by Beth Yarnall
He slipped a knife out of his boot. “Need this?”
I pulled my much-bigger knife out of my bra and rolled my eyes at him. Switching off the overhead light, I opened the car door, then ran behind the cabins, ducking under windows, until I got to Miguel’s cabin. Slipping the lock pick into the keyhole I began working on the lock. Bingo.
“Rebecca!” Sergei shouted.
I heard her say something in return. Ivan said something I couldn’t understand.
This was my cue. I kept low as I slowly opened the back door. Sergei was talking to Ivan and the other goon in Russian at the front of the cabin, probably feeding them some bullshit line. I found Miguel tied to a chair in the kitchen.
His head popped up when he saw me, surprise parting his lips, but he was smart enough not to make a sound. I quickly cut his bonds and then signaled for him to follow me back out the way I’d come. He nearly fell on his face when he tried to stand up.
“My legs are asleep,” he whispered.
I checked over my shoulder. Sergei still had them occupied out front, but not for much longer. Grabbing Miguel’s arm, I slung it around my neck and helped him stand. We made slow progress, but soon we were behind the cabins, headed for the car.
“Faster,” I told him in a low voice. “We’re almost there.”
I was grateful for the darkness as I shoved Miguel into the backseat and then went around to the driver’s side. Sergei had left the keys so I could grab Miguel and then swing around front to pick him up.
“Stay down,” I told Miguel as I started the car. “I’ll tell you when to get up.”
“Thank God you got here when you did. Kostya was due any minute.”
Sure enough, just as we passed cabin number 23 and the little group standing around out front, we also passed Kostya in a car headed in the opposite direction.
I hit the accelerator, skidding around a corner and out the front gate of the campground. I was going so fast I almost missed the look of shock on Sergei’s face as I waved goodbye. This was not part of our pact. We always met up if separated. My wave let him know that I was leaving his double-crossing ass here with Rebecca and his crazy-assed uncle.
By the time I hit the highway, we were going about forty miles an hour above the speed limit. I was sure Kostya and his goons had seen me, so I wanted to put as much distance between us as possible.
Miguel sat up and clicked his seatbelt on. “That was awesome, sis. Just like the old da—hey!”
I reached back and hit him. I kept on hitting him as best as I could with one hand on the wheel, nearly swerving into the next lane. “That was not awesome.” Slap. “I can’t believe I’m related to you.” Slap, slap. “You’re such a fucking idiot.” Slap, slap, slap.
He tried to dodge me, but he was so big I landed more smacks than I missed.
“Jesus, stop! Goddamn it, Maggie. You’re as bad as Mom.”
That earned him three more whacks. “You think I wanted to fly up here to save your sorry ass with Sergei as a chaperone? I’m out of vacation days so this is coming out of my sick pay, and I was planning on using them for a trip to Mexico. I can’t believe you were dumb enough to cheat Kostya out of two and a half million fucking dollars. What were you thinking?” I hit him once more to drive the message home.
“I didn’t take Kostya’s money.”
“Right. And I’m not Queen of My-Brother’s-a-Fucking-Idiot-Ville.”
“I swear to God, Maggie. I didn’t steal his money. Sergei did.”
And suddenly it all made sense. Sergei must’ve said something to Kostya back at the restaurant to get himself in on the hunt for Miguel and then played it off as Kostya’s romantic side. Add to it his willingness to help me find Miguel and get him away from Kostya’s goons. There was only one reason why. He wanted to find out how much Miguel knew and then he’d get rid of Miguel himself.
“Are you shitting me? Because I swear to God, Miguel, that if you’re lying to me I’m going to mule-kick your nuts so far up into your head they’ll replace your eyeballs.”
“Jesus, you’re such a bitch.”
“I don’t like being played…by you or Kostya or Sergei. Now tell me what the fuck happened with Kostya’s money before I turn this car around and deliver you right into his lap.”
