*Adrik*
I heard Sephie chuckle quietly behind me. I could feel her relaxing more now that she’d seen him speak. Andrei spoke up to answer his question. “Bombs. The two smaller warehouses are easily accessed. You guys will take care of those. The warehouse at the docks is crawling with Sal’s people. It’s going to be harder to get close enough to that one to plant explosives, so we’ll take care of that one.”
Oscar looked at Andrei. “You can make them all go boom at once. We can still plant the explosives on the smaller warehouses, but then be available to help at the docks. I’ve seen firsthand how many of Sal’s guys are at the docks. That’s a big job. You’re going to need extra help there.”
“Remote charges aren’t as reliable as I’d like,” Andrei said.
“You can confirm with Trino, because you shouldn’t take my word for it, but I figured out a reliable system in Colombia for remote charges. Worked like a charm every time. I’ll show you how. That’s why Trino sent me here,” Oscar said. “Then, we can set the smaller warehouses to go boom at exactly the same time as the one at the docks. Maximum chaos. That strategy is what helped Trino rise to power in Colombia.”
“Of course Trino would send us his explosives expert,” Sephie said in Russian. “If it turns out I was wrong about him, I’m going to kill him myself for making me like him so much.”
We all laughed, which put the dealers at ease. “We’ll check with Trino. No offense, of course,” I said to Oscar.
“None taken, Jefe. He told me to tell Sephie that my flair for the dramatic was almost as good as his should you question whether I was telling the truth,” he said.
“Point in your favor, Oscar,” Sephie said in English.
I grabbed her hand, pulling her to the bedroom while I called Trino to confirm Oscar was telling us the truth. This time, he picked up on the first ring. “Jefe, que pasa?”
“Trino, did you send your explosives expert up here?” I asked.
“Si, Jefe. Oscar. He’s been one of my trusted guys for years. He was instrumental in my rise to power, too.”
“Trino, if it turns out I was wrong about you and you’re not this awesome in real life, I’m going to kill you myself for making me like you so fucking much,” Sephie said. She sounded serious, but she had a wicked glint in her eye when she said it.
“Miha. I would never lie to you. I’m really this awesome. Maybe not as awesome as Jefe, but I need a goal to aspire to,” he said, laughing. “I’m guessing you’re moving forward on your plans to get rid of the brawn if you’ve met Oscar?”
“Yeah, I want to move quickly. I’m worried you’re facing a war and want to be available to help. We should be able to move quickly. Brawn first, bosses next.”
“Good. I could use Oscar when he’s done there.”
We ended the call soon after. Sephie looked more relaxed than she had when we first got to the apartment. “Your thoughts on Oscar so far?” I asked.
“I feel like he’s telling the truth, but not just because Trino confirmed it for us. I think he can be trusted,” she said. She was still feeling unsure, but I could also tell that she was trying to be confident. I pulled her to me, holding her tightly. “Misha and Andrei were right, love. You’ve been right more times than you’ve been wrong. I’ve come to rely on your unique set of skills and I still have complete confidence in them. When you can’t feel confident in yourself, you can borrow mine,” I said. I felt her inhale deeply and her body completely relaxed. She looked up at me, that spark that I love so much evident in her eyes. “Thank you,” she said sweetly. She stood on her toes, pressing her lips to mine. She wrapped her arms around my neck, burying her face in my neck. She stayed there for a few moments before finally relaxing her hold on me. “We should get back,” she said, reluctantly.
“One more minute,” I said, pulling her back to me as she giggled at me. She didn’t resist. She just rested her head against my chest as I held her close.
The guys had been working on revising the plan while Sephie and I were in the bedroom. They heard Trino’s confirmation on the phone through their earpieces, so they knew Oscar could be trusted. He was giving Andrei a tutorial on how he set up remote detonation to work reliably when we walked back out to the living room.
Oscar looked to us, expectantly. Sephie smiled at him. “We appreciate you being here, Oscar. Especially given what Trino’s facing at the moment. We promise to get you back to Colombia as quickly as possible. He’s going to need you again,” she said.
While Oscar had seemed relaxed the entire time he’d been in the apartment, he was visibly relieved that he got Sephie’s approval. “Trino told me how important your opinion of me was. I’m glad I’m in,” he said, smiling broadly at her.
“Knowing Trino, he also told you what will happen if you ever betray us. Whatever he told you, I can guarantee it was not an embellishment,” she said. She crossed her arms across her chest, looking at him seriously.
Oscar laughed. “He did tell me. I’m not that stupid. You have nothing to worry about,” he said as he went back to the conversation with Andrei about how to set up the detonators.
We eventually came to an agreement on a new plan for the three warehouses. The only variable we weren’t entirely sure on yet was Sephie. Ivan and I had discussed it briefly before, but neither of us liked the options we came up with. We had discussed leaving Ivan with her at the penthouse, but that left them vulnerable and we needed him at the warehouse. He briefly discussed bringing her with us, but I wasn’t happy about that plan either. I didn’t like the idea of putting her in danger just to keep her close to me. She hadn’t brought it up again, but I knew she was still worrying about it.
After the dealers left the apartment, Ivan brought the subject up once more. We needed to make a decision. “The biggest question now is what to do with the princess during this,” he said.
She glanced nervously at him, then to me. “What are the options?” she asked. She was definitely still worried about it. We could all see it written all over her face.
“So far, we’ve only come up with two options. I stay at the penthouse with you or you come with us. I can’t say I’m happy about either option,” Ivan said.
“But they need you. You can’t stay behind,” she said immediately. It was no surprise that she was thinking of the guys before she was thinking of herself. She started to chew on her lip as she tried to come up with a solution. “What if you took me to the house and left me there? No one will know where I am. There are plenty of guards. I’ll be safe there.”
“Absolutely not. I’m not leaving you alone,” I said.
“Then that only leaves one option,” she said.
Stephen, in his quiet way, said, “this might be a big help to us. She’s a hell of a shot. She’s fast and she can easily defend herself. It’s not like she’s going to be deadweight if she comes with us.”
“I was just thinking the same thing,” Andrei said. “I would be more worried about her if she wasn’t with us. With us, we all know she’s going to do just as much damage as we could do and we know where she is at all times.”
Viktor also agreed with Stephen and Andrei. “You know I don’t like anyone to be distracted. We would all be distracted if she wasn’t with us,” he said. “She’s been training with us for long enough now. She can handle herself and we’ll be able to keep an eye on her, the same as we keep an eye on each other.”
I inhaled deeply. They were right. I just didn’t want to put her in danger because I couldn’t leave her alone. I ran my hand through my hair, looking at the floor. I was still struggling with the decision. I felt her hand in mine. “Misha, what do you think?” she asked.
I watched as he ran through possibilities in his mind. He clearly looked nauseous. “What was that one? That was a definite no whichever one it was,” she said.
“That was you and Ivan staying at the penthouse. I think you’re coming with us, gazelle,” he said. Just to make sure, he ran through that possibility in his head, that faraway look in his eye once more. He ran his hands quickly over his arms, his upper body shuddering with the goosebumps he was obviously feeling. That settles that.
I looked down at Sephie. She looked unsure, but she wasn’t arguing with the decision either. She had the same look when the guys were trying to talk her into going up against Mike. She easily dominated in that situation. I had faith in her abilities. They were right; it would be better to know she was safe with us rather than worrying about her while we were away from her. I smiled to myself thinking about how protective they’d all come to be of her. She meant so much to all of us. We would do everything in our power to ensure she was always safe.