by Leslie North
“I’m not trying to tell you anything. It was a question.” I want what you have with Katya. That thought had been rolling around in his brain since he’d left Vegas.
Nikolai nodded his head, looking up as a sleepy Katya appeared in his office door. Gesturing for her to come to him, he scooted back away from his desk, wrapping his arm around her as she crawled onto his lap and nuzzled her head under his chin. Holding her felt so right.
“Well, you would have to come under the protection of a powerful Pakhan for it to work. Take yourself off the available list and pledge allegiance to only one group.” Like mine.
Silence reigned while those words lingered in the air. Grigori struggled with asking for Nikolai’s protection, having spent his life as one of the most powerful enforcers the Russian mafia had, either in the States or abroad.
Nikolai didn’t immediately offer, wanting to give Grigori plenty of time to make up his mind.
Grigori finally swallowed his pride and began, “When this is over…”
“Say no more. It will be accomplished.”
“Thank you.” Grigori’s respect for Nikolai’s leadership grew as the man answered him without making him grovel or verbalize words that some would consider weak.
“We’ll not speak of it again until this is over. Now, what do you know about Leonid?”
Chapter 7
“He’s in bed with the Colombians.”
“That is not news.”
“For more than drugs,” Grigori added.
“What is he moving?” Nikolai let his free hand play in Katya’s hair, knowing she could hear both sides of the conversation from her current position but making no attempt to move her from his lap. She was the rightful leader of the San Moreno Bratva, and if Nikolai was successful in schooling her, she would be making decisions as his equal before too long. She needed to know what was happening around her.
“Women. The bastard is selling women.”
Nikolai shook his head, wondering when his friend had grown so soft. “Grigori, all of the Bratva have been involved in prostitution—”
“I didn’t say whores, Nik. The bastard’s not running cathouses in the jungles of South America. He’s helping provide those Colombian devils women to be sold. Slaves.”
“How do you know this?” Nikolai asked, tightening his grip on Katya as she gasped and tried to pull away. Yeah, she’d heard Grigori and was as appalled as he was. His organization may skirt the law in certain areas, but that was a hard and fast one that neither Nikolai nor his predecessors had ever crossed. Never.
“I found one of their camps when I was down there.”
Katya struggled in his arms, and Nikolai finally released her, alarmed to see her crying silently and shaking her head as she backed away from him. “Hold on a second,” he instructed Grigori, muting the phone on his end and laying it on his desk.
Holding out his hand, he called to Katya, “Come here, dorogaya.”
“Those women…”
“Katya, come here.” Nikolai waited while she battled with herself, finally coming back to him and letting him pull her back onto his lap and into his arms. He stroked a hand down her back. “You know I would never condone such behavior.”
“Do I?” Katya knew her question was offensive the minute she heard her words echo in the room and hurried to make amends. “I’m sorry. Of course I know you would never participate in such a vile activity. But if—”
“Not if. Grigori wouldn’t have said anything unless he was 100 percent positive his facts were accurate.”
“And this is the same person responsible for my parents’ deaths?”
“Indirectly, yes.”
Katya was silent for a moment, then asked, “May I speak with Grigori?”
Nikolai raised his eyebrows, but slowly nodded, his eyes searching her own and then his lips curving in a grin at the resolve and anger he saw reflected there. She’s going to make a fabulous leader. Pushing the button to unmute the phone, he then placed it on speakerphone and instructed Grigori, “Katya is here and would like to speak to you.”
“Katya? Hey, doll. You needing more rope?”
Katya smiled but then sobered. “No. Thank you though. I heard what you were telling Nikolai.”
Grigori said something in Russian, then apologized. “You weren’t meant to learn of this ugliness.”
“If I am going to help Nikolai in the near future, I have to know what’s going on.”
Grigori asked the question that sprang to his mind without even thinking of tempering it. “You’re going to share power?”
Nikolai hugged Katya close and answered, “For now. Katya presented a very good argument.”
“And now I find myself ready to make my first major decision.”
“Good for you. How can I help?” Grigori asked, smiling at the confidence he heard in her voice.
“I want anyone associated with this Leonid person gone.”
“When you say ‘gone,’ doll, what exactly do you have in mind?”
“Gone. Dead. Buried alive. Dropped off a boat wearing concrete shoes. I don’t care. Just gone!”
“Nik, she’s awfully bloodthirsty. Maybe you should rethink sleeping for a while.”
Nikolai smiled. “She’s not directing her hatred at me, so I’m safe. And I tend to agree with her solution. Leonid has been a thorn in everyone’s side for years. If he now has men like the Ryndin brothers vying for his attention, things are about to go from bad to worse.”
“I plan on taking care of the Ryndin brothers. They are responsible for hiring the hit on Katya’s parents and will be dead before the weekend is over, if I have my way. But I need to know how they’re connected to Leonid. Stefan said no one has been able to get close to the man for years now. He surrounds himself with men willing to die for him and doesn’t blink an eye when they pay the ultimate price. He simply fills their spots with more devoted followers.”
