She looked at the young woman, who seemed to carefully consider Tina’s request, eyeing the two women with scrutiny. She gave Agatha a little nod of her head, and Agatha turned to the others smiling.
“Come on. We’ll make it a group outing.”
Together, the four of them stepped out into the sunshine of the late afternoon. She subtly urged Tina and Gail to walk slightly ahead while she hung back with the woman. “I hope you’ll feel comfortable enough to let me know your name,” she said.
The woman stayed quiet for a moment as they walked down the street, turning the corner near the grocery store. She finally turned and looked toward Agatha, her lips slightly curving. “I thought you might recognize me, but then realized we’ve never met.”
Her brow furrowed, she asked, “Are we supposed to have met?”
“Well, you would think that family would have had a chance to meet before now.”
“Sorry?” she asked, turning back to the woman. Gasping, her eyes widened at the smile on the woman’s face as she pointed a gun at her.
“Walk,” she ordered.
Her feet rooted to the sidewalk, she stared into the cold eyes boring into her.
“Agatha?” Gail called out, turning around, “Tina and I wanted to start lunch early—oh, my God!”
The two women skidded to a stop as the woman pointed her gun at them, ordering, “Get over with Agnes.”
Hearing the name Agnes, her blood ran cold, the reality of the situation hitting her. “Leave them alone,” she said, with more bravado than she felt.
The woman smiled slowly, her lips curving at the corners. “Oh, how the mighty have fallen. You, dear cousin, are hardly in a position to give orders. At least, not anymore.”
“Cousin?”
“Well, something like that. I think I’m more a distant cousin of your mother, but then…we like to keep things all in the family, don’t you agree?” She kept the gun trained on all three of them somehow, as she pulled a phone from her pocket. “Got her. Easy, so fuckin’ easy. Meet you at the side of the grocery store down the street.”
“Who are you?” she asked, racking her brain, attempting to come up with a name to go with the face that, now that she was focused, appeared similar to her mother’s.
“Kalina. Kalina Popov.” She lifted a perfectly arched eyebrow, tilting her head to the side, waiting, as though for Agatha to recognize her. She remembered her mother referring to a cousin named Kalina, but they had not met.
Narrowing her eyes, Kalina sneered. Staring at them all, each with wide, frightened eyes, she said, “Here’s how this is going to go, ladies. We’re walking over to that van and if you give me any problems, I’ve got no problem shooting you.”
“Bitch!” Tina breathed, her eyes shooting daggers.
“Temper, temper, ladies. Agnes, maybe you’d better let your friends know that I’m serious…dead serious.”
“Gail, Tina, just do what she says.” She stepped back a few steps, so that she was standing with the other two women, and reached out to clutch their hands, whispering, “Stay with me. Stay calm.”
A white panel van pulled up to the side of the parking lot near where they were standing. The driver kept the van running, while two large men came out and approached them. Both had guns in their hands as well, and one growled, “Which one is she?”
Nodding her head toward Agatha, Kalina said, “This one. This is Agnes.”
“What do we do with the other two?”
Her lips curving into a wicked smile, Kalina said, “I think perhaps a few more guests will be fine.”
One man approached Tina, grabbing her arm, and as she began to fight him, he hit her in the side of the head with the butt of his gun, knocking her out. Lifting her body easily, he tossed her into the back of the van. Gail, in tears, looked up at the man who had taken her arm.
Agatha turned toward Kalina, her eyes on the gun pointing at her, and said, “Don’t do this. Leave the other women here. Don’t do this to them.”
Shaking her head, Kalina said, “My, my, you do have a big heart for the downtrodden woman, don’t you? Too bad you didn’t have that same kind of loyalty to your own family. Now shut up, and get in.”
28
Alvarez Security Office
Gabe Malloy sat at the computers in Alvarez Security, looking up as the owner, Tony Alvarez, walked into room. “Got something on Agatha Christel,” he said, his focus back on the computer screen.
Tony, eyes intent, asked, “What do you see?”
“Not so much what I see, but what I don’t.” Before Gabe had a chance to explain, his twin, Vinny, walked into the room, followed by the fourth member of their team, Jobe Delaro. Immediately on alert, they listened as Gabe continued, “Saw Agatha and three other women walk out of the center and they haven’t come back. That was twenty minutes ago.”
“Anything suspicious?” Tony asked.
Shaking his head, he replied, “No…just got a bad feeling.”
“Good enough for me,” Tony said, moving to a secure phone. “I’ll call Jack.”
“I’ll call Cam,” Jobe said, pulling out his phone. Jobe’s sister was Miriam, Cam’s wife. He knew he could get hold of his brother-in-law easily.
Tony talked to Jack for a few minutes before turning back to his group. “Jack’s on it and checking the tracer they have.”
Vinny nodded, saying, “Best idea Jack ever had was giving their women Saint medallions with tracers. Hell, I got Analissa one.”
Gabe lifted an eyebrow at his brother. “St. Vincent?”
Grinning, Vinny replied, “Nah. Got her one that says, ‘My heart belongs to handsome’.”
