by Bonnie Dee
“No!” J.D. stopped his striding to whirl around and glare at me. “Do you understand who this guy is, how long his reach is? I’ve asked around about him. Croft needs to be looking over his shoulder for the rest of his life. Abakumov will eventually make him pay too. You can’t outrun this.”
When pressure hits me, my default mode is laughter, and all of a sudden I nearly burst out guffawing. Jonah had come up to Chicago to check on our little brother and talk him out of marriage, convinced J.D. was too young and unstable to make that sort of commitment. Instead, he’d walked into a much bigger problem. My mistake made J.D.’s romance seem insignificant.
I held up my hands in surrender. “I get it. I’m not going anywhere. I’ll put the bar up for sale and see how much time I can buy to pay him off.”
Jonah stood up, taller than J.D. even, and walked over to the window to stare down at the street. “Set up a meeting. I’ll talk to him.”
“I don’t know if I can do that. So far I’ve only dealt with his bagmen.”
“Make it happen. That part’s on you. Do you think you can handle it?” His harsh tone left no room for excuses.
“Yeah. Sure,” I promised. “But what are you going to say? I don’t want to get you sucked into this too.”
“Just do it,” Jonah snapped. “Let me figure out the rest.”
There it was, the reason I’d left Kentucky. If I’d stayed there, working for him—never with him, Jonah would’ve spent the rest of our lives bossing me. I’d never have a chance to make my own choices or my own mistakes. The same reason J.D. had joined the army, I suspected.
I didn’t want Jonah fixing this for me, but considering the dire situation, I didn’t have a lot of choice.
I nodded. “All right. I’ll set something up.”
Chapter Nineteen
Gina
Leah called me as I drove back into the city from Gary. I sat in stop-and-go rush-hour traffic and spoke to her on speakerphone.
“Gina, what do you know about what Micah’s been up to?” Leah started the conversation without any small talk.
“Um. Not a lot. He owes some guys money, I guess.” I wasn’t sure how much to reveal. It was Micah’s business to share, not mine. “Why?”
“Because whatever crap he’s gotten himself into, he’s sucking J.D. right along with him. J.D. came home the other night with his arm hurt. I never would’ve known if I hadn’t touched him today and he jerked away. I couldn’t see the bruise, so the idiot wasn’t going to tell me about it. I had to drag the story out of him,” Leah fumed. “I thought we were past keeping secrets.”
My stomach clenched as I edged the car forward. “Did he tell you what happened?”
“Yeah. Pretty much everything, I think. He told me about Micah getting involved with some criminals who want Micah to cover for something Dale Croft stole from them.”
“What sort of something? Did he say?”
Leah was silent a moment before she continued. “Weapons of some kind. These guys came by the bar to make sure Micah hadn’t skipped town. J.D. tried to stop one of them from smashing up the bar and got hit with a baseball bat. His arm could’ve been broken!”
Weapons. That was scarier and more serious than drugs. “So what’s Micah going to do? Go to the police?”
“No.” Leah blew a frustrated breath. “For one thing, they can’t tell why Micah’s in trouble without incriminating him, and besides, the Wyatt boys don’t think that way. They’ve been on the wrong side of the law too much of their lives to think of cops as allies. Those boys aren’t like you and me.”
I was getting more anxious by the second. Being stuck in traffic didn’t help. I wanted to roar down the highway and do something, though I didn’t know exactly what. “Do you think we should? Go to the cops, I mean?”
“We didn’t personally witness anything, and all we know is what we’ve been told. J.D. didn’t mention any names. He was as vague as he could get away with. Trying to protect me, he said.”
I drummed my fingers on the wheel and sucked an impatient breath. The Wyatts were right about one thing. Bringing the cops into it would only land Micah in more trouble on both sides of the law. “So, do Micah and J.D. have a plan?”