Miguel laid it all out. Sergei was the one behind the Ponzi scheme. He’d gotten his uncle to invest a butt-load of cash and then fixed the books so it looked like Miguel had taken off with the money.
“Only I’m smarter than Sergei thinks,” Miguel said.
I highly doubted that. Sergei had counted on the fact that Miguel had built a reputation for fucked-up deals and less-than-honest business practices. From the beginning I’d wondered why Sergei would go into business with my brother. Now I knew. He needed a fall guy and Miguel was practically perfect in every single way.
My gut burned, thinking about how I’d nearly broken down in front of Sergei. He’d played on my sympathies and sentimentality. And I’d let him. There was more than one idiotic Castro sibling in this car.
“I found the offshore bank account where Sergei hid the money,” Miguel continued. “I have the account number. He doesn’t know I found it. I took off, trying to buy some time so I could hack into the bank account and get Kostya’s money back. Then Ivan and Andrei showed up and I was out of time.”
“Instead of going to the police?” I couldn’t believe this guy had procreated. Just what the world needed…more Miguels. I pulled the car over. “Get in the front seat.”
“You’re not going to drive off as soon as I get out of the car, are you?”
“You have ten seconds…ten…nine…”
He quickly climbed out of the back and into the front and we were once again speeding down the highway. I continued up Highway 101 to the 5 Freeway heading north back up to Eugene and the airport. As everyone would expect.
And then it hit me.
Oh, damn. I resisted the urge to smack myself in the forehead. I was so dumb. I’d played right into Sergei’s scheme.
My escape with Miguel had gone off without a hitch. Pretty much right on cue. Looking back, I realized everything that had happened since I’d approached Sergei’s club had fallen together almost as though things were going according to plan. Sergei had been too complicit and too cooperative from the start, helping me find Miguel. He wasn’t exactly the helpful sort. I’d been so focused on my own feelings in that club that I hadn’t seen what was right in front of me. Sergei hadn’t been surprised. He’d been triumphant. I’d come to him exactly the way he’d planned.
The shit Miguel and I were in was so much deeper than I’d imagined. Whatever Sergei’s end game was, I was somehow a part of it. I needed to come up with something to throw a major wrench in the works.
“Why didn’t you go to the police?” I asked again. This all could’ve been avoided if he’d just gone to the cops in the first place.
“Why would I go to the police?”
I punched him in the arm. “To save yourself from being killed, ya dumbass.”
“Hey! I didn’t move up here just so you could get in a better shot.”
“You have no idea what I’ve been through in the last two days because of you. I went to see fucking Sergei, for God’s sake.” My vision got all watery, which pissed me off even more. “And you could’ve been killed.”
“Aw, jeez, Maggie. You’re not going to cry, are you? Shit. I’m sorry.” He put his arm around me and laid his head on my shoulder.
I swiped at my eyes, trying to see the road. It hadn’t really hit me until this moment—with him here safe beside me—just how bad things could’ve turned out, how bad they could still be. And it was more than the blame my mother would crash down on top of my head. I’d miss the big dumb oaf.
“I thought I could work things out on my own,” he said quietly. “My name’s on all the documents. This was supposed to be my big break into legit business. I’d even gotten a couple of clients on my own. Of course Sergei too
k all their money too so all that’s down the shitter.” His sigh was full of regret and defeat. “Even if we can get the money back, the cops are already looking at me, aren’t they?”
“Yeah.”
“There’s no way to get that Fed you’re sleeping with to take care of that for me, is there?”
“He might’ve been able to help if you’d gone to him instead of running off. Seriously, dude. What were you thinking?”
He sat up in his seat. “I wasn’t.”
“Well then thank God one of us finally is.”
Before I’d left with Sergei, I’d filled Super Agent in on our plan to get Miguel back. He’d added a twist—I was supposed to meet agents from the Portland FBI office in Eugene and deliver Miguel. But with my sudden realization about Sergei I knew I couldn’t follow Super Agent’s plan exactly the way he’d laid it out. Knowing how Sergei’s mind worked, I had no doubt he’d planted some kind of listening device in my apartment. It’s what I would’ve done.
