All The Way

by Tricia Jones

  “You have to trust me, Grace.”

  She met Niko’s gaze, saw the plea there. He wanted her to trust him. He wanted her to trust him to carry out whatever needed to be done.

  Could she? Was that the right thing to do? Should she put all her trust in him? Safe in the knowledge that he would do whatever needed to be done, both for her sister and for her?

  Yes.

  The word reverberated around her head and her heart.

  Yes.

  She let out a breath as something settled within her. “Promise me you’ll put her safety first. That you won’t let Leah be the price of bringing Pavel down.”

  “I promise.”

  She looked at Niko as her heart tripped through the fear for Leah. “You get her back to me. Whatever you have to do, whatever choices you have to make, you get her back.”

  He nodded, kissed her, then released her hands. As he walked into the hall and snatched up his car keys, Grace stepped in front of him. “I’m coming with you.”

  “Out of the question.”

  “Leah’s terrified out of her mind. When you find her, I want to be there. I won’t interfere, but I’m coming with you.”

  He stood there, glaring down at her as his nostrils flared. It was obvious he was about to refuse.

  Grace raised her chin. “You asked me to trust you, Niko. Well, you trust me.”

  That got a reaction. He narrowed his gaze as he placed a hand either side of her face. “The people we’re dealing with will kill first and ask questions later.”

  “I know that,” Grace lied, ignoring an inward shudder. “I’m not stupid.”

  “It’s likely the transaction has already taken place and money’s changed hands. If this is the case, you’ll be at risk too. I can’t focus on getting Leah back if I’m worried about you.”

  “You won’t have to worry about me. I’ll do whatever you say, but I have to come with you. She’s my sister. My responsibility. I won’t be able to live with myself if anything happens to her and I’m not there.”

  After an interminable length of time, he nodded, although she’d never seen anyone acquiesce with quite so much reluctance.

  “You stay by me like my shadow,” he commanded. “When I tell you to stay put, you do it. No arguments, Grace.”

  She nodded, swallowed. “No arguments.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  From the back seat of the SUV, Grace peered through the dark and saw Niko waiting on the street corner. Beyond him the lights of Marseilles Harbour twinkled innocuously. In the driver’s seat, Vadim lit a cigarette.

  “How much longer?” Grace whispered as she kept her gaze tightly focused on Niko.

  Vadim turned his head toward Grace, but like hers his gaze stayed firmly on his friend. “Pavel’s more than twenty minutes late,” he said. “It’s all part of the game.”

  Grace wanted to bite back that her sister’s kidnapping was hardly a game, nor was watching the man she loved standing on some seedy street corner where at any moment anything could happen.

  “Will Pavel come alone? What if he sees that Niko isn’t carrying the money?”

  Grace had asked a version of the same question three times before, both of Vadim and Niko, but she couldn’t think of anything else to occupy her mind. Every time she allowed it to remain blank, horrific images of what Leah might be suffering screamed across her consciousness.

  Vadim, forever patient, said gently, “It’s likely that Pavel wants the money for himself, he wouldn’t want to share it with anyone, so yes, he’ll come alone. And he already knows Niko would never carry that sort of money, so Pavel will have factored that in.” He spared her a glance. “Don’t worry. Niko knows what he’s doing.”

  As Vadim looked back to his friend, Grace took a steadying breath and focused on breathing in and out. She saw Niko glance at his watch and saw his mouth move. From the stiff set of his shoulders and the tiny shake of his head, Grace knew he grew impatient with the wait and his curse was likely something harsh and vicious in his native language.

  The flash of a car’s headlights lit up the corner and a car drew up alongside Niko. The driver, the lone occupant of the car, wasn’t Pavel and the man wound down the window. Grace’s heart stopped when Niko moved around the front of the car and got into the passenger seat.

  “What’s he doing? He shouldn’t just get in like that. Who is that?”

  “Never seen him before.” Vadim started the ignition. “Keep down and out of sight.”

  Grace slipped down, but peered over the top of Vadim’s seat back as he followed at a healthy distance as the car in front traveled along the busy city streets, moving north.

