“I think not,” Jimmy replied calmly, once again in control of himself.
Paul leaned forward while Christine sat, frozen in fear. “There are other ways to go about this.”
Jimmy turned his cold eyes on Paul. “This is the most expedient way.”
“You are a partner in a massive corporation, surely they have the money—” He broke off as Jimmy laughed without humour.
“We are bleeding money. The company hasn’t had a big contract in years. It’s not like it used to be. You can’t just offer a kickback to a city official and then get the go ahead. There are checks and processes.” He paused. “And I know what you’ll say. Sell off some subsidiaries. We’ve done that. At least, the ones no one would notice. But there comes a time when the world will start getting suspicious. They’ll know why we are selling off our assets. We have to keep up appearances, or people won’t trust us to be able to deliver. I need an injection of cash. Fast. And that money belongs to the company anyway.”
“So ask your father.” Christine had regained her voice.
He scoffed. “I did. The senile old fart couldn’t tell me a thing.”
“Well-”
“Enough! Will you help me or not?”
“Of course I won’t!”
“Then we’ll have to do this the hard way. We’ll both go to my father’s house and search until you find what I need.” He stood, gesturing with his gun towards the door. Christine stood on shaky legs, barely able to stay upright.
Jimmy came around the desk. Christine realised she was still holding Paul’s hand. She didn’t let go.
The gun flashed in the overhead fluorescent light as Jimmy gestured with it once again. Christine couldn’t move. She knew once she was out of that room she wouldn’t stand a chance.
“And your boyfriend can stay here,” Jimmy sneered. He pulled out a bunch of cable ties from his pocket, waving them in Paul’s direction. He’d planned this.
Paul squeezed her hand, drawing her attention. He didn’t say anything as she glanced at him. Just looked at her steadily. But she knew that he was giving her a message. He was telling her to trust him.
Christine didn’t hesitate. She let go of his hand and stood. Jimmy moved towards them, his eyes on Paul.
“Once I tie down your hands, you’ll be completely vulnerable,” Jimmy said with a cruel smile.
A shiver ran down her spine as he got closer.
Jimmy reached out to Paul’s wrists, the gun drooping slightly as his attention waned. Christine was so focused on the shining, metal barrel that she missed Paul’s flash of movement.
Jimmy dropped as if his knee had given out. He caught himself before he hit the floor, but Paul was there, dragging him backwards. He ended up almost on Paul’s lap, with a hard bicep wrapped around his neck, trapping him in a headlock.
Paul held steady, even as Jimmy’s arm flailed wildly. Without thinking, Christine stepped forward, reaching for the gun.
Jimmy saw her movement, his eyes widening as her fingers grazed his weapon. He fired. She flinched. The bullet embedded in the ceiling. Small particles of dust trickled down on them.
Paul tightened his hold on Jimmy’s neck. His face was turning an alarming shade of red, but he appeared not to notice. Christine again reached for the gun, but Jimmy was ready for her. He lowered it in her direction before her fingers closed over it.
She locked eyes with Paul. He gave her a single nod. She heaved at the weapon, pushing Jimmy’s arm up and away from her. He was so surprised he didn’t think to counteract her movement.
Almost instantly after, Paul gave Jimmy a solid punch to the temple. Dazed, his grip loosened on the gun.
Christine dived for it, managing to wrench it out of his grasp. She pointed it in Jimmy’s direction, her hands shaking. But, then, she realised that she would most likely hit Paul if she fired so she carefully placed the gun on the desk beside her and stepped away.
Paul pushed a groggy Jimmy to the floor. The instant he hit the floor, he passed out, dead to the world.
He looked up at Christine, smiling. “Teaches him to underestimate a woman and a man in a wheelchair, huh? Never should have got close to me.”
Christine pressed her hand over her violently beating heart, but she couldn’t hold back the sob that was building within her. She hiccupped rather inelegantly, then threw herself at Paul. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her face into his shoulder.
She breathed deep, comforted by his familiar autumn smell and the steady thump of his heart. His hand moved across her back in a soothing swoop.
He paused after too short a time. “I need to call Duncan. And the police.”
She sighed and reluctantly disengaged from him. She straightened, looking down at Jimmy. Between his actions and the surname Disik, the chances were that he would go to prison for a really long time.
Christine found she didn’t care in the slightest.
Calls were made, and the police and Duncan arrived about the same time.
Duncan waited to speak to them until Jimmy had been taken away and she and Paul had given their preliminary statements to the police. Christine refused to leave Paul’s side all through the questioning.
Among the blue-clad officers was a beautiful woman with deep black skin that Duncan seemed to know quite well. The two chatted quietly to the side as they waited for them.
Finally, the police officers were finished with them, but asked her and Paul to come down to the station to finalise things the next day.
Night was beginning to fall, and the air was growing chillier. They were still near the docks, but the awful scent had begun to dissipate since the heat of the day had passed.
Duncan appeared in front of her. Christine didn’t have the energy to do much more than blink her surprise. Her brain didn’t seem to be working at full capacity.