No one said anything, but all three adults were thinking how stupid some people could be. Grigori continued, “Stefan thinks Leonid has some major connections down here, and I mean to ferret them out and turn them against him. When his infrastructure begins to crumble around his ears, he won’t have such an easy time of hiding, and then I will be able to find him.”
Nikolai was glad he wasn’t going to be around to see the aftermath. Grigori wasn’t known for his patience or his mercy. Leonid would pay for his sins, in ways Nikolai couldn’t even begin to fathom. I just hope that Grigori doesn’t end up leaving another piece of his soul behind in the process. The man sounds tired and ready for something different.
“How can I help?” Nikolai asked, getting back around to the reason for Grigori’s call.
“I need to know how deeply Danil is in this.”
Nikolai cringed but then nodded. “I’ll personally see to his interrogation. I’ll have the men pick him up in the morning. Will that be soon enough?”
“Yes. I’m heading back to the hotel to see what kind of information the Internet can yield on his movements in the area. I know how he’s bringing his merchandise in from South America; what I need to know now is whether or not he’s sending merchandise back from this locale.”
“If you need backup, call Stefan. He may be young, but he has connections that amaze even me.”
“I have a few thoughts in that regard. We can discuss them when this is over.”
“Right. Good luck, and keep me updated.”
“Will do.” Grigori disconnected the call and exited the freeway, heading towards his hotel. He’d finish going over the information Stefan had left for him, and then he was going to go on a little midnight investigative tour. He’d start at the dry cleaner and see if he could determine what kind of merchandise had been purchased earlier in the day.
Chapter 8
Desi couldn’t believe how lucky she’d been this evening as she entered her vehicle once again. The meeting had taken place, right on schedule, and she was thankful that Ivan was so predictabl
e. She was also thankful that he seemed overly confident that Pinellas Park was such a safe place to do business.
It hadn’t escaped her notice several weeks ago that the businesses along the street all miraculously closed down early each week on the same day and time. It also hadn’t escaped her observations that Ivan and his men were the reason for that. What she didn’t understand was why the local police weren’t intervening. Are they involved with Ivan? That was the only explanation she could possibly come up with, and it wasn’t one that sat well in her brain. Dirty cops?
She didn’t want to even go down that road. While she had only become a police officer to discover who had killed her father and brother, she knew her father and brother had firmly believed in their calling. For herself, she was already starting to think about doing something else. Something that didn’t involve constant censure and the feeling that she would never measure up.
Turning her thoughts back to Ivan’s meeting, she started scrolling through the pictures she’d taken. Five vehicles in all had attended the meeting, and she not only had pictures of the license plates, but she also had pictures of the men as they exited those vehicles. One of the vehicles had contained two older men, accompanied by their driver and a very large bodyguard. Two of the other vehicles had contained men she’d recognized but didn’t know the names of. She now had pictures of them, and it would only be a matter of time before she figured out who they were and how they were connected to Ivan.
It was the last two vehicles that caught her attention. The license plates indicated they were from much farther south, maybe around the Miami area. The first vehicle had contained four men who she had assumed were bodyguards. They had scanned the area and then surrounded the passenger door of the second vehicle, carefully concealing whoever was inside.
The passenger had exited the vehicle, but all she’d been able to see was the top of his head. She gauged his height to be around six feet, but the guards had done their job well, and she might never know the identity of the man they protected. He’s the key to all of this.
As she stowed the camera away, she let her mind wander back to the detectives that had been present earlier in the afternoon. She’d recognized all four of the men: Detectives Ramirez, Johnson, Baker, and Murphy. All four of those men had counted themselves friends of her father.
Were they secretly trying to find his killers? They had been less than pleased when she had joined the police academy, even going so far as to verbally argue against her being hired. She’d been heading towards the captain’s office but had stopped upon hearing her name mentioned in the break room. All four men had cornered Captain Peters and urged him to reconsider hiring her.
She’d been upset and had worked diligently to try and change their opinions, but nothing had worked so far. But if they were trying to find who killed Dad and Joe, then why are they buying drugs from these men? As she sat there in the dark early morning hours, those thoughts kept her mind busy.
Before long, her mind wandered back to the handsome stranger she’d accosted that morning. She’d made a complete fool of herself, first for assuming he’d been harming Dennis and then for being smacked in the face by the diner door. She lifted a hand to her sore head, then gingerly touched her nose. There was just enough light from the streetlight to see the discoloration that was sure to worsen by morning. Thank goodness my eyes haven’t swollen shut as well.
It was getting close to three thirty in the morning when movement on the street captured her attention. A large shadow made its way around the side of the dry cleaner, skulking through the narrow alley and then disappearing.
Curious, Desi grabbed her personal gun from the glove box, having left her service revolver back in Clearwater. She tucked it into the palm of her hand, then climbed out of her car and quietly shut the door. Glancing along the street, she saw that all was quiet, and she carefully made her way to the alley where the shadow had disappeared.
She watched as the person disappeared around the side of the building and then slowly and quietly followed behind. When she reached the back of the building, she listened for any noise, silently praying that Ivan and his cronies weren’t still inside the building. She heard the scrape of a metal door on concrete, and peered around just in time to see the shadowy figure slip through the back door.
