Shattered (Dividing Line #5)

by Heather Atkinson

  Afterwards they went to a quiet country pub to toast Laila’s memory. Bruiser made sure to position himself beside Daina who, although she’d never known Laila, was upset, which Bruiser seemed to find endearing and he kept his arm firmly around her shoulders, staking claim. The detective had made himself scarce right after the funeral without asking any questions. Ryan quietly informed Rachel that he was in Mikey’s pocket.

  They drank in silence, listening to Sabine’s anecdotes about her sister, some funny, some sad, that only went to demonstrate what an exceptional woman she was.

  “I promise you we will get justice for her,” said Rachel, grasping Sabine’s hand.

  “I know you are people of your word, you have already proved this,” she replied. She glanced around to make sure no one was listening, but the pub was empty, apart from the barmaid who was too busy studying her nails to bother with them. “Make sure he suffers as he made Laila suffer.”

  “He will.”

  Sabine nodded, released her hand and looked to Strang. “You are Stephen?”

  “Yes,” he replied, swallowing hard. He found it difficult to look at Sabine because her resemblance to Laila was so strong.

  “I want to speak to you, in private.”

  She took her drink to a table at the other side of the room and a dazed Stephen looked at Rachel, who nodded encouragingly, so he got up to follow.

  Rachel watched from the corner of her eye as Sabine talked and Stephen listened with tears sliding down his face. She placed a gold necklace in his hand and he pressed it to his lips then placed it reverently in his jacket pocket. Rachel assumed it had belonged to Laila.

  “Thank you,” he said, kissing Sabine’s cheek. “If you need my help, just call anytime.” With that he rose, fastened his suit jacket then approached Ryan and Rachel. “I think I’ll be off.”

  “Did you have a good talk with Sabine?”

  “Yes I did. Lovely girl.”

  “Feel better?”

  “I do actually.” He raised a small smile. “She loved me back.”

  “So I believe.”

  His smile faltered. “I’ll never find anyone like her again.” He cleared his throat and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. “Thanks for inviting me, it meant a lot. Goodbye.”

  “Bye Stephen,” said Rachel.

  “We’d better be getting back as well,” Ryan told Rachel.

  “We need to go too,” said Sabine, walking back to their table. “We promised the people at the clinic we wouldn’t be long.”

  “Do you like it there?” said Rachel.

  “Very much. They are nice and they are helping us.” She looked to Daina, whose lips were firmly pressed against Bruiser’s. “Put the poor man down Daina, we must go.”

  “Can’t we have just a little longer?” she breathed, her eyes riveted to Bruiser.

  “No. We said we would be back for one o’clock and we can’t break our word.”

  “Alright,” she muttered, slinging her handbag over her shoulder and getting to her feet.

  “I’ll walk you out,” said an eager Bruiser.

  Rachel, Ryan and Battler waited in the car while Bruiser said an extremely fond goodbye to Daina.

  “Can’t you tell him to hurry up?” Ryan asked Battler.

  “I’m reluctant to. I’ve never seen him so into a woman before.”

  “Has he had many girlfriends?” said Rachel. Despite how close she was to the brothers, their personal lives were closed books.

  “Nothing serious. He’s had so many one night stands I’ve lost count. Women seem to love the fact he doesn’t talk much.”

  “I can understand that,” mumbled Rachel, Ryan casting her a withering look.

  Ryan leaned into the front to bang his fist on the horn, the noise causing Daina to jump.

  “Come on,” yelled Ryan, eager to get Rachel back to the safety of the cottage.

  Bruiser snapped back into professional mode and after bidding Daina goodbye he walked over to the car and Battler started the engine.

  “You two are getting on well,” said Rachel in a teasing voice as they pulled away from the pub.

  “She’s a lovely girl,” replied Bruiser, unable to repress his smile.

  “Are you going to see more of her?”

  “I hope so.”

  Knowing that was the end of the conversation Rachel let it go, waving to Sabine as the two cars parted ways.