  Adept at keeping out of the line of sight of the car they followed, Grace gauged that Vadim had obviously done this sort of thing before. He weaved and slipped through traffic, making sure to keep the car visible while being unobtrusive.

  Grace didn’t dare speak. Her heart was in her throat anyway. She feared for Leah, but now she feared for Niko as well. The two people she loved most in the world were in danger. It was the worst kind of nightmare. The worst kind of pain.

  She comforted herself with the knowledge that Niko knew what he was doing. Hell, he wasn’t an idiot. He wouldn’t have gotten into that car if he didn’t have a plan or some idea of how he intended playing this unexpected scenario.

  They’d been travelling for what seemed like an eternity when Vadim pulled into a space and turned off the ignition. A few hundred yards ahead, both the driver and Niko stepped out of the car, the man gesturing for Niko to follow him into a building. Niko shook his head, pointed his finger at the man and stepped forward. The man retreated a couple of paces, but started gesturing with his hands. Arguing, Grace realized, and had to force herself to breathe as the man shook his head before going into the building.

  Niko didn’t turn to make sure Vadim had parked up, but kept his gaze firmly focused on the building as he stood by the car.

  “What’s he doing?” Grace whispered as she angled her head to keep Niko in sight. “Shouldn’t we get nearer?”

  “We stay here.” Like Grace, Vadim didn’t take his eyes from Niko. “And keep quiet. It won’t help Niko if I lose my concentration. I need to watch his back, and I can’t do that if you keep asking questions.”

  She couldn’t argue with that logic. “I want him safe.”

  “And he wants you safe, which is why I’m babysitting you here in this car and not closer to Niko watching his back.”

  “You don’t have to babysit me. I won’t put my sister in danger and I won’t do that to Niko either.”

  Vadim said something in Russian that sounded much like a curse.

  “Please, Vadim, get nearer to Niko. If anything happens, he’ll need you to—”

  She froze when Pavel stepped out of the building and moved toward Niko. Niko didn’t move. Moments later, they were engaged in a heated argument, then, as quickly, they both got into the car.

  Vadim had already turned the ignition and again followed at a safe distance as they headed back toward Marseilles Harbour.

  They parked up on the quayside and Niko followed Pavel down a jetty where they disappeared into a bar.

  “Stay here,” Vadim ordered as he started to get out of the car.

  Grace said nothing. She was too focused on watching Niko walk through the bar door and out of sight, wondering if the image of him disappearing through the door of that seedy bar, ready to confront God knew what, would ever remain at the forefront of her most terrifying moments.

  With her gaze fixed on the bar door, Grace had to remind her heart to keep beating and her breath to move in and out of her chest until the moment Niko stepped back out. With Leah.

  ****

  As he followed Pavel up the narrow stairs at the back of the restaurant, Nikolai fisted his hands in an effort to keep from reaching for Pavel’s neck and squeezing until the life slipped from him.

  He not only had Leah, but had upped his demand for money to
double the price.

  Without recourse, Nikolai had no choice but to agree, whilst knowing the bastard would never get a euro of his money. Pavel would watch Nikolai walk away with both the money and Leah.

  “She’s in here,” Pavel said as they reached the top of the stairs and pointed to a door along on the right. “You get a glimpse of her, but then I get the money or the men I’ve got waiting on the end of this phone will be here in ten seconds and she’s gone forever.”

  “If she’s harmed you get nothing,” Nikolai said, his voice belying the anger swamping his chest. “Now, show me where she is.”

  Pavel hesitated for a moment, then moved along the hallway. At the door he stepped back. “In there.”

  Unwilling to have his back to Pavel, Nikolai stayed put. “You first.”

  “What’s wrong?” Pavel said with a high-pitched laugh. “Don’t trust me?”

  “No.” Nikolai said simply, noting that Pavel’s hands weren’t quite steady. “You’ve never given me reason.”

  Pavel gave that same nervous laugh, then stepped forward and opened the door. Nikolai stepped in behind him, his gaze going momentarily to Leah huddled on a bed in the corner of the room, gagged and with her arms tied behind her back. Then his gaze swept the room, making sure she was alone.

