Total pages in book: 151
Estimated words: 138334 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 692(@200wpm)___ 553(@250wpm)___ 461(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138334 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 692(@200wpm)___ 553(@250wpm)___ 461(@300wpm)
Gedeon stretched his legs out in front of him and tried not to think about Meiling pacing along the sidewalk in the early morning hours with the commuters mobbing the sidewalks. Timur would have her watched over. He would feel bound. She was on his property. They were working in the bakery where Fyodor had offices, and there was no way Timur would allow a female leopard to walk the streets unprotected no matter how lethal she was.
He knew he set everyone on edge the moment he came into town. No doubt Lospostos was already aware he was in town. He didn’t like that Elijah was in any way mixed up in this. Harold and Atwater should have told him right away. A man as dangerous as Elijah Lospostos had to be cleared immediately. He swore silently as he drummed his fingers on the table.
Meiling was right. Georgi had had his plan in place long before he had been hired by Atwater. Gedeon waited impatiently for Harold’s reply. Who had recommended the bookkeeper? How had he come to be hired?
Timur emerged from the kitchen. Simultaneously, Kyanite and Rodion stood and moved with fluid grace to the counter. They looked casual as they approached, but they were anything but casual. Fyodor came through the double doors on some hidden signal from Timur. Fyodor went up right behind his wife, circling her waist with one arm and bending down to place a kiss behind her earlobe. She smiled, her face lighting up.
Gedeon had never seen a time when Evangeline hid her emotions, especially when it came to her husband. She loved him fiercely and it was there on her face for all to see. Only an idiot would miss the stark, raw emotion in Fyodor’s eyes when he looked at his wife, brief though it might be. She was his world.
Fyodor made his way through the opening in the counter to the main floor of the coffee shop, stepping easily into the middle of the diamond his guards provided, Timur at the top point. A fourth man, younger, built strong with blond hair, stepped behind Fyodor as they walked together completely in sync to Gedeon’s table. Gedeon began to rise, but Fyodor waved him back to his seat and took the chair opposite, extending his hand.
“Good to see you again, Gedeon. I wish it was under better circumstances.”
Gedeon nodded his head. The security team was smooth, taking up tables on the floor around Fyodor. The way they coordinated their moves, Gedeon doubted any customers in the bakery even noticed. “Are you getting anywhere?” Fyodor indicated the accounting ledgers and notebooks scattered across the table.
Gedeon had the foresight to close them. Even if the cameras could zoom in on them, they wouldn’t know what they were looking for. Nothing would make sense, particularly in relation to the kidnapping of a child.
“We’re making progress, but the beginning of a search is always painfully slow. Especially when it’s this kind of case. The tendency is to move fast, but then you make mistakes. We can’t afford to make a mistake. My gut tells me she’s alive. Meiling thinks the same thing. I want her to stay alive, so I’m not going to run off half-cocked. They don’t know I’m looking for them and I don’t want them to. It’s imperative to fly under the radar on this one.”
“Give us a way to help you.”
“Keep people out of my way. I can’t be stumbling over your men when I’m working. If I need information, I’ll come to you, Fyodor.”
Meiling returned, walking briskly, the way she did when she was onto something. Her gaze swept the tables, taking in the security team and Fyodor. That didn’t slow her down in the least. She kept coming straight to them, giving Fyodor a faint smile.
“Sorry to interrupt, but I need a couple of things. I’ll just work over there.” She indicated a small table in the corner with her chin while she caught up several of the accounting books, the tablet and a notebook. She didn’t wait for an introduction but hurried to the table and opened the tablet and one of the accounting books.
“She’s a force to be reckoned with,” Gedeon said. “Once she’s caught the scent, I swear she’s like a . . .”
Meiling’s head came up. “I can hear you. Don’t you call me a hound dog.”
Fyodor hid a smile behind his hand. Timur coughed. The new kid openly laughed. Kyanite and Rodion snickered.
“She’s a hurricane,” Gedeon said. “Sweeping a clear path to where we need to go.”
“Good save.” Fyodor indicated Evangeline. “Took me a good year to get myself out of trouble. I used sex.”
Gedeon wished he could use sex. He didn’t have that available to him. “We’re business partners.”
Fyodor’s eyebrow shot up. “Not yours? Not claimed? Hell, man, I’ve got a few men with leopards looking for mates. When this is over maybe she could meet a few of them, see if they get on.”