Succubus Ascendant: An Urban Fantasy (The Telepathic Clans Saga Book 4) (25 page)

“Oh? Can you fly?”

She gave him a tight smile. “Damn near. But if we have to jump out the window, behave yourself. I’ve been known to drop things when I get distracted.”

She thought through the possible scenarios, then went to the wine cabinet, opened a bottle, and poured two glasses.

“Why don’t you call O’Donnell’s office and ask them to send a couple of people around to collect our luggage. I’d hate to lose that coat if we have to leave here in a hurry.”

He smiled. “You forget. We have fifty Protectors surrounding this building.”

A few minutes later, he went to the door and opened it. People Rhiannon recognized came in and collected their bags and Rhiannon’s coat.

After they left, she said, “Donald, if we do get in a scrap, stay out of my line of fire. And tell your people, also.”

She saw his jaw tighten as he nodded. He was probably remembering the night at Viktor’s, or maybe the tales of Ayr.

“So, what are they doing?” he asked.

“Still waiting for Gennady. They’re sifting through his mind, or rather the construct. It appears they’re spending most of their time looking at the fake memories we planted of him having sex with me. Sort of watching a psychic porn show.”

“Any chance of sending that to me?”

She scowled at him.

“I didn’t think so. Let me know if anything interesting happens.”

Gennady took over an hour to get to the Lubyanka. Almost immediately, he pronounced that Vasily did have a construct implanted. There was some discussion about collapsing the construct, and Rhiannon held her breath. But whoever had the most authority decided they weren’t authorized to do that. Yuri had said for them all, including Gennady, to go to Odintsovo, so they should wait.

They loaded Vasily into a car and the group took off for the country.

“And what do we do now?” Vladimir asked.

“Sit tight. I can read him as well from here as I could if I was sitting next to him. More comfortable and safer here.” She took a sip of her wine.

They waited. Vladimir had one of his men bring them some food, and he and Rhiannon finished the bottle of wine.

When the FSB men finally dragged Vasily into the Gorbachev compound, Rhiannon started paying attention again. They took him to a room in the basement and waited. After some time, Yuri came in with two other men. Vasily recognized them as Boris Gorbachev, one of Sergei’s sons, and Georgy Kalugin, the Clan’s head of security.

“That was an interesting disk,” Yuri said. “So, Alexander’s dead. And who is the new Clan Chief?”

“Galina,” Vasily said. “Both Viktor and the younger Alexander are dead.”

“And how did you come to be in possession of the disk? How did you get so friendly with Galina Romanova? And why in hell should we believe anything you say?” Yuri said. “Remove the construct. Let’s see if we have a traitor or a fool.”

Rhiannon withdrew from Vasily’s mind.

“What’s going on?” Vladimir asked.

“They’re going to collapse the construct,” Rhiannon said. “Rebecca booby trapped it, and she said it was completely undetectable. When the construct is collapsed, it will trigger a command to wipe Vasily’s mind. She says it will also wipe the minds of anyone who is in his mind at the time. That will get the construct artist for sure, and the psychic backlash might damage anyone else who’s close.”

She took a deep breath and stared into her glass. Abruptly, she downed the wine and rose, striding to the wine cabinet and pulling out another bottle.

“At least a couple of them were in his mind when I pulled out. Goddess, Vladimir, he was terrified. He knew he was going to die. It was so hard to watch.”

She uncorked the bottle and poured her glass full with a shaking hand. Then her head snapped up and she froze. Putting her hand out to the counter in front of her, she braced herself and then slumped.