  She sank back into Ryan’s arms, feeling like a weight had been lifted from her. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome,” he replied, pulling off the wig and burying his face in her dark hair. “There, much better.”

  They returned to the cottage to find the others talking excitedly.

  “What’s going on?” said Rachel.

  “We’ve tracked Katia to an isolated location twenty miles south of here,” said Mikey. “At first we thought she’d just been moved to another safe house so I sent a couple of my men over to have a look. They’ve been staking it out for a few days and they’ve finally seen some movement.” His eyes lit up. “Alex is with her.”

  Rachel’s heart thudded with excitement. Finally the opportunity they’d been waiting for had arrived. “I’ll get my gun.”

  CHAPTER 26

  Alex was sat in an armchair wearing smart black trousers and shirt, ready and waiting to conduct business. Although he wasn’t in any actual pain he still ached slightly but he assumed it was because he hadn’t exercised properly for a while when he was used to going to the gym five times a week.

  “Are you sure you’re up to this?” said Katia, kneeling before him. “You look so pale.”

  “I can handle it. I need you to do me a favour.”

  “Anything.”

  “You speak Russian, don’t you?”

  “A little. I am not fluent.”

  “That’s more than anyone else here. I’m going to keep Vladimir waiting for a couple of minutes. I want you to listen in on what he says. You might learn something that could help. If you do, text it to me. It might help me gain the advantage.”

  “You want me to leave you?”

  “I don’t want Vladimir to see you.”

  She stamped her high heeled foot. “Why do you never want anyone to see me? Are you ashamed of me?”

  “Katia, you’re the most gorgeous woman in Manchester, of course I’m not ashamed but you are pregnant so I’m not taking any risks with your safety. When you’ve had our babies then you can sit in on these meetings with me and learn.”

  This pacified her and she smiled. “Alright, because it is what you wish.”

  Col guided her into a room further down the hall and into a cupboard at the far end used for storage. A chair had been left out for her but Katia preferred to stand so she was prepared.

  “I hope you’re not scared of the dark?” said Col.

  “I am scared of nothing,” she said as he closed the door, leaving her in total darkness. She took out her phone, the light from the screen taking the edge off the blackness. For some reason she felt nervous and her palms were sweaty, making holding the phone awkward. She listened as footsteps entered the room.

  “Alex will be with you presently gentlemen,” she heard Col’s voice say. “Can I get you anything to drink while you wait?”

  “No,” replied a stern voice. “I never drink during business.”

  The man’s voice was thick with a Russian accent. Katia squinted through the keyhole and saw a short stocky man with thick wavy dark hair, who she took to be Vladimir. He was standing between two taller men, who were obviously his bodyguards. She prayed they weren’t a threat to Alex.

  “Tell him it would not be wise to keep us waiting,” added the stocky man.

  “I will pass on your message,” replied Col’s voice. There was the sound of the door closing and Col’s retreating footsteps.

  Katia pressed her ear to the door to listen. All she could hear were shuffling sounds and a rough rasping noise. Peering through the keyhol
e again she saw Vladimir scratching his stubble. Eventually he spoke.

  “Alex has to do much to regain my trust, so be alert,” he told his men. One of them grunted in response.

  When he went silent again Katia was disappointed. She had entertained images of the Russians revealing some great secret that she could relate to Alex to earn his undying gratitude and prove herself to him. Instead she’d been left standing in a cupboard like an idiot.

  Two minutes later the door opened. “You can come out now,” said Robbie.

  “Well that was a waste of time.”

  “You didn’t learn anything useful?”

  “The short ugly one I think is Vladimir said he doesn’t trust Alex and told his men to stay alert. Then he stood there scratching himself. That was it.”

  “Oh well, worth a try.”

  “Is Alex alone with them?”

  “No, Col’s with him.”

  “Is that all? What if they try to hurt him?”

  “They won’t, he’s much too strong for them and they rely on him for the majority of their income.”

  “In that case, I will be in my room until they are gone. I’m feeling a little queasy.”

