“I don’t care. You hurt my mother. I’m a Baylor, Your Highness, but I am also a Tremaine. We do not forgive.”
Konstantin glanced at Alessandro. “You should tell her that it’s not in her best interests or yours, Sasha.”
The Artisan tilted his head with clinical detachment. “I’m the Sentinel of the Texas Warden. I evaluate threats and eliminate them. You are a threat, Konstantin. Your presence here endangers the Warden. Handing you off to the embassy solves all my problems. As long as you’re alive and uninjured, they will do very little. You will recover. It will take you a long time and you’ll keep trying to kill yourself out of sheer desperation, but you will recover.”
“Let’s see what you’ve found in Arkan’s files.” I fluttered my feathers.
“What are your terms?” Konstantin asked.
I took the folder and passed it to him together with a pen. He opened it and scanned the contents and read out loud:
“The Russian Imperium surrenders all claims on the life and freedom of Ignat Orlov, otherwise known as Arkan, to Alessandro Sagredo. Alessandro Sagredo will have the sole, exclusive right to kill Ignat Orlov. A breach of this clause nullifies this contract.”
“Which part isn’t clear?” I asked.
“You have a guardian angel,” Konstantin said to Alessandro. “Too bad she is wasted on a sinner like you.”
“The angel can be kind, but the sinner is not,” Alessandro told him.
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“You do that.”
Konstantin tapped the contract with his fingertips. “To summarize, I’m confined to the grounds of this estate. I’m forbidden from taking any action against Arkan myself or through my subordinates without the express consent of one of you. I’m precluded from endangering any member of your family. And finally, I’m expected to render aid to the best of my ability at your request. And I can’t kill Arkan, even if an opportunity to do so presents itself.”
“Yes,” I told him.
“And you want me to sign it?”
“No. I want you to seal it.”
I had done some research of my own. Members of the Imperial family tasked with special missions carried a seal which they affixed to formal documents. This seal put the reputation of the entire family behind the contract. It wasn’t foolproof, but it was as close as we could get to the Emperor’s word. According to Alessandro, Konstantin would have one.
“This will require a phone call,” Konstantin said.
Alessandro passed a cell phone to Konstantin through the bars.
“I’ll need a bit of privacy.”
“You have the whole cage.” It was petty but I enjoyed it.
Konstantin shook his head, rose, and walked to the far side of the cage. He dialed the number and spoke in a quiet urgent Russian. We waited. Minutes crawled by. In the ensuing pause, my brain finally started working to full capacity.
“I think we need help,” I murmured to Alessandro.
“Who do you have in mind?”
I told him. “Just in case.”
He laughed softly under his breath. “Your mother is going to love it.”
Konstantin disconnected the call, reached into his shirt, and pulled a necklace from around his neck, a simple rectangle of silver hanging on a matching chain. The rectangular pendant slid apart under the pressure of his fingers. He took the top half and pressed it under his signature line. A red stamp with Cyrillic script winding around a double-headed eagle marked the paper. He signed his name with a flourish and grinned at Alessandro.
“Congratulations, Sasha. You will have your revenge. I get his body though. After you’re done with it, of course.”
Alessandro smiled like a wolf grinning at the moon in the middle of a dark forest and keyed the code into the cage’s lock. “Agreed.”
My phone rang. An unlisted number. I took the call.
“I’ll be brief,” Arkan said on the other end. “Release Trofim Smirnov, and your sisters will survive the day.”
I went right back to my Tremaine voice. “What a coincidence. I’ve just finalized the contract spelling out what happens to your corpse. So good of you to call after it was done.”
Konstantin slipped out of the cage, moving in complete silence. Alessandro grabbed the manila folder, scribbled something on the back of it, and held it up.
Provoke.
Yes, yes, I know.
No matter how many operatives we took out, as long as Arkan remained at his base in Canada, he was unreachable. Going into Canada to get him required cooperation between the two governments and an international warrant. Linus had tried, but nobody wanted to tell Canada the real reason we were going after Arkan. The moment news of the stolen serum reached the Canadian government, there would be a diplomatic explosion of international proportions. The United States couldn’t afford to lose face. Without the serum, our reasoning for arresting Arkan was thin, and Canada wasn’t wild about letting a team of dangerous combat Primes across their borders to apprehend one of their citizens.