  Niko kept his gaze on Leah as he reached behind him and pushed the door closed. “Are you harmed?”

  The girl was white as a ghost, her eyes like saucers as she stared back at him. She gave a small shake of her head.

  “Satisfied?” Pavel’s trembling fingers hovered over the phone’s keypad. “Now where’s my money?”

  “You get your money when the girl is downstairs and walking to my car.”

  Lifting the phone, Pavel stepped forward. “That’s not the deal.”

  “Deal? I don’t make deals with slime. Now untie her or so help me I’ll beat the life out of you.”

  Leah whimpered, but Nikolai knew he couldn’t take his gaze from Pavel at that moment. He didn’t know if Pavel had a knife, a gun, or what the hell else.

  White fingered, Pavel waved the phone he held. “All I have to do is press one button.” His eyes darted from left to right like a trapped animal. “If I do that, the men I have waiting downstairs will be here for that little bitch over there and she’ll be sold off to the highest bidder to be whored around to whoever wants her.”

  Again, Leah whimpered and the desperate sobs that followed filled the air. Niko wanted to beat the hell out of Pavel, then dump his body in the Mediterranean. He was only glad that Viktor and Elena were no longer alive to witness the appalling depths to which their son had sunk.

  “So, what’s it to be?” Pavel almost screamed. “Shall I make that call?”

  “You do that and you’ll be two million euros worse off.”

  “Then give me my money.” Pavel shook the phone like a gun. “Give me my money and you get the whore back.”

  “And the men downstairs will simply walk away?” Niko enquired calmly, darkly. “Are women so easily acquired they’ll allow one to be stolen from beneath their noses?”

  “I can get them more.”

  “How?” Nikolai kept his enquiry light, almost casual. Pavel was in a highly volatile state, but he wasn’t an idiot. “You think they’ll trust you to deliver if you mess this one up?”

  “They know me, they know I can deliver. I’ve done it before. Many times before.”

  “You think I was born yesterday, you scum? How did you manage that? You’ve been inside for two years.”

  With a sneer, Pavel tilted his chin at Nikolai. “You think that stopped me? I had contacts. Good contacts. Easy to do business, inside or out, when a man has gravitas.”

  “Gravitas? A low life nothing like you? You can’t even scratch your balls without directions.”

  “So much you know. I’ve got connections. One word from me and things happen.”

  Pavel’s eyes were unable to settle on any point for longer than a second and Nikolai knew he was on the edge, likely high on something. “You’re a stoolie. A gopher. A pissing lapdog.”

  “Da? So why is the main man downstairs right now waiting my signal to come get the bitch?” He gestured wildly with the phone at Leah. “And if you don’t give me my money right now, I’ll tell them where to get your fucking whore as well as her precious baby sister.”

  Red hot rage rimmed around Nikolai’s vision. “You watch your mouth.”

  “Watch my mouth? Now why would I want to do that? Your English tramp will go down very well where this one’s going. Sisters. Imagine what price that sort of novelty will get me. Well,” he stepped back as Nikolai stepped forward, his chest pumping angrily, “how much is your whore worth to you? Are you willing to negotiate? Because the price just went up again. And in case you think I’m bluffing, I know you’ve got her stashed away warming your bed not far from here. All I have to do is press this button and the car I’ve got waiting outside your fuck nest will grab your whore at the same time this bitch here will disappear.”

  Nikolai ignored the sickness that stormed through his stomach and the rage that wanted to rip the bastard to shreds where he stood. Grace was okay. She was safe with Vadim, a man he trusted more than any other.

  He took a few covert breaths and deliberately kept his voice even. “This is all very interesting, but you honestly expect me to believe the head honcho is waiting downstairs, troubling himself for one girl?”

  “He likes pretty white girls. He’ll probably keep your bitch for himself.”

  Nikolai barely resisted the urge to thrown Pavel out the nearest window. He craved a few moments with Pavel after this was over, before the sick miscreant was banged up inside again. Vaguely, he wondered if he could swing it. The thought made his fingers itch to connect with the man’s face, his gut, but he ordered himself to keep focus. “Release the girl to me now and I’ll give you what you want.”

