by Leah Wilde
“Well, I want to call in a favor, Gage, and see if we can work something out about tomorrow,” he said.
“A favor, huh? What did you have in mind, sir?” Did he really think he had the privilege of asking favors of the Kings of Hell? That was an amusing thought, but I figured I’d humor him. I wasn’t too excited about storming a boat full of police, politicians, and Russian thugs.
“Well, I might have a solution to the Ivan problem, and a way to help you guys get back on top in our streets,” he started.
Now I was curious. He wanted to help us get back on top? He wanted to help us eliminate our competition? This seemed too good to be true, and I knew what they said about things that sounded too good to be true. I knew it firsthand.
“What are you saying?” I asked him.
“I’m saying that I’ve got a plan to help everyone out, and it will land Ivan and his key players behind bars for a long, long time. I’ve got a few names of guys who should be on that boat as we speak. I don’t care what happens to anyone else, but I need these three men alive when the authorities show up,” he continued.
“When the authorities show up?” I inquired.
“Yes, I’ve already informed the other parties that the meeting is going to be ambushed. I’ve told them that I’ll see to it that they get their share of what’s on that yacht, but we’re taking Ivan and these other three guys down. They know to stay away so that they don’t complicate things. I’ve also told them that if anyone shows up while Ivan is being handled, I can’t and won’t guarantee their safety. So, if anyone shows up while you guys are on that boat, I don’t care what happens to them. Got it?”
“You’re sounding more and more like an employer, sir. Is this a job offer or contract?”
“Neither,” he answered firmly.
“Okay, then what are you offering me in exchange for making sure you pick up the guys you need?” I asked.
“Immunity. Your boys are automatically under the radar from here on out if you pull this off the way I want you to.”
Immunity. Under the radar. I liked the way that sounded. The mayor was offering to protect us for taking out Ivan. Plus, he said he was going to help us get back on top. We were going to be taking over Ivan’s clients. I liked the sound of that, too.
“What do you want us to do?” I asked.
“Are you ready for this?” the mayor asked, hyping his plan.
“Oh, you know I am. I’ve been ready for this moment since I took over as president of the Kings, sir.”
“I bet you have.” I could hear his smile through the phone. “Here’s the plan. You guys go out there tonight. If you need any tactical gear, let me know. I’ll get it for you.”
“Wait, tonight?” We weren’t planning on going out in the dark.
“Tonight. You’ll need the cover of darkness to ensure that you maintain the element of surprise on this fucker.”
Fucker? I couldn’t believe what I was hearing from the mayor. He was talking to me like we were equals. He wasn’t talking to me the way most self-righteous politicians would talk to biker thugs. He was talking like he was any other business partner on the street.
“They won’t be expecting you to storm their yacht tonight. And like I said, I can have any gear you need delivered right to your door.”
“I’ll talk to my specialist about it after we get off the phone. I’ll let you know what he says,” I assured him.
“Good. Do that. Now, I don’t care what you do to anyone else on board, but I need these people to be present when the FBI shows up to get them,” he said.
“I’m sorry, the FBI?”
“Yes, the FBI. These guys are a big deal, Gage, and you’re about to take them down. Of course, you won’t get public credit for that. You don’t want that anyway, too much attention. Now, do you have something to write with? I need you to take these names down so you don’t forget,” he explained.
I looked around the boardroom for any scrap piece of paper and a pen. I couldn’t find one, so I poked my head through the doors and grabbed a napkin and pen from the bar.
“Alright, go ahead.”
“Of course, we want Ivan Danilovich. We also want these three other men: Dimitri Aristov, Aleksei Ivanov, and Boris Stepanovich. Got it?”
I looked down at the list. I wasn’t sure about the last names, but I was pretty sure I knew all of these men, especially Dimitri. I laughed.
“Is something funny?” he asked me.
“Yeah. We just had Dimitri. He’s the one who led us to you,” I admitted.
“You had Dimitri? What happened?”
“He doesn’t speak English, so we had an interpreter here to help us talk to him. It seems she let him go. I’m not sure if he’s going to be on the boat, but according to one of the men who attacked us yesterday, they have our interpreter,” I told him, wondering the whole time if I was telling him too much.
He sighed. “Do you think you can handle this, Gage? I can get someone else to carry it out.”
“We’ve got it. No more surprises. We’ll be better prepared tonight when we take the yacht.”
“Okay. Also, in addition to leaving those men alive for the authorities, I need you to leave any weapons and drugs you find on the boat. You can take whatever Ivan’s men have on them, but anything that’s part of the shipment needs to stay,” the mayor explained.
“Are you confiscating it?” I asked.
