He took another sniff at the bourbon. Cane’s eyes widened.
“Yvgeny didn’t have an invite, obviously. So it’s surprising that he even got wind of the event. That he knew where to come.”
Cane fidgeted. Sweat broke out on his top lip. Pierce couldn’t recall a man sweating that much on the top lip before.
“Then, when he got here…” Pierce got up from the chair. Walked around the desk and sat on the edge in front of Cane. “Then he bumped into you. What an astonishing coincidence. You, here by personal invitation.” Agostini had called Cane three days before. And again to confirm, the next afternoon.
He shook his head. “I don’t know, Cane, it kind of looked as though the two of you were expecting to see each other. That couldn’t be, though, could it?”
“I’ll go. I’ll just leave, okay? I’m… I’ll go right away.”
“Oh, no. You aren’t leaving, Cane. That could look odd. We don’t want anything to look odd. You’ll come into the auction, you won’t talk to anyone, you’ll sit down in the same seat as you had before, and you’ll bid. You probably won’t win. And then you’ll leave early. You won’t speak to anyone.”
He looked hard into Cane’s eyes. “You’ll do what I tell you and remember to leave, because if you don’t, you may end up learning more than is healthy for you. You’ll know too much. You don’t want to be in that position, Cane. Not with me.”
Cane’s finger trembled. Pierce said, “Does Yvgeny ask you if you’re afraid of him, Cane?”
Cane nodded quickly. Beads of moisture stood out on his forehead.
“Hmm. And when he asks you that, Cane, what do you tell him?”
Cane’s jaw trembled. “I… I tell him yes. That I am.” His hair was becoming wet.
“And it’s true, right?” Pierce’s tone was light. Conversational. “You are. Aren’t you?”
Cane narrowed his eyes. After a moment, he nodded again with his lips pressed together.
Pierce leaned over Cane. Put his hands on the armrests of the chair and lowered his face until his nose almost touched the other man’s. He sniffed a couple of times.
“Are you afraid of me, Cane?”
Cane nodded rapidly.
“Have a drink. It’ll help your nerves.”
Pierce reached back for the glass and handed it to him. Cane was hesitant. He looked from the glass to Agostini’s face, then back to the glass. Pierce held the glass nearer to him. He took it and held it, still uncertain.
He looked up at Pierce. Pierce nodded once. Cane sank the bourbon in one fast slug. Agostini took the glass back from him. He put it on the desk and opened the bottle. Carefully, he filled the tumbler. Then he passed the glass back to Cane.
Cane’s lip trembled and his whole face was bursting with sweat. A dark ring around his collar showed how sodden his shirt was. Calhoun and Callaghan gripped his shoulders.
Princess found her father in the games room again, at the poker table. It looked like there was a line of players waiting for a seat. She remembered sadly what he told her about poker years ago.
“Sit down at the table and figure out who’s the rube. If you haven’t got it after two hands, get up. It’s you.” Good advice. Shame he’d forgotten it himself.
Princess had to pull on his arm. She was afraid she might have to call on Callaghan or Calhoun to help her. She silently cursed her father for putting her in this position, where she might need help from her captors, from the people who stole the club from them, to drag him away from a card game.
He snarled as she tugged on his sleeve. She spoke gently to him. “Too much whiskey and not enough luck, Daddy. Time for a break.” But still he shrugged her off.
Then she was saved by the brittle accent of the croupier. “Ladies and gentlemen, play is suspended. Once again, please leave all of your cards and chips exactly where they are. We shall resume in another thirty minutes.”
As she ushered her daddy to the door, Princess saw Pierce with the auctioneer from the farm sale. The gangly caller had a formal suit and a red tie and Pierce was walking with him to the podium.
Cane blundered into the room and made a beeline for the front row of seating. He seemed determined to get the chair that he sat in before. He practically shoved Barney out of the way to get there.
He sat with his legs out and his toes pointed up, long before anyone else seated themselves. But he couldn’t keep still. His head lolled, he kept on slipping down in the chair and having to push himself back up. His eyes rolled like they were floating in liquid.
Barney sat down next to him, but he quickly got up again and fanned his hand over his nose and mouth.
When everyone was seated, Agostini had Calhoun and Callaghan shut the doors and stand by them. The auctioneer stepped up to the lectern. He opened the book and leaned forward over the top of it.
