Indicating her right leg, she said, “I tried to brake, but my foot was trapped. In the process, the car veered to the right. The force my foot exerted snapped the strap in two, but it was freed too late to prevent the car from crashing into the Audi. I was the one at fault, Officer. No one else.”
He shook his head. “I thought I’d heard them all, but a caught sandal strap is a new one on me.”
“Me, too. It was a pretty terrifying moment.”
“I can imagine.”
“Needless to say, I won’t be driving in sandals again.” In fact, it was going to be a while before she would be driving again, period.
The officer didn’t respond to her comment. He probably investigated so many accidents every day, he didn’t have time for chitchat. That suited her fine.
“I need some information from you, ma’am. Let’s see your driver’s license first.”
She reached in her purse for her wallet. Just last month she’d gotten her California driver’s license. Gaby swore that moving to a different state involved more paperwork than relocating to a foreign country.
While he studied her license and wrote down the particulars in his incident report, she looked beyond his shoulder. One of the firefighters had managed to back up her car enough to separate the others without requiring a wrecker. But just as she’d feared, the girls were being loaded into an ambulance.
It looked as if one of the passengers in the other car also needed to be taken to the hospital. As far as she could tell, all its occupants were foreign.
“Officer? Do you think I could ride with the girls? They’re under my care away from Girls’ Village. I’m sure they’re frightened.”
“You work there?”
“I’m a trained volunteer.”
He nodded. “Go ahead. Someone from the department will catch up with you at the hospital to finish the paperwork. Your car will be towed to one of the body shops listed on this card I’m going to give you. You can call the number I’ve circled after nine tomorrow morning for the particulars.”
Oh, joy.
“Thank you, Officer.”
“You bet.”
The passengers of the other car seemed to be in a great discussion about something. As Gaby walked over to them, the Russian broke off talking to watch her approach.
“Excuse me for interrupting,” she told him. “I just wanted to say once again that I’m very sorry. If there’s anything I can do to help you or any of your friends, please let me know.”
He stared at her through shuttered eyes. “Everyone is fine.”
She knew they weren’t fine at all, but for the moment there was nothing more she could do. The ambulance was waiting.
As she climbed into the back, she noticed that the blond woman and Japanese man she’d glimpsed in the Russian’s car had started walking down the street as fast as possible. The door closed before Gaby had an opportunity to find out what the attractive driver and his other friends were going to do.
She felt so badly about what she’d done. But at least she could be grateful that everyone was still alive and in one piece, no thanks to her.
AWARE THAT the first ambulance had just left, Max needed to act fast. “Take off now,” he muttered to Sergey. “I’ll ride to the hospital with Choi Jin and phone you later.”
Like the others, Sergey’s nerves were on edge and he didn’t hesitate to leave when given his freedom. As soon as he melted into the crowd, Max walked to the door of the ambulance. One of the attendants was already assisting Choi Jin, who looked ready to pass out from panic.
“Which hospital are you taking my friend to?”
“The Bay Shore.”
“What about the other ambulance?”
“I have no idea. Maybe the driver knows.”
Max walked around the front to ask the man at the wheel. St. Anne’s, he was told. Then he climbed into the back of the ambulance with Choi Jin. The sooner the Korean could be seen by a doctor, the sooner Max would find himself alone long enough to make a vital phone call outside anyone else’s hearing.
In order not to seem anxious to leave, Max stayed with Choi Jin throughout the long ordeal of getting him checked in to emergency. As soon as the nurse told him to go on back to the farthest cubicle, Max whispered he’d join him after he’d reported to Nikolai.
If Choi Jin didn’t like the idea that Max would be out of his sight, there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it. Not with a swollen hand and wrist needing attention.
In case Nikolai had paid one of his cronies to follow him, Max didn’t venture outside. Instead, he stole down a hallway beyond the E.R. that led to the pharmacy. There were a couple of doors on either side of the corridor. He looked through the glass of the first one. It was a tiny, unoccupied office.
After a quick glance to make sure no one saw him, he slipped inside and stood in a corner where he couldn’t be seen from the hallway. Whipping out his cell phone, he punched the digit programmed to reach Gideon. He didn’t have to wait long.
“Max—at last! All our guys were in place on Palm Street with the camcorders. The next thing we heard, you were in a three-car crash on El Cajon. What in hell happened?”
With that question, Max could cross out one of the possibilities. The driver of the Sentra was not working for the police.
“I wish I knew,” he muttered into the phone. For the next few minutes he explained the sequence of events. Gideon whistled.
“It might have been a bona fide accident. If it wasn’t, then either Nikolai has decided to get rid of me on his own, or else my cover has been blown and there’s a contract out on me. But I’m not planning to do anything until I find out all there is to know about the woman driving the Sentra.”
“What information do you have on her?”
Max pulled out the paper she’d given him. “Her name is Gaby Peris, and she’s insured with Auto-Trust. I’ve got a phone number and her license-plate number.” He dictated them to Gideon. “I’ll wait while you search for a home address.”
“Hold on.”
While Max stood there, he heard voices in the hall. There were people right outside the door. At first he thought they were going to come in, then they moved on.
