Las Vegas Sidewinders: Toli & Tessa (Book 6)

by Kat Mizera

  “So you paid off…who?” Toli finally managed to find his voice.

  “I have no idea. Some secret faction of the KGB or MGB? Tatiana never really knew, she just did what they told her and magically got accepted to all the best programs, was invited to speak at all the best conferences and started to make more money than any of her colleagues. She thought she was doing what was best for the two of you—for your future. But she also knew that you would never forgive her if you found out. So I was the one who stepped in to make it stop.”

  “Dammit, Sergei, you should have come to me.”

  “I was jealous,” Sergei admitted. “I was already in love with her and I wanted to take care of her, even if she loved you. I didn’t know that she’d fallen in love with me too until the night I gave her the money. She told me she loved me and that she’d rather have me than her freedom. I told her she could have both. I hated doing that to you, but I couldn’t help it, Toli. I know we’ve gone through this a dozen times, but it’s really important to me to know that you understand and forgive me. I don’t want to die with this between us.”

  “You’re not going to die,” Toli groused. “And of course I know. I wasn’t in love with her anymore either—we’d grown too far apart, even though I obviously didn’t know the real reasons. It sucks that it went down behind my back, and that chafed a bit, knowing you betrayed me, but I understand now that I’ve had time to let it sink in. And now that you told me what you told me.”

  “I’m sorry, Toli.”

  “Shut up,” Toli chuckled. “You’ve apologized at least 150 times.”

  “It won’t ever be enough. I love her, but damn, you’re my big brother. I love you too.”

  “I know that, dipshit.” Toli paused. “So how much did it take?”

  “Eight million.”

  “U.S.?”

  “Yeah.”

  “So that’s where all your money went. It wasn’t partying and vacations.”

  “I was sleeping on the couch of a one-bedroom flat with two other guys,” Sergei grunted. “I gave up everything for her.”

  “You really love her,” Toli mused.

  “Well, yeah. What the hell? Did you think this was a casual fuck?”

  “No, but…” His voice trailed off. “She was mine then—even if you had feelings for her, you didn’t know she returned them, so you gave her everything you had just because you loved her.”

  “She was my friend, and I knew she thought you would never forgive her both her disloyalty and her infidelities. I watched it eat away at her and I couldn’t stand it anymore—it was destroying her. I did what I had to do.”

  “I would have helped,” Toli said in frustration. “Even if we’d broken up, I would have given her the money!”

  “She was too ashamed to ever admit what she’d done. Believe it or not, she holds you in the highest esteem. She considers you one of her best friends, despite your history.”

  “We grew up together,” Toli acknowledged. “I feel similarly, although a bit different now because Tessa is so jealous of her.”

  “She is?” Sergei frowned. “Why?”

  Toli glanced back at him. “Although I think my wife is the sexiest woman alive, have you ever looked at your wife? She’s almost six feet tall with pure blond hair, big blue eyes, a perfect face, a gorgeous body and she’s a fucking doctor. She’s beautiful, educated, successful and charming. What woman wouldn’t be jealous, especially knowing we dated for more than half our lives?”

  “Tessa is beautiful too,” Sergei said in confusion. “Also educated and charming. Not as successful, but she doesn’t appear to be the type of woman who craves success.”

  “She’s not, but it doesn’t mean she’s not envious. It’s more about the dynamic and history between Tatiana and me. If we get out of this alive, I’d like very much for the four of us to bury the hatchet. I miss my brother and don’t want my wife to feel jealous every time we’re all together. Our children are first cousins…” His voice trailed off. “Damn, I really don’t want to die today.”

  “Me either.” Sergei lay on the floor again, pulling the blanket over him. “So let’s not, okay? Promise?”

  “Unless it’s a matter of them holding a gun to Anton’s head, I promise. But I won’t let them kill him so I can live.”

  “No,” Sergei said sadly. “Of course not.”