  “Do you need a doctor?”

  “No, it is just the pregnancy.”

  “Let me know if you need anything.”

  “I will.” Robbie Jordan fussed over her a lot and she lapped it up.

  Katia climbed the stairs, passing the two Lucifer’s Shadow members at the bottom. She didn’t like them, they leered at her when they thought no one was looking but she wasn’t afraid of them, they were far too stupid to fear. She yawned, thinking she might have a nap followed by a long hot bath. She might even entice Alex into joining her.

  As she reached the top of the stairs it was instinct that told her to look down and she was horrified to see a group of black-clad figures stealthily swarming the corridor below. The stupid MC members didn’t even realise they were there and both were taken down with tasers. Katia saw the swish of long dark hair held back in a ponytail. Rachel Law was here. A chill ran down her spine when she saw Ryan by her side.

  She pressed herself back against the wall, heart thudding. What should she do? Alex was on the floor below, in fact all the men were. She was all alone up here. She raced into her bedroom, shut the door and crouched down behind the bed, so relieved she had her mobile phone to hand. She decided not to call Alex because he was in a meeting and she didn’t think he would answer, so she called Col instead.

  “Hurry up, hurry up,” she said as she heard it ringing. “Col,” she whispered when he answered.

  “What are you doing? We’re in the middle of a…”

  “Shut up and listen. There are people downstairs with guns, they have already knocked out two of the guards. It’s Ryan and Rachel.”

  “Where are you?”

  “In my bedroom.”

  “Stay there and keep out of sight.”

  With that he hung up, leaving her to crouch behind the bed, alone. She pulled her handbag off the bed and scrabbled for the knife she kept there. How had they found them? Alex had gone to great pains to cover their tracks.

  From below came an almighty racket, shouts and gunshots and Katia remained crouched in her hiding place clutching the knife, refusing to succumb to fear.

  Riley stared down the sight of the sniper scope at the two members of the Lucifer’s Shadow MC sat on the front steps of the house, pleasure flooding his veins at the prospect of what he was about to do. They weren’t very good guards, too busy playing with their mobile phones to bother keeping an eye on the surrounding countryside. The house was huge, more like a mansion. Even when he was supposed to be in hiding Alex was all about front.

  He squeezed the trigger twice in rapid succession. As the first one went down his friend didn’t even notice the spray of blood from the back of his head because he was concentrating so hard on his phone. Just as he looked up to see why his friend had fallen over he was taken down too.

  Riley lowered the weapon to watch Ryan, Rachel and Jez cautiously approaching from the east and Mikey and Declan and his brothers from the west. Battler and Bruiser had gone round the back to cover the rear. He sighed and shook his head when he saw Frankie and his pals not too subtlely storming straight up to the front door, guns in hand. Riley jumped out of his hiding place to follow, slinging the sniper rifle over his shoulder and drawing the pistol instead. Hopefully this would put an end to all this shit once and for all and he’d finally get his hands on Jasper White. He had no idea if the man was in there but the presence of the patches was promising.

  Rachel had consented to wearing a Kevlar vest for this attack, although it was hot, heavy and pressing on her sensitive scars. However she was able to put aside her discomfort and focus entirely on the task in hand. Adrenaline pumped through her body, heightening her senses and sharpening her eyesight and hearing. Ryan motioned for her to stand to one side of the front door as he went into a crouch at the other and slowly pushed it open. Keeping low, he peered inside and saw the porch was deserted. They were at amazed at how lax security was but then again, Alex wasn’t expecting to be found here.

  “Enough of this fannying about,” said Frankie, kicking the door wide open and storming inside, pistol in one hand, hatchet in the other, his men eagerly following. Ryan rolled his eyes and followed, nodding at Rachel to get behind him. This time he was making sure she stayed right by his side.

  The next two MC members they encountered hadn’t even managed to get to their feet before Rachel and Ryan took them down with tasers, not wanting to use the pistols yet for fear of alerting the rest of the household.