Gideon came back on the line. “She lives at 1291 West Oak, apartment four. That’s in Little Italy.”
Max knew the area well. Little Italy had a great deli that reminded him of a favorite deli in New York.
“When I get a copy of the information she gave the officer for his incident report, we’ll know more.”
“Gideon? Do me a favor and send someone over to St. Anne’s pronto. She went there with the girls—both of them pregnant—who were in her car. Knowing how slow the process is, I imagine they could be there a while. That would give me time to search her apartment.”
“As soon as we hang up, I’ll put Crandall on it.”
“Good. Tell him to call me on my cell the second he has an idea of how much time I’ll have.”
“Give me a brief description of her for him.”
That part was easy.
“She’s a brunette with a ponytail, olive complexion. Dark brown eyes. Black lashes and eyebrows. Probably of Italian ancestry. Five-four, five-five. Slender.” He sucked in his breath. “Very well built.” Great legs, he didn’t add.
“She was wearing modest white shorts, a sleeveless yellow blouse and leather sandals. The heel strap on the right sandal is broken.”
Max didn’t swallow the story about the broken shoe strap any more than the officer did.
“Coral polish on her finger-and toenails.” He liked those touches on a woman.
“If that’s the brief description, I wonder what the long one sounds like,” his friend said dryly.
Max frowned. The woman was too attractive by far. His enemy?
“She’s not from around here, Gideon. In fact, I have a gut feeling the mafia brought her in from the East Coast. Her accent is Jersey shore. If you heard her talk, you’d agree with me.”
“Shades of home.”
“You got it.” He checked his watch. “It’s time to phone Nikolai and pretend I don’t know someone tried to wipe me out a little while ago.”
“Max, you wouldn’t still be alive if they meant to get rid of you. This woman is probably an innocent party who has nothing to do with the ring. Freak accidents like this happen to millions of people every day.”
“I don’t know. Someone higher up could be suspicious of me, so they planned this minor accident as a clever way to set that female in my path. It’s the oldest trick in the book. Send an interesting woman to give me the come-on, then make me vulnerable. Pretty soon I’ve let my guard down and revealed the information she was after.”
“If she ran into you on purpose, then I’d wager this is all Nikolai’s doing. Max, you know he’s gunning for you. If he could find a way to cause you to screw up, it’d make his day.”
Max’s jaw hardened. “If he sent her to do his dirty work, I’m sure as hell going to find out.”
“Plan on Crandall checking in with you right away.”
“Thanks.”
“Be careful.”
“Don’t worry.”
“And, Max, don’t forget—she could be a perfectly innocent woman who happened to run into you. I’ll call you later.” They disconnected.
If the woman was innocent, then the way she’d looked at him, her dark eyes soft and appraising, was flattering to say the least. The hell of it was, he’d felt an instantaneous attraction to her, too. Things like that just didn’t happen, did they?
Max called Nikolai on his private cell phone. The other man answered.
“Da?”
Reverting to Russian, Max muttered, “It’s Anatoly.”
“Well, well. I’ve been expecting a call. What took you so long to report in, Kuzmina?”
“I figured Oleg had already informed you.”
“He said you met with an unexpected accident.” One you planned using the good-looking brunette for bait, Gromyko? Nikolai sounded euphoric about it.
“That’s right. A woman driver crashed into me. She went to a different hospital with her passengers. I’m at the Bay Shore Hospital with Choi Jin.”
“What happened to him?”
“His hand could be broken.”
“What about the other occupants of your car?” There was nothing Nikolai enjoyed more than playing inquisitor.
“As soon as the police finished asking questions, my passengers left on foot. As for the Audi, the body is pretty much of a write-off. Though it was an unexpected accident,” Max said, steeling himself to give nothing away, “we should still come out ahead, all things considered.”
“Let us hope my supervisor, Boris, sees things that way. To allow a crazy woman driver to cause that much damage to the merchandise won’t look good on your record.”
Listening to the other man, Max was pretty well convinced Nikolai had masterminded today’s accident. He couldn’t hide his cocky, near-ecstatic state. Relief swept over Max that his cover hadn’t been blown, but he’d have to watch his back from here on out.
Nikolai was an arrogant bastard, known for cruelty to his enemies and girlfriends. Every driver and capper in the mob recognized that Nikolai, the Russian from the Buryat Republic, was waiting for the day when he ran the whole ring for the Southern California area.
The man was a borderline psychopath and intimidated a lot of the members. Max figured it was only a matter of time until Nikolai became so power hungry he led an internal coup in order to put himself in command. He’d love nothing better than to get rid of Max.
“When I turn in the papers, you’ll see that the accident was unavoidable and the woman was given the citation,” Max explained in a calm voice. “How soon do you want to set up another incident?”
“I cannot say with any certainty. Possibly two weeks. As of now, your driving privileges are suspended. Because of your unfortunate accident, my hands are tied. If I were you, Kuzmina, I would sign up for a defensive-driving course while you wait things out. The bosses might look more favorably on you.”
You bastard.
