Timur might have relented if he thought for one moment that Apostol Delov was crying for that young, frightened girl sold to strangers for their pleasure, but he knew better. He knew the messenger cried for himself. He despised the man. Ashe could have been free and clear if the man had just kept his mouth shut. Her mother had been careful not to allow one hint of her existence in her coded correspondence with her sister.
“You gave the daughter up to save your own skin,” Timur mused, slowly circling the bound body. “What did you tell Lazar about her?”
“That she was running. Only that she was running. I followed her. It wasn’t easy. She’s very good, but she’s attractive, and people remember attractive women.”
Timur knew that was true. He would have noticed her if she’d been in a crowd. “Do you know who she belongs to, Apostol? Me. My leopard. You know the reputation of our leopards. They want blood for the least infraction. They demand it. Right now, he’s raking at me, trying to claw his way out to get to you.”
He still spoke in a low voice as he completed the circle and ended up standing in front of the messenger. “You are the direct cause of the hit out on my woman. And then, as if that wasn’t a big enough insult to me, you were really greedy, weren’t you?”
Apostol nodded over and over, sobs escaping. He couldn’t take his eyes from Timur, mesmerized by him, terrified of him, still hopeful that he would relent and pardon his sins.
“You sold out Fyodor and Evangeline for money, didn’t you? You sold out Gorya and me.” He indicated Kyanite and Rodion. “The others who were loyal to us. You traded our lives for money, Delov.”
“I didn’t tell him where you were. I just asked about the reward. I just asked . Someone else was going to see you. One of the members of the hit squad. They would have seen you.”
“That excuses you?”
Apostol grabbed at that, clearly not hearing it was a question. “Yes. Yes. It isn’t my fault. I needed the money to get out from under him. Someone was going to get it. Why not me? I needed it more than anyone. I deserved it more.”
“Tell me about the team coming for Ashe. When do you expect them and where are they staying?”
“They came in through Miami. I supplied their weapons. It’s standard for me to do that,” Apostol said hastily. “I have to do it, it’s part of my job.”
“How many are here to get my woman?” He said it deliberately to remind Apostol of his sins against Timur.
“Three. Three came in.”
“Where did you get the weapons you provided them, and how did you arrange to deliver them?”
“I contact the local supplier, get the weapons and then leave them in the motel for the hit team.”
“Who was the supplier?”
“A man Lazar does business with.”
Timur stared at him until the messenger let out a wail.
“Trafficking business. He brings the girls in from Russia and other places Lazar’s people get them and in return, the man here, Ulisse Mancini, ships girls from here back to Russia.”
“Mancini’s territory is Houston, but he does a lot of business with a man by the name of Emilio Bassini. Are Mancini and Bassini both doing business with Lazar?”
“Mancini is the name I hear all the time.”
“Did the other hit teams come in through Houston?” Deliberately he made it plural. He had the feeling the second hit team was already close. The texts were from several days earlier, time enough for Lazar to get his men positioned in the States.
Apostol nodded several times. “Mancini’s men met them at the airport and hooked them up with a car. I left their weapons in the motel.”
“Name of motel.”
Apostol shuddered and then his body began to contort, his leopard staring through his eyes. The messenger’s fear finally pushed the animal out. Timur waited until the leopard had fully shifted and then he shot him fast and mercifully. There was no point in prolonging the death of the hapless creature. Apostol had held back his leopard as long as he possibly could, but in the end, the animal had overcome his will and emerged to protect his human counterpart.
“He has to be burned,” Timur said. “Ashes scattered as usual.”
“No problem, Timur,” Kyanite said. “Are you going after the hit squad?”
He nodded. “I have no choice. They’re here to kill Ashe, and she belongs to me. In any case, we’d better prepare for an all-out war, I think the second team may have arrived as well. I’ll send word to Fyodor. We need a meeting with the others. If we’re bringing them all to town, we’d best have Lazar’s team—or teams—shut down before that.”
“This woman, Ashe, is she really yours? Your leopard’s mate?” Rodion asked.