And if he had indeed bugged my apartment, he not only knew about Super Agent’s plan, he knew I’d planned to double-cross him from the start. Which meant he probably had guys in position to nab us before we could get to the outskirts of Eugene. I was going to have to think way outside the box to stay one step ahead of Sergei and still deliver Miguel to Super Agent as promised.
The one thing that had driven Sergei nuts when we were together was his inability to control and predict me.
He was going to fucking hate what I was about to do next.
I pulled off the freeway and into a busy shopping center.
“Get out,” I told Miguel. “And pick out a new car for us.” I was sure Sergei had put some kind of tracking device on this one.
My brother was a genius at a few things. Breaking into and hot-wiring cars was one of them. And also, apparently, was knocking up his girlfriend. He was going to be in for a shock when he finally talked to Alice.
He chose an older-model Ford and worked his magic. I said goodbye to my probation. Jacking a car would get me a cell right alongside my brother. There was no way Super Agent could gloss this one over, especially since I was no longer following his plan. And grand theft auto hadn’t ever been part of our deal. I was looking at time for this for sure, plus the suspended eight-month sentence for that other little thing I’d done that had gotten me probation in the first place.
But I’d rescued my brother from Kostya and Sergei. He was alive. I’d do that and more for him. Sheesh. The things I did for my family.
In less than five minutes we were back on the freeway, this time headed south toward California. I’d dumped out my purse and selected a few things to take with me, like my lipstick, ID, a credit card and all my cash. That was me, traveling light and avoiding capture. Damn it! I really liked that purse too.
The FBI was dying to know what Miguel knew about Kostya. Super Agent was going to get a big ole hard-on when he heard about Sergei’s involvement…and the bank account with all that lovely Ponzi cash in it. He might just sport enough wood to try to broker a deal for Miguel.
But I wasn’t about to tell Miguel any of this. He’d go along a lot easier with the shit scared out of him than if he went into it thinking everything would be smoothed over for him.
We wouldn’t be in the clear until I handed over Miguel to the FBI. If I could ever get him delivered. The only thing that would’ve made this trip worse was if my mother was in the car with us. I counted that as the one of the two things that had gone right for me this week. The other being finally getting to see Super Agent naked again. Naked!
It was a good thing I had such excellent recall because it was looking more and more likely that the only thing I’d have of Super Agent was a memory.
Chapter Seven
The thing about being on the run is that you’re always looking over your shoulder when you should be paying attention to where you’re headed. We’d managed to put a few hundred miles between the head of the Russian mob and us, but it was getting late and both Miguel and I were exhausted.
We found a No-Tell Motel just outside of Redding, California and since the desk clerk was male, I was up to bat.
I yanked my shirt down in front and readjusted my boobs so they were spilling out the V-neck. Letting my hair down from its ponytail, I shook it out. A little lipstick and I was good to go.
I put an extra swing in my step as I came through the door. “Hi.”
The clerk did a jerky double take then cracked a stained, gap-toothed smile to rival any meth addict’s. “Hellooooo.”
“I need a room. A double. But…” I arched my back a little, leaning forward to rest my breasts on the countertop. “I don’t have any ID. Is that going to be a problem?”
His gaze zeroed in on Wanda and Wendy, giving them a visual groping I could almost feel. “Do you, um, have a credit card?”
I tried to sound sad, putting out my bottom lip a little. “No.”
“Well, now, that’s a problem.”
“It is? But it’s so late. And I’m so tired.”
“I guess maybe…maybe I could overlook it.”
“You’re the best.” I jumped a little, making the Wonder Twins bounce. “Could I get a room at the back? Bottom floor, please? I just need it for tonight.”
“You’ll have to pay up front. And there’s a twenty-dollar fee for ah, overlooking your lack of ID and credit card.”
“No problem.” I handed over the cash.