  Chapter 14

  Anton fidgeted restlessly. Lying on the small twin cot, one foot chained to a slat in the headboard, he hadn’t seen or heard anyone for hours. He had to take a piss and was starving, but there didn’t appear to be anyone here. Wherever here was. He was annoyed as hell, wondering what was going on and trying to stay on top of things. When they’d first taken him from his grandparents’ condo at gunpoint, he’d been freaked out and terrified, but after more than 24 hours with just one visit with food and allowing him to use the bathroom, he was more pissed off than afraid. He’d managed to keep his wits about him long enough to pretend he didn’t speak Russian so he’d been able to eavesdrop, even though he didn’t learn a lot.

  They definitely wanted his father to repay them for something, but he couldn’t figure out what. They also spent a lot of time on the internet watching video clips of both Toli and Anton playing hockey, which was kind of cool and creepy at the same time. He wasn’t as afraid of them after that; listening to them talk about how impressive he was on the ice made them seem more human, even if they were secret Russian mercenary killers. Or whatever. He really couldn’t get a handle on what they were after or who they worked for. They talked a lot about luring his father in, but never with any specifics. It worried him but there wasn’t a lot he could do right now.

  He stood up and stretched, tired but too antsy to sleep. He got on the ground, pulling the chain taut, and started doing push-ups, as many as he could, until his arms were too tired to continue. Finally, resigned to boredom, he lay back on the cot, hands behind his head. Part of him wanted to chuckle. He’d always had the world’s coolest dad and he loved spending time with him. Though he’d missed not seeing him regularly, he’d never felt like he didn’t have a father. Not only was his stepfather, Mike, a good guy, his dad was never more than a phone call away. Even when he’d been living in Russia, he’d come to the U.S. as soon as hockey season ended and rented an apartment in Dallas so he could see him every day. He had great memories with his father, and was looking forward to living closer to him now by playing in Reno. If he ever got out of Russia. This trip was definitely not the norm for them; usually they did fun stuff when they went on vacation.

  Toli had taken him all over the world. They’d been surfing in Hawaii, snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef, sailing in the Caribbean and he’d been at every single hockey game, tournament or camp he could possibly get away for. Even if it meant flying all night and then meeting his team somewhere the next day, he’d always made time for Anton. It was nice having a father who went out of his way to see him, even though he’d never been married to his mother and had never lived in the same state, much less the same city. So Anton felt a flash of indignation that these people were trying to use him to somehow get to this father. He didn’t understand much of what had been going on, but after Tessa had left in the middle of the night, he’d forced his father to tell him some of it. It was kind of shocking to find out his grandfather was retired KGB and that he’d purposely sent his sons to the U.S. to keep them safe. Now that they were after Toli, Anton desperately wanted to help. He hated that they were using him as leverage.

  With a frustrated grunt, he sat up and looked around. Although he’d been in this room two days and nothing had changed, he tried to see if there was anything he could use as a weapon, a signal for help or even a way to contact the outside world. They’d only been in the car about 30 minutes when they’d taken him, so they were still in the general vicinity of Moscow. Of course, he had no idea what direction they’d gone, but if he could get to his phone he might be able to figure it out. After two days, the bat
tery would be low, but he was pretty sure it had been charged when they’d forced him to turn it off and taken his backpack from him. The last time they’d let him go to the bathroom he was pretty sure he’d seen it in the corner of the main room. If he could come up with an excuse to get something out of his bag, they might let him have it for a moment.

  An inhaler. A plan began to form as he thought about his friend in Dallas who never went anywhere without his inhaler because his asthma was so severe. If he could fake an asthma attack, and tell them he needed his inhaler, they might let him go to his bag. He could grab his phone and then act all upset that the inhaler wasn’t there. His heart began to pound painfully in his chest as he mentally prepared himself. He wouldn’t fake the attack until they came to take him to the bathroom. Then he would have to put on the performance of his life. With a grimace, he closed his eyes and forced himself to take slow, deep breaths, in through his nose and out through his mouth. This was how he prepared himself for a big hockey game, and this was going to be more important than any championship in the world. This was going to be about his life.

