He stops suddenly causing me to be yanked back into his arms; my back nestled up to his front. He puts his lips close to my ear before he whispers the words to me, "It means little one. You are my little one, aren't you, Kitten."
"Yes." It's nothing more than a whispered answer but it came out before I could think about what I was saying. Some part of me knows instinctually that I am Ivan's. I want to be Ivan's. But what does that really mean? And what is this for Ivan? Men like him don't do the whole settling down thing, they don't stay. And that is going to be a very big problem for someone like me who needs that fairy tale ever after.
13
____________
Ivan
My meeting with Jamison Archer, Ace's boss, is different than what I expected. Even for someone like me who's seen a lot of shit in his day. I've never met the man so I'm expecting the typical military leader with staunch posture, short hair, and a rigid personality. What I find is someone who works within systems that aren't even sanctioned by normal military channels.
First thing this morning Ace heads to the barn and I think he's going for more ammo just in case. Both of us are amped up about tonight's bust. In just a few minutes Ace comes back and tells me he needs me out in the barn. I go without a second thought and what I step into is a full-on black ops meeting complete with an entire team of men.
"My guys wanted in on tonight. This guy, Johnson, he sold names, Ivan. Ours was on the list." Ace is standing in front of four men all completely comfortable with the weapons they have in their hands.
"I can't let you do that." There is no way anyone else is getting hurt because of something I have to do, especially not Ace.
"And we can't let you go in there alone when we understand there are going to be multiple people shooting at you." The voice comes out of the shadows cast by the barn stalls. When it steps forward I am left looking at a man a little taller than me, with sharp green eyes that take in everything around him. The eyes are hidden behind a pair of wire-rimmed glasses that look like something Harry Potter would wear. His hair is brown and cut so that it falls across his forehead and swings down in front of his eyes a little. If I had to describe this guy I would say he looks like everyone and no one at all.
He does have the rigid posture of a man in the military but that is overshadowed by the lethal edge to the way he carries himself. This guy could kill me within the space of an eye blink...I like him.
"Archer I presume."
His lips tilt up on one side. "Very good Mr. Dragomir. It is nice to see you again."
Wait, what? I scan my memory just to be sure we've never met.
"I've met you before?"
He shakes his head yes, "Long ago, in Moscow. You would have been about twenty-eight at the time."
What the fuck? Come again.
"A young soldier was just finishing up with his training but showing remarkable potential when his name popped across my desk and you were in his file." I shoot my eyes over to Ace who looks just as dumbfounded as me. "Come now, you didn't expect me to put men on my team that I didn't know everything about did you. In my line of work the more you know the longer you stay alive."
"We met? Like shook hands kind of met?" He nods his head up and down in no big hurry to go anywhere or do anything. The guy isn't even amped up about tonight, you can tell. Ice water flows through this guy for blood.
"I thought about recruiting you. I'm always looking for new people with a certain something to foster relationships with."
I shake my head. The shit you find out on your way to the fucking barn, huh.
"I can tell we aren't going to be able to move on until I give you the security of knowing when and how we met. You would have known me by my other name - Kronos."
Holy fuck me! Kronos was in front of me. He killed more people than any other assassin in my time. He's a fucking ghost, nobody could catch him. Not even me. I was ordered to look into the death of a prominent member of the government who had turned up dead with Kronos' card industrial glued to his chest under his clothing and kill him. I found nothing even though I felt like I was close more than a few times.
His calling card was a reaper's scythe laid across a gun. When he was coming for you, you understood time had run out. I always thought he was Russian.
"Wait, are you saying the guy you glued to the pier of the dock wasn't..."
"What I was there for? Of course not. I needed to get close to you to find out how good you were and to tell if you were on the right side of things. The guy just needed killing so it was a win/win for me."
Now that's fucking cold.
I really like this guy.
"I pride myself on knowing about people, so I understand you are a lone wolf but it isn't going to work on this one. I need Starling alive to tell me who the Senator is working with to sell his information. I just want the information if you want to take care of him once I have it I couldn't say I would stop you."
"You want information on the mysterious second guy that was a part of the human trafficking ring someone brought down back in May?" It was kept really hush-hush in the media but for people like me, it was there to find. I might have changed careers and am just a writer now but I still know how to find what I want when I want it - like information.
"Yes."
I have no doubt that the person who brought down the buyer in Asia was one of Kronos, uh, Archer's men.
"Do we have eyeballs on Starling? A man inside?"
"No need, I have someone watching. I always have someone watching. He couldn't take a shit without my guy knowing what he had for dinner last night. Once we're there my guy will fade into the background and we can take it from there. Once Starling is out and we are done with him we hand him over to your friend Roberts and he becomes his problem from then on if you're okay with that."
Some battles you just can't win and arguing with this man is one of them. I reluctantly agree and all of us sit down to start making plans about what needs to happen later tonight.
Because I spend most of the day getting ready I don't see Kat for the better part of a day but I wouldn't leave and go do this without seeing her. Even though the men I am going in with are the best at what they do no one can ever really be sure how things like this will go. She's quiet. It's a big difference to how loud she was last night and I hate that I cause the worry lines to form on her face. We have a rapt audience with Ace and Ana looking but trying to pretend they aren't. It doesn't stop me from moving into her and taking her hips in my hands.
"I have to do this, Kitten." It's the only way to keep her safe.