by Sofia Grey
Calls flashed back and forth to Aiden, as he coordinated the police activities.
The motorway traffic cameras were checked first. The Shogun left London on the M25, then the M4 heading west, leaving at the Swindon exit. Jack’s group hadn’t been far behind, which frustrated the fuck out of him, but they were in a better position now. They had the full registration plate, and the police were actively searching for it in Wales.
Jack and Tanner continued on to Soho and Gloria’s, feeling a little more confident.
Finally, as they crawled along the busy London streets, he took the call from Aiden that they waited for. The Shogun had been located in a quiet Anglesey village, sitting empty on a public car park. Aiden’s people were arranging covert surveillance.
Had they found Yanni and Maria? Did they need to go to Gloria’s?
“We’re here now,” said Tanner. “We may as well poke around a bit. Try to flush out your bouncer.” His suggestion made sense. There were still too many unanswered questions.
“It’s the middle of the afternoon. What time d’you suppose they open?”
Tanner shrugged. “They might be doing business now. All those stressed executives having offsite meetings.”
Amazingly, they were open and busy too, with a good third of the tables taken. The same bubbly hostess greeted them with a broad smile. “Back so soon? We’ll have to talk about Gold Club membership.” She seated them, provided a complimentary bottle of cheap bubbly and stood poised for further instructions. “Anything else I can get you at the moment?”
Jack sprawled back in his chair and plastered a lazy grin on his face. “Last night’s girls were hot. Sapphire was blazin’. Is she free again today?”
Her smile extended a little further. “I’ve only just started my shift, let me go and find out for you. In the meantime…” She held up her arm, and a bronze-skinned girl with long pink hair extensions shimmied across. “Savannah will entertain you while I find out.”
Tanner’s gaze flitted over the girl’s shoulders as she gyrated before them. Jack tried to examine the people on the edges of the room, looking for the giant bouncer, but he wasn’t to be seen.
Jack checked his watch. They’d been here half an hour. What the fuck was keeping the hostess?
Savannah moved forward to sit on Tanner’s lap, and draped her arms around his neck. “I’m not Lola, but I can be every bit as good.” Her suggestion was accompanied by a wriggle against his groin.
“Who mentioned Lola? My buddy here was looking for Sapphire.” Tanner gave his best cowboy drawl again.
“I saw you here last night with Lola,” said Savannah. “Believe me, if you thought she was good, you ain’t seen nothing yet.” She practically purred as she rubbed against him. Behind her, Jack saw the hostess approaching.
“Sapphire’s free now. Would you like me to take you up?” She cast a smile at Tanner. “Let me get a room for you and Savannah? There’s one free in fifteen minutes.”
“Sure thing.” Tanner winked at Jack, looking every inch the satisfied punter. “I’ll see ya back here, bud.”
Jack followed the hostess, weaving past the occupied tables and heading for the stairs. This time, she led him up two flights. “Sapphire changed room?” It was a question.
“They move around all the time. Here we are,” she trilled, opening a door and waving him inside.
“Hang on. Don’t I have to pay first?” They hadn’t gone past the minder yet. Jack hadn’t seen him.
“You can pay later.” There was a hint of impatience in the woman’s voice. “Come on. Sapphire’s waiting for you.” She stepped to the side and held the door for him.
Every instinct rang out. This was too slick. Too obvious. Something felt wrong. Badly wrong.
Jack stalled and pretended his phone was buzzing. Patting his pockets as though looking for something, he smiled apologetically at the hostess. “I need to get this.”
There was a bumping noise inside the room, and Sapphire stepped into the open doorway. Jack stilled his hands as he took in two things. She sported a fresh bruise on her cheekbone, and she looked more terrified than she had last night.
“Hi there.” Her voice shook. “Come on in.”
Jack stayed cool. “Y’know, I might come back later. I’m not in the mood now.”
This was the wrong answer. Sapphire gasped, her face tightening with pain, her eyes pleading with him. “Please.” It came out as a whisper.
