by Lee Kilraine
“Does Quinn know you’re here?”
“Good Lord no. He’s with Kaz. What’s your plan? I mean, you do have one, right?”
“Nope. But he’s got Mrs. Johnson and now Barbara so I’m going in anyway.” She pushed open the front door and walked into the foyer. Barbara stood leaning against the librarian’s checkout desk with no Russian around. But also no Mrs. Johnson.
“Have you seen a good-looking Russian guy around here?” Mira looked behind the “New Books” kiosk on the right side of the foyer. All clear that way. The children’s section was off on the left side of the foyer, and Mira didn’t see Ivan over there either.
“Third floor.” Barbara pointed her finger up the elegant spiral staircase that sat behind and to the left of the checkout desk. “No sense getting all sweaty following him up three flights of stairs. I figured I’d wait for him here. He’s hot, isn’t he?”
“Trust me, you don’t want the Russian.” Delaney grabbed Barbara by the arm and pushed her toward the front door. “Now scram.”
“No way, Delaney.” Barbara steered herself back around Delaney and toward the checkout desk. “First you stole Quinn from me, then you helped Avery steal Sijan from me, and Tynan—”
“Enough, Barbara.”
“Fine. My point is, you aren’t going to take the hot Russian guy from me.”
“That hot Russian guy is a member of the Russian Mafia and he’s been stalking me for over a year. You don’t want to mess with him. He’s a creep and an abuser of women.”
Barbara squinted her eyes as if she was weighing the man’s faults vs. his assets before rolling her eyes to the ceiling with a growl. “Dammit. Why? Why couldn’t he have been a hot Russian guy who’s nice? Why? Why? Why?” She stamped her high-heeled Jimmy Choo pump.
“Oh shit.” Delaney’s face stiffened and paled.
“Oh shit what?” Mira’s gaze darted up the stairs, thinking Ivan was on his way down the staircase.
“My water just broke.”
“How can that be? You’ve got a week to go. You aren’t even having contractions.”
“I lied.”
“Lied about what?”
“Everything. I’m overdue by a week and I’ve been having contractions for the last couple hours.” She held up a finger and panted out some “heh heh heh” and “ha ha ha” breaths. “Oh boy, I’d say contractions are about two minutes apart now.”
“Delaney! Babies take hours to deliver, don’t they?” Mira wrapped one arm around Delaney’s waist although she was shaking so much herself she might be more of a liability than a support. “It can’t be two minutes!”
“You’re right. Make that one minute. Ow! I think I need to lie down.”
“Oh, Dios, seriously?”
“Very. It’s about to get real messy.”
“Oh boy. Okay, hang on . . .” Mira looked around frantically. “Here we go. The Dive-into-Summer-Reading” display behind you has a kiddie pool. Will that work?”
“Ah, yep, perfect.” Delaney grabbed Mira’s arm and shuffled over to stand inside the blue plastic kiddie pool, already decked out with comfortable pillows. “Quinn is going to kill me.”
“No, he isn’t.” Barbara slowly shook her head. “Not if the hot Russian holding the gun gets to you first.”
Chapter Thirty-one
Kaz and Quinn had been sitting in a nondescript van down the street from the actual sting operation for over two hours now. Even as an active agent, Kaz had rarely been in on this part of a case, as most of his work was in the months-long buildup as he helped gather the evidence.
There was a lot of “hurry up and wait” in undercover ops. Hours of boredom followed by a few minutes of heart-pounding excitement and frantic activity when the signal for the take-down went out over everyone’s earpieces.
At least the FBI agent manning the communications console in the van with them was keeping them posted on what was happening. They were waiting on one more player to arrive before the round up began.
“Now we wait.” Quinn relaxed back against the wall opposite Kaz, stretching his legs out to the side to avoid his own.
“Mm hmm.” Kaz gritted his teeth. Waiting patiently wasn’t normally a problem for him. But a lot about Jones was problematic. Kaz had set his instinct to distrust Jones to the side and trusted that the agent would put the job in front of his personal animosity toward Kaz. He’d had to, for Mira’s sake, but he was looking forward to being done with Jones.
His brother nodded across at him. “So don’t you want to ask me any advice?”