“He’s gone. I could still feel him up until a few seconds ago, but he’s either dead or mind wiped.” She took a deep drink of her wine. “Well, what do you think we should do now?”

~~~

Rhiannon contacted Andrei in St. Petersburg. *
Do you have a mole or two in the Lubyanka?*

*One or two. Why?*

*I’m curious as to whether Yuri Gorbachev shows up for work tomorrow. He had a construct artist collapse Vasily’s construct and I wonder how well Rebecca’s booby trap worked.*

She told him what had happened since they arrived in Moscow.

*
I think we should move Irina to Moscow,*
Rhiannon sent.
*I don’t know if Sergei is here, but that video certainly got their attention.*

*Galina will loan us a plane,*
Andrei sent.
*We can land at Domodedovo and take her to a dacha we own near there.*
Domodedovo is one of two international Moscow airports and lies south of the city. *
I think it’s safer than having her in the city itself.*

*Andrei, do you have someone who can change a property registration? Vasily doesn’t need this flat anymore, and it’s a prime location. Are my papers legitimate? My passport and propiska?*

*Yes, you’re a legal Russian citizen. Should I put it in your name and have your propiska transferred? How much should we use as a purchase price?*

*Register it in my Ekaterina Kuznetsova name. Record the purchase price as thirty million rubles. That’s way under value, but enough to make the sale look realistic.*

“Vladimir, I’ve been thinking,” Rhiannon said. “You may be right. Perhaps we should relocate.”

“The O’Donnell safe house?”

“I was thinking more of that fancy new hotel next to Red Square.”

“Your expense account is better than mine.”

Rhiannon laughed. “No expense account. I took thirty million rubles out of Vasily’s account in St. Petersburg. He doesn’t need it anymore.”

Vladimir whistled. “Goddess, that’s almost seven hundred thousand euros.”

“A drop in the bucket. His Swiss and Cayman Islands accounts held about forty million euros.”

“Held? Past tense?”

She smiled. “Like I said, he doesn’t need it anymore.”

Laughing, he said, “You’re a goddamned thief!”

“No, I’m not, and I’m deeply offended at your implication. I’m an international financier,” Rhiannon said with a flip of her hair. “I’m simply continuing in one of the family businesses. I deposited it in my grandfather’s bank in Switzerland. Now, do you want to quibble, or do you want to check into a fancy hotel and go have a steak dinner on Novy Arbat?”

Sipping cocktails after they ordered dinner, Vladimir said, “What are the other family businesses?”

Rhiannon felt her face grow warm, and then became angry with herself. She wasn’t ashamed of how her family earned their money, at least she never had been. Thinking about her reaction, she realized it wasn’t shame but shyness. Vlad/Donald confused her. He irritated her and attracted her, and she wasn’t sure how to deal with him.

“Most of the women in my family are courtesans. Some of them are also Healers, but I don’t have that Gift. And the men, well, the Kendricks aren’t much for marrying. Men are transient.”

His eyes narrowed and he shook his head. “And what made you decide to become a private investigator instead of becoming a courtesan? Isn’t that what most Druids do?”

It took a minute for his statement to make sense, then a sudden awareness blossomed. A slow smile spread across her face.

“I’m afraid you’re operating under a mistaken impression, sir. I’m not a Druid.”

“But ... I thought ...,” he stammered. “Oh, come on. Normal women don’t look like you do. You can’t bullshit me. You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met.”

“Thank you. I think.” She shrugged. “You’re not the only one who’s made that mistake.”

He studied her, and then his face grew red. “Oh, shit. I apologize. I’m sorry I’ve been such an ass.”

Surprised, Rhiannon’s head jerked up and she studied him. “You thought I was playing games with you? Teasing you? No, not teasing, you thought I was taunting you. Trying to put you in your place.” She cranked up her empathic awareness.

His face flamed. She looked around quickly, wondering if he glowed enough that other people would notice.

“What do you have against Druids?”

She didn’t think he was going to answer her, but finally he said, “I had a girlfriend when I was younger. I didn’t handle it very well.”

“I’d say you’re still not handling it. Is that why you’re in Finland rather than Ireland?”

“I don’t need any psychoanalysis.”

“No, I don’t guess you do. Don’t worry. I’m not looking for a boyfriend, and I’m not into casual sex. Especially not with a man who doesn’t like women. I hope you don’t have a problem working with a woman. But if you do, you don’t have to stay close to me. I told you that I don’t need security.”

The shock in his eyes slowly faded to hurt. Rhiannon didn’t care. Men always felt women should be careful of their feelings, but seemed to think women’s feelings didn’t matter. Screw the son of a bitch.