As he watched, a gun appeared from behind the open door and aimed at her throat.
Fuck. He was right; this was a trap. And Sapphire was the bait.
*
Yanni looked refreshed and alert after a few hours’ sleep. He cooked bacon and eggs, brewed coffee, and chatted about nothing in particular, while in comparison, Maria felt as capable as a damp rag. She picked at the food, gazed blankly at the clouds gathering on the horizon, and answered in sullen yes-no grunts.
With the meal cleared away, Yanni sat next to her on the bench. “We’re going to do a little reconnaissance and check out the meet location. Then I’m planning to come back to the boat for the evening. Is your stomach holding up okay? If you need to get antisickness pills, we can do that when we’re back on shore.”
She nodded. Her nausea hadn’t kicked in yet, but this might be the opportunity for her to slip away and make a covert phone call. She’d given up on finding her cell phone.
He checked some charts, looked at the electronic gizmos in the cabin, and returned to peer at the sky again. “The forecast is for a slow-moving weather front from the west. It should stay dry tonight, but we can expect rain tomorrow and the wind to get up. I’ll find somewhere sheltered, for us to dock tonight.”
He fired up the engine, and the little boat cruised back to the shore, heading for the harbour again. It was late afternoon, and there were children playing on the sand, a brightly coloured Frisbee flying back and forth with a dog bounding in pursuit. Schools must have finished for the day. The Shogun was parked further up the road, outside the pub.
There would be little chance of her eluding him over that short distance. She’d have to remind him to stop at a drugstore and then take whatever opportunity she could.
She clung to the bench as they bounced through the choppy water close to the harbour and pulled up next to the wall. An amused smile on his face, Yanni guided her onto the ladder and she hauled herself back onto dry land. Her knees felt strangely wobbly when she stood, and Yanni laughed at her perplexed expression.
“Have you never heard of sea-legs? You’ll be fine in a few minutes.”
He spoke to the young lad on the dock, handed over money, then took Maria’s hand and strolled along the waterfront with her. His pace was slow, as though they had all the time in the world. Easing a fraction closer, he smiled down at her. “We’re pretending to be a happy couple on holiday. You never know who might be watching.”
“Really?” She said. “In your dreams, buddy,” and then laughed at his bemused expression.
Twenty yards away from the Shogun, he paused, and dug into his pocket. “Wait just a minute.”
Maria stood, mute, while he chattered into the phone as though holding a normal conversation, but with his sharp gaze casting around the nearby people. Did something spook him?
While still talking—mostly yes and no—he slipped his free arm through hers and steered her away from the car. A few yards further on, they paused outside a busy café, as though examining the menu in the window.
Yanni tucked his phone away. “I’m not sure,” he said, “but I think we might have company.” He pointed at the menu. Anyone passing by would think they were tourists.
Her heart juddered. Last time they had company, they had to run for their lives. “Do we go back to the boat?” Her voice came out as a scared whisper.
“We’ll loop back toward the car, and keep a watch for anyone who doesn’t look as though they should be here.”
They strolled to the Shogun from the other si
de of the car park.
Maria was hyper-sensitive of how tense Yanni was.
“Shit.” He grabbed her hand. “Come on.” He set off at a run, while tugging a sidearm from his pocket.
Somehow, he pushed her in front of him while charging full tilt toward the boat again.
Bang.
Holidaymakers scattered. Someone screamed.
Another bang.
A nearby car window dissolved into shards of glass.
Yanni swore under his breath and shoved Maria so hard, she stumbled. Something cracked into her head. And all was blackness.
*
Juli and Aiden set off for the village where Yanni’s Shogun had been traced to. Aiden was busy on his phone the entire journey, liaising with the police and his team, who were already at the scene. The Shogun had been searched but gave up no clues, so it would be monitored from a safe distance.
Aiden led Juli to a large, anonymous panel van, parked nearby. Inside, it was crammed with technology. Screens and computers jostled for space, and Juli looked around, stunned. Aiden introduced the two guys inside the van as Davey and Neil, and Davey showed Juli how the setup worked. Four hidden cameras pointed in different directions, with one of them focused on Yanni’s car.
