by Rachel Dylan
He studied Sadie. She was short, with long thick dark hair and eyes so dark he found himself drowning in them more times than not. She had secrets though. He could tell. But could he really judge? Didn’t he have enough of his own?
Sadie reached over and patted the manager’s hand. Then she slowly walked over to Kip, her eyes checking out the entire restaurant.
“So?” he asked.
“It went well. I think we’re fine. He doesn’t want to do anything to jeopardize finding a missing child. I didn’t get the sense he was one of Igor’s men.”
“Good. We don’t need any complications.”
“You can say that again.” She kept scanning the room.
“He’s not here yet.”
She nodded.
“I’ve got a table in the corner reserved. Will put us close to what I’ve been told is his usual table.”
“Let’s go then.”
“I’m ordering some appetizers. We don’t want to stick out.”
“That’s a good idea.”
They settled in at their table and waited. And waited some more. Finally, almost an hour later, he saw her eyes light up. Then he followed her line of sight. There he was.
“He’s here,” she whispered. “How’re we going to play this?”
“You need to approach him.”
“Me?” she croaked.
“Yeah. It’s the only way. He’ll be way too suspicious if I do it.”
He watched as she clenched her fists, but her face was unreadable. “You okay with that?”
“I can do this,” she said.
“You don’t have to convince me. If I didn’t think you could do it, I never would’ve asked you to.”
She nodded.
“And you’re a woman. You’ll have a much easier time getting an audience with him.”
She laughed. “Yeah, the last time I checked I was female.”
He felt stupid. Why did she cause him not to be able to be as articulate as usual? “It’s time.”
“I got this.”
* * *
Oh, she didn’t have anything. She might be putting on a brave face for Kip, but she was scared to death. Her biggest concern was being recognized by Igor. Flashbacks hit her hard. On the witness stand. The defense attorney grilling her, trying to poke holes in her story, verbally destroying her. And she had only been a child. She almost hated that attorney as much as Igor. She had been telling the truth. Yet, no one believed her. They saw her as a scared child, not as a reliable witness to a double homicide. The jury had acquitted Igor, and now here she stood about to face him nineteen years later. She wanted justice. Or revenge. There was a fine line between the two that she’d been treading for years. She prayed that she wouldn’t let this consume her. She didn’t want to be filled with hate. But for Igor, that’s all she had. She couldn’t help it.
Now was her chance, though. She might not ever get another opportunity like this. She said a quick prayer asking for more strength. She’d have to be convincing. This performance needed to be compelling. Because if it wasn’t, she might just get herself killed. Then who would help Megan? She had to succeed.
She stood up and walked down to his table. He was talking to a few women in fancy dresses who surrounded him—obviously trying to make a play with them.
“Why, hello,” he said. His eyes were as menacingly icy blue as she remembered. “Take a seat and join the fun.”
“I’d like to talk to you in private. About business.” She needed to be tough. Ruthless. Convincing.
“Ah, well, tonight I’m not working. You can call my people and make an appointment.” He slipped his business card to her.
“No, actually, I can’t. I’m here with a onetime business proposition. I doubt you’d want me to start discussing it here in front of all your new friends.” She eyed the women at the table.
He narrowed his eyebrows at her, and for a split second she thought she had been recognized. Then he cocked his head to the side. “All right. Ladies, please give me a minute. I’ve got some pressing business matters I must attend to.”
The women grumbled and stood up from the table. Sadie took a seat across from Igor.
“So, you have five minutes. I don’t like my pleasure time to be interrupted, Ms.?”
“Lane.”
“Okay, your time has started.”
“I’m a P.I.”
“Is that so?”
She clearly had his interest piqued. “Yes. And I have a friend. Someone I met because of my other business interests.”
“And who is this friend of yours?”
“An FBI agent.”
“If you’re messing with me, Ms. Lane, I can assure you, you’ll regret it.”
“No. I’m not. My friend has come to realize the FBI is not the job for him. I convinced him to work with me instead of against me. Since then we’ve teamed up on various business ventures that utilize his vast resources and pad his wallet. In exchange, I get access to FBI information. Now I would like to share something with you if you’ll let me continue.”
“Why should I do that?”
“I know something you’d want to know.”
The icy look returned to his eyes. She was going to be able to do this. One step at a time. “But I want something in return.”
He raised an eyebrow. “You’re really trying my patience here.”
“The FBI is investigating your El Paso operations.”
That got his attention. His eyes widened and then he quickly recovered and laughed. “I’m sure I’m constantly investigated by the Feds for one thing or another. Why is this any different?”
“This is more serious. The entire Vladimir network is at risk.”
He leaned forward. “And you’re telling me this why?”
“Because I want my friend to serve as a conduit of information. You’d know what the FBI knows. You’d be a step ahead of their game. Of course, this would all come at a price. A big price.”
