Hotwire

by Cindy M. Hogan

  I emerged from my room with a dress and a jacket with boots. I put some extra bobby pins in my hair and wished I could slip a few weapons in my boots and under my clothes, but knew it was too big of a risk. I attached a tracker, cleverly disguised as a mole, to my upper arm then sat in the living room to wait for Viktor to arrive.

  Jeremy came into the room while I sat there. “I wanted to touch base with you before you go.”

  “Okay.” My stomach fluttered.

  He sat down near me, but not too close. “I know you know this, but I wanted to make sure it was said out loud so that we’re on the same page.”

  Heat spread up my neck. This didn’t sound good.

  “We can’t let on that there are feelings between us. There is nothing that splits up a crew faster than a romantic relationship. In fact, most aren’t only separated, but fired. We have to control ourselves and act like there is nothing between us besides a co-worker relationship. Do you know what I’m saying?”

  “I do. No secret rendezvous. No flirting.”

  “It’s more than that. No long looks or staring, no lingering touches, or jealousy at any time.” He looked a little rueful at the mention of jealousy.

  I nodded. “Got it.” I felt awkward and silly, so I changed the subject after a pause that lasted longer than I could stand. “What did you mean when you said the mission might not be worth it?”

  He squinted his eyes and wrung his hands. “I don’t want to burden you with my doubts.”

  “If you have doubts, I want to hear about them.”

  “It’s just there’ve been so many suspicious things about this mission. I’ve been trying to look into why Division wants that particular car, and I haven’t been able to find anything. And the secrecy around it is unprecedented. No one knows about it, and any time I ask Director Skriloff for more resources, he shoots me down. That doesn’t happen. I’ve always been able to get whatever resources I need to complete a mission.”

  “Maybe whoever paid for this mission had limited funds.”

  “Division wouldn’t take on a project that wasn’t perfectly funded. I’ve never heard of such a thing. It would be madness. I have to uncover what’s so important about this car. I mean, I’m not willing to risk your life—and Kozlov’s, too— to get a car without a really good reason.”

  “Division rarely tells us everything, Jeremy. We just have to trust that the car is important. I have this feeling we need to stick to this mission. I think in the end, we’ll discover that that car is vitally important.”

  “I don’t know if I agree, but I’m not giving up on it, yet.”

  “Good.”

  “You ready for this tonight?”

  “I am.”

  “Good, because I hear him coming up the stairs.”

  Jeremy left the room.

  The doorbell rang. I took a deep breath to steady my throbbing heart and went to open the door.

  “You look nice,” Viktor said, leaning in for a kiss. “Uncle Alexander is going to love you. You’ll see.”

  “He better.”

  “And yeah, we can’t hang out there after dinner. He’s got a full schedule. But he did say you could come next week, too.”

  I raised my shoulders to my ears and let them fall, grinning like a mad cat.

  “Have your nerves returned?”

  “Nah…I’m excited to really meet him, now that I’ve been successful at stealing the cars.”

  He grabbed my hand and squeezed. “You rocked that. He’ll be proud of me for picking you. When we first get there, I need you to be perfect. Don’t let him have any reason to doubt you. And whatever you do, don’t make me look bad. If you can do that, we’ll have some fun after the dinner, just the two of us.” A deep growl sounded in his chest, and he bit his lip.

  “You sure know how to make a girl feel confident.” I frowned, feeling my muscles tense in irritation.

  He chuckled. “Follow me, and you won’t go wrong.”

  “Okay, Master!” I gave a snarky shake of my head.

  I reviewed in my mind exactly what I was going to be doing once I got into the house. An upset stomach would be a perfect excuse to flee for the “bathroom” twenty minutes into dinner.

  We pulled into the driveway of an average-looking house, and he stopped the car. He leaned over to me and kissed me lightly. “Remember, follow my lead.”

  I nodded, and we got out of the car. That’s when I noticed the cameras and the two hulking guys near the end of the driveway. Another car pulled in behind us. A strange look of apprehension played across Viktor’s face as he looked at them. He led me up the steps to the front door. He rang the bell and then opened the door and entered, pulling me by the hand behind him.