Desi quickly traced her steps back down the alley until she reached the fire escape. Tucking her gun into the waistband of her jeans, she climbed up on the Dumpster and jumped, grabbing the bottom rung of the metal ladder and holding her breath while it lowered to street level.
Once it stopped moving, she made short work of scaling it to the rooftop. She’d already poked around inside the warehouse space, having used the movable skylight for access. She breathed a sigh of relief as she approached it and saw that it was in the same position as the last time she used it. Unlatched.
She quietly slid it open, glancing inside to just make out the shadowy figure moving towards Ivan’s office. She slipped through the narrow opening, letting herself down onto the support beams, then carefully made her way across them until she reached the center pillar and the attached ladder.
She kept an eye on the office door, carefully working her way down the metals rungs until her feet finally touched the concrete floor of the warehouse. Her tennis shoes were silent and she stepped carefully, not wanting to give her presence away. She kept low and crept towards the office door, wondering what other enemies Ivan had managed to acquire.
She could hear the person rummaging around in the office, but the door was closed, so she squatted behind a stack of clothing racks and waited. She tried to slow her breathing, but the smell of the dry cleaning chemicals made her lightheaded and slightly nauseous. She been fighting nausea and a massive headache since earlier that morning, and now she concentrated on pushing the feelings away. She didn’t have time to come down sick.
Approximately thirty minutes later, she watched the office door open slightly, and the figure emerged, clad from head to toe in black. A black ski mask was pulled over the head of what she assumed to be a man. A very tall and very muscular man. He wore gloves on his hands, and other than his deep blue eyes, no other part of his skin was visible.
He held several sheets of paper in his hands, indicators that he’d found something of interest among Ivan’s papers. I want to know what’s on those papers! She watched as he approached her hiding spot and stopped.
Desi held her breath, hoping she hadn’t done anything to give her presence away. She gripped her gun tighter, nervous at the thought of using it on someone. She’d never actually taken a shot at a live target before, but she knew in her heart that she would and could if it came down to it. While she was still stuck on that thought, the sound of the automatic garage door opener engaging had her gasping and looking around wildly.
She was sure to be seen from her current hiding spot, and while she was still trying to decide her next move, the black-clad figure turned and spotted her with a loud curse in a language she couldn’t understand but was most definitely Russian. She’d heard Ivan and his goons using similar sounding words often enough.
*****
Grigori heard the garage door engage at the same time he heard the feminine gasp. Turning, he locked eyes with none other than Desi! She was a sitting duck in her current location but seemed frozen in place.
Grigori didn’t wait for her to unfreeze; he simply bent his shoulder down and tossed her over it. Keeping one arm wrapped tightly around the backs of her thighs, he ignored the way her delectable rear end wiggled against him.
“Shush!” he commanded her in a harsh whisper. When she continued to struggle, he switched the papers to the hand holding her legs, and then with his free hand he smacked her on the butt and issued the command again. “I said be quiet! Neither one of us wants to be discovered, and I’m trying to save your ass! A little help would be appreciated!”
“Who are you?” Desi whispered back, her backside smarting from his smack and her head
beginning to throb ferociously in her upside down position. That combined with the chemical smells had her ready to vomit, and she doubted she would be able to hold off much longer.
“Please!” she whispered, trying to gain her capturer’s attention before she lost the battle with her stomach.
“Shush! Hang on a sec and I’ll let you down.” Grigori had seen the side door as he made his way down the alley, and he only hoped it was not barred or chained. They needed to get out of here, and as he glanced back at the garage doors, they only had a few seconds left.
He reached the door, smiling when he found it secured by no more than a deadbolt. He threw the bolt and then hesitantly opened the door, looking both ways down the alley before he exited the building and quietly shut the door behind him.
“Put me down now!” Desi commanded the stranger who still held her over his shoulder.
“Not yet.” Grigori wasn’t putting her down until he had her some place safe and secure. He wanted answers, and now seemed like as good a time as any to get them.
He kept a firm hold on her legs, smacking her ass once again when she began to kick and squirm. “Stay still or I won’t be responsible for the consequences.”
“What are you talking about?” Desi demanded, still feeling like throwing up and her stomach beginning to ache from being draped over his massive shoulder.
“I don’t want to drop you, and we need to get away from here.”
“Who are you?” Desi asked, struggling again at the man’s reference to taking her somewhere else. If he’d only put me down, I could at least have a fighting chance to get away!
The man was silent, but she managed to turn her head around enough to see that he was quickly making his way towards a big black Humvee. Is he the one who was following me earlier?
As she realized the man holding her captive most likely worked for Ivan, she began to struggle more intensely. She’d heard the rumors and seen the aftermath of crossing Ivan. It wasn’t pretty, and he didn’t seem to care if his enemy was male or female. He treated them all the same way. And lately there had been a string of missing persons—most of them female, and so far, no signs of the women had been found. I do not want my picture to join those others on that missing person’s wall.