“Oh no.” He chuckled. “We’re going to make sure everyone gets most of what we were all supposed to be buying, and we’re leaving enough for the FBI to find and use against these guys in court. But, remember, I told you I’m going to help you get back on top. After this raid, everyone is going to know to come to you. I trust you have a supplier who can handle the demand.”
“Our suppliers will be more than happy to step it up. Right now they have a surplus of supply,” I explained happily.
“Excellent. Well, Gage, it’s been a pleasure. Let me know if you need any additional equipment. I’ll be here by the phone.”
“Your number is blocked.”
“Call the office.” He disconnected the call.
I texted each of the guys. New developments. Meeting in the boardroom. ASAP.
I stared at the names on the list. I was pretty sure those three guys would be with Ivan. They were all his top men. It was no surprise the FBI was waiting to have them handed over on a silver platter. I couldn’t believe I had agreed to be the one serving them up. I wanted the first two dead.
A little while later, all four of my guys came in and sat down around the table.
“What’s up?” Ricky asked.
“I just talked to the mayor a little while ago,” I told them.
“Oh joy, what did he want?” Chase asked.
“He actually called in a favor in exchange for immunity,” I answered.
“I’m sorry, what?” Jorell raised his eyebrows, clearly not believing what I told them.
“He’s going to make sure we stay below the radar for helping him out when we storm the yacht.”
“What do we have to do?” Juarez asked with his ears perked up.
“He wants us to storm the boat tonight and keep Ivan, Dimitri, Aleksei, and Boris alive so that the FBI can pick them up tomorrow from the boat,” I explained.
Their jaws hit the table.
“You told him to shove it, right?” Jorell said.
“Did you miss the part about immunity? Plus, we’re getting new clients out of this deal,” I explained to Mr. Eager Ambition.
“New clients?” Ricky’s ears perked up.
“From what he was saying, everyone who is supposed to be part of this deal tomorrow is going to start coming to us after Ivan is shut down.”
“And you believe him,” Jorell stated flatly.
I narrowed my eyes at him. “He’s offering us any gear we need for tonight, so what I need you to do is to check back over everything and see if we need anything else. He said he’ll hook us up with an
ything we need. He’ll have it delivered right to us.”
“Yes, sir,” he said resentfully.
“So, we’re doing this tonight?” Chase asked.
“That’s what he said. Hit Ivan tonight, get Julia back, do whatever we want to anyone not on the list, and hit the road before the authorities show up.”
“What about the drugs?” Ricky asked.
“He said leave the drugs and weapons. He’s got some people coming to handle all of that. Some of it is going to the FBI so they have something to pin on these guys,” I explained.
Jorell shook his head. “I can’t believe we’re working with the law on this one.”
“Hey, it’s going to put us back on top, and Ivan’s going to be gone. This is going to break Ivan’s operation up and put us back on top. That’s what we want, right?” I asked Jorell.
“Yeah, I guess so. Whatever. I mean, you’re the boss, right?” He stood up. “I’m going to go ahead and check our gear.”
We all watched him leave, and as the door closed behind him, we turned to each other.
“Guys, I don’t know about Jorell.” I was the first to speak.
“Yeah, he’s turning out not to be the greatest candidate for his position,” Ricky added.
“No, I think he’s great for security and armed operations, but for a position at this table?” I added.
“I say we demote him after tonight,” Chase said.
“Please. You think he’s going to let go of his position? He’s not going down without a fight. Gage, I’d watch your back as long as he’s around,” Juarez added.
“I mean, if we think he’s a threat, he doesn’t have to be around long,” Ricky suggested. “Shit happens when you get a bunch of guys together in the dark firing their guns off.”
“I think we can all agree we didn’t hear that,” I said, cutting my eyes to Ricky. Losing Jorell in the middle of a gunfight was definitely preferable to having to fight him down from his position. He had seemed like such a good fit, too.
“What have your eyes told you?” Ricky asked.
“Nothing out of the ordinary. We may just be looking at an internal threat here,” I said.
“That’s not good either.”
I hit the table, breaking the growing tension in the room. “Well, look, we have a lot bigger things to worry about right now. We’ll revisit this problem after tonight,” I said. “Right now, we need to focus on making sure everything’s ready.”
Chapter 29
Julia
“Well, it seems I underestimated your friend Gage.” Dimitri came back in and sat down on the crate again. “So, I guess he will be coming to see you after all.”
Despite how panicked the others sounded when they were talking to him outside, Dimitri didn’t seem fazed at all by the news that their attack on the Kings of Hell had failed. His tone and face remained calm as he talked. I suspected he was either impressed or trying to pump himself up for the coming fight.
