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)
“Kyanite is fast enough,” Timur assured. “He wouldn’t move on her unless he knew he could take her down and get the phone before she gives the order.”
“We know we’re putting you in a bad position with Lospostos,” Gedeon said. “For that, I apologize, Fyodor. I had hoped we could handle this without you.”
“He’ll understand a child’s life was at stake,” Fyodor said. “I ask that you meet with him after this is over. You’ll be able to hear the truth in his voice when you speak with him.”
Gedeon nodded his head but didn’t speak. Before he agreed to meet with Elijah Lospostos, he was going to have a long talk with Meiling and lay down the law. If she wasn’t willing to comply, there would be no meeting. They would be getting on a plane and heading back to New Orleans within an hour of taking the kid back to her parent.
* * *
* * *
GEDEON watched as Meiling weaved in and out of the marketplace, crowded with wares and fresh fish. She was graceful when she moved, dressed in dark navy denim overalls that were still very feminine on her slight figure. Under the overalls she had on a striped navy-and-red long-sleeved cotton tee. She wore a cropped denim jacket over the tee. She seemed to blend into the shadows cast by the numerous overhead umbrellas shading the long tables of vegetables, fruits, fish, meats and wares offered by so many vendors.
She was patient, looking at everything, exploring each table, picking up a tomato or a cucumber and smelling it before putting it back down. She bargained for a basket of cherry tomatoes, and when she’d settled on a price, she placed them carefully in the woven basket hanging off her arm. She left that vendor’s table but backtracked, returning to purchase two cucumbers and a small basket of mushrooms.
Meiling was several feet behind the person she followed—a tall, beautiful woman wearing thick glasses with her chestnut hair tied up in a bun. She had a larger basket on her arm and was busy bargaining at various booths or tables for goods. It was clear she was known to the local vendors. They all greeted her warmly by name and pointed out their best and freshest produce.
Gedeon’s job wasn’t to watch Lola. It was necessary to find her backup as soon as possible. He wasn’t the only one looking. His primary role was to serve as Meiling’s protection. That meant he had to ensure no one was aware of Meiling trailing after Lola. He couldn’t imagine it. Meiling was extremely good at tailing her quarry. She didn’t look in the least interested in her. She was by turns in the same aisle or two rows over. Sometimes she was in the opposite row. She was so small, she was lost in the crowd often. Even if someone was up above the marketplace looking down on it, as he was, Gedeon doubted anyone would focus on her. She didn’t look in the least like a threat.
He scanned the crowd continually and then quartered the area around him. He paid attention to the rooftops and surrounding windows and balconies. Gedeon had detested bringing Timor and Fyodor Amurov into the entire affair. There was no way of guaranteeing that friendship wouldn’t override the Amurovs’ compassion for the child. They might decide to let Lospostos know what was happening. If the man was involved, he could send shooters after Meiling and Gedeon. That possibility was very real. Gedeon never let any possibility of retaliation go unheeded. That was what kept him alive.
“Two o’clock,” he whispered. “You see him? That’s definitely Alan Cano. Meiling called it. He’s watching Lola’s back. You have him, Rodion?”
“I do.” Rodion’s tone was clipped.
Somewhere, Timur was out there watching the entire scene unfold. Gedeon knew the head of security wasn’t happy that Fyodor had insisted he come along as well. Both men were upset that members of Lospostos’s lair were involved and he was not informed. Wars were started over much lesser things.
Gedeon didn’t trust anyone—apart from Meiling—and she’d earned his trust by saving his life on more than one occasion. He intended to have a gun trained on Elijah Lospostos if he ended up meeting with him. He wanted to have Meiling somewhere safe, out of sight. He’d lived his entire existence this way, since the moment his father’s friends had come to murder them all.
Gedeon had been very young, but he remembered each of them. They’d eaten at his family’s table. His parents had helped their families time and again. He’d played with their children. Still, they’d come to murder them. Their only sin had been their extraordinary gifts, which seemed to intimidate and frighten the others. And make them jealous. Never mind that his parents had used those gifts to aid the others.