"Get me my money." Angel said. "Give it to me right here, right now and then I'll leave."
Katy looked around the room. It was almost bare, only a broken stool underneath the window and a pile of old newspapers in a corner. She needed a plan. It was coming down to the moment, once Angel had left or was lying dead on the floor it would be over for her too. If this wasn't the time to fight then there was no other.
She took a deep breath and prepared to launch herself at the old Mafioso. At least Angel would be fighting with her now. Maybe.
Her heart pounded as she readied herself to jump but just as she did there was a tap at a small and filthy window in the back. It was almost totally obscured with dirt. Everybody froze and then Mikhail began barking orders in Russian. Two of the men left the room, Angel drawn his weapon and so had Mikhail. The goon behind her put his hand to her head and shoved her to the ground.
Her eyes were at floor level and right next to her, close in to the skirting was a piece of rotting wood with a bent nail protruding from the end.
She might be able to reach it, but maybe not.
"Don’t be stupid Angel." Mikhail was saying. Angel was tough but this kind of situation was new to him. He was panicking, pointing his gun back and forth from Boyevik to the goon immobilizing Katy. She tried to catch his attention but he was too freaked out to notice her and then the most bizarre thing happened; all the mobile phones in the room began to ring at once.
All four men darted their eyes to their phones and Katy snatched the piece of wood into her hand. In one swooping arc she brought it around to impale the powerful Mafioso's ankle. He crumpled to the floor with a scream.
Mikhail began firing but not at her or Angel - one of his men had come crashing in through the window and his boss was firing through shards of falling glass at whatever was out there.
The stunned and bleeding man's phone was ringing as well.
Angel took his chance to duck out the front door leaving Katy by herself.
"Bastard." She hissed and began scrambling to her feet.
She was nearly at the door when a hand clamped around her ankle. It was the goon whose ankle she had skewered and he was pointing his gun at her.
She froze, but her mind was working a mile a minute. If they wanted to kill her wouldn't she be dead already?
The phones in the room were all still ringing. Could it be? She knew it was possible… someone with the technical know-how would find it ridiculously easy to activate the ringers on a set of geographically proximal cell phones.
She kicked the Mafioso in the face and scrambled out the door. She was barely to her knees when a powerful set of hands swooped her up from the porch and a set of piercing eyes met hers from behind a thin layer of sleek glass.
"I've got you." Clayton said. She had no time to speak as he dragged her running into the thick woods next the house.
A shot rang out in the woods and Clayton pulled them down into the brush for cover.
He put his fingers to his lips and she watched him in awe.
"But how--"
He pulled her close and pressed his lips to hers. The kiss was different to any she had ever known, the passion of the moment, the extreme circumstances, the last minute rescue; it would be seared into her memory forever. He released her and put his finger to his lips, silencing her in order to listen for activity in the woods.
The sound of feet trampling was terrifying but at last began to die away. They stayed silent and tight next to each other for an hour before Clayton would permit them to move. As scared as Katy was, the prolonged closeness to another human being was something she had longed for, without even knowing, without admitting it to herself, since forever.
She didn't want it to end.
But it couldn't last.
"Come on." He whispered. "Let's get out of here."
"Wait. Clayton. How did you find me?"
"I'll tell you later. We have to get to the chopper while the coast is clear."
They started off through the trees, Clayton seemingly knowing his way. It took a seemingly endless time, walking through unidentifiable woodland until at last they came to a clearing and he slowed the pace down. Katy peered through the remaining trees and saw, quite incredibly, a helicopter landed in the middle of an open pasture.
"How the hell did you find me all the way out here?" She whispered.
"Something's not right." He said. "They must have found it by now so why is it still there? Why didn't they take it or damage it?"
"How would they even know if it belonged to you or not? They may have searched it and then moved on."
Clayton took out his phone and began swiping the screen.
"It was you who made the their phones ring simultaneously, wasn't it?"
He nodded.
"The same technology that made me realize you weren't kosher. It can pick up any signal within two hundred yards, figure out the call number and then activate up to ten cell phones simultaneously."
"Why would anyone ever want to do that?"
"No one would. Except me. This is the kind of stuff you figure out if you're a hardware geek, right?"
She smiled and nodded. They really were more alike than she had given credit for.
"You don’t look like any hardware geek I've ever met."
"Neither do you."
He pulled her in close and held her gaze. It was as thrilling a moment as she had ever had with him, or with anyone and this was the theme of their time together so far; one bizarre, thrilling, unparalleled moment after another. Now they were on the run together, pursued by people wanting to kidnap or kill them, but still the way he looked at her made it all just seem like a crazy game they were playing for kicks.
He put his lips to hers again and she molded herself to him. After hours spent in the trunk of a car, the fear of her brief encounter with Mikhail Boyevik and her hour spent motionless in the underbrush, his warm, strong body and absolute confidence felt like heaven.
Their lips parted and he whispered in her ear.
"We're going to get out of this Katy."
"You better believe it." She whispered back into his.