“Ladies…” He looked around. “Lady and gentlemen.” A ripple of amusement rumbled through the buyers. “The sale tonight is for options to buy shares in the newly formed company, Fasttracker Dataline. The CEO is Mr. Agostini, who I believe we all know.” He smiled around the audience, building rapport. Princess thought the “we” was a good touch. “The company has three assets, each of them a parcel of land with which I believe you’re familiar. I assume you have all read the prospectus?” He looked around. All of the potential investors nodded, almost all of them said, “Yes.”
“There are one thousand shares issued. The board will retain five hundred and one. The lots tonight will be for all of the remaining shares. They will sell in parcels, or ‘tranches,’ as I believe you financial wizards like to call them.”
He was getting smiles all around. Agostini had made a smart move getting a pro to handle an auction like this. She whispered to Agostini, “Is this even legal?”
He smiled. “’Course it is. Sales of shares have to be regulated, but we’re only selling options to buy.” His eyes twinkled and it made her stomach flip. “Actual trades will go through a broker. This is more fun, though. Don’t you think?”
The auctioneer opened bidding on the first lot. Cane waved his hand immediately. As the bidding rose, Cane’s hand was in the air like a skinny flagpole on a stormy day. The men around him were plainly getting irritated. He didn’t seem to even know what he was doing.
Eventually, the auctioneer said, “Sir? Sir, I’m sorry to ask, but do you know what the bid is?”
Cane sprawled and squirmed in his chair. Almost unintelligibly, he said, “I have to bid.”
The auctioneer shook his head sadly. “I’m sorry, sir, but I can’t accept a bid if you aren’t fully aware of what it is that you’re doing. It wouldn’t be right. Wouldn’t be legal, neither.”
With the gavel raised, he said, “With regret, sir, I’ll give you one more chance to describe the lot and tell me where the bid stands. If you can’t do that, I’ll have to cancel your bids and ask you to leave the sales floor. It’s with you.”
Cane shouted incoherently as Calhoun helped him to his feet. He waved his arms as he was guided to the door, and Calhoun accompanied him out.
Pierce steered her from the room, away from the crowds. Princess was surprised. She thought the sale had gone well and he would want to celebrate. He guided her into a quiet and empty alcove.
“Cane seemed drunk,” Princess whispered as they slid into the corner of the booth. “Like really, wildly drunk.” The innocent way Agostini shrugged made her sure that he knew exactly what had happened.
Agostini looked up as Calhoun burst in on them. He faltered and paused, like he was taking a moment to set his face straight. Calhoun had seen Agostini with women often enough in the past, and in far more advanced states of congress. Here there was nothing happening. Why was Calhoun fighting to keep a grin off his face?
His voice rose over the distant, muffled thud of the music. “Sorry, boss.” and he cleared his throat.
Agostini knew that it was different, though, and the fact that Calhoun could see it unsettled him even more.
Agostini said, “Well?”
Calhoun said, “Well, we seen Dino being led out into Yvgeny’s SUV.” Agostini felt Princess’s muscles tense up against him. “Then he was driven away.” She moved closer in and pressed her body into him. He knew that she could feel the trouble brewing.
He said, “You’re sure that it was Dino?”
“Ah, even on a big club night like this, you can’t really mistake the way that Dino dresses, can you?” That much was true.
“And you’re sure it was Yvgeny’s car?”
“Yeah, I know the number. Took a snap of the plate.” He showed Agostini his phone. Agostini knew the Hummer and he recognized the plate.
“Okay.” Agostini turned to Princess. The flicker in her wet eyes stirred him. He lowered his voice. “Look, I might need Calhoun and Callaghan. This may be nothing serious, but I can’t tell yet. Can you get a cab back to the apartment and wait for us there?”
She pouted. “If you want me to act like a captive, then I expect to be treated like one. I should at least be escorted. Otherwise, why wouldn’t I just escape?”
Was she serious? He looked hard at her while he considered it. “If you did that, where would you escape to?”
She frowned. “Back here, I suppose.”
He wasn’t sure what was going on in her head, but he didn’t have the time to try and second-guess her. “Callaghan,” he said, “bring the car to the rear entrance. It will be quicker.”
Princess said, “We don’t have a rear entrance.”
“You didn’t. I do. I had one put in.” He moved behind her, put his arm around her waist and lifted her.
“No!” she shouted as she tried to kick and swing her arms behind her. “Not this again!”
“You should be more careful about those mixed messages, Princess.” He carried her, struggling and shouting, through the clatter of the kitchens. The cook and two busboys tried not to laugh. Then, when they saw the look on his face, their eyes fled away like bad dogs caught in the pantry, their heads down, pretending they were busy doing something else entirely.
He carried her up the short stair to the goods door. There was no knowing what she’d do if he put her down, so he waited with her under his arm by the entrance in the cool, quiet back alleyway.