  When Pavel didn’t move, didn’t react, Nikolai took a step forward. Time, and his patience, was fast running out. “What’s it to be?” he snapped. “Give me the girl, you get your money.”

  “I’m not stupid.” Pavel’s edgy laugh echoed around the room, confirming Nikolai’s fears that his brain was currently scrambled by chemicals. That made him dangerous and unpredictable. “I let you walk out of here with her and I’ve got no leverage.”

  “I’ve got one thousand in my jacket pocket.” Nikolai raised his eyebrows as he lifted his hand and when Pavel indicated his agreement by waving his gun, Nikolai reached into his pocket. He pulled out a stuffed envelope. “I’ll get you the rest in an hour.”

  “That wasn’t the deal,” Pavel said looking between Nikolai and the envelope. “I’m not stupid.”

  As Nikolai held out the envelope, he felt the comforting weight of the gun Vadim had insisted he carry. “I won’t negotiate with someone waving a gun in my face. Put the gun away, untie the girl and we’ll talk.”

  “No. No more talk. You get me my money, all of it, and you bring it back here within the hour.”

  Niko slipped his hands casually into his pockets and rocked back on his heels. “I’ll give you the money, all of it, but that changes things. You come with me and bring the girl.”

  Ever since Pavel had mentioned Grace, Nikolai had felt a growing and overwhelming need to get back to the car, to make certain she was there and was safe. He desperately needed to be with her, to feel her warmth in his arms, to protect her...

  Memories pushed for attention, but he refused to go there. Dear God. He couldn’t go there. Not now.

  “I know you.” Pavel pointed the gun at Niko. “As soon as we’re out of here, you’ll do something. You’ve got some plan. If you try anything—”

  “You’ll signal your men,” Nikolai finished for him. “Put down the gun. Do it now or the deal’s off. You’ll have no money and you’ll lose credibility with your contacts, because if you think I’m leaving here without the girl, and if you think I haven’t taken steps to protect Grace, y
ou really are insane.”

  Pavel kept his gaze on Nikolai, but wiped his hand across his mouth with his free hand. Niko kept his own gaze focused on Pavel, while his peripheral vision took in the gun and a now deathly quiet Leah huddled in the corner.

  Eventually, Pavel gave a slow nod. “Untie her, but keep the gag. Bitch doesn’t stop whining.”

  Nikolai doubted whether Leah had it in her right then to do anything more than sob, but her eyes pleaded to him and his heart clenched.

  “You don’t think that someone might think it strange to see two men leading out a young kid with a gag in her mouth?”

  Pavel hesitated and Niko thought he might argue, but then he turned to Leah. “You so much as breathe heavy and I’ll shoot him. Then you and your sister will be shipped off to North Africa.”

  Tears slid down Leah’s face as Nikolai moved slowly toward the bed. He touched her gently on the shoulder and ran his hand lightly down her arm. “It’s okay,” he said softly. “Everything will be okay.”

  She sobbed, but nodded. He reached around and worked on the ties at her wrists, noticing how the skin was red and sore where she’d struggled to get free. When the ties were loose he saw the weeping grazes and realized just how hard she’d struggled. A fighter, he thought. He had to admire that.

  When her hands were free, he reached up and loosened the gag. He felt her arms fly around him, holding on as she turned her cheek and wept on his shoulder.

  When the gag was off, she took in a shuddering breath but continued to weep. Nikolai closed his eyes against the heavy rush of feeling that moved through him. As she clung, he wrapped her in his arms, murmuring soothing words in his own language. Words he remembered his mother crooning to him when as a child he’d woken from a nightmare or had fallen and injured himself. Emotions raced through him as he ran a hand up and down Leah’s back.

  “All very touching,” Pavel snapped. “But we don’t have time.”

  Niko felt the gun at his back. “Stay close to me,” he whispered to Leah. As he pulled his head away he could see from the girl’s terrified expression that the devil himself couldn’t pry her away from his side right then.