The sound of cell phones ringing simultaneously reached them through the forest.
"Damn it." He hissed.
"You said the range was two hundred yards." She whispered.
"That's right. Maybe we can make a run for it."
"No way. It's too dangerous. They may not hurt me but they won’t think twice about putting a bullet in you."
"I thought it was the other way around."
"That was Boyevik back there. Those are his men. I think he wants me for something more than just revenge. I think he wants to start manufacturing again. Otherwise I'd already be dead."
"You really are some hot property Katy."
"Too hot to handle. If you had any sense you would have walked away from me in the Cool Bean café when you had a chance."
He shook his head slowly.
"Not a chance in hell. I've never met anyone like you before and you're not getting away from me now." Katy watched as his attention was drawn over her shoulder and he gave a smile of recognition.
"Thank God." He said. "Angel, what the hell is going on here?"
Katy didn't turn her head but her look said it all. Clayton caught her eyes and was momentarily confused.
"That's right Clay. Now just put your damn hands up." He pointed his weapon at them.
"What is this Angel? What went wrong? I told you to take her wherever she wanted to go, not to hand her over to the Russian mob."
"Shut up Clay, I'll explain later. Step over here Katy, don’t make me hurt you."
"He's in on it Clay." Katy said. "He's the one who contacted them and arranged the whole thing."
"Not possible Katy, this is a mistake, right Angel?" Clayton said.
"I told you to shut up and listen to me for once Clay, don’t make me tell you again. I'm going to get us out of this mess and this girl is out ticket ou
t of here alive. She arranged the whole thing. They were gonna kidnap me and extort money out of Hargrave Robotics. Don’t believe this lying bitch you met ten seconds ago. We've known each other fifteen years Clay, now trust me, I can get us out of here but you have to follow my lead."
Katy looked at Clayton, her eyes pleading with him but he had retreated into his unreadable, dark self, coldly evaluating the situation.
"I've been looking after you since college Clay - never let you down once. Now be smart and give me that phone of yours."
Clayton didn't move.
"Angel, I don’t know what you're doing, but this game is already over and you should know that by now. I'm not giving you anything and there is no way in hell I am handing Katy over to you for any reason. Now stand down and put your gun away."
"He's desperate Clayton," Katy said, "be careful. He tried to sell me to them but they we're going to kill him. I tried to tell him but he was too stupid to listen to me."
The gun was trembling in Angel's hand.
"She's a fuckin' liar Clay, now hand me your God damn phone so we can get out of here."
"Put the gun away Angel and we can forget all about this. You disobey me and it's over. You know I'm in control of this situation, just like I always am, so don't be a fool."
"God damn it, you fuckin' smug prick this one is out of your control, now give me that fuckin' phone before I put a cap in your rich ass."
"Shoot me? Go right ahead Angel, if that's all you've got. Our people will be here in minutes. It sounds to me like you don't have a plan. All we have to do now is wait it out. Another ten minutes tops. Zidane and Jones will be here with the whole team. I sent out the co-ordinates over an hour ago." He paused. "Do you hear that noise?"
Angel listened.
"Ah fuck it." He spat. It was the sound of choppers coming through the air. He backed away and then ran into the woods.
Katy looked at the man who had just pulled her from the jaws of her worst nightmare and her head went light again. She hadn't eaten since the night before, she was dehydrated, exhausted - stars and a high pitched squeal began to eat into her vision and then the lights went out on her world for the second time in twenty-four hours.
Chapter Three
The room was dark and she didn't know how long she had been out. The feeling of déjà vu was nauseating for some moments. Was this another one of her blackouts? Had they returned. She looked around and made nothing out except for one thing; a face, handsome, caring, deeply familiar and yet also unknown to her.
Could she trust him?
She focused her eyes slowly and with great effort, then reached out and put her hand to his strong jaw.
He drew back.
"Clay! Hey Clay, she's awake." The man said. She watched as another face joined the one already in her vision. She had reached out to the wrong man.
"Thanks Dale, I'll take it from here." That was unmistakably Clayton's deep, reassuring voice.
"How are you baby?" He said, crowding out the other face and filling her gaze with his perfect, handsome features.
She tried to sit up but he eased her back down.
"Take it easy. The doctor said you're exhausted, you'll need at least week in bed to recover.
"What happened?" She asked him. "The last I remember we were in the forest, in the middle of nowhere. Boyevik and his guys were chasing us."
"That's right. Then my people arrived. Angel disappeared but we'll find him. I got good facial recognition on most of those goons so we can go after them as well if we need to. There was no reason to hang around so we airlifted you the hell out of there to get you looked at by the medics."
"Do the police know?"
"Not a word. You're still invisible. For as long as you want to be. Not that it matters anymore."
"What are you talking about?"
"Your friends know about me because of Angel. They know about you. Isn't that the reason you were hiding out? So what's the point in being a fugitive anymore? It's time to start living out in the open again."
"It's not that simple."
"Yes it is." He said intently. "This is over Nadia."