“I’m so sorry,” Duncan told her. “This is my fault.”
“And mine,” said the beautiful woman. Duncan slanted her an admonishing look.
“Christine, this is Destiny. I think you talked with her on the phone. She’s saved our arse a bunch of times, and this is definitely not her fault.”
Christine looked between the two. “Nice to meet you in person,” she said with a wan smile. Paul slipped his hand into hers, making her feel a little revitalised.
Destiny nodded. “Now I can put a face to the voice.”
“It’s good to see you again, Destiny,” Paul said.
“And you,” Destiny replied with a smile.
Duncan shuffled, drawing attention back to him. “I spent all morning either in the hospital with Blake, or trying to get in to see Klim Vovk at the station and interview him further.”
“Unfortunately, my colleagues wouldn’t let him through,” Destiny interrupted. “Or we might have figured it out sooner that Klim wasn’t the one that had arranged the attacks on you. I did what I could to convince them, but…” she trailed off with an apologetic shrug.
“It’s okay,” Christine managed. “You’ve helped a lot on this case.”
The group lapsed into silence. Paul cleared his throat. “Christine has been through a lot. I should probably get her home.”
“Right,” Duncan agreed. “It was good meeting you face-to-face, Christine.”
“Likewise,” she told him.
They left, and Paul and Christine meandered back to their car. The water was to their left, reflecting the light from the buildings on the other side of the river. It was a stunning view, and achingly romantic. She just wished they were looking at it under better circumstances.
“Thank you for saving me,” she told him.
“I think we both saved ourselves and each other,” he replied.
She nodded, swallowing back tears as the memory of those awful moments in that office rushed back to her.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
She sighed, then smiled wearily at him. “I will be. I just need some time.”
He hesitated
. “Do you want me to take you home? Or do you want to eat? Or…?” He trailed off, leaving any decision up to her.
“How about we get that dinner? Somewhere quiet.”
Paul grinned at her. “Yeah. Dinner sounds good.”
Their first date. But not their last, Christine knew. She had faith.
Epilogue
The sun had finally thrown off the blanketing clouds that had plagued the city in the last week. Christine, drawn by the warmth, had convinced Paul to join her at a local coffee shop. Mugs that had once held perfectly made coffees sat on the rickety table between them. People moved around their table, quietly talking. Calm. Joyful. It was idyllic.
She tilted her head back, basking in the fresh air; so missed after having spent so much time indoors, hiding.
“Have you thought any more about what you’ll do? Job-wise?” Paul asked her.
“Honestly, I haven’t had much time to think about it,” Christine answered. “But I do think a career change might be in order.” She had thought that becoming an Information Analyst sounded well within her capabilities, but she hadn’t started updating her résumé or looking for positions. She did know that this time she’d be looking for something long-term and stable.
She’d immediately tendered her resignation to the two Mr. Disiks after the younger had been arrested for assaulting them. The idea of leaving the elder Mr. Disik on his own hurt her, and she was still tempted to take up the job again to give him some support. But the thought of walking back into that life, one that had nearly caused so much destruction, was abhorrent to her. And it wasn’t as if she’d been happy with it, regardless. She needed to think of herself first.
Christine had been far too busy with other things to give any serious thought to the future. She and Paul had spent much of the last few weeks moving out of Station Alpha and into Christine’s house on the outskirts of the city. Paul, Zack, and Sam had installed a heavy-duty alarm system for her, so no one could ever sneak up on the place again. It was a place of comfort once again.
Technically, Paul still had his apartment at Reem Tower, but he hadn’t spent much time there. Christine was in the process of researching how to make her home more accessible for him, and had already ordered some things online and been in touch with a few contractors.
The old Christine, the one before her epiphany hit and rearranged her life, would have said it was too soon. But new Christine wanted to jump in with both feet and see where it took her.
The strong planes of Paul’s face caught her eye as he glanced at the child sitting at the table next to them. So far, her impulsiveness was paying off. For the first time in a long while, she had moved beyond simply content, and was happy.
A shadow fell over the table. Christine glanced up. Her gaze riveted on the man before her.
Old Mr. Disik was a changed man. No longer seeming frail, or lost, his eyes were vibrant and held a hint of amusement. His spine was straight, his clothes were neatly pressed. And Christine noticed for the first time that he had a decent amount of muscle mass left on his frame.
“Mr. Disik?” she asked, stammering over the words. How was it possible?
Paul’s head whipped around, his gaze fixating on the man standing over them. His eyes narrowed, and Christine knew without asking that he was assessing the level of potential threat.
“Hello, Christine. It is lovely to see you again.” Even his voice held no hint of his previous ailment. “May I sit?”
Not knowing what else to do, Christine nodded.
Disik grabbed the chair that she and Paul had pushed aside and dragged it back into position with a loud scrape. He lowered himself into it, keeping his gaze fixed on her. A shiver ran down her spine at the calculation she saw there. Now, she understood the Vovks’ fear of this man.
“You know,” Disik began. “I was sorry to receive your resignation letter. I thought that we could work very well together, now that everything was out in the open.”