“Oh, here’s the kicker. Jonah is in town now. They’re having some big family meeting to figure out how to fix this. They’ll probably come up with some macho bullshit solution that will put all three of them in danger.” Leah rarely got mad, but right now she was boiling. “I asked J.D. to stay out of it. I’m his family now too. He’s not thinking of us, of how him getting hurt or maybe even…” Her voice broke on a sob, which brought a sympathetic prickle of tears to my eyes. “About how losing him would kill me.”
I shot forward a few yards, then hit the brakes again. “Guys with their ‘bros before hos’ code! They say they care about you, but when it comes down to it, they put their buddies and brothers first.”
I was pissed off for Leah’s sake, but underneath that ran a strong current of my own anger. Until now, I hadn’t actually visualized Micah as being in any real danger. Now I feared for his life. I wanted to grab him and shake him and tell him to run away if that was what he had to do. I definitely wanted to stop him from doing anything that might make things worse.
I glanced at the exit coming up. “Leah, I’m really close to Micah’s place right now. I could be there in about ten minutes if the traffic eases up. Why don’t I swing by and see what the brothers are up to?”
“Would you?” Leah’s breath came in a whoosh of relief. “That’d be great because J.D. isn’t answering my calls. He’s avoiding me because he doesn’t want to have to choose between me and his brothers.”
“Asshole,” I muttered, though I didn’t completely mean it. I had brothers too. I understood putting family above everything. My brothers would do anything to protect me, and if they were in trouble, I’d be right there for them too. As an only child, Leah would never really understand what siblings meant to a person. As upset as I was, I could respect the Wyatt brothers’ loyalty to each other.
“I’ll check in after I get there,” I promised. “Bye, Leah.”
I cut quickly across a couple of lanes to get to the exit, horns honking at my careening path. Once I reached the side streets, traffic was lighter and I made it to The Raptor’s Roost quickly. But parking was another matter. I eventually pulled into an illegal spot a couple of blocks away, knowing I’d have a fine to pay later.
I walked quickly, then trotted, then ran toward Micah’s bar, as if I were going to save the day or had any useful suggestions to offer. All I knew was that I had to talk to him before he and his brothers did whatever it was they planned to do.
I thought of his face the night he’d sent me away. Or had I walked out on him? I wasn’t sure which anymore. Either way, Micah’s expression of disappointment and the longing in his tone when he’d called after me made me feel I’d failed him. Knowing he’d been abandoned by both parents, I understood the weight of the trust he’d placed in me sharing the truth about his mother’s death. The first time he’d dared to offer an honest piece of himself, and I’d shut him down the moment things got difficult.
As I hurried along, I knew maybe I was being too soft and making excuses, once again wanting to fix a man who was too broken for me to help. But I still needed to talk to Micah and tell him I cared about him before he walked into danger.
Though it was only midafternoon, the bar was closed when I got there. I tried the door, knocked, and waited, called out and waited some more, but no one answered.
Too late. You’re too late. A sense of loss swept through me. I hadn’t even gotten a chance to say good-bye, and he was leaving town. I just knew it. What else could he do in the face of criminals demanding weapons that weren’t in his possession? Or maybe they’d taken him to torture and kill, making an example of him to anyone who dared rob from their organization. Oh yeah, I’d seen way too many mob movies.
I thrust the chilling scenario out
of my mind and slipped down the alley to the back door. Behind Micah’s building stood the abandoned garage that had burned a few months earlier. A CONDEMNED notice was plastered across the door. Dark soot stains fanned up the wall from each boarded window, reminding me of the night of the fire, of the terror of being caught in that crowd, torn away from Leah and unable to reach her. The fire hadn’t been anyone’s fault, but the overcrowding of the venue had been.
That’s who Micah is, the logical part of me whispered. The sort of guy who gets involved in stuff like that. You can’t change him no matter how hard you try.
But I could let him know someone cared about him. I could do that much if it wasn’t too late.
I tried the locked rear door, then slammed my fist on it, before a simpler solution occurred to my frazzled brain. I pulled out my phone to call Micah and tell him to let me in, if he was inside.