"Don't call me that Clay, please. That person doesn’t exist anymore."
He looked down for a moment and then back into her eyes.
"It's over Katy. They'll never get to you. As soon as you decide to come alive again the police will protect you just as they will anybody else. We have evidence against Boyevik - communications between him and Angel. Sooner or later we'll track Angel down and he'll play ball. Boyevik will be behind bars where he should have been four years ago.
Tears began to well up in her eyes.
"What is it Katy? You've got to tell me. Secrets can only hurt you with these people."
She desperately wanted to believe him, but it just wasn't that simple.
"We got you away from that evil scum and now we have them on the run. All you have to do is be honest with me. What else is going on?"
"They aren't the only ones who want me Clayton. It's the…" She stopped. This was dangerous information. Even telling him could get him into trouble, especially with his hotheaded desire to help her and his belief that he could always come out on top against any adversary.
"Who Katy, who is it?"
She pushed back the blankets and rolled out of bed before he could stop her.
"Just what exactly do you think you're doing?" He asked her, attempting to block her way, but she pushed him roughly aside.
"What does it look like? I'm getting dressed. I can't lie around here because some doctor wants to cover his ass. I told you there's more at stake here than just Boyevik. I did pretty good at avoiding his sorry ass until you came along and allowed your bodyguard and so-called best friend to blow my cover."
"Whoever said he was my best friend?"
"He told me himself."
"And you believed him?"
"You said you've known him for fifteen years."
He sighed heavily.
"It's true. I trusted him and he let me down. It happens, but we're still here. Life goes on. I will still trust people who've demonstrated loyalty to me until they give me a reason to do otherwise. If there's a better way to live your life then I'm all ears."
He waited.
"Will that be a key phrase in your self-help bestseller? Is this supposed to be some kind of message for me on how to live my life?"
He sighed again.
"No wonder you don't have many friends."
"No wonder you've never had a girlfriend."
"Always have to get the last word in, don't you?"
She paused to look at him
"Yep." She said curtly.
"So you don’t want to tell me anything else, but since I've done such a good job at figuring out your secrets so far, how about I try a little more guesswork and you can tell me how close I am to the truth."
She felt her stomach tighten.
"I'd be careful if I were you. Look where your guesswork has landed you so far."
"Alone in a bedroom with a girl who gets a thousand times cuter when she's backed into a corner? I'd say it's not so bad."
"God damn you. You're pretty good at last words yourself." She said, pausing to stand with her hand on her hip. She had pulled on jeans and buttoned a blouse nearly the whole way up.
"That is way, way too much." He said looking at her.
She looked down at herself.
"Way too much of what?"
"Just look at yourself; that cute little ass in those tight jeans and your hand on your hip like the sexy little miss you are. You're obviously doing it on purpose."
She took her hand off her hip and turned back to the drawer full of clothes.
"You're the one who left the tight jeans in here. I normally wear baggy."
He watched her a moment longer. Fantasizing. Once her life was sorted out it was going to be the greatest sex of his life, or hers, period. Damsel in distress sex was the absolute best, the ultimate th
rill and it didn't come much better than saving a girl from the Mafia or… what else…
"Run out of ideas?" She said, interrupting into his reverie and bringing him back to the task at hand. He had an idea but was still missing some detail. It would come though. It always did.
"It's the government." He said quietly. "They have something on you."
She froze again. He had to be just fishing around. They had coerced her alright but nobody knew about it and there was no way of finding out about it short of breaking into FBI headquarters and stealing her files.
"You're guessing." She said.
"Educated guessing and I'm close. Very close. They either had something on you or they made something up."
"Stop it." She said more urgently now. Every time he opened his mouth it was like he took a step closer into her soul.
"They fabricated evidence. The famous Nadia Komerov, child prodigy, genius and patriotic whistle blower had to be coerced into working for the Feds and the NSA because she wouldn’t do it of her own free will."
"Stop calling me that. And I'm not famous."
"Not to the rest of the world maybe, but to us you are."
She stood up straight and put down the sweater she had selected.
"What does that mean? Who's us?"
"It means what you think it means. In the world of high-tech security you were something of a legend. The girl who brought down BoyTech Inc almost singlehanded, the kid barely out of college who layered unbreakable security into hardware components for the government, the eighteen year old who put American military hardware decades ahead of any other country in the world with technology far ahead of its time. Of course I'd heard of you, but pictures of you are hard to come by so I didn't recognize when I first saw you back in Lovett. I sure as hell noticed you alright, all wrapped up in yourself and your work, a tempting little mystery just asking to be solved. When I scanned you and found nothing but an electronic empty space where there should have been an IP address, a cell phone number, passwords, bank data, login information, an open connection to the internet, that's when I got really interested. All my best hardware got me was a picture of that beautiful face and those lonely eyes."
"God damn it, just stop it. Please. This is too much." She was shaking with anger.
Her Sweet Satisfaction: Billionaire Secrets - Book Two Page 4
