Chapter 3

The alarm went from solid red to a blinking red. On the third blink, a special alarm went off in the security room and the door locked behind the interloper.

Down in the hotel’s security room everyone saw this and three men scrambled. One got on the phone while the other two sat at monitors searching for the breach. One of the men located the blinking red light and when he announced where it was located, all three men gasped. 

A moment later, Yuri walked through the door, followed closely by yet another man.

Yuri bent over the back of Dimitri’s chair and closely scanned his monitor. “What have you discovered?” he asked them.

Dimitri swallowed hard. He knew Yuri wasn’t going to be pleased. “It’s a new monitor we installed just last week.”

Yuri’s hand tightened as he gripped the back of the chair. “The one above my door?” he asked softly.

“Yes, sir.”

“Activate the monitors inside the penthouse,” Yuri ordered. When the system came up and asked for a password, Yuri leaned forward and typed in his private password. The system wasn’t allowed to activate unless the password was typed in. For his own privacy, Yuri had it set up this way. He didn’t need eyes on him inside his own home all the time.

When the password was accepted, Yuri watched the cameras come alive inside his apartment. Each camera was situated to view the whole room but there was one camera that spanned the entire room whenever someone moved.

The cameras were silent as they scanned the entire living space. There seemed to be no sign of anyone. But if no one was there, why had the security system alerted them? Each of the five men searched the different views carefully. This hadn’t been the first time someone had entered the penthouse without authorization. More like the fifth time. Each time, nothing had been taken or disturbed but someone had been there. Articles of clothing were in different areas and his things had been moved slightly. Some cleaning supplies had been shifted and one of his shirts was missing. 

It had been odd to have such small occurrences after someone had taken the trouble to break in. But it had been enough so that Yuri ordered for extra alarms to be installed. He hoped to find out just who was entering his living area and why. He detested this disturbance of his very privacy.

Gregor saw something from the corner of his eye shift and as he turned his head but so did Yuri. They both caught the odd movements. 

All eyes turned to watch as the shadow lengthened. 

Yuri growled when nothing was clear enough to be seen. They could see someone enter the bedroom area and move to the dresser but the object wasn’t clear enough to make out what it was or who it was.

Yuri straightened his stance and glared at his security team. “Watch those cameras. Kosta and I are going to the penthouse to find this interloper and discover who the hell it is.” He turned and stomped from the room, rushing to the elevators.

Kosta was only a step behind him and the time waiting to reach the top floor seemed to pass slowly. 

Moments later, they approached the door to the penthouse. Yuri typed in a special code that would release the barred door. Opening it carefully, he noted the alarm blinking green. As soon as he closed the door, he typed another code into the security pad that would lock the door again.

He motioned Kosta to the left and he took the right side of the apartment. Moving carefully and quietly, he went from room to room searching for anything that didn’t belong. As he moved toward the bedroom, he saw nothing out of place. 

Pausing a moment, he waited until Kosta joined him then they both entered the bedroom at the same time. Just inside the door, Yuri paused and searched the room. In the darkness, he could see nothing out of place.

Reaching over, he snapped on the light and as the brightness flooded the room Yuri slowly scanned the area but again, found nothing out of place. “Grrr...” He growled. Turning to Kosta he asked, “What are we missing?”

“Everyone saw the shadow,” Kosta admitted.

“Then why can’t we find anyone here?” Yuri demanded. “Ghosts do not move shadows.”

Kosta went over to the bed and checked under it but hadn’t found anything.

Yuri went over to the closet and opened the door, he only found his clothes.

Kosta checked the bathroom but again, found nothing.

Yuri passed the dresser and he caught sight of his wallet laying on the surface. Frowning, he picked up the handcrafted leather billfold. Opening it, he paused. He dropped his hand to his back pocket where the wallet was usually kept. When he discovered his pocket was empty, Yuri’s frown deepened. He glanced over at Kosta and shook his head. Taking out his handkerchief, he carefully wrapped the wallet inside of it and slipped it into his pocket.

Motioning for Kosta to go ahead of him, Yuri glanced one more time around the room before he walked out. He sensed something odd here, but he just could not pinpoint what it was. A scent maybe? He paused to sniff the air. Releasing another small growl, he stalked angrily across the apartment.

A minute later, Yuri closed the door behind him and reset the alarm. He didn’t say a word as he and Kosta made their way back to the hotel’s security room.

 His thoughts were racing however. Who would play stupidass jokes like this? Did they not know that he could bury them six feet under and no one would ever find them? Whoever it was would eventually get caught. This had always been the natural sequence of things.

When he caught this jokester-thief, they would end up being more than sorry.