Tony shook his head before saying to Gabe, “Keep monitoring with the Saints and let me know if there are other developments. Jack said he’d notify us if we were needed.”
“Will do,” he acknowledged, focusing on his computer screen once again.
Undisclosed Location
* * *
“What have you got?”
“Not sure…I got an alert when Agatha was separated over thirty miles distance from her cell phone. Her light tracer says she’s moving east.”
“Did you patch in to the Saints or the Alvarez Security cameras?”
“Alvarez cameras show her and three women walking down the street about thirty minutes ago. Never returned. Two of the women were from the center – facial recognition gave me their identities.”
“And the fourth?”
“Uncertain. Couldn’t get a good angle for recognition. Started a search of the area just as you came in.”
They both regarded the screen as the seated man continued to click on the keyboard. Pulling up the security images from the grocery store, they watched as the unidentified woman pulled a gun and forced the three into a van.
“Fuck…send a message to the Saints—encrypted.”
“On it.”
Another member of their team walked into the cavernous room and the leader turned to him, ordering, “Run facial identification on the woman with the gun.”
“On it, boss.”
“Message sent to Saints.”
“Shit,” the third man breathed out.
“What is it?” the leader asked.
“Woman identified as Kalina Popov.”
Charlie read the screen, her lips pinched. The person that had sent cryptic messages that she was unable to trace before had just sent some more. Scanning the messages, she called out, “Jack!”
The Saints in the compound looked over as she continued, “Message from unknown source. Agatha taken at gunpoint from grocery store. Two center women with her. She is heading east. Update coming. Second message, Woman identified as Kalina Popov.”
As she tried to determine the sender, Luke began tracing Agatha’s location from the Saint’s medallion around her neck.
Jack’s phone rang and he answered, his jaw tight. “Tony.” As he listened, it grew even tighter.
Bart, Cam, Nick, and Jude hus
tled into the weapons room to prepare to head out.
“Who the hell is watching her other than us and the Alvarez group?” Monty asked, staring at Jack.
“Fuck, Nathan’s on a tracking case,” Blaise said, looking down at his phone.
Jack, off the phone, called out, “That was Alvarez. They lost visual when she left the center’s area. I told him we’ve got someone else we haven’t identified with eyes on her and they’ve just contacted us as well.”
Luke called out, “Her tracer has her about ninety miles away, heading east.”
“Kalina Popov…they’re taking her to Norfolk…my guess is to Yurgi!” Monty surmised.
Marc called out, “Blaise, get hold of Nathan. We can take my plane.” He looked at Jack and said, “I’m off to get it ready,” before he jogged out the back entrance.
Blaise turned, praying Nathan was near his phone and the fugitive was already captured.
Nathan, having found the fugitive for the deputies to take over, was on his way to the compound. Driving down the road, his mind wandered back to the relationship he was building with Agatha. As the lines on the asphalt underneath his tires rolled by, he thought back to the night when he first saw her. In the dark, all alone.
Not knowing much about her story at that time, he had still admired her strength. He smiled, as he always did now, realizing that the woman that shared his life and the woman that had touched him that night two years ago were the same. Glancing at the clock on the dashboard, he wondered if he would have time to swing by and see her quickly before checking in with Jack.
His phone rang and, once connected, he heard Blaise say, “Hold on to your shit, man, and listen carefully. Get to the airfield. Agatha’s been taken by Kalina Popov at gunpoint and we’re flying to Norfolk.”
Heart hammering in his chest as the blood rushed through his veins, he barked, “Who’s on them?”
“Charlie and Luke have her pulled up with the tracer. They’ve got a two-hour lead, but flying we can get there at the same time. Marc’s got a private jet to take us in, so get there fast.”
Jerking off the highway at the next exit, he looked over at Scarlett. She turned her soulful eyes to him, as though understanding his pain and fear. With his heart in his throat, he reached a shaky hand out to pet the dog’s silky coat, gaining comfort from the touch. “Jesus, girl, we’ve got to find her.”
An hour later, he looked out the window at the ground below, Scarlett in the seat next to him. With Marc at the controls and Jude in the co-pilot seat, Jack, Bart, Nick, Chad, Blaise, and he were in seats in the back. Monty was coordinating with the FBI while Cam and Patrick were with Luke and Charlie in the compound.
Looking at his watch, he tried to clear his mind of the fear that threatened to choke him…and was losing the battle to do so.
29
Agatha’s body ached from the tension of the last several hours. The driver and Kalina sat in the front, with the two other men in the back seat. The very back of the van was empty of seats, which was where she, Gail, and Tina sat with their wrist taped together in front of them.
For over three hours, she had listened to the conversations of the people in the front, all the while mouthing to Tina and Gail. Tina’s face was swollen, but no longer bleeding, and both women’s tears had stopped. She had managed to mouth enough words to them, without being noticed by the others, to let them know that she knew who their captors were, that they were after her, and not to worry, someone would come help them. She just hoped she was telling them the truth and that someone would come in time.
