Page 31 of Crimson Oath (The Firebird and the Wolf #2)

Oleg

L udmila, Oleg’s most silent sniper, was as close to cheery as he had seen her since the Second World War when Oleg had set her loose on the Nazis invading Russia.

She was whistling as she threw two large duffel bags into the back of one of the old Land Cruisers parked outside Oleg’s castle in the Eastern Carpathian Mountains.

Her mate, Oksana, on the other hand, was less than pleased. “Why are we doing this?”

“To find his girlfriend,” Ludmila said. “You know, the pretty little blond one.” She smirked at Lazlo. “Your brother, he has a type, doesn’t he?”

“Yes.” Lazlo sounded as cheery as Ludmila. “He likes them pretty, blond, unhinged, and hostile.”

Oksana said, “I thought Tatyana was in the Fire King’s court.”

“Not anymore,” Lazlo said. “She booked passage in the kamvasa for the season.”

The three knew Oleg was there, but they didn’t care, which was part of the reason he had chosen them for his druzhina. He didn’t need people who would kiss his ass—he needed smart warriors who could think for themselves.

Even if that made them annoying as shit sometimes.

“This should be fun.” Ludmila smiled. “The Poshani are very good at covering their tracks, and they will become violent if they discover us.”

Lazlo narrowed his eyes. “There is something wrong with you.”

“I don’t like boredom, old man.”

“Shut up,” Oleg barked. “All of you. Keep packing.”

Oksana glanced at Oleg. “You know, I want to clarify that pretty, blond, and hostile is not a bad type. That’s basically my mate if she were blond.”

“True.” Lazlo nodded. “And brother, you’ve had sex with far worse.”

“The supermodels,” Ludmila muttered.

“The heiresses were worse,” Lazlo said. “At least the models had jobs.”

Oleg walked over and lifted an ice chest into the back of one truck. “Enough.”

“I heard she did not kill any humans her first year.” Ludmila patted Oleg’s shoulder. “So that’s good.”

“I heard that Kato the Ancient became her teacher,” Lazlo said. “A lucky turn. She has Dzbog’s favor.”

“Okay, yes.” Oksana angled a rifle case into the back of the second Land Cruiser. “She may be favored by a Slavic rain god, but remember, I was her first teacher.”

Ludmila insisted on packing enough weapons to take out a small army.

Oleg didn’t think filling half the vehicle with weapons was strictly necessary, but when he’d suggested leaving them behind, Ludmila had looked at him like he’d suggested running through the streets of Moscow stark naked in the winter.

“And such a good teacher you were.” Ludmila patted her mate’s shoulder. “Lazlo is right. Mary herself favors that young one. She’s very lucky. ”

Mika walked over and leaned on the Land Cruiser next to Oleg. “You know, the religious mix among your soldiers would be rich fodder for an academic.”

Oleg’s chief boyar had been busy making one telephone call after another, trying to arrange his responsibilities so he could be out of mobile phone range for at least two weeks.

“Pagan.” Oleg pointed to Lazlo. “Orthodox.” He pointed toward Ludmila. “Along with a few followers of Mohammed, and don’t you burn rowan branches at midsummer to some thunder god or something?”

“That’s just tradition,” Mika muttered. “Are we almost ready?”

“Yes.” Oleg looked at Mika’s phone. “Are you bringing that thing?”

“There is still work to be done.” Mika scrolled through the device as he spoke. “Not all of us can drop everything to track down a woman and?—”

“Be very careful right now,” Oleg said quietly. “I’ve been listening to the three of them for the past half hour.”

Mika looked up. “Track down the Poshani to warn them about a possible security breach in their inner hierarchy.”

“Yes, exactly.”

“Which is none of our business,” Mika said, “but something we are doing only from the charity that lives in our hearts.”

“So glad we’re clear on that.” Oleg glanced at Mika’s phone. “Anything else from Polina?”

“Vano is gone, and another truck was hijacked.”

Oleg stood up straight. “What?” If there were more missing employees, he would have to delay his plans to find Tatyana no matter how persistently she was plaguing his mind.

Mika raised a hand. “It appears to be human-on-human crime this time,” he quickly added. “Polina’s people reported it to the police. No harm to our employees. They were held with weapons at the Russian border and the truck was stolen, but no violence. No one was hurt. ”

“What was the cargo?”

“Electronics,” Mika said. “Mobile phones mostly. There were trackers in the container, but they were disabled.”

It was hardly an unusual crime, but it still irritated Oleg anytime something was stolen from him. “Perhaps we need to start putting armed guards with our drivers.”

“That’s a possibility that Ivan has suggested.”

“Let me guess, he would like to employ his own men?”

Mika smiled. “What do you think?”

Oleg could easily believe Ivan would target Oleg’s trucks, creating a problem just so Oleg would have to hire Ivan’s people to solve it.

It was something Oleg had done to rivals in the past.

“Where was the truck stopped?” Oleg asked.

“Smolensk.”

“Hmm.” The city was a border area in Oleg’s empire, roughly where Polina’s governance ended and Ivan’s started.

“Yes, I thought it was interesting too.” Mika was looking at his phone again. “Ivan has been sending daily updates about the police progress.”

“How helpful. Does he think we don’t know he has the Russian police in his pocket?” Oleg asked.

“We’re playing along for now,” Mika said. “Unless you’d like me to do something more… proactive.”

“This will be his people again. Ones he can keep on a tighter leash.”

“Yes, Polina and I have both considered the possibility.”

Oleg was going to have to do something about Ivan.

He was going to have to kill another brother.

But one problem at a time.

Right now he needed to find Tatyana and also figure out if Vano could be trusted. He wanted to keep the Poshani as allies if he could. He didn’t relish driving people from his territory, and frankly, he made a generous income from nothing more than giving them the right to roam freely.

“You realize that if Radu finds out that we’ve tracked down the kamvasa in violation of our agreement, he could attack us and no one would blame him.”

“Yes.” Oleg pushed away from the vehicle when he felt the reverberation of the door slamming behind him. “That’s why they’re never going to realize we’re there.”