  Louie pulled the car over two blocks from where Toli was supposed to meet up with the kidnappers. He got his laptop out of a bag under the seat and booted it up. As it came to life his phone rang and he answered on the first ring.

  “What’s up?”

  “The kid’s phone came online,” his counterpart in Washington, D.C. said abruptly. “Out of nowhere we picked up the signal.”

  “You have an address?” Louie asked.

  “Sending it now.”

  Louie hung up and drummed his fingers impatiently. “Either they’re up to something or Anton somehow got his phone and turned it on. We’ve been trying to pick up his signal and it just came up.”

  “We need to tell Toli!” Dom said.

  “We can’t take the chance of calling him—they could be tapping the phone.”

  “I’ll go,” Zakk said. “Tell me which way—I run between five and ten miles every day—and I can get there before he goes to the meeting.”

  Louie gave him directions and Zakk took off, disappearing around a corner as Louie pulled out a map. “This is where Anton’s phone is,” he said, pointing. “And this is where we are.”

  “We should go on foot,” Dom said.

  “I will drive,” Anatoly said, nodding and pointing to a spot on the map a block away. “I will wait here for Zakk and then go—if you need me, call or come to where I wait.”

  Dom and Louie took off in that direction.

  “Toli!” Zakk tried to keep his voice down but Toli was about to cross the street and he was afraid he would lose him without letting him know they had a possible location on Anton.

  Toli slowed down, glancing back in the direction of Zakk’s voice. Zakk ducked behind a car and held up a hand, hoping Toli noticed. He peeked up and was glad Toli was heading in his direction.

  “What the hell are you doing?!” he hissed, dropping down behind the car next to him.

  “Anton’s phone has been turned on—we don’t know if it’s a trick or what, but we thought you needed to know before you go in there.”

  “Shit.” Toli was torn. “If this is a trap to draw any backup I have away from here, it’s working, but—”

  “Well, not really,” Zakk met his gaze. “I’m here, and I assume Sergei is lurking around somewhere.”

  Toli nodded. “Yeah.”

  “Look, we don’t have any way of predicting how this is going to go,” Zakk said quietly. “If you want, call me and put your phone in your pocket so I can at least hear some of it. If you’re in trouble, depending on what it is, I’ll haul ass in there.”

  “Listen to me,” Toli took a breath. “Don’t be a hero—if things look bad, get out of here.”

  Zakk set his jaw but nodded. “If things go bad, I won’t go after you, but I’m still going after Anton.”

  Toli had to swallow to hide the emotion he felt. “And if it’s too late for him—go home to your family. Please. If I’m already dead, you dying too does nothing. Your priority is Anton, and then yourself. Promise me?”

  Zakk made a face. “You want to pinkie swear or something?”

  Toli grinned. “Will it make you do it?”

  “It’ll make me feel like a pussy—so go do what you need to do, man.”

  “Thanks for being my friend,” Toli said as he got to his feet. “For being another brother to me.”

  “Stop wasting time and get the fuck out of here,” Zakk grunted, not looking at him so he wouldn’t see that he was getting choked up.

  Toli disappeared around the corner.

  “Now what?” Dom asked Louie as they stood in an alley next to the building where the signal was coming from Anton’s phone.

  “This is a jacked up neighborhood,” Louie muttered. “I’ve got backup coming, so we need to hang tight.”

  “Shit.” Dom looked around, taking in the surroundings. It was late now, close to 2:00 in the morning, and he hoped the adrenaline didn’t wear off any time soon because he was beat after flying 14 hours and crossing more time zones than he could count.

  “Your backup needs to get here soon because I don’t like the looks of that.” He nodded in the direction of a black SUV pulling up to the curb in front of the building. The driver stayed behind with the engine running while two big enforcer-type men went inside.

  “Shit,” Louie muttered, glancing down at his phone.

