I moved closer and took a seat on the other side of the dog, scratching her ears. “Is there anything we can do for you?”
“You have done it already.” Viktor’s Russian accent thickened and he scrubbed his eyes again. “Your soldiers have been good to me.”
“Folk and Decoy?”
“It was not literal, but yes.”
“Did Folk talk to you about withdrawal?”
Viktor’s nose flared with a harsh breath. “He did not need to. I am aware of what he went through to survive.”
I wasn’t. Folk was pretty open if anyone asked, but I never did. I loved that dude, and like everyone I cared about, I was too chickenshit to think about all the things that had almost killed him. “What did they give you? Smack?”
“Heroin?” Viktor’s head bobbed in a slow nod. “Yes, I think so. For a long time now, so I have much work to do on myself when I get home.”
He didn’t sound all that bitter. Just tired as Cam shadowed the doorway, his intimidation factor sky high as his dark gaze swept the room.
But that was just Cam. In another life, he’d have been a warrior king. In this one, he was my battle-scarred brother in arms and his heart was as soft as mine.
He dragged the bench nearer, taking a seat and leaning forward, already reaching for Viktor. “I’m so fucking sorry we didn’t find you.”
Viktor took a moment to clasp Cam’s outstretched hand. “I know you looked. It is not your fault it did not work out.”
“You were on our doorstep the whole damn time.”
“So? My people didn’t find me either.”
“Trust me, they tried.” Cam released Viktor’s hand and sat back. “ThenItold Jakov you weren’t here. That we’d fixed the Sambini issue and he should look harder up north and elsewhere. I’m fucking sorry about that too.”
Viktor shrugged. “It was a sensible thing to say. I was not aware that Gianni Sambini had retained a relationship with the Crows. And I made an assumption that any I’d lost track of had been eliminated. That is on me.”
Cam grunted, lighting up a smoke. “It’s a clusterfuck is what it is. And I still don’t understand the half of it. I knew Locke’s history with them was fucked up, but why come for him now after all this time?”
If he was asking me, I had no sensible answers to give.
Viktor fumbled with a water bottle while he gave it some thought. “I did not witness Locke as a prisoner during my time with the Crows. It was known, but I did not see it. Priest, though. He required constant entertainment, and perhaps by the end, I was not enough for that.”
“You think this happened because he was fucking bored?”
“Maybe, and for thatIam sorry. There is nothing worse than losing your freedom twice.”
I helped Viktor with the water bottle. “We need that fucker dead.”
Viktor concurred with a slow nod.
I had to ask. “Who killed the rest of them? Was it Locke?”
Viktor took a careful drink from the bottle, mindful of the IV snaking from his arm. “Some. And I thought maybe it was a moment for him to claim that closure, but he is a nice man with a big heart, no? And that is why I live.”
I almost hugged him, but Cam still had serious business to discuss.
“We cleared the scene,” he said. “Five. I need to know if there’s more while we still have brothers on the road.”
Viktor frowned, wavering as he eased back on the bed.
I took the bottle from him, giving him a minute. Could he eat? I didn’t have a scooby. I just had to trust that if it was good for him, Folk would’ve done it already.
“Five sounds right,” Viktor answered eventually. “If there are more, my people will fix it. You have done enough.”