Drake Sisters 03 - Oceans of Fire

me up. I took out his interrogators and produced enough hard evidence against him to force him to run with a price on his head. He put out a contract on me and I’m certain he’ll do his best to kill Abbey just to get to me.”
    “How do you plan to stop him?”
    “You’re the sheriff. I don’t think discussing that with you is the best plan,” Aleksandr said. “Especially since I really do plan on hitting you up for work when Abbey and I are married.”
    “Just make certain you get the job done,” Jonas said.
    “I don’t leave loose ends.” Aleksandr watched the coastline fly by as they drove swiftly along the highway. The ocean swells were large and powerful as they rushed toward the cliffs, capping white and sending spray high into the air as water hit rock formations.
    “Why would Prakenskii protect Abigail?” Jackson asked.
    It was one of the first sentences Aleksandr had heard him utter. He was obviously a man of few words.
    “That’s a good question. I can’t quite figure him out. We grew up and were trained together. He went one way and I went another. We’ve met a few times since and battled it out, both licking our wounds afterward.”
    “Would he protect you?” Jonas asked.
    Aleksandr’s first thought was to deny it, but who really knew what went on in the mind of Ilya Prakenskii? He often did the unexpected. There were always larger-than-life rumors about him. He was nearly a legend in some places in Russia, his name whispered rather than spoken aloud. “I don’t know.
    Why would he? He shot me once and he cut me another time, put me out of commission for a couple of months.”
    “Is he good enough to wound you without seriously harming you?” Jonas asked.
    “Depends on what you mean by seriously harming me. I wasn’t exactly feeling wonderful after he shot me.” But he had known Prakenskii had chosen not to kill him. Prakenskii just didn’t miss. He hit exactly what he was aiming at every time. Had he been going for a kill, Aleksandr would have been dead. “He deliberately missed.”
    “And you deliberately missed him.” Jackson made it a statement.
    Aleksandr was uncomfortably aware of Jonas glancing at him in the rearview mirror. He didn’t have answers they wanted. Something deep within him made him spare Prakenskii. Or maybe it was misplaced loyalty. Or possibly it was Prakenskii‘s magic. That was still a difficult fact for Aleksandr to swallow. Could Prakenskii have been manipulating him just as he was certain the man had manipulated Sylvia?

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    He swore. “I don’t know. It just doesn’t fit with every thing I know about Prakenskii. I can’t see him getting involved with terrorists. There are stories about him I know aren’t true, but many are, and some worse than anything told. Nikitin sent him to meet a group of terrorists who were believed to be placing bombs along the railroad tracks. Bombing the trains is a tactic used to make a political point. That was in the early days when Nikitin didn’t know Prakenskii very well and had no idea about his views on terrorists. All of the terrorists were armed, all were well trained and seasoned. I saw photographs of the scene afterward. They were all dead and they’d died hard. He walked away without a scratch.”
    “It’s a wonder Nikitin didn’t have him killed,” Jonas said.
    “I thought that at the time. I worried about him.” Aleksandr rubbed the shadow on his jaw. He let out a slow breath, weighing how much he should say. Abigail trusted Jonas implicitly and it was obvious Jonas trusted Jackson. “I’ve heard a very soft rumble about an antiterrorism unit formed. Several countries are rumored to be participating. The information is collected in one clearinghouse”—he hesitated again—“much like Interpol, and once it is determined they have found a terrorist cell a hit team is sent in.
    The team members are totally anonymous; they go in quietly, get in and get out. They execute everyone on-site. My understanding is they are totally anonymous so that they can operate in safety, as the terrorists would certainly go after their families.”
    Jonas looked at him with flat, cold eyes. “How are they going to get information if they don’t take at least one prisoner?”
    Aleksandr shrugged, returning the expressionless gaze.
    “Damn it. You know a hell of a lot more than you’re willing to admit.”
    “I’m telling you