  “If they bring Anton out and put him in that car, we’re fucked,” Dom said.

  “Where’s Anatoly senior?” Louie looked down the street.

  “Over in that direction.” Dom pointed.

  “How long do you think it’ll take you to get to him?”

  “Maybe a minute?”

  “Go! Get in the car and tell him to pull up onto this street, no headlights. If they take him, we can follow. The two of us can’t take them alone. They’re armed to the teeth.”

  Dom took off like a bat out of hell.

  Anton didn’t protest when the two men arrived and told him they were going to see his father. He didn’t know if that was true, but his phone was now stuffed in the crotch of his sweats and for the first time in his life he wished he wore briefs instead of boxers. He could feel it moving as he walked and prayed it wouldn’t slide down his leg to where they could see it. He hadn’t had a chance to check to see if the ringer was off, so if someone called him, he was screwed.

  He stepped outside and looked around, wondering if his father or their friends had picked up on the fact that his phone was turned on. He had no doubt his father had called everyone he could think of to try to find him, so he figured they had.

  “Move!” One of the men nudged him with the revolver in his hand.

  “If you were going to kill me, you would’ve done it already!” Anton snapped, hoping to stall for a few minutes in case help was coming.

  The man backhanded him and Anton tasted blood. He put his hand to his lip and tried to make himself look scared, but the truth was he was just pissed. He knew they could kill him, and without a weapon he couldn’t stop them, but he would fight until they pulled the trigger. That’s what his dad would do and he’d never wanted to be more like his dad than right now.

  “Tough guy, eh?” The man laughed and lightly smacked his face a few times with his palm.

  Anton shook his head. “You have a gun, I don’t. You can kill me any time, but if you want me to sit and cower, it’s not gonna happen.”

  The man raised his eyebrows and chuckled. “You are like your father? No, you are strong. Your father is wimp. Plays hockey in America instead of Russia, like real man.”

  “He makes real money in America,” Anton said with a shrug. “Wouldn’t you rather be a thug in America if you were making ten times as much?”

  The man paused, startled, and met Anton’s gaze. “You think I am thug?”

  “What are you? Russian mafia? Mercenary? Some kind of bodyguard?”

  The man
blinked and muttered a string of curses in Russian. Anton merely blinked back at him, acting as if he didn’t understand.

  “I am important operative—I have much success!”

  “Did you go to college?” Anton taunted.

  He frowned. “There is no money for college in my family. I go to Army, then recruited for government.”

  Anton rolled his eyes. “A peon.”

  “What is this, peon?”

  “Grunt. Low man on the totem pole. Nobody. You kidnap teenagers using a gun—how hard is that? I could probably do your job.”

  The man narrowed his eyes.

  Watching from where he was crouched behind a Dumpster about 20 feet away, Dom could hear some of what they were saying, but not everything. Anton appeared to be stalling and he looked around desperately for something, or someone, to help him get Anton away from them. There were three of them and they were armed. Louie was nearby, and Anatoly was in the car in the alley, but more than likely neither of them could see what was happening. He looked around one last time and then pulled out his phone so he could send his wife a text:

  I love you. I’m in a situation where Anton is about 20 feet away and if I don’t grab him there may not be another chance—I have to try, babe. He’s just a kid, you know? If something goes wrong, I love you and Brian more than anything in the world. Please don’t hate me for doing this. Always, D

  He dropped the phone in his pocket, pulled the hood from his sweatshirt up over his head and rubbed some dirt from under the garbage on his face and clothes. Then he stood up and started staggering down the street. He stayed quiet until he was close and then started humming to himself, hoping he looked drunk and homeless. He kept his head down, trying to keep an eye on them in his peripheral vision. He didn’t have a gun, but he had a knife Louie had given him and he was bigger than both the guys he could see. If they didn’t shoot him on sight, and he could get the two of them close together, he was pretty sure he could take them. He was positive Anton would help, and if they could disarm them, Dom figured they could make it to the car and take off.