~~~

Chapter 18

Scientists now believe that the primary biological function of breasts is to make males stupid. - Dave Barry

Rhiannon and Vladimir met with Irina and the O’Donnell Protectors at their dacha the next day. The O’Donnell Clan had bought several farms and a large forest tract, then built a compound that resembled a small village. It didn’t look like much, but after entering a small house, Rhiannon discovered that the majority of the facility was below ground.

“Cute little basement you have here,” she told Andrei, looking around at what looked like a large log hunting lodge with no windows. “Does this extend very far?”

“It’s fairly large,” he answered. “We have garages, storage areas, and an armory. Seamus began building the complex in the early sixties, when the Soviets still banned private ownership of property. We needed a secure base to monitor the Russian Clans, and at that time, we weren’t sure if the U.S. and the Soviet Union might start throwing nukes around. We expanded things quite a bit after the Soviet Union broke apart.”

Andrei’s wife Yelena greeted them and escorted them to a large dining room. Irina and a couple of dozen Protectors sat around a table laden with food.

“My sources inside the FSB tell me that there was a bit of a stir inside the FSB this morning,” Andrei told Rhiannon after Yelena placed a loaded plate in front of her. “Neither Yuri nor Vasily showed up for work, and no one can contact them. No one seems to know who is in charge of the President’s security detail.”

Rhiannon nodded. “I thought that Jill would be coming with you.”

“She’s going to stay in St. Petersburg until the situation stabilizes a bit. There was an assassination attempt on Galina the night before last.”

“What happened?”

“Some of Sholokhov’s men managed to sneak through all of our security measures,” Irina said, taking a sip of her wine. “Jill, Galina and I were having dinner when they came crashing in and started shooting up the place. It was very rude. We had to have our dessert out on the terrace because the parlor was such a mess.”

The prim expression on Irina’s face caused the group to laugh, and Rhiannon asked, “Did any of them survive?”

“Yeah, we captured one of them. Jill did.”

“Out of how many?” Vladimir asked.

“Their force was about a hundred men,” Andrei said. “Twenty of them got through to Galina. We probably should have let them all through and taken fewer casualties.” He shook his head. “A bunch of thugs against three of the most powerful telepaths in the country. Assault rifles against air shields and Neural Disruption made for a short fight.”

“It seems there are a lot of pitched battles here. Is that normal in Russia?” Rhiannon asked.

Yelena laughed, “Only when the Irish come to town.”

~~~

The next day, Jill contacted Rhiannon. *
Sergei sent an emissary, asking about Irina. He flew in last night and flew out after talking with Galina.*

*Oh? What did he have to say?*

*Give Irina to him or Sergei would consider her kidnapping a declaration of war. Gorbachev knows that Romanov is weakened, and Galina was told that if she wanted to keep her seat, let alone her head, not to fuck with them. The guy wasn’t very diplomatic.*

*And you said?*

*Galina told them that she wanted reassurances. If Sergei doesn’t sign at least a neutrality pact and stay out of Romanov business, then he’ll never see Irina. His man said that wasn’t going to make Sergei very happy and she said she didn’t care. Those were her terms. She also told him that Irina wasn’t being held in St. Petersburg and that attacking Romanov wouldn’t get him anything. So the ball is back in his court.*

Rhiannon reported this to the group at the dacha.

“There was a lot of activity at the Gorbachev compound early this morning,” Andrei said. “Of course, it could have been a party for all we know. We don’t have anyone inside.”

“So, we still don’t know where my grandfather is,” Irina said softly, not really asking a question. She seemed to gaze off into space, obviously lost in thought.