“We have a surprise for him, though. If he tries to show up and disrupt the deal, there will be enough firepower on this boat to blast him into oblivion. He doesn’t stand a chance, you understand? Not a chance.”
“Are you trying to convince me or just yourself?” I asked. I couldn’t resist the opportunity to poke at him.
“I’m just letting you know,” he said. “I don’t want you to be surprised when your knight in shining armor gets dumped in the lake along with all of his little friends because they took on more than they could handle.”
I nodded. “This is all just talk,” I told him. “I’ve heard it before. You must feel really small inside to always have to talk so big.”
He laughed. I mean, he really laughed. I didn’t think that what I’d said was that funny, but he cracked up.
“You’re funny,” Dimitri said, wiping tears away from his eyes. “You have me in tears over here.”
He shook his head, still snickering, and turned to leave the room. Once the door closed, I was alone again in the utility closet on Ivan’s yacht. I realized that inside this little room, I had no idea what time it was outside. I did know that I needed to pee. I wondered if Dimitri would let me go to the bathroom or if I had to wet myself here in the chair. I hoped for the former over the latter, but I also wasn’t going to hold my breath.
I tried to focus on the swaying of the room to keep my mind from floating back over the last several days of my life. I imagined myself sitting on the crate in front of me, asking me questions about what all had happened.
“Do you regret leaving your office that morning with Gage?” I would have asked myself in that situation.
I caught myself actually thinking about the answer to that question. My knee-jerk reaction would have been to say I did regret my decision to go along with Gage, but I wondered if I really did regret it. I finally decided my real answer would have been different.
“No, I don’t regret it,” I said aloud. “My only regret is that I didn’t trust the right one.” Gage was dangerous and exciting. He showed me that there was so much more to life outside the stuffy libraries and universities where I had spent most of my adult life, and even a good bit of my life as a student.
“What would you have done differently?” I continued interrogating myself.
“I would have trusted Gage.” I nodded. Gage knew what he was talking about. This was his element, his world. In academia, I knew my way around, and I was an authority. In this world, he was one of the authorities, the experts. Because I hadn’t trusted him, I was tied to a chair and stuffed in a utility closet on a thug’s yacht in the middle of Lake Michigan. I awaited my judgment. I knew my time was limited now.
“If you survive this, will you change anything?” I asked myself.
It was the million-dollar question. Would I change anything in my life after this? I didn’t have an answer for that one. I wasn’t really sure I was going to get out in the first place. These men were never going to stop going after each other, and that left me sitting right in the middle as long as I was lined up beside either of them. If I got out, I’d have to think long and hard before deciding whether I thought a relationship with Gage was really worth all of this.
The door opened, and it was Dimitri again.
“Oh, you’re still here,” he taunted me. He sat down where my imaginary self had just been sitting, vanishing her from the crate.
“Well, I thought about leaving, but I figured you wanted to keep your chair,” I joked back.
“No, you can have the chair, Dr. Danvers. You look too comfortable in it. We wouldn’t think about taking that from you,” he said back to me.
“You know, it was really peaceful and quiet while you were gone,” I told him. “Why do you keep coming back in here?”
He actually looked hurt. “I didn’t want you to get lonely.”
I was touched. He actually seemed genuine in that moment, but he continued talking.
“I figured you needed to have someone with you in your final hours. Everyone should have someone by their side. Someone they know, at least, if not someone close to them. I think we know each other pretty well, don’t you?”
I just stared into his blue eyes.
“That’s right, Dr. Danvers. It won’t be long now. When your boyfriend shows up, you’re going to get a front row seat to his death. Then,” a perverse smile spread across his face, “we’re going to dispatch you.”
Again, I found myself fighting back the words that wanted to come crashing forth. There were so many things I wanted to say in protest, but I didn’t want to give him any ammunition against me.
“Do you want to know how we’re going to do it?” He sounded like a guilty child taking pleasure in whatever it was that he wasn’t supposed to be doing.
I didn’t answer, but the giant Russian still leaned forward to speak in my ear.
“I’m going to cut you free from this chair with the knife you gave me. Then, as you try to get free from me, I’m going to give the knife back to
you. I’m going to stab you, Dr. Danvers. I’m going to stab you so, so many times.”
He sounded like the idea of stabbing me repeatedly was getting him off. My skin crawled at the creepy, erotic tone in his voice.
“You’re a sick man,” I hissed.
He took a shaky breath in my ear, and I felt my stomach heave. Then, he laughed at my revulsion.
“I never told you how much it meant to me that you would come down and talk to me by yourself, Dr. Danvers. Your personal interest in my captivity was touching,” he said. “I want to thank you.”