“About what?”
“Mira.”
“Why would I do that?”
“When I was figuring out how I felt about Delaney I asked Tynan for advice.”
“Tynan? Seriously?” Why in the hell would Quinn ask Tynan for relationship advice? Then again, Kaz had asked Tynan also, through the process of elimination.
“And when Sijan was figuring out he loved Avery he talked to you.”
“He did.”
“So . . . ?”
Kaz shook his head and crossed his arms over his chest. “I know exactly how I feel. I don’t need to bounce this off anyone.”
“Oh, well good. That’s good.” Quinn waited a few beats for Kaz to spill his guts. “Anything you want to share?”
Kaz shrugged. “I plan to ask her to spend the rest of her life with me.”
“Huh.” Leaning forward with his elbows on his splayed knees, Quinn locked eyes with him. “Even though you’ve only known her a few weeks?”
“Oh, come on, Quinn. You know time means nothing when you finally find the woman you want to spend the rest of your life with. You knew what you felt for Delaney in high school.”
“Good point, but I also knew her for years before jumping into a lifetime commitment.”
Kaz could run down the whole list of why he knew this was right. The two of them shared the same interests in books, movies, gaming, and music. She didn’t lose her patience when he checked out and got lost in his work. Possibly because she got lost in numbers and spreadsheets with an equal passion.
He could mention the off-the-charts sexual chemistry between them that hadn’t just rocked his world but shook it up so thoroughly it cracked his heart wide open, allowing Mira to slip inside.
But those were all minutia really because most of what he felt—what he hoped Mira felt—went deeper than the physical.
“The instant you have in your soul this rare melding of passion and fidelity and know the keenness, the satisfaction, the rapture of it, you will glimpse life anew.”
Quinn sat back abruptly against the side of the van. “Whoa. Buddha?”
“No. Me.”
“I shouldn’t have doubted you.” Quinn grinned over at him and laughed. “You’ve always known exactly what you wanted.”
Not always. But he was smart enough to pay attention when the universe brought it to him anyway.
“Heads up. The last chess piece is on the board.” Dwayne glanced around to them, pulling the plug on his headphones so they could all be privy to the action. “Call just went out to move in.”
Every muscle in Kaz’s body tensed and his gaze locked on Quinn’s as they listened to the orders crackling over the comms. Staccato voices tight with tension barked out positions and commands over the next ten adrenaline-drenched minutes. They heard pounding footsteps, the sound of a tackling take-down or two accompanied by grunts, winded breaths, and more than a few “fucks” and “assholes” before the all-clear was finally sounded.
Kaz was the first out of the van with Quinn fast on his heels. Once they got past the newly cordoned-off perimeter around the warehouse it was a beehive of activity. FBI, DEA, and an even bigger contingent from the local police force. In minutes a swarm of satellite trucks from local and national news networks would descend on the scene like locusts invading a crop field. The poor neighborhood wouldn’t get their streets back for a week. Then again, it beat having an international crime
ring operating on your block.
“It might take a few hours for things to settle down enough to confirm if they scooped up Prostakov.” Quinn stood next to him where they observed the activity. He nodded toward a uniformed cop talking with a member of the SWAT team. “I’ve worked with Sgt. Avila before. Want me to see what he kn—”
“Cates! You might as well leave. Nothing else to observe.” Jones frowned over at him as he pulled a white kerchief from his pocket and dabbed at the sweat trickling down his face. “You’re just in the way now.”
“Deal with it. I’m not here at your invitation but by the invitation of the Charlotte P.D. And I’m sticking around until I find out if you kept up your end of our deal. Because fuck knows I don’t trust you.” Kaz should have stopped right there because he knew everyone’s nerves were still on an adrenaline induced, hair-trigger. But he was anxious himself.
Which is why Kaz took responsibility for what happened next. Jones came at him swinging, except Quinn stepped between them to stave it off and took the punch meant for Kaz.
“Swing once more, Jones, and he’ll have to charge you with abusing an officer of the law. I’ll make an excellent witness and I’ve got a lawyer who’ll pin your ass to the wall in court.” Kaz turned to check on his brother. “You okay?”
