tellViktor. I wouldn’t want him to think I did something wrong.”
His eyes flicked to Viktor, who was talkingto the two men to his right, then landed back on me. “I’ll have thebutler show you the way.” He flicked his finger in the air, and thebutler arrived. I hoped he would leave once he showed me theway.
“Would you like me to return to show you theway back?” The butler said once he opened the bathroom door forme.
“Oh, now that would be really embarrassing.I’m sure I can make it back. Down the hall, through the livingroom, and it’s on my left.”
“Very well,” he said with a bow beforeheading back down the hall.
I locked and shut the bathroom door withoutentering it and quickly made it into the locked office, thanks tomy fancy bobby pins. I checked for cameras and, not finding any,made the room ready for my search. I made sure the curtains wereshut and then turned the light on in the room. I threw a blanket infront of the door to block the light from entering the darkhallway.
In a flash, I had the computer up andrunning and the contents of its hard drive copying onto a USBstick. I rushed through the filing cabinets, finding nothing.Searching his desk, I found a false-bottomed drawer that containeda gun. Two chairs also had guns shoved between the cushions. Ilocated a large, stunning statue standing in one corner anddecided, if anyone walked in, I’d use it to distract theperson.
I then searched the walls and