As the miles wore on, her mind was filled with thoughts of her family. Her mother, so proud of her Volkov heritage, determined to be an asset to Gavrill…even if that included selling her soul. Her father, always living in the shadow of a stronger relative, eager to prove that his family was of value. Her brother, Grigory, desiring all the things that money could buy, without the work ethic to earn them honestly. And her other brother, Lazlo, remembering his cruelty to the women that had been brought to him.
As she sat there, stewing over the family she had been born into, determination steeled her spine. I am not them. I am not my family. They no longer have power over me. I determined my destiny years ago, and will not deviate from it.
After what seemed like forever, she could tell by the braking and acceleration of the van that they were in a city. Eventually the van came to a stop, and as she looked around, she saw Kalina and the two men in the back seats climb out.
Knowing they only had a few seconds until the back door would open, she rushed to say, “Whatever we do, try to stay together. Don’t speak. Don’t say anything. Let me handle everything. I know how these people work.” Gaining quick nods from Tina and Gail, she faced the back of the van just as the double doors opened wide.
One of the large men leaned in, grabbing her by her arm, and pulled her forward until he could lift her, setting her down outside. Looking over her shoulder she saw Tina and Gail were taken out of the van as well. With a quick look at her surroundings, she knew they were in a warehouse and, while she had never been there, it was not hard to imagine this was part of the Volkov shipping yard.
Working to keep her knees from knocking in fear, she drew in a deep breath, letting it out slowly. She wrapped herself in the cool, unemotional façade she had perfected as a young woman, still as familiar as it ever was. Kalina had disappeared and the driver had moved the van away, leaving the three women with the two enforcers. Lifting an eyebrow toward the nearest one, she watched as he looked dubiously toward the other.
With an imperious voice, having heard it often enough from her mother over the years, she asked, “Are you going to tell me why I’m here? Or are we going to stand around and stare at each other?” She watched the doubt pass through his face and pressed her point, adding a slight Russian accent to her words. “If you know who I am, then you know I am part of the family. I’m fairly sure that my family would not be pleased with how I’ve been treated.”
She knew that he would have only been given the information that he needed, and he confirmed that when he said, “We take our orders from Kalina. If you have a problem, take it up with her.”
“Then lead on, by all means.”
When it looked as though he was only going to lead her forward and keep the other two women behind, she halted in her steps. “Oh no. They come with me.” Not giving him a choice, she hoped that he was used to following directions and would acquiesce.
As the second man nudged Gail and Tina to walk along with her, she breathed a slight sigh of relief. Please let them keep us together. She was sure, with the Saints eyes on her, they would have known she was gone already and where to look for her. What scared her was how long it would take. Or, if Nathan had finished his job and would be able to come for her.
The warehouse was cavernous, with a variety of sizes of shipping containers scattered about the room. Groups of men, some workers and some guards with guns, wandered about the place. Their eyes would drift over to the trio of women walking, but when she looked at them, they quickly averted their gaze.
The guards, nudging them along, walked near the back toward a single door. Without talking, one of the men opened the door, stepping through first, while the man behind them grunted for them to follow.
The windowless room was dimly lit. In the corner, was a small desk with a man sitting behind it. Kalina, a slight smile on her face, stood just behind him at his right shoulder. The first man who entered walked forward, turned, and with another grunt indicated for her to stop. Gail and Tina stayed right with her, flanking her shoulders. The last enforcer walked in and closed the door, standing with his back against it.
She had met her mother’s cousin, Gavrill, only a couple of times in her life, but even so, she knew the man sitting behind the desk was so similar in looks, he must be related. His black hair and square jaw reminded her of her brother Lazlo.
She refused to lower her eyes, but did not speak, waiting to h
ear what he would say first. The silence stretched interminably, but she did not yield.
He finally broke it, and said, “It seems, dear cousin, that you have caused your family a great deal of trouble.”
“I don’t see how that could be possible,” she said. “I’m only a female and hold no power in the family.”
“Unlike your parents, Gavrill and I do not underestimate the power of a woman.”
She watched Kalina smile, placing her hand on the man’s shoulder, giving it a little squeeze.
His hard stare threatened to unnerve her, but she locked her knees into place and kept her eyes on his.
“I am Yurgi, Gavrill’s brother. This,” he motioned around, “is my domain now.” He continued to stare before pondering aloud, “So, what do you propose I should do with you?”
With more bravado than she felt, she replied, “My suggestion would be to treat me well, until you allow me to go back.”
Yurgi’s eyes widened and Kalina gave an indelicate snort. Pressing her point, she continued, “If you think that my being here is not known, then you are not nearly as smart as you should be. Gavrill may have brought you to run his business, but he will not be pleased when the Feds arrive.”
“She’s lying,” Kalina said, her smile now a sneer. “No one saw us. No one followed us. No one knows you’re here.”
With a small smile of her own, she replied, “Do not kid yourself. There are eyes everywhere and, you can be sure, there are many eyes on me.”
For the first time since she entered the room, Yurgi’s face showed uncertainty. He glanced over his shoulder, up toward Kalina, harshly whispering to her in Russian.
Kalina pressed, “The bitch is lying. I’m telling you no one followed us. No one knows she’s here!”
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