“It feels like I’ve stepped into the TARDIS,” she joked. “From the outside, you look like a standard work van, but inside, it’s like NASA Command Central.”
Aiden looked amused briefly, but then moved away to take another phone call. Neil pulled out a stool for Juli and suggested she sit while they waited. That was all they could do. Wait.
They catalogued every movement outside. Everybody that walked or drove past, from the young woman with two babies in a pram, to the guy sitting on the ground next to his motorbike. He had a spanner in one hand, and it looked as though he was adjusting his brakes.
So quiet. So normal.
A cluster of pre-teens clattered past them, talking in high voices, one boy bouncing a football. School must have just let out. The group was followed by another, and then more. Suddenly the car park was busy. Juli and Aiden took a monitor each, so that each camera was covered.
“If he’s coming back anytime soon, he’ll likely come now, while it’s busy,” said one of the guys. Juli didn’t see who.
“Result.” Davey jabbed at his screen, and Juli followed the others as they clustered around.
There was Yanni—walking lazily down the street, hand-in-hand with Maria. They looked relaxed and comfortable together, and were heading toward the car park.
Was this for real? Or a lack-of-caffeine-induced dream? Juli rubbed her eyes, but the image stayed the same. Maria gave Yanni the side-eye at something he said, and then she laughed.
She wasn’t a hostage. She was fine. Safe. The relief was overwhelming. Juli stepped away from the screen and leaned against a rack of shelving. She needed to process this.
Meanwhile, Aiden rapped out a series of commands into a handheld radio.
Was he talking to the police? She listened closer.
“Take up positions on the surrounding roads in case he tries to drive away. Our primary goal is to retrieve the hostage. He may be armed.”
Juli saw movement in her peripheral vision. She glanced to the right, to the screen she’d been monitoring while they waited for Yanni to appear.
The leather-clad biker stood and tugged a weapon from his backpack.
—the fuck?
“No.” Juli gasped the word. “Look.”
The men swung around in time to see the biker levelling the gun in Yanni’s direction.
The bang was loud.
Somebody swore.
“Take cover. We have an unknown male firing a weapon the edge of the car park. Can anyone get behind him?”
The people outside scattered. There was a scream. Another bang.
“Go. Go. Go,” Aiden shouted. Davey and Neil erupted from the van, pistols in their hands.
Juli searched the screens for Maria. There she was, Yanni behind her, also with a gun in his hand.
A heartbeat later, Maria lay on the ground. Had she been shot?
Juli couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t see any blood, but that didn’t mean anything.
Yanni scooped up Maria, tossed her over his shoulder, and jumped off the edge of the harbour. Did he have a boat waiting for him?
Before Davey or Neil could get there, a small boat sped away from the harbour with two people visible inside it.
They were gone.
Juli clutched at the shelves with both hands. They were the only things keeping her upright.
“Fuck,” Aiden snarled at the bank of monitors. “The fucking biker’s gone. And there were no plates on the bike.”
“What about Maria?” she asked Aiden. “I saw her fall. What if she was hit?”
“We have to hope she wasn’t.” He returned his focus to the screens and his radio, as he gave constant updates to the police.
Davey and Neil soon returned, their weapons concealed. They confirmed the biker had ridden away at top speed. In the confusion, nobody saw which way he went, and it wasn’t clear when they reviewed the footage. He’d accelerated away from the car park, but then his direction was blocked by the incoming swarm of police running toward Yanni and Maria.
Aiden phoned Jack, then Tanner, but there was no answer from either. He left voicemails, asking them to call urgently.
Juli met his worried gaze. They must be busy at Gloria’s if they were both unable to pick up their phones.
With the van doors closed again, Aiden and his two colleagues debated the options.
Juli couldn’t sit quietly any longer, “How did the biker know Yanni was here? We only know because of the police.”