At this point Max was convinced Nikolai had set this whole thing up. Telling him to take a defensive-driving course was simply another form of harassment. It was all part of his master plan to prevent Max from being given that capper’s job next month.
Unfortunately Max needed that promotion to reach the top echelons and gather names to bring down the ring.
“How did you know I was just thinking I could use some time off? Two weeks sounds perfect. Thanks, Nikolai.”
Judging from the silence on the other end, Nikolai didn’t like Max’s flippant comeback. To rub it in further Max said, “It will give me time to make a little extra money on the side at my other job. Have a nice day. Dosvidanya.”
Clicking off his phone, Max left the room to rejoin Choi Jin. He found the frightened man still sitting on the edge of the examination table wearing a sling. The X ray hadn’t come back yet.
Max pulled twenty dollars from his wallet and handed it to him. “When the doctor says okay, you take a taxi home. Do you know your address?”
The other man nodded, but he still didn’t look happy about being left alone.
Max pointed to his cell phone. “I’ll call you at your apartment later. Okay?”
“Okay.”
Not for the first time did a situation like this twist something unpleasant inside Max’s gut. Too many foreigners came to America in dire straits. A few were hardened criminals like Nikolai and his ilk. But most of the stuffers, like those in his car today, had turned to a life of crime in a desperate attempt to survive.
To some degree Choi Jin’s paranoia sprang from a guilty conscience. If given half a chance, he could probably become a contributing member of society.
“I have to go to work now,” Max said in an effort to make the other man understand. “Work!” he emphasized before leaving Choi Jin in the cubicle.
He approached the triage nurse and asked if someone would call a taxi for Choi Jin after he was released.
When that was accomplished, he went through a set of doors in search of the hospital cafeteria. A few minutes later, while he was eating a sandwich, his cell phone rang. He checked the caller ID before picking up to say hello to Karin Vriend, his employer for his part-time job doing deliveries for a flower shop. Neither she nor her husband had any idea he was an undercover FBI agent.
“Anatoly? I’m glad I got you.”
“I am eating my lunch,” he responded, using his heavy Russian accent. “Is there something I can do for you, Karin?”
“I’m calling because a woman just phoned the shop wanting to talk to you. She told me her name was Gaby Peris.” Max felt a jolt. “She said you were in a car accident. Are you all right?”
“I am fine.”
“Thank goodness! She said the accident was her fault, and she feels terrible about it. I have to tell you, Anatoly, because she sounded so nice. You know what I mean?” Karin said in that motherly voice of hers. “All her concern was for you and your friends. When I asked her if she had been hurt, she said no.”
“The accident was not serious.”
“But wasn’t it thoughtful of her to phone you? I think you should call her back. Better yet, take her some flowers.”
Karin had just given him an idea.
“I will think about it. Now, if you will forgive me, I have another call.” He could hear a click on the line. Someone was trying to reach him.
“Of course. See you later.”
He clicked the flash button. It was Detective Crandall.
“What have you got? Is Ms. Peris still at the hospital?”
“Yes. I told her the department sent me to follow up on the accident. The doctor said the two pregnant teens are going to be kept under observation for a while—an hour or so. Ms. Peris is going to stay with them until they’re released. From there she’ll accompany them to the Girls’ Village by taxi.�
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Max breathed a sigh of satisfaction. If he hurried, he would have plenty of time to search her apartment. “It’s exactly what I wanted to hear.”
“What do you need done next?”
“I’m at the Bay Shore Hospital. As soon as you can, meet me in the back at the loading dock in a phone-company van. Bring me a uniform.”
“I’ll be there in half an hour.”
“Thanks, Crandall.” He clicked off.
Now that Nikolai seemed satisfied he was out of commission for a while, Max didn’t think he’d have him followed. Even so, Max thought, he’d be wise to take precautions. A slipup could be fatal.
It was vital he get inside that woman’s apartment. He had a feeling he’d find answers there….
CHAPTER TWO
THE NURSE CAME into the cubicle where Gaby had been sitting with Sandra and Juanita. She checked their vital signs once more.
“Everything’s back to normal. It looks like you girls can go home.”
Gaby sighed with relief along with the girls, and asked the nurse if someone at the desk would phone for a taxi.
“You bet. But just remember, ladies. The doctor says you’re to come back here if either of you exhibits any post-traumatic symptoms. He wants you to have healthy babies. Understand?”
“Yes, ma’am,” they both said at the same time.
“There’s a nurse on duty at Girls’ Village,” Gaby informed her.
“That’s good.” She smiled. “Now. I’ll see about your taxi.”
Earlier Gaby had signed as the party paying for the visit. Hopefully the bill wouldn’t be too high. The girls appeared to be fine.
On the trip back to Girls’ Village, she prayed the taxi wouldn’t get in an accident. She breathed a huge sigh of relief when she saw Sandra and Juanita safely inside their temporary home. After she explained the circumstances to the nursing supervisor, the older woman promised to keep a close eye on them.
Turning to the girls, Gaby said, “I feel terrible about what happened today. In a few days I’ll come by and we’ll go to the park for a picnic.” It was only a block from Girls’ Village. Close enough that they could walk.
Accidentally Yours Page 2