He didn’t say anything. But she could tell by the frown on his face that he was concerned. And he was considering what she said carefully. His blond hair was a bit shorter than when he was younger. And he had aged quickly. Probably from all the booze and drugs. But he still looked menacing. She had to try to stop the chill that threatened to overtake her.
“You’re playing with fire, Ms. Lane.”
“I usually do.” She smiled. God give her strength to keep this up.
“Where is this FBI friend of yours?”
“He’s at that table over there. The really big guy.” She nodded in Kip’s direction.
“I need to think about your proposition. Why don’t I give you a call if I want to discuss this further?”
“No,” she said quickly.
“No?” He looked incredulous at her response. No one defied Igor.
“Like I said, this is a onetime offer. I’m above all things a shrewd business woman. I don’t have time for games. I’ll move on to my next opportunity if you aren’t interested.”
He reached across the table and grabbed her wrist hard, but she was ready and countered him by quickly removing his hand. “Don’t touch me,” she said in a frigidly polite manner.
He leaned back in his chair and laughed. “You know, you’re growing on me. So refreshing to see a woman with an actual backbone. You should forget this FBI goon and come work with me. I have plenty to offer you that he doesn’t.”
“That FBI goon is going to save your operations here if you’re smart and accept my offer.”
“Bring him over here, then. I’d like to talk to him.”
“Sure.” She got up from her chair, walked back to Kip and let out a deep breath. She’d done her part, now it was time for Kip to bring it home.
She stood at Kip’s table. “Your turn.”
He nodded. “How did it go?”
“Well. It’s all you now. Don’t mess this up.”
“I don’t intend to.”
She sure hoped he knew what he was doing. She guided him over to Igor’s table.
“Mr. Vladimir. This is Kip Moore.”
Kip nodded at him and took a seat. Sadie sat down beside him.
“I already told Ms. Lane. I don’t intend to be strung along.”
Kip crossed his arms. “What I bring you is invaluable. However, there is a price on every tip I send your way.”
“And if I say I don’t need you?”
“Then it will be your fault when your group goes down in flames. I’ll simply move on to the next opportunity.”
Igor laughed. “You Fed types are all the same. So self-assured. I’ve been at this a long time, Kip. I’m not going to start being worried now about a little FBI investigation.”
“You should be. Because they’re closing in on you. Fast.”
“And why should I believe a thing you say?”
“That’s up to you, of course. But you’ll see that I bring a lot to the table.”
“You definitely bring a lot in your friend Ms. Lane.”
Kip’s eyes darkened. “Ms. Lane is not what we’re discussing.” The implication clear. Kip was staking out his turf and setting up the storyline just as they’d planned.
“Ah, I see. It’s more than a business partnership between the two of you.” Igor shook his head. “That’s too bad.”
“Why don’t we get back to talking about the deal,” Sadie chimed in.
“What’s the offer?” Igor asked.
“I will feed you real-time intelligence,” Kip said. “For a price.”
“And what if your intelligence, as you call it, is bad?”
“It won’t be.”
“There’s that arrogance again.” Igor leaned forward. “Why don’t we say this? Let’s do a trial run. Bring me something, name your price and we’ll go from there.”
“I’ll be in touch soon.”
“Great. Now let me get back to entertaining. All this talk of business is giving me a headache.” He paused, and then looked at her. “Ms. Lane, you’re welcome to stay.”
“Thanks, but I’ve got work to do.” She smiled at him. It made her sick to do so, but she needed to be believable. She needed him as close as possible, so she could take him down. That’s exactly what she planned to do.
FOUR
“So what’s next?” Sadie asked Kip.
The two sat at the small table in her office drinking coffee.
“Last night was a good start. But now we need to give Igor a piece of intel that he will appreciate.”
“We’re no closer to finding Megan. That’s still my top priority.” She paused and looked at him. “I want to bring down this awful network, but Megan needs me to do my job.”
“So do many other girls and women, Sadie. If we can get to the source, just think of the lives that will be spared. Igor is truly a monster, and we both think Megan could have been taken by those working for the Vladimir network”
“What else do you know about him and this family power struggle you described?” She wanted to get as much additional information from Kip as she could.
“The father, Sergei, is really getting too old to actively run all of their operations. He’s turning more into a figurehead. Both Igor and his brother Artur want to take over.” Kip paused and took a sip of coffee. “Igor is the oldest and argues that the business is rightfully his.”
“What does Artur say about that?”
“That the best man for the job should take over. So the word on the street is that Sergei told his sons that he wanted to evaluate them, and then he’d make his decision. Probably by the end of the year.”
“So there’s a big incentive for them to perform.”
“Exactly.”
“Igor has his human-trafficking operation. What else?”
“He also has legitimate businesses—in hotels and restaurants. I think he may be looking to buy out the Rhubarb Hotel.”
“What about Artur?”