Aiden looked at her, his jawline tight. “What would that suggest to you?” He sounded pissed off.
It could only mean one thing. “That he has a contact in the police?” Her voice rose in disbelief.
Running a hand through his hair, Aiden nodded. “Looks that way. And this presents a number of problems.”
“You don’t know who can be trusted?”
He nodded again. “And don’t forget the big one. Someone is out to kill Yanni, and now Maria is in the firing line too.”
*
Jack stood his ground. He hated the look of fear on Sapphire’s face. “Okay,” he said. “You wanna talk to me about something, but you’re not gonna shoot Sapphire. Not with the money she makes you.”
An ugly-faced mountain of a man stepped into view. One hand held Sapphire’s wrist behind her back, the other continued to point the gun at her. “Would you really stand by and watch me shoot her? Just enough to hurt her. Really hurt her.” The voice was low and gravelly with a now-familiar east European accent. This looked like another of the Russian weightlifters.
The hostess stood beside Jack in the narrow hallway. Unarmed, he hoped. And to his knowledge, there was nobody immediately behind them. Sapphire and at least one hostile blocked the front. His sole weapon was the stolen balisong in his pocket.
The weightlifter pushed the gun barrel into the delicate flesh of Sapphire’s throat, and she whimpered, her gaze fixed on Jack. Her eyes widened. She was looking behind him. A heavy footstep to the rear signalled more muscle. Fuck.
He stepped to the side, and pressed his back against the wall. “Tell me what you want.” He kept his voice bland.
The first guy stared at him through narrowing eyes. “A little chat. Please come in.”
“Nah. I’ll stay here. Thanks. What do you wanna talk about?”
The new guy moved to Jack’s side, a pistol in his hand, pointing at Jack’s chest. “We’re looking for Alain Auberge.”
“Who?”
The first guy nodded to the second one, who grabbed Jack, pinned his arms to his sides, and barged him through the open door. There was little Jack could do to stop him. He was released as abruptly as he’d been taken, and the door slammed shut.
The situation had moved from bad to worse
.
Guy One pushed Sapphire away. She stumbled forward and huddled on the bed, feet tucked beneath her and head bowed.
Now both guns were pointing at Jack’s chest, not a position he liked to be in.
He raised his hands and opened the fingers, to show he didn’t hold anything. “I don’t know who you’re talking about.”
Guy Two picked up the conversational baton. “Alain Auberge. He was asking about Irina Bozcek, and so were you. We know you’re protecting him. And you know where we can find him.”
There wasn’t much Jack could tell them. He glanced down at Sapphire. “Are you okay, honey?”
She gave a tiny nod, and Jack looked back at Guy One. “Why do you want him?” he asked.
“How much has he paid you?”
The question took Jack by surprise. “I still don’t know who you’re talking about.” He had to disable at least one of these goliaths, without Sapphire getting caught up in the struggle. His best bet was to stall and hope that Tanner would come looking for him.
Guy Two grunted and moved towards Sapphire. He snatched her hair and yanked her to the floor. She squealed, sprawling on the filthy carpet by the guy’s feet.
“Where is Alain Auberge?” Guy One repeated the question.
“I don’t know—”
“Where?” he yelled, stamping on Sapphire’s outstretched hand.
Jack couldn’t miss the crunch of delicate bones. Her scream of pain was sickening.
“Stop. Leave her alone,” he said.
Guy Two ignored Jack. He moved Sapphire’s other arm so her good hand lay in front of him.
Her tears and cries cut through Jack like a knife. He couldn’t let this continue. “I said stop. Let her go, and then I’ll talk.”
They stood in a tense standoff for a few moments, before Sapphire was released. She scrambled back to the bed and bent over, nursing her broken hand.
Jack was going to make them pay for that. He gritted his teeth. “Tell me why you want Alain Auberge, and I’ll tell you what I know.” Deep in his pocket, his phone vibrated. Probably Tanner.
Guy Two stretched out toward Sapphire again and closed one massive fist around her hair.