  It was like stepping into another time, another place. The flavor of the house was purely old Russia. Intricate rugs hung on walls and covered the wood floors. It seemed every surface was covered thickly with trinkets from the old world. It was impossible to miss the strong smell of foreign spices that hung thickly in the air.

  A butler took our coats right after we entered the foyer. Two men entered after us, and Viktor turned to them and said, “I didn’t know you two were coming today.” He crossed his arms over his chest.

  “Uncle called and said you were bringing a friend he wanted us to meet.”

  Had I just seen Viktor cringe at their words? They passed us into the next room, and he didn’t introduce me to them. My heart thudded. Viktor stood firm in the entryway. I grabbed his hand and said, “What was that all about?”

  He shook his head in an exasperated movement. “Nothing. They’re my cousins, and we don’t get along, that’s all.” His cold fingers told me another story. He swallowed hard. I tried to repress my anxiety by looking at the entryway once again. It was hard to imagine that I was in the average, American-looking house I’d seen from the street. There was a heaviness in the architecture and decoration.

  Finally, another man, who was obviously more than a butler, the bulge at his waist front and back confirming it, led us into a large living room. Alexander and five other men, including the two cousins who had passed us in the foyer, sat in various seats around the room. It wasn’t hard to notice, however, that Alexander’s chair held him higher off the ground than anyone else. I wasn’t sure if he’d had the legs on his plush chair raised or if he’d had all the other furniture legs cut off.

  Viktor held his ground at the entrance to the room. I looked up at him, but he kept his eyes focused on Alexander, whose eyes were on me.

  “Viktor!” he called out in his deep, rough voice, his arms spreading wide to receive him. “Welcome!”

  Only then did Viktor move. He nodded, began his procession toward the brigadier and said, “Thank you so much for having us to dinner. As discussed, I’ve brought Amber Smith tonight.”

  “Yes. Yes.” The bratva leader said, his fingers beckoning us closer just as we reached him.

  Viktor leaned into his outstretched arms, and they kissed each other on the cheeks—the typical Russian welcome.

  I pretended to be unsure what to do as Viktor backed away and swung his arm out to me, inviting me to receive Alexander’s welcome. He nodded at me, and I stepped toward the man I was about to cross. The man who had warned me what the penalty would be if I did. He kissed both my cheeks and gave me a hearty hug.

  “Don’t be afraid of a good Russian welcome!” He gave a deep chuckle as he released me. “If I decide to let you date my nephew, you will become a pro.” His obvious and thick Russian accent was somehow inviting and repulsing at the same time.

  Not knowing what to say, but knowing I needed to appear humble, I said, “Thank you, sir.”

  I thought I saw his eyes narrow slightly, and I wondered if the “sir” was inappropriate. Then again, if I said the right things each time, he’d certainly get suspicious.

  “We are only waiting on one more person to arrive, then we will begin. So, tell me. What is it about Viktor that caught your eye?”

>   All that came to mind was the terrible feeling I had whenever I was with him, but I said, “Actually, I’m sorry to say, I was quite rude to him when I first met him. I can only blame it on nerves of being a new student.”

  “Is that true, Viktor?”

  “It is. But I didn’t let that dissuade me.”

  That’s when none other than Jericho stepped into the room. I couldn’t help it, I jerked away at the sight of him, and it didn’t go unnoticed. Alexander cocked his head to the side and while looking at me, said, “Jericho. Thank you for coming.”

  The butler entered the room from behind Alexander and said, “Dinner is served.”

  No one moved until Alexander stood up. Everyone followed him into the dining room. The table was expertly set with dishes of decadent foods I’d never seen lining the center of it. The butler helped Alexander sit and motioned for us all to take our seats. I sat next to Alexander, Jericho was across from me, and Viktor was clear at the other end, sitting next to someone I assumed was Alexander’s wife. The others sat in the remaining open seats.

