Page 43 of C is For Corruption (Horsemen #3)

Leighton

We fell into a routine over the next few weeks.

Az and I would start Victoria’s day with a run and then time working on breaking holds, attacking, and takedowns at the gym.

Afterward, we’d have lunch, and Craig would take her to the range before dropping her with me to continue practicing spotting targets without being noticed.

When we weren’t training her, one of us ran interference to keep Joey away.

I was still debating whether or not to beat him into oblivion whenever I wasn’t with Ma Petit.

So far, I’d managed to keep my hands to myself.

“Would you sit down, Leighton?” Az snapped as I bounced around Ian’s office.

“ Fine. ” I sighed dramatically, flopping down next to Victoria.

“After the last few weeks, I’ve come to the conclusion that Victoria is ready to go out on a hunt. Craig got word that some low level Jackals are hanging around just shy of Uptown.”

“That’s near Golden Devil’s territory.” I mock whispered to Victoria, earning a scowl from Az.

“Tiffany of all people sent over photos to Craig. They aren’t in Devils’ territory so they’re not stepping in, but they are close enough they thought we might like the heads up.”

“Tiffany?” Victoria asked, clearly surprised.

“She’s been surprisingly helpful, Bunny. Between the flash drive she gave you and the intel she’s been sending over about this Jackals crew. It’s obvious she has an ulterior motive, but I suspect that motive is getting back in your good graces.”

“That’s a lot of words to say she’s sucking your dick to win back our girl.” I laughed. Victoria elbowed me in the side, and I frowned at her. “What? I didn’t mean literally sucking his dick. Obviously she’s not doing that.”

“Can we focus please.” Az groaned. “If you can’t pay attention, Leighton, then I’ll be taking Victoria out to deal with this crew.”

I mimed zipping my lips and tossing away the key. Victoria’s first hunting trip was mine, and there was no way in hell I was letting Az take over.

“What exactly is a hunt?” Victoria asked. “Because it kind of sounds like I should dress in camo, take a shotgun and shoot these guys on sight before taking some cheesy ass picture with their bodies.”

“Eh, not far off.” I chuckled. “We scope them out, kill as many as it takes to get at least one subdued and back to J– er that fucknugget’s torture chamber.”

“Craig will be doing the interrogation,” Az said.

“I know Victoria has witnessed two of our interrogations at this point, but this time will be a hands-off learning experience.” Az’s gaze flitted to Victoria.

“You won’t be anywhere near the tools until I’m sure you can control your impulse to stab first, question later. ”

“Yeah, Ma Petit. That’s my job.” I mimed, stabbing the air with a grin.

“It happened once.” She pouted.

“And look at where it got you. Running several miles before dawn and getting your ass kicked on the mats.” Az smirked.

She raised her hand and slowly flipped him off. “I managed to take Craig down this morning.”

‘To be fair, Bunny, I’m only about eighty percent.” Craig replied.

“Oh, fuck you too, Craig.” She huffed, her lips poking out in a pout as she crossed her arms over her chest.

“I am currently the favorite aren’t I?” I chuckled.

She raised a hand and tapped her index finger against her chin as if she were thinking it over. “Hmm. I’m gonna go with… yes.” she answered, one side of her mouth tilting up in a smile.

“I am gonna show you all my tricks, Ma Petit . You’re gonna be the best at snatching mobsters off the street in no time. I’ll even let you play with my grenades just for saying I’m the favorite.”

“No!” Az and Craig hollered in unison.

“Fucking hell, Leighton. This needs to be done as quietly as possible, no god damned grenades.” Az snapped. “Now, if you’re done trying to raise my blood pressure, we have other things we need to discuss.”

I gave him my cheesiest grin and stuck both thumbs up near my face. Az rolled his eyes and gave his attention to Craig, motioning for him to speak.

“There was some decent intel on the flash drive Tiffany handed over. Not only did it have the intel on this group of Jackals Leighton and Victoria will be hunting this evening, there was some intel on Theo.” Craig paused, his eyes flitting to Victoria as if to ask whether or not to continue.