Just as I was about to dial, someone came up behind me and plucked the phone from my hand. I spun around to face a barrier of big bodies, two men boxing me in. I gasped as I stepped backward. There was nowhere to run. The building was at my back.
I tilted my head back to look from one pair of cold eyes to the other. One man was bald and the other had a scar across his face and a hat jammed low on his head. Though they looked nothing like each other, they appeared exactly the same—emotionless and dangerous.
The scarred one grabbed my arm while the bald one checked my phone, saw who I’d been about to call, and pressed the button. After a moment, he announced, “We are here,” in an accent that came down hard on the R.
He glanced at me. “We have your girl. Open the door.”
And I realized I’d just made everything a hundred times worse.
*
Micah
No! No, no, no. I mentally yelled when I heard the Russian on Gina’s phone. This was exactly what I’d been trying to avoid. It was why I’d pushed her away. But fate has a habit of getting what she wants. In my experience, there’s no way to avoid the crap she rains down.
Except it wasn’t fate out to get me, was it? This was my own damn fault because of what I’d chosen to do. I’d put Gina in danger, the person I cared about most in the world, though we’d only known each other a short time. She was warm and kind and innocent, and I’d dragged her into my dark, dirty world simply by having contact with her. When I’d told her to keep her distance, I should’ve done it with more of a fuck off attitude to make sure she never came back.
“Coming,” I answered, and hung up my phone. I turned to J.D. and Jonah, both sitting at a table, watching me with questioning eyes.
“They’re here to work out the deal.” I took a breath. “And they’ve got Gina with them.”
“Who’s Gina?” Jonah asked.
“His girlfriend.” J.D. rose from his seat and curled his fingers into loose fists as if he’d punch the first person to come through the door.
Jonah sat easily in his chair like a king who’d chosen to give an audience to peasants knocking at the castle gate. He glanced up at J.D. “Chill. We’re making a business transaction here. This doesn’t need to end in violence.” His gaze slid to me. “And you…keep your mouth shut and let me handle this. Go let them in.”
I was already halfway to the door and wishing I had a gun on me so I could blow away the motherfuckers who’d dared to take Gina hostage. But Jonah was right. This wasn’t like in the past when we’d gotten into fistfights with rivals like the Bakers to protect our own. We were up against the big league here, and the woman I was half in love with was at risk. Reason and level heads must prevail.
I unlocked the door and stepped back. Baldie entered, scanning the room for any sort of trap. He was followed by Scar with Gina held as a shield in front of him. My blood froze to ice at the sight of a gun pressed into her side.
There were just the three of them. “Where’s Abakumov? We were promised a meeting.”
The bald man flashed yellow teeth in a snarling grin. “I have him right here.” He patted the briefcase he carried.
I exchanged a quick glance with Gina. Her eyes were wide and shiny, her olive complexion pale, and her mouth a tight line. She bit her lower lip, but it still trembled. I had put that terror on her face. I had drawn her into this mess. Somehow I had to get her out again safe and intact.
We entered the bar, where J.D. loomed behind Jonah with arms folded. He looked like a guard dog straining at the leash. I could feel how badly he wanted to launch himself at these guys and pummel the hell out of them, because I felt that way too.
I cast another sideways glance at Gina, but her gaze was on the floor. Scarface hauled her off to one side, keeping his back to the wall, while his partner approached the table.
Jonah coolly eyed the opposition and gestured at the seat across from him. “You speak for your boss?”
“No. He will deal with you directly.” Baldie set the case on the table, took out a tablet and cued a program. He spoke in Russian and then set the propped-up screen to face Jonah. He stepped back and crossed his hands in front of him.
I went to stand by my brothers and looked over Jonah’s shoulder at the man who’d made my life hell. Abakumov looked like a cartoon depiction of a banker with his pudgy, nondescript features, balding head, and round glasses over pale blue eyes. He appeared harmless, average, not like my mental image of a mob kingpin at all.
