“It was just one bullet that scraped my calf. I’ll live.” He coughed. “And then Misha returned to the ballet performance. His men dragged me out of there and took me to a hospital.”
“That’s where you’re at now?”
“Yes.”
I lowered the phone and seethed.
What the hell is wrong with you, Misha?
Pressure built in my chest. “Get Maxwell’s information.”
“Perhaps, your mouse will have that—”
“This is why you’re in the hospital. That mouth and thinking too much. Get Maxwell’s information and call me back.” I hung up and glared at the other guard who had the unfortunate luck of being on the balcony with me.
He looked down at the ground.
I directed my view back to the sky. “Do you know much about the moon?”
The guard cleared his throat. “I’m sorry, sir, but are you talking to me?”
“Yes.”
“I-I don’t know much about the moon.”
I frowned.
He added, “But there is a lunar eclipse coming soon. Some sort of super moon.”
I arched my eyebrows. “When?”
“Next Tuesday, I believe. I’m not sure.”
I shook my head. “This is why the world is going crazy.”
“Maybe, sir.”
“And it’s only going to get worse. That’s how eclipses work. They make everybody act erratic.”
The full moon had its own magic but combined with the energy of a lunar eclipse, chaos would come. Eclipses were heralders of change. They charged the soul into evolution, made the proceeding days uncomfortable so a person was forced to change and grow somehow. A huge transition. A transformation of the mind, body, and soul. A lunar eclipse was a time of leaving what was safe and comfortable in order to grow more fully into oneself.
I’d escaped from jail on the night of an eclipse. I’d buried my mother on another. Both were major moments. Both changed my life. But none of the experiences were welcomed.
Not now. I don’t need this now.
What good could come from the earth’s shadow falling across the moon’s face? When that occurred, the moon always answered back with unsurmountable energy, blazing all the living with it. Creating chaos and insanity. When the eclipse came, unconscious feelings rose to the surface. For some, the moment grounded them in reality. For others, it drove them insane.
Maybe we should stay in Paris until after the eclipse.
My phone rang.
Who else has good news?
I spotted Pavel’s number again and answered, “You have more to say?”
“Unfortunately.”
“What?”
“Our people in the FBI are saying someone pulled the mouse’s fingerprints from your limo.”
My voice rose. “What limo?”
“The one you’re using in Paris.”
I’d taken the Bugatti to the restaurant and had the limo delivered. I hadn’t wanted to put my hands on a steering wheel. I needed my hands all over Emily. Now, someone had snuck into the limo and lifted my mouse’s fingerprints.
The moment I seek relaxation, everyone becomes bold. Who could be trying to get her prints? What are they trying to learn?
I hadn’t even told Pavel I was in Paris. “Who told you I was here?”
“The FBI.”
I nodded, understanding. The FBI kept a watchful eye on me, not that they could do anything else. I sighed. “And who do they think lifted the fingerprints?”
“They’re guessing it was your driver.”
I turned to my guard. “Wake up my driver from his room and bring him out here.”
He rushed off without another word.
I returned to the phone. “Did they get a hit on the fingerprints?”
“No, and I had the FBI agents killed.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Why?”
“I thought it would be a good deterrent to other agents. If one is killed from looking into the fingerprints, perhaps the others won’t even want to touch the samples.”
“None of the agents said who did it before they died?”
“They refused.”
That meant the agents feared what the person would do, if they told.
Who else would the agents fear more than me? And who’s stupid enough to get my mouse’s prints?
Even with hanging Sasha’s dead body from a flagpole, people thought they could challenge me.
“Kazimir?”
I gritted my teeth. “Yes.”
“You need more men in Paris.”
I swallowed my pride and agreed. “The world does appear to be fucking with me this week. It may be a good idea to send men this way.”
“And weapons?”
“I’ve brought a few rocket launchers. I’ll put one under the bed.”
“Can it fit?”
“I’ll make it fit.”
“Perhaps, a rocket launcher may be too—”
“Anything else?”
“I would like to be by your side.”
Was everyone going to stroke my cock for these new positions?
“Come here but bring Misha with you. Enough is enough. It’s time for him and me to talk. And it’s more than enough time that he bury his father.”
Only God knew what they were doing in Prague with Uncle Igor’s corpse.
Silence hit the other line.
Finally, Pavel spoke up, “I will do my best to bring him.”
“There’s no other option. Tie Misha up and drag him if you have to, but it’s time for him to wake up and deal with his responsibilities. Is anybody even dealing with his father’s castle or the orphaned men out there?”