She slid to the edge of her seat, her hands dropping to her lap, fingers laced together as she held them tightly, and nodded.

“There were over two dozen photos and a handful of video surveillance clips of Theo meeting with a member of the Bratva. He’s been smart and hasn’t been handling any of that business in his office so the bugs we planted haven’t given us anything.

These, though… He’s been meeting with Sergei Kumarin.

He showed up about six years ago in the Petrov ranks, and worked his way up pretty quickly.

Last known information on him was that he was a soldier working directly for Alexi Petrov, Capo and third son of the current Pakhan. ”

I let out a whistle. “Sounds like Theo is in deep.” I cringed, realizing I’d said that out loud. “Sorry, Ma Petit .”

“Anyway…” Craig interjected. “Each video shows an exchange. There’s nothing about what’s being exchanged, but we can safely assume he’s getting money in return for whatever he’s handing over.”

“I really can’t believe Uncle Theo would be mixed up with mobsters.” Victoria murmured with a slight shake of her head. “There has to be something else going on that you’re not seeing.”

“I wish that was the case, Bunny. I really do.” Craig replied.

“You don’t get mixed up with someone like Kumarin by accident. The only way you meet with someone at his level is with illegal dealings.” Az added.

“I just can’t accept that.” Victoria sighed.

“Well, if it’s any consolation, there was information on your ex, Benson on the drive as well. Looks like the little worm has holed up with some Jackals. Given his family connections to them, I’d wager he’s joined up for some protection.”

“Protection from what?” Victoria scoffed. “His daddy’s money can buy him out of any trouble he finds himself in.”

“Protection from you, Ma Petit. ” I smirked. “In case you decide you want to send us after him. No way he didn’t figure out who we were after everything that went down. A smart man would know all it would take is one word from your pretty mouth and we’ll gut him.”

“It wouldn’t even require a smart man to know that.” Az added.

“Anyone with half a brain and shoddy observation skills would have figured it out.” Craig said.

“Death threats should not be so sweet.” She laughed with a shake of her head.

“Um… Yes they should.” I retorted.

“Anything else?” Az asked Craig, steering the conversation back on track.

“That’s it. If what we learned from Jen holds true, we won’t get anything out of the Jackals Leighton and Victoria bring in. I wish I could say we had something that made this all tie together, but…” Craig shrugged one shoulder. “At least Bunny will get the practice she needs.”

“I mean… We can catch a Petrov Brat if you want.” I offered.

“Absolutely not, Leighton. Stay the fuck away from the Russians. We don’t need them coming at us right now. If they’re involved then we will have to go the negotiations route and pray to every god there ever was that they’re feeling generous.” Az replied.

“Uh… My almost dead wife was Bratva. I feel like I should probably mention that. I can… I can’t believe I’m saying this, fuck me, I can make a phone call. No clue if the Sidorov’s have dealings with the Petrov’s but it might be worth the agony of talking to my sister to find out.”

“You couldn’t mention this, I don’t know, at any point since we found out Theo is talking to the Russians?” Az drawled.

“And have to deal with my sister? You know how Lacey is. Why the hell would I call her when it’s not a last resort?” I snapped.

“Fine. Just make the fucking call, after you deal with these Jackals.” Az sighed. “If there’s nothing else, then we’re done. We’ll meet back tomorrow and debrief.”

“Aye aye, captain!” I chuckled with a mock salute as I stood from my seat and pulled Victoria along with me.

A couple hours later, Victoria and I were creeping toward Uptown in the dark.

We’d dressed in dark clothing, and she looked kind of adorable in her dark hoodie with her hair pulled back.

I had to keep reminding myself we were on a hunt, and I couldn’t pin her up against the side of a building.

It surprised me how distracting having her along was, considering hunting was among my top three favorite things to do.