“How…?” Christine managed. She felt Paul’s fingers lace between hers.
He considered the question. “Until today, I suspected that you’d known my secret from the beginning. You were so sweet that I thought you must have been trying to catch me off guard, or even kill me with kindness, so to speak.” He paused. “But it is quite clear I was a better actor than I believed.”
Paul leaned forward. “Why go through the act?”
Mr. Disik waved a hand. “To fool my enemies and catch them red-handed.” He said this as if it were both obvious and natural to do such a thing. “I knew that my son was plotting against me, but I needed him to show his cards. And if I needed to put Vovk at a disadvantage, then I could.”
“And me?” Christine asked, finding her voice.
“I had nothing to do with hiring you. My son did the honours, thinking I wouldn’t notice, or could be talked into it. At first, I was furious, but I began to see that you could be useful in your own way. If nothing else, it was the first overt move he’d made against me.”
His eyes were dark, compelling in the way that a well-made horror movie was.
“Why tell me now? Why not just disappear, or go back to your old life?”
He shrugged, and it had an elegant, Gallic quality to it. Christine saw where Jimmy got his smooth demeanour from.
“I have. After all, I haven’t done anything wrong, unlike my son.” From the flash in his eyes, Christine very much doubted that was true. “I just thought I should offer you a job, as well. Properly this time. You’ve proven yourself valuable, and you have some skills that I would like to utilise.”
Christine swallowed, trying to banish the feeling of creepy-crawlies in her throat. “May I think about it?” she replied eventually.
He inclined his head. “Of course.”
She didn’t want the job. Working for such a scheming, underhanded man held no appeal. Besides, she’d already decided to move on to other things. But she also got the impression that the elder Mr. Disik was not a man one said no to. Not without careful consideration.
“I shall leave you to your deliberation,” Disik murmured, moving to stand.
“I have a question,” Paul interrupted. Disik raised a brow in his direction, inquiring. “The money that everyone was after. What happened to it?”
Disik threw his head back with laughter. “Are you after it yourself, now?” Disik asked. The words were playful, but his eyes dropped about ten degrees colder.
“Not at all. But everyone seemed to think that the money would be hidden in cash somewhere. Meeting you now, I can’t help but think you’d be much too savvy for that.”
Disik looked on Paul with a more appreciative gaze. “I’ll give you some advice,” Disik told him, leaning forward. “Invest your money wisely. If you can do it under a false identity, so that no one suspects you have the accounts, then that’s even better.”
With a last wink—so quick Christine thought she may have imagined things—Disik stood up and disappeared.
She and Paul were silent for a moment, digesting what they had just learned.
“Jesus, he’s Machiavellian, isn’t he?” Paul said eventually.
“Yes. And so much creepier than I ever thought possible. How did I miss it?”
Paul squeezed her hand tighter, comforting and solid. “You saw what you expected to see. No harm in that. We all do it.”
Christine nodded, but still felt shaken. She had no doubt that all the stories that the Vovks had told about him were true. She couldn’t quite wrap her head around it.
“Will you take the job?” Paul asked.
Christine shook her head, vehement. “No way. Now that I know he really was a mob boss, goodness knows what he’ll ask me to do.”
They lapsed into a distracted silence. The sounds of the café no longer gave her peace. Chattering and laughing now took on a sinister quality, as if the world was a little off kilter.
Christine stared in the direction he’d disappeared. “Do you think we’ll see him again
?” she asked softly. Paul heard her even over the noise of the crowd.
“I doubt it. But if he resurfaces, you won’t be alone.”
Christine tore her eyes away from the crowd and fixed them on him. He smiled, reassuring, and Christine felt her troubles melt away.
Trust. A partnership. That was how it should be.
The End
Excerpt
Turn over for an excerpt from
Guarding Sierra: (Soldiering On #2)
Sierra Livingston knows there is someone stalking her. Watching. Waiting. Biding their time. But for what, she doesn’t want to stick around to find out. Thankfully, she knows just who to call.
Blake has never been one to sit still. He’s still recovering from the gunshot he received during his last job with Soldiering On, but he’s not about to let that stop him from protecting a woman in need. Besides, he has to prove to his boss that he’s still capable, or he’ll be forced into his worst nightmare: a desk job.
But neither of them count on their explosive sexual chemistry. Apart, they risk endangering Sierra’s life. But together, there might be an even deeper threat...to their hearts.
Chapter 1
The roses were the colour of blood.
That was Sierra’s first thought when she saw the bouquet sitting innocuously in the hallway in front of her apartment door. The splash of scarlet was particularly vibrant against the two-toned grey of the walls.
She wondered if he had intended that.
Blood roared in her ears as she took a hesitant step forward. She didn’t want to get close. The rich array of flowers might have been a hissing snake for all she cared. She didn’t want to touch them.
As she got closer, her heart pounding relentlessly in her chest, she noticed the dark curl at the edge of the petals. The roses had obviously been sitting out there for a few hours. She hoped that meant he wasn’t nearby.
Station Alpha: (Soldiering On #1) Page 18