“Yeah. Dammit.” Quinn sucked in a breath and leaned over at the waist with his hands on his knees while he absorbed the pain. “Shit, that hurt.”
Kaz speared Jones’s gaze with his own. “Did you fucking get Prostakov or not?”
“As much as I’d like to assure you that my months-long operation fulfilled your personal wish list, we don’t know yet.”
“Stuff it, Jones.” Quinn straightened up and pinned the agent down with his one good eye since the other was already swelled shut. “You know Kaz’s work and the work of the local police department is what made this inter-agency operation go down. If you’re going to throw around accusations of personal agendas—look in the mirror. And I’d suggest you keep Kaz abreast of this investigation. I don’t need to be hit twice to file charges.”
Damn, Kaz loved his brothers. Especially when they had his back even after getting stuck taking a punch meant for him.
“Look, we’ve got multiple agencies and two buildings. I don’t know yet. I do know that he was on one of two Gulfstreams that took off from Miami seven hours ago. One plane landed in Charlotte and a company car drove the passengers here. We’re fairly certain he’s here and in custody.”
“What’s keeping you from being certain?”
“He has a younger brother who could pass for his twin. He met him at the Miami airport and caused some confusion.”
Shit. He knew Prostakov had a brother but he’d been located in Europe. “Where did the other plane land?”
“Greensboro.”
Quinn shook his head. “You couldn’t relay that information, say, hours ago?”
Although that new knowledge had a few scenarios—heart-wrenching scenarios—speeding through his mind, Kaz locked them down and approached the situation calmly. He was done relying on Jones to come through. He’d go around him.
“We’re done here. You might want to go wrap up your operation now, Jones. I’m going to head back to Climax and put a call in to Taggart on the way; he’ll be able to tell me exactly who was rounded up.”
“Jesus Christ, I swear we’re like ninety-eight percent positive your perp flew into Charlotte and is sitting cuffed and cursing his Russian heart out up on the third floor.” Jones jerked his thumb toward the building behind him and shot a glare at Kaz. “I will personally call you when that’s confirmed.”
Kaz nodded once. “You do that. Ready, Quinn?”
“My truck’s on the other side of town. I’ll catch a ride with Avila and pass on any arrest info he’s got. I’ll call when I’m back in Climax.”
“Okay. Get some ice on that eye soon. If it turns colors Delaney will have my ass.”
The first call Kaz made on his drive back to Climax was to Taggart. After waiting on hold for ten minutes, he was told Taggart was busy and would call him back. When he was thirty minutes out of Climax and Taggart still hadn’t called back, Kaz decided he needed to hear Mira’s voice even if he didn’t have any news for her yet. He smiled as he dialed. Yeah, he had it bad.
Chapter Thirty-two
“What?” Mira turned to look at the stairs. Sure enough, Ivan was rushing down with a gun in one hand and an ugly smirk on his handsome face as his gaze searched over the first floor with his descent. “Oh God.”
“Oh God, here goes another one.” Delaney doubled over with the contraction and Mira eased her down until she was sitting in the pool, propped up by the pillows at her back. “I’ll call Kaz. Barbara, can you stall Ivan?”
“You bet your ass I can.” Her eyes narrowed as she opened the top five buttons of her blouse. She slipped her hand into her shirt and adjusted her breasts to get them front and center. “Me and the girls were born for a moment like this.”
“I’m a little attracted to her boobs myself—especially if she can stall Ivan until Kaz gets here.” Mira watched Barbara drape herself along the railing at the bottom of the stairs, her breasts generously exposed in the unbuttoned blouse. She pressed the preset to connect to Kaz.
“Barbara’s chest has been her secret weapon since middle school. If anyone can bring a crazy Russian to his knees it’s Barbara.” Delaney groaned and chuffed air through her clenched teeth.
Thank heaven Kaz picked up on the second ring. “Everything okay? You didn’t pick up the house phone and I lost the connection when I called your cell—who is that groaning? Who’s hurt? Where the hell are you?”
“So there was a change of plans,” she whispered into the phone. “I’m at the library. Ivan sent me a text. He’s got Mrs. Johnson at gunpoint.”
“Motherfucker. Anyone else in there?”