“Artur has some casinos, dry-cleaning operations. Oh, and he runs the drug business for the Vladimir network in the Northeast.”
“Doesn’t that sound great,” she said sarcastically.
She watched him as he looked at her neck. She looked down and saw her cross necklace was on the outside of her blouse. She touched it.
“Are you a religious person?” he asked.
“I don’t really like the word religious, but I’m a Christian if that’s what you’re asking.” The cross was a gift from her adoptive parents, and she never took it off. “What about you?”
He sighed and ran his hand through his dark hair. “I am, Sadie. But I feel like sometimes God doesn’t like me so much.”
She reached out and grasped his hand. “Don’t say that, Kip. We all go through rough patches. For me, my faith is the only thing that has kept me going more times than I could count.”
His eyes darkened, and then he looked away. “There’s a lot of time to think about God and faith out in the desert.”
“When you were deployed?”
“Yeah. I did multiple tours in Iraq.”
“War is awful,” she said.
“I know. Sometimes it’s necessary, but knowing that doesn’t make it any easier.”
“I would think having those experiences, and coming home, would have only strengthened your faith.”
“It’s complicated,” he let out a deep breath. “Why don’t we get back to Igor?”
“All right.” She’d let it go for now. But she knew there was something deeper going on with Kip. “What are you going to tell Igor?”
“I’ll make him think that I’m giving him something of value. Of course it won’t be. We’ll tell him about an FBI surveillance operation that’s going to occur. So when it happens, he’ll believe we’re legit.”
“And what about the actual surveillance operation?”
“Only a select group of FBI agents will know that it is for show. The rest of the team will believe it’s an actual assignment. It’s just surveillance, though. The risk of something going wrong is very low. Igor will get spooked that he’s being followed so closely, and we’ll get the buy-in we need from him. Or at least that’s how I’m hoping this plays out.”
“We gain a little bit of his trust and then what?”
He grinned and cocked his head to the side. “Let me ask you this. When you do your regular work do you always have things planned out step by step?”
“I’d like to, but that’s not usually the case.”
“It’s the same way here. We go with what we have. And what we have is another reason to visit Igor at the Rhubarb Hotel tonight.”
“Tonight?”
“Yes. Is that going to be a problem for you?”
“No. I just didn’t realize we’d see him again so soon.” Her pulse sped up just thinking about another encounter with that man.
“I’m not going to let that creep hurt you, Sadie. I promise you.”
Was she that obvious? She’d have to work more at keeping her feelings about Igor under wraps. Kip’s strong presence couldn’t be ignored. It didn’t matter that he’d been out of the rangers for three years. He hadn’t stopped training. But beyond his physical size, he gave off a vibe of confidence and strength that impressed her. While she was confident in her own ability to protect herself, it sure couldn’t hurt to have him by her side.
“He gave me his number. Why don’t we just call him?” she asked. She pulled his business card of her bag and flipped it over showing Igor’s private cell. “I
think the less face time we have with him the better. Less room for error.”
Kip looked down as if trying to process her comments and didn’t respond immediately. “You may have a point. But, on the other hand, we want him to feel like he knows us. Like he can trust us.”
She sighed. And hoped she could get through this. Her office phone rang, and she answered it.
“Sadie, it’s Ms. Milton.”
Her voice was cracking, and Sadie instantly knew something was wrong. Her heart dropped.
“What’s going on?”
“I heard from Megan. Just for a minute. Somehow she got to a phone.” Muffled sobs came through the phone.
Sadie switched to speaker so Kip could hear.
“Slow down, Ms. Milton. I heard you say that Megan called you. Tell me exactly what you remember her saying.”
“That she had been kidnapped. She spoke really quiet and said she couldn’t talk for long. None of the other girls who tried to use the phone had reached anyone yet and most of them were from a group foster home outside the city. She heard the guys who were keeping them captive talking about the Mexican police and how they’d crossed the border undetected.” She paused. “They were all scared of what was going to happen to them.”
All of Sadie’s greatest fears for Megan were playing out. “When did this call happen?”
“Just a few minutes ago. The caller ID said restricted call, but I answered it anyway hoping it was you with information about Megan.” She hesitated. “You’re the first person I contacted. Even before the police. I’m calling them next. I just don’t know what to do. I was so thankful, so relieved to hear my baby’s voice. But then when she told me where she thought she was and what was happening. I’ve never been so terrified, or felt so completely helpless.”
“You need to call the police, Ms. Milton. But you did the right thing by calling me. I doubt they can trace the call if the number was blocked and you only spoke for a few minutes, but you still need to contact them. Megan was very smart to have the presence of mind to call you. You need to have faith that we’ll be able to find her. You have my word that I will do everything in my power to locate her and bring her back safely. The best thing you can do is stay calm. And if you hear from her again, please let me know. Any detail no matter how small can help us. Ask her about what she hears, the smells, anything.”