I slapped myself a few times to regain my focus before going over the plan with her.

Using the information that Craig had gotten from Bitch Barbie, we crept our way toward Uptown.

We were a few blocks away, the dark of night still covering us, when I spotted our intended targets ahead.

A streetlight in front of a brick townhouse illuminated the five of them.

Two of them were seated on the concrete steps, and the other three were standing in a loose semi-circle in front of them on the sidewalk.

The sounds of laughter and chatting carried to us, but they weren’t quite loud enough for me to make out what they were saying.

“Remember our plan, Ma Petit? ” I asked, nodding toward the group.

“Yep.” She replied, reaching for the bottle wrapped in a brown paper bag.

She took it from my hand and walked ahead of me, swaying slightly as if she’d been drinking.

I stayed back, watching as she pretended to take a drink from the empty bottle, and stumbled just a few steps away from the Jackals.

It was enough to get their notice, just as we’d planned, but when the nearest man to her reached out to help steady her, I had to bite back a growl and shove away the urge to charge in and gut them all on the spot.

“Hey there sweetness.” He said as his hands touched my woman.

“Thhanks.” Her fake slur was so realistic I almost believed she was drunk. She swatted his hands away before straightening up and taking a few weaving steps forward.

“Where ya going, baby?” He called after her, signaling his friends.

Victoria grunted and swayed on her feet, pretending to take another sip from the empty bottle. “Home.”

“Ah, don’t be like that. You look like someone who’s looking for a good time. Why don’t you let us show you what we got and we have a little fun, huh sweetness?”

All five of them were on their feet, slowly closing in around her.

None of them were paying attention to the direction she’d come from, giving me the perfect opportunity to get close unnoticed.

I slipped a knife from my pocket into one hand and freed my blackjack with the other.

I caught her eye just as I brought my blackjack down on the back of the nearest man’s head, hard enough to knock him unconscious.

Victoria didn’t hesitate, shifting her grip on the bottle to its neck and slamming it into another man’s head.

The Jackals we were up against were clearly new and poorly trained.

It took next to no effort for me to dispatch four of the five.

Victoria stood proudly over the fifth with her booted foot on his back as I pulled zip ties out of my hoodie pocket and secured our catch.

When I stepped up beside her to deal with her man, I noticed the blood from her split lip.

A snarl ripped from my throat, and before I knew what I was doing, I had my gun out and aimed at his head, pulling the trigger with the next breath.

“Leighton!” Victoria shouted, half in shock. “What the hell?”

“He hurt you.” I shrugged. “He had to die. Besides, we only really need one of these guys. Two at most. I figure we go ahead and take two so we can show Az and Craig how well you did.”

“Leighton…” She started, but my hand moved to brush my thumb over her busted lip, interrupting whatever she was about to say.

“Go get the car so we can load them up. I’ll deal with the rest of them.” I said softly, my hand squeezing the grip of my gun.

“I think we should take them all, Leighton. One may know something the others don’t,”

“Car, Ma Petit. I am barely holding my shit together and I need you to go get the fucking car before I go completely feral and rip these bastards limb from limb.”

“It’s just a split lip. I’m sure you’ve had worse on a hunt, Leighton.” She sighed.

“Car.” I bit out, my tone nearing a growl. “That’s an order.”

She pinched her lips together, clearly unhappy with me.

I wasn’t exactly pleased about it either, but it was the only thing I could think of to get her to go before she saw the worst parts of me.

She stared into my eyes a few more moments before stomping her foot with a huff and turning back in the direction we’d come from to retrieve the car.

As soon as I was sure she was far enough away, I turned back to the four men tied up on the sidewalk.

“Lucky fucking day you pieces of shit. I don’t have time to give you what you really deserve for hurting my girl.

” I knew they were still out cold, which only made them luckier in my opinion.

It didn’t stop me from needing to voice it aloud just before I put bullets in two of their heads and then settled onto the steps to wait for Victoria to return with the car to take the others to Craig.