“He said you would. He’ll be expecting it.”

Maria pushed her away. “What about Rennell? Has anyone told him about Sandrino?”

“Tanner is probably doing it now. I offered, but Tanner said that wouldn’t—”

“Of course it wouldn’t. He was right about that at least. Tanner can handle the explosion.” She added, “And maybe the emotional fallout.” She paused. “When is all this supposed to start? How much time do I have to talk you out of it?”

“Probably tonight. Tanner said he thought Volkov would have had enough time to stew and would be calling him back. He’ll be working all day to get ready for him. He sent Mallory out early this morning to track down the location of Volkov’s forces in the area. And I know he called Kaskov for additional help last night.”

“Shit!”

“Don’t look at it like that,” Lara said coaxingly. “It’s the beginning of the end. And it’s a new life for us, Maria.”

“I’ll do my best.” She added brusquely, “And isn’t it time for you to go practice? You were gone all yesterday.”

“What a nag. I’m going down now. I just wanted to duck in here and talk to you first.” She gave her a final hug and headed for the door. “Actually, I can’t wait, Maria. After yesterday I desperately need the music.”

Maria took a deep breath, her upper teeth biting down hard on her lower lip as the door closed behind Lara.

“Shit! Shit! Shit!”

* * *

Rennell’s hands clenched into fists as he turned away from Tanner. “The bastard did that to him?” he asked hoarsely. “You should have called me right away. We can’t let him live. Not even one more day. Not one more hour.”

“Yes, we can. Do you think I don’t know how you feel?” Tanner asked savagely. “I’m the one who found him. I saw him. It nearly killed me.”

Rennell whirled back to him, his eyes blazing. “Then why isn’t Volkov dead? You wouldn’t let me do it before. But nothing should have held you back after that. I thought you cared something about him. He loved you from the day he dragged you up to Sandrino Place. Anyone could see it.”

“You idiot, he loved both of us. God knows why.” He clutched Rennell’s shoulders and shook him. “The three of us were the most mismatched sons of bitches on the face of the earth, but somehow he managed to meld us together and make a family of us. I’ll be damned if I let Volkov kill you, too.”

“Take your hands off me before I break your neck.”

“Then listen to me.” His grip loosened and then fell away. “We’ll go after Volkov. It’s already in the works. But Volkov brought a crew with him, and they’re probably as lethal as you were when you were with the Gardella crime family.”

“I doubt it.”

“Arrogant prick. Anyway, there’s quite a few of them, they know what they’re doing, and they’ll have decent weapons. Anton Balkon will see to that. He’s running this show for Volkov. I don’t want there to be even a chance that Volkov isn’t a dead man when this is over. Not only dead, but in the most painful way possible.” He added grimly, “And I don’t want to leave any of his men alive to tell the story or cause any future problems for Lara and Maria. Understand?”