  “I’ve missed you,” Rachel smiled at her own taser. It was her favourite weapon. Enough to put an assailant down and out for a while, but not enough to kill. The perfect combination.

  “Fan out, sweep the ground floor,” Ryan told the others. He looked to Rachel and Riley. “We’ll check upstairs.”

  Ryan had been very worried about bringing Rachel along on this. He knew that physically and mentally she was more than up to the challenge but there was still a good chance she could get hurt again or worse, but telling her to stay behind was not an option. He would never break a promise he’d made her.

  The three of them snuck upstairs, Ryan leading the way, Riley at the back, the two men careful to keep Rachel between them. They checked the bedrooms one by one but found nothing. Judging by the noise emanating from below they assumed everyone was down there. Rachel kicked open the door of one room but it appeared to be deserted. However instinct told her that wasn’t so. Heart thudding, she walked around the bed, keeping the gun held out before her. A woman leapt out at her from nowhere, knife raised and a scream falling from her scarlet lips. Rather than pull the trigger, Rachel whacked her across the face with the butt of the gun and the woman fell, the knife falling from her hand. Rachel kicked it away, grabbed a handful of blond hair and yanked her head back. When the woman spat a torrent of abuse at her in a foreign language, Rachel smiled.

  “Katia I presume?”

  Katia’s red lips curved into a smile. “Rachel Law.”

  “Correct. On your feet.”

  As Katia rose, Rachel picked up the knife and slid it into the back of her belt.

  Rachel slowly looked Katia up and down, derision in her eyes. “So Alex left Beth for you. I fail to see why.”

  “Because I am smarter, more beautiful and better in bed than she is.”

  “Is that what he told you?”

  She nodded proudly.

  “He’ll get bored of you just like he did her, then you’ll be the one on the receiving end of his contempt.”

  “Just like you were. He did that to your neck. It is very ugly.”

  “What does that matter? My husband doesn’t care about it and he will love me to the day I die, unlike you and Alex.”

  “Alex will make sure the day you die is very soon,” she hissed.

  “You really are an arrogant bitch ar
en’t you?”

  The two women glared at one another, hate filling the room like a smothering fog.

  “Ryan,” Rachel called.

  Katia’s smirk fell.

  When Ryan heard his wife calling him he raced back down the corridor, drawing his gun.

  “Rachel,” he called back.

  He opened the door and sagged with relief when he found Rachel safe and completely in charge of the situation, Katia under her control.

  “Look what I found,” she smiled.

  “Well Katia, you keep turning up like the proverbial bad penny. Thanks for bringing us here by the way,” said Ryan.

  Her eyes flashed. “What?”

  “Mikey planted a tracking device in your handbag at the hospital. We’ve been following you all this time.”

  “No, you didn’t,” she said, starting to panic.

  “Worried what Alex will do to you if he finds out?” said Rachel.

  “He will do nothing to me because I carry his twins inside me. Yes that’s right, twins and they will grow into strong healthy boys. I get two and yours is taken from you.”

  “You fucking bitch,” said Rachel, drawing the knife, causing Katia to retreat a few steps but the smirk never left her face.

  “Take it easy Rachel,” said Ryan, taking her hand.

  “Alex was responsible for Thomas’s death and you think he’s going to make father of the year, you stupid cow,” Rachel told her.

  Riley bobbed his head round the door. “Time to go. We’ve got company.”

  Ryan grabbed Katia by the back of the neck and pushed her towards the door. “Move.”

  Keeping the gun pressed to the back of her head he steered her out the door, Riley and Rachel leading the way. Rachel peered down the stairs just in time to see Alex at the bottom of the steps hurling Declan against a wall. He hit it hard, his head banging off the plaster and slumped to the floor, out cold. As Alex took aim at his head, Rachel raised her own gun and fired. Alex spied the movement out of the corner of his eye and moved at the last second, saving his life. The bullet grazed his ear and smashed into the wall behind him. As she let off a second then a third shot he fled deeper into the house and she raced down the stairs after him.