“Room 52.” He held out the key, but when I grabbed it he didn’t let go. “Why do you need two beds?”
“My girlfriend and I are planning to push them together to make one big bed so we can have a really bouncy naked pillow fight.”
His jaw dropped open and his grip went slack. “Ahh…”
I snatched the key from him. Turning back as I left, I gave him a finger wave over my shoulder. “Toodles.”
As soon as I got in the car, I burst out laughing. “What is it with guys and naked girl-on-girl pillow fights?”
“If you have to ask you’ll never get it,” Miguel said. “It’s a dude thing.”
He drove us around to our room at the back of the hotel and backed into the parking space for a quick getaway.
“I wish I could call Alice,” Miguel said as he flipped through one fuzzy channel after another on the TV. So much for the advertised cable TV.
Maybe talking to Alice and hearing her news would light a fire under Miguel to get his shit together and start thinking of someone other than himself for a change.
“As long as you use the hotel room phone and make it quick that shouldn’t be a problem.”
I really needed to check in with Super Agent, but I was afraid he’d do a reverse number look-up or something and be on us faster than the bedbugs I was sure were crawling around on these hideously patterned comforters. I wasn’t ready to face him and the repercussions of what I’d done to save Miguel yet.
A few minutes into Miguel’s call his face went totally white underneath his week’s worth of scruff. Congratulations, I mouthed and then pretended to rock an imaginary baby. He glared back at me and turned away, whispering into the receiver.
After a couple more minutes he placed the phone back into its cradle. “You knew about Alice?”
“Yeah. It’s one of the reasons I’m here saving your sorry ass. It’s bad enough my future niece or nephew has a dumbass for a father. I couldn’t let them grow up with a dead dumbass for a father.”
He dropped his head into his hands and doubled over. “Holy shit. I can’t believe this.”
“Believe it, Daddy Dumbass.”
His head popped up and he fixed me with a look that was a mixture of pissed-off and scared shitless. “Would you quit it with the dumbass remarks? I’m freaking the fuck out right now. The least you could do is cut the I-told-you-so’s down to about half for a change. I swear sometimes you sound so much like Mom—”
“Don’t even put this on me with that sounding-like-Mom bullshit. You pu
t your lot in with Sergei, who you knew would cheat you or in some other way or another try to twist things his direction. Then you ran away instead of going to the cops. On top of that you knocked up your girlfriend. And this is all somehow my fault?”
“I’m not saying it’s your fault. I’m trying to take responsibility here and fix things. The least you can do is try to see it!”
“What I see is a guy who manages to not only fuck up his own life but everyone else’s he comes in contact with. You want to take responsibility? You want to be the big man? Then don’t make dumbass decisions on top of dumbass decisions.”
“You’re always so critical and judgmental. It wasn’t that long ago when you were knocked up by Sergei. Talk about throwing your lot in. What the fuck do you think that was? Who are you to judge me?”
“That’s a low blow even for you.”
“But it’s the truth. Who’s the dumbass now?”
“You still are. By miles. I got out. I gave my baby up for adoption and turned my life around. You’re still doing the same shit you’ve done since before you got out of high school. Only now the stakes are higher. You think I want to tell Mom you’re dead? Go to your funeral? Or hold Alice’s hand while she gives birth to your fatherless child? It’s past time you woke up and got a fucking clue, Miguel. Your actions have effects you can’t even begin to—”
BAM!
The door crashed open.
“FBI!”
A swarm of agents flooded the room. There was a lot of shouting about hands getting up and bellies on the ground. Next thing I knew I was facedown on the carpet with two of them on top of me. And not in a good way.
More yelling.
I turned my head toward the noise. Miguel was trying to fight them off. Whack! They hit him and he went down hard.
“Miguel!” I struggled against their grip and to knock off the guy who was practically sitting on me. “Don’t hurt him!”
The agent on top of me hauled me up by the arms, pushed me up against the wall and frisked me. My lipstick, cash and credit card hit the bed.