“Sadly, yes. I’m sitting next to Delaney, who says she’s about to deliver her baby any minute now. Her contractions are a minute apart—”
“Thirty seconds—hee-hee-hooo.”
“Oh shoot. Thirty seconds apart. And Barbara is here trying to distract Ivan with her double Ds. So I’m really sorry. I messed up. I realize that now, but we’ll try to stall until you can get help.”
“Can you hide?”
She glanced at Delaney, panting her Lamaze breaths, knees up, and rubbing her hands along her contracting belly. “No can do. Oh here he comes. Hey! I’m pretty sure I love you. Just so you know. Bye.”
Delaney’s gaze flew to hers and she laughed in between huffed breaths. “Oh my, you did not just tell him that. I love it.”
“Delaney, hush up so I can pour on the charm,” Barbara called from the stairs. She fluffed her hair around her shoulders, hiked the girls up, and ran one hand over and down her hip. “Oh my, oh my. Hello there. If you’re looking for something to check out, I’m at your service.”
“I’m looking for a woman.” Ivan stomped down the staircase, dragging poor Mrs. Johnson next to him by her frail arm.
“What a coincidence. I’m all woman and you can look all you like,” Barbara purred. When he stepped down the last two steps, she pressed up against Ivan, pushing Mrs. Johnson away to safety as she rubbed her body up against his, pouting prettily up into his face. “Are you the handsome Russian I’ve been hearing about all over town?”
“You aren’t the one I need.”
“Now how would you know that? We haven’t even been introduced, let alone gone on a date yet.” She leaned forward until her breasts threatened to spill from her blouse. “I might be exactly what you need, sugar.”
While Barbara kept him busy, Mira slipped over behind Mrs. Johnson and propelled her toward the back, where she could escape out the employee entrance, before ducking back over to Delaney’s side.
Ivan was certainly distracted until Delaney moaned when another contraction hit and captured his attention. He whipped the pistol toward them, waving it in Barbara’s face be
fore shoving her to the side.
His eyes locked on Mira and he smiled a crooked smile. Darn, she’d forgotten what a good-looking bastard he was.
“Mirabel. I’ve missed you, lubov moya.”
Barbara looked stunned and moved next to Mira for a better view. “Oh good Lord, he’s the total package. That face, that body, and that accent. Are you sure he’s a bad guy?”
“Gee, Barbara. Did you happen to notice your total package is packing heat? Good guys don’t normally wave guns in your face.” Mira’s gaze stayed locked on Ivan. “But then, you’re not a good guy, are you, Ivan?”
“That pains me like an arrow to my heart, Mira. I treated you like a princess. You just need to remember how good we are together.” He held out his free hand toward Mira, yet kept the gun aimed right at her too. “Once we’re back in Miami, you’ll see.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you.”
Delaney’s panting gave way to a groan and Mira turned away from Ivan, squatting down next to her and rubbing a hand on her contracting belly.
“I’m afraid I insist. Let’s go, Mira. Or do you want me to hurt your friends?”
Every muscle in Mira’s body tensed at the feeling of impotence. She couldn’t let anything happen to these women and she really didn’t like how this was going. The way he kept gripping the gun until his knuckles turned white and his whole arm vibrated. This standoff needed to end, but Mira knew she needed to be the one who decided how it ended. Not Ivan.
“Oh Lord, I’ve got to push. I’m not having my baby with this damn thing on.” Delaney stifled another moan as she efficiently removed her prosthesis from her knee, only pausing once for a contraction. “Mira, I need your help. You too, Barbara. Yo, Ivan, you need to leave.”
“Gladly. Only Mira is coming with me.” He nodded. And before anyone could react, he reached out and grabbed Barbara by the wrist, pulling her back up against his chest with a tight arm across her shoulders, locking her in. “What’ll it be, Mira?”
Her head whipped around to stare at Ivan, his eyes shining with a crazy glitter that sent her heart plummeting to her knees. Turning back around, she stared into Delaney’s eyes before she pulled her gaze away to stare down where her hands gripped the edge of the plastic pool. She knew she couldn’t leave with him. Statistics said she’d end up dead if she did. But she also didn’t see a way out—not with the gun in his hand.