“Good day. You wish to talk?” His accent was a little less thick than Baldie’s.
Jonah faced the camera with his expression as neutral as a carved statue’s. “We appreciate your loss, and though it wasn’t through any fault of my brother’s, we agree to your terms of compensation.”
Abakumov frowned. “You are not the man who owes me money?”
“I’m taking on a portion of his debt until he can sell his business. I can pay you 10K today and more in an installment plan.”
“Good to support family.” The man nodded slowly. “But I require more up-front payment. This is serious business. You need to show serious intent.”
We’d expected that first step in negotiations. Jonah actually had access to about twenty thousand fluid dollars. I had over 5K, and J.D. was pretty much living hand to mouth. I hated like hell to borrow anything from Jonah, and I was afraid Abakumov would never let me be free no matter how much I paid him. He’d keep tacking on interest so I’d be indebted to him for the rest of my life. How could I fight against power like that?
There must be something I’d overlooked, some other way to be free and clear of him as if the theft of those weapons had never happened. I’d gone to every place I could think of to find Croft, talked to every contact who might have a clue where he’d gone. If they knew, no one was talking. The man had evaporated like smoke and unless I could produce him or the weapons...
Those weapons… Either Dale had a purchaser or he’d driven off with them. Five automatic rifles was too much weight for the trunk of a car. Dale didn’t own a van or SUV, so he’d either have had to buy or borrow one, or… My mind raced through the same alternatives I’d already covered hundreds of times, but this time, something new clicked into place, a possibility that hadn’t occurred to me before.
What if Dale had stashed the guns somewhere in the city until things cooled down? If he’d stolen them on a whim, he might not have a buyer ready. What if he still needed to arrange a sale and planned to come back later to finish the transaction? When I’d talked to him the night we moved the crates, he’d given me absolutely no sign he planned to steal them. And going in, he’d been as ignorant as I was about what the content of the shipment might be, expecting drugs and surprised to find crates of weapons. I became even more sure he’d gotten the brilliant idea to skim off the top later on, and he’d stashed the guns somewhere near by.
Very near by.
While all these thoughts leapfrogged through my brain, Jonah and Abakumov were still playing chess with large sums of money. I dropped down on the chair beside Jonah so my face would be on camera, and I stared
into the Russian’s pale eyes.
“I have an idea,” I interrupted. “I might know where to find the weapons. Someplace Croft would feel safe storing them until he found a buyer.”
Jonah ground his heel into my foot underneath the table and shot me a sideways glare.
Abakumov’s stare was unblinking. “I think you stall now.”
“No. It just occurred to me. Give me one more chance to make things right. It’ll take two minutes to search the place I’m thinking of. It’s right near here.”
The man leaned back in his chair, the leather squeaking as he shifted. I glimpsed his office, the dark wood paneling and gilt-framed photos—photos of people, family members maybe. Even criminals had some shred of humanity to appeal to, right?
I stared back at Abakumov and oozed every drop of sincerity I could muster. “If I’m wrong, we’ll continue working out a payment schedule, but if I’m right and we recover the weapons, we’re finished. You’ll leave my family and friends alone.”
I shot a glance at Gina held tight against Scar over near the door. One way or another I had to get her out of this, even if it meant offering my hide to Abakumov to take his pound of flesh from.
Abakumov said something in his own tongue, and Baldie swung the screen around so he could chat with his boss. His big round dome bobbed as he took his orders. For all I knew, he was being told to pull out a gun and shoot us all dead.
Instead, he powered off the tablet and pointed at me. “You come. The rest stay here with Stanis.”
“I’m coming too,” J.D. declared, starting to move after me. I suppose he imagined Baldie was marching me off somewhere to shoot me. The thought had occurred to me too.
“No. You wait.” The bald henchman glared, and I realized who he reminded me of—Simon Bar Sinister, the Underdog villain, right down to the protruding front teeth.
“J.D.” Jonah didn’t raise his voice, but his tone called my hotheaded younger brother back.