  Once again, no one moved to fill their plates with food until Alexander put a skewer of what looked like meat on his plate. He passed it to me, and I took a very small portion.

  “Not a fan of lamb?”

  I’d never had lamb, but said, “Not at all, there are just so many new and exciting dishes on the table, I’d like to try them all without having to change into sweats to accomplish it.”

  He chuckled. “This good Russian meal will change your life forever. American food will have suddenly lost its savor.” His eyes laughed as he looked at me.

  “S-Dub is quite pleased with your abilities and, quite frankly, I am too. You seem to have made quite a splash.” Alexander stabbed a piece of meat.

  “It’s a bit of a surprise to me, also. I guess I really wanted to impress Viktor—and of course, you.” I took a bite of food, convincing myself that it wasn’t that bad, and I didn’t need to know what it was.

  “So, tell me. What is it about stealing an impressive car that turns you on?”

  I cleared my throat.

  “I mean,” he said, stretching the word mean out, “What is it that gets you excited about stealing cars?”

  I considered my answer. It needed to be one that would make him trust me. “There’s a rush when I succeed, that’s for sure, but really, I just love becoming the best at something. Give me a task, and I will not only do it, but I will excel.”

  He bobbed his empty fork in my direction and continued to eat, asking chit-chatty types of questions as he did. The questions, while seemingly unimportant, truly had weight. A large grandfather clock chimed, letting me know we’d been in the dining room for twenty minutes. I needed to make my move soon. I heard a few big booms outside, and colorful lights shone through the sheer curtains to my right. My team had come through with a diversion. I hoped it would at least get the attention of one guard away from the dinner and its guests.

  An almost imperceptible nod came from Alexander, and I noticed one guard make his way out of the room. I made sure to drink an excessive amount and made sure everyone noticed that I had. Twenty-two minutes after dinner began, I turned to Alexander, who had kept me talking most of the night, and asked if I could be excused to the ladies room.

  He glanced at my empty cup, and I blushed. “Yeah, unfortunately, I tend to drink to calm my nerves.” I put a hand to my stomach.

  Alexander put his hand over mine. “I’m sorry we’ve made you feel nervous.” His eyebrows rose, and his eyes pierced mine.

  I resisted a cringe and said, “Don’t tell Viktor. I wouldn’t want him to think I did something wrong.”

  His eyes flicked to Viktor, who was talking to the two men to his right, then landed back on me. “I’ll have the butler show you the way.” He flicked his finger in the air, and the butler arrived. I hoped he would leave once he showed me the way.

  “Would you like me to return to show you the way back?” The butler said once he opened the bathroom door for me.

  “Oh, now that would be really embarrassing. I’m sure I can make it back. Down the hall, through the living room, and it’s on my left.”

  “Very well,” he said with a bow before heading back down the hall.

  I locked and shut the bathroom door without entering it and quickly made it into the locked office, thanks to my fancy bobby pins. I checked for cameras and, not finding any, made the room ready for my search. I made sure the curtains were shut and then turned the light on in the room. I threw a blanket in front of the door to block the light from entering the dark hallway.

  In a flash, I had the computer up and running and the contents of its hard drive copying onto a USB stick. I rushed through the filing cabinets, finding nothing. Searching his desk, I found a false-bottomed drawer that contained a gun. Two chairs also had guns shoved between the cushions. I located a large, stunning statue standing in one corner and decided, if anyone walked in, I’d use it to distract the person.

  I then searched the walls and under the rugs. I noticed a thick power cord snaking underneath one rug and ending at the floor moldings on the wall. Looking up, I could see a thermostat. That was a huge power source for a simple thermostat. I looked closer. There was a cut in the wall about a foot lower than the thermostat. I put my fingernail into the groove and discovered the cut continued and created a rectangular shape in the paneling. I examined the thermostat and discovered it was anything but. Opening a plastic panel on it, a retinal and fingerprint scanner met me. I was not prepared with any tools to open that safe. I hoped all the documentation I needed wasn’t behind that.

