I leaned my head to the side. “And the second and third?”
“I’m not sure, but I know it has something to do with these strange men. They’re a large group. It must’ve been eight or nine of them.”
“Tell me more.”
“Uh. . .” His chin quivered. “They are Asian. I don’t know if they are Chinese or Japanese or. . .I don’t know.”
“What else?”
“I don’t know much. The group of men came to Leonid when I was finishing my meeting with him. Leonid laughed in this evil way and said that I had nothing to worry about because these guys would kill you and anybody else.”
“Hmmm.” Maxwell eyed him. “But how do you know it was three plans of action?”
Akiva looked at Maxwell. “Before the door closed I heard him mumble something like that.”
I spoke, “What did these Asian guys look like?”
“They were dressed really nice. I didn’t even think they were killers or anything like that.” Akiva held his broken arm. “They all had on violet and gray.”
“All of them wore the same color?”
“Yes. They all had on violet and gray. That’s what stuck out for me.”
“Same suits?” Maxwell asked.
“No.” Akiva shook his head. “It was all different types of outfits. One had on violet suspenders with a gray shirt and gray pants. Others had on other things but it was the same two colors. And their hair were different colors too.”
Maxwell and I exchanged odd glances.
“Oh!” Akiva frantically bobbed his head. “They had these X’s branded on the back of their necks. All of them.”
The X brands sounded familiar. I pulled out my phone and texted Naveen.
Me: Do you know anything about a group of Asian men with X’s branded on their necks?
Instead of texting, Naveen called which was a bad sign.
I rose from the chair and looked at Anatoly. “Kill him.”
Akiva screamed. “No! Please, Misha. I-I could help you out. I-I could be your spy or—”
A bullet stopped his sentence.
I answered the phone. “What do you know about them?”
“Come on, Misha. Please tell me we don’t have any more problems.”
“I killed some men in Ava’s theater a few days ago. One of the families may have employed a group of Asian men with X’s branded on the back of their necks. Apparently, they dress in sync. Same two colors—”
“Incredible! Just fucking incredible. Are you trying to get yourself killed this year? Do you not have enough on your plate?”
“I called you for answers, not more questions.” I headed out of the condo.
Two of my men and Maxwell followed.
“Do you know them?” I asked.
“That group of color-coded guys are guaranteed to have you in a body bag by the end of the week.” Naveen groaned. “That’s the Xecutioners.”
“The what?” In the hallway, I headed to the elevator. “Am I supposed to know what that is?”
“That’s the group I tried out for after the military.”
I laughed. “The one that wouldn’t let you in because they thought you dressed badly?”
“Yes. And as funny as that may sound, I wouldn’t laugh about that around them.”
I went serious. “They’re good?”
“Better than good. So goddamn good I’m flying to St Petersburg today.”
My head throbbed. I stopped in front of the elevator. One of my men pressed the button for it.
Naveen continued. “I can get there by this evening. Don’t go anywhere or do anything in public.”
“Naveen, I need you in Paris.”
“And I need you alive or Paris won’t matter to me. I’m only here to help you out. If you’re dead, then I might as well go to the Cayman Islands and lounge by the water smoking a big fat joint while I’m getting my dick sucked.”
The elevator doors slipped open.
I let out a long breath and stepped onto the elevator. “What about Kazimir’s babies?”
“They will have to wait if you have the Xecutioners’ attention. If I’m there, I can probably talk to them and perhaps. . .outbid whatever the family is paying them. That’s the only way you’ll stop the hit.”
“Or we can kill them?”
Annoyance laced his voice. “Did you not hear the part about them being good, Misha?”
“Do you trust the Devil to behave in Paris?”
“We had a conversation. He’ll sit tight until the right time.”
The doors closed.
The elevator lowered.
I tapped my foot. “We still think the night of the eclipse is a good time?”
“Yes. We’ve been monitoring them. All signs point to Jean-Pierre being out of the house with Eden. Sometimes she leaves the codes in the condo. Other times she brings them with her.”
“And if the codes are on her?”
“Then they return to the condo with us asking for the codes nicely.”
“I would like to be there for that.” I smirked. “Okay. Come here and help me with this X squad. Then we go to Paris together and talk to Jean-Pierre.”
“This has to go perfectly, Misha. No getting distracted by your ballerina. The eclipse is in a few days.”