She yelled, “You can put me down now,” still thrashing her arms and legs.
“No, I think I’ll do as you said and treat you as a captive. At least for a while longer.” If she wanted to be pissed, he’d let her. He needed to stay focused on Dino.
The man could look after himself just fine and there probably was nothing to worry about. Yvgeny’s whole purpose was, as likely as not, simply to make Pierce follow him, to make Pierce show his response, but he knew he couldn’t afford to put a foot wrong.
Leaving Princess on the loose could be dangerous and unpredictable in too many ways. Some he didn’t even want to consider right now. He told himself that he was only concerned about her value to him as a hostage.
As Callaghan reversed the black SUV down the alleyway to stop in front of him, and with Princess still flailing under his arm, Agostini leaned in the front window and told Calhoun, “You stay at the club. Make sure that it closes, that everything’s intact, and all the staff are out. Then call me as soon as you can.”
“No worries,” Calhoun said, heading back into Hotsteppa’s through the rear entry.
The back door of the car clicked open and Agostini slung Princess onto the back seat, then clambered in after her. She still pouted, but she was subdued for the moment. Agostini’s hunch was that she would understand how serious the situation was and she would be an asset.
He hoped that was how it would go. If he was wrong about that, he could have some real trouble on his hands. This was the time to think about resources and options. Not consequences.
Callaghan said, “Where are we heading, Boss?”
“Yvgeny has a place off the east side of Union Square. Point us that way while I try and call Dino.” Agostini worked the phone. Three times he heard Dino’s recorded voicemail greeting.
Princess was quiet with her sullen face against the window as Callaghan slewed and cut a smooth dash through the Manhattan night traffic.
Callaghan took a right off Broadway and Yvgeny’s apartment was about three blocks ahead when Princess pointed through the window and said, “Isn’t that Yvgeny’s car?”
Agostini’s head whipped around as they passed the matte black Hummer, parked up on an unlit patch of the street. “Pull up, Callaghan.”
On the other side of the street from the Hummer was a diner with a Russian name, the only lit windows on the street. As they passed and Callaghan was parking, Agostini saw two figures at a table in the center. Yvgeny on the left and Dino to the right.
Agostini gripped the door handle, ready to step out backwards, and told Princess, “Stay with me. Keep close and be ready to duck behind me.”
She frowned. “Won’t it be safer if I wait in the car?”
“No. Not without someone to guard you.”
“What’s going to happen?” He pulled her along behind him, held her hand. Firm, not too hard. His voice was low.
“If I knew that, I wouldn’t just say to keep close. I’d tell you where to stand.”
As they all got out of the car, Calhoun called and said the club was all closed up. They crossed the street slowly as Agostini gave him the address of the diner.
She, Agostini, and Callaghan crossed the street. Light spilled out of the diner onto them. Princess felt exposed and she moved more behind Agostini. Inside, Dino and Yvgeny, hunched over the table, were the only people visible.
The wide dining room had pretty print tablecloths. A big mirror covered much of the pale green back wall. Painted wood partitions covered passageways leading left and right.
“No food on the table,” Pierce spoke quietly to Callaghan as they approached. “No coffee, no water. Nobody there, and all of the lights on.”
“So, we wouldn’t have too much trouble finding them, you think?”
“He’s not hiding, is he?”
Pierce pushed the glass door and walked in unhurried. The bell over the door tinkled comically and his shoes clicked on the tiled floor. His arms hung out away from his sides and the backs of his hands were forward.
Princess followed and stayed tight behind his left shoulder.
She stayed where she felt the heat of his body. His solid strength comforted her. As he stopped, her arm crooked and her face pressed against his thick bicep.
Her attention briefly wavered as she felt the clench of his firm, round ass cheek.
Yvgeny’s goons had to be somewhere. They could be skulking in the passageways or out the back, ready to emerge, lazily planting their feet apart, big, heavy guns at their sides, ready for a Russian mafia version of the OK Corral.
Calhoun stayed by the door. Agostini had his hand on the back of his hip as he moved to face Dino. He stood a little behind Yvgeny. The Russian sat with his hands on his thighs under the table and he had to turn to look at Agostini.
Yvgeny slowly lifted his head and smiled back at Agostini. Princess realized that Yvgeny could have left his goons behind, waiting in the Hummer, so that they could follow. That way, she, Agostini and Callaghan would be sandwiched between them and Yvgeny.
Princess’s body trembled from head to foot behind Agostini. She knew that he felt it and wished he didn’t.
Perfectly Bad: a bad boy romance Page 14