  I accidentally pushed into the desk as I searched it one last time, and it slid a few inches. It had plastic sliders on each corner that made it easy to move about the rug it sat on. When I pushed it and lifted the rug, I found a trap door that led to a two-foot deep container. Inside was another gun and masses of papers. I scanned through them, snapped a few pictures on my phone and then continued to scan, setting everything I saw to memory. I was coming up on the ten-minute mark, the time that most people noticed a person’s absence was edging on the long side.

  I abandoned the papers, even though I was only a good third of the way through them, and closed the laptop despite the fact that I’d only been able to transfer seventy-five percent of its contents, according to the bar flashing across the screen. I didn’t remove the drive—it would still download, but it would appear as if the computer was off if anyone looked into the room.

  I turned off the light and whipped the blanket back onto the chair in the corner of the room. I used my mirror under the door to assure myself that no one was in the hallway, then I rushed to the bathroom, picked the lock, and went inside, locking it behind me.

  Not two minutes later, a knock came on the bathroom door and Jericho said, “Did you fall in, or what?”

  “No,” I shot back. “I didn’t fall in.” Why had he come looking? I softened my tone. “But I don’t feel so good. I won’t be much longer, I think.” I opened the window a slight bit in hopes it would make anyone checking think I really did have an upset stomach.

  I heard him huff and walk away.

  I peeked out of the bathroom and when the coast was clear, I hurried back into the office and grabbed the drive. Ninety-eight percent transferred—I couldn’t wait for one-hundred percent. The most likely outcome of Jericho telling Alexander about my bathroom sprint was that Viktor would come looking for me, wanting to chew me out for jeopardizing our relationship by getting sick. I shut the laptop and powered it down before sprinting to the door.

  Unfortunately, I wasn’t fast enough. I felt him and heard him almost simultaneously. Step. Step. Step. I could even hear his breathing as he got closer. I held my breath. He was just outside the door. I shoved the drive into my boot, leapt to the front of the desk, straightened, and turned to stare at the life-sized sculpture in the corner. I was glad I’d decided on this course of action earlier. That foresight probably
saved my life.

  Blood coursed through my veins with a ferocity I hadn’t felt in a long time. I mentally pressed on my lungs, forcing them to slow their demand for oxygen. I slid into the small, calming box in my mind I’d prepared for moments like this, and with one last deep breath, I evened out my thundering pulse as the door opened.

  I pretended not to hear Viktor when he first called my name. I waited for him to place a hand on my arm. I whispered, “That is so beautiful.” I didn’t take my eyes off the art. I felt his gaze turn to the sculpture, too.

  “It is. My great grandfather had it commissioned back when he was in Russia.” His hand fell from my arm.

  I moved toward the statue, reaching out to it, but then drawing back. “I guess I shouldn’t touch it.”

  “What are you doing in here, Amber?”

  I twisted my neck around to see him. He wore a fake smile, and his lips were pressed flat.

  “Oh, I came looking for some meds. Sorry. I shouldn’t have been snooping.”

  A small rush of air escaped his mouth. I could tell he was relieved and also wanted to believe my answer.

  “You can be so stupid. If my uncle found you in here, he’d probably kill you. You’re supposed to be winning him over, not making me look bad.”

  “I’m sorry, but there weren’t any meds in the bathroom, and I was sick.”

  “You ask me. Don’t go snooping around.” He ushered me to the door, and I kept saying I was sorry. I watched him look a bit long at the door handle. He was certainly wondering why it hadn’t been locked. Before we reached the bathroom door down the hall, Jericho entered the hall. He looked at us and then further down the hall like he was trying to figure out where we had come from.

  “Uh,” he narrowed his eyes, “the butler gave me these pills for you.” His eyes flicked to Viktor as he held them out to me.

  “Oh, wow! Thank you,” I said, moving forward and taking the pills from him. “Give me a sec.” I went into the bathroom, shutting the door behind me. I turned the water on and then put my hands on the counters and breathed deeply. I threw the pills into the sink and watched them swirl down the drain. I did take several handfuls of water and drank them.