The Vanishing Angle

by Linda Ladd

  “What’s Petrov’s first name, Irina?” Novak asked her.

  “Vasily. He’s a horrible man. I’m scared of him.”

  “How long has he worked for your father?”

  “He came around five years ago, I guess. I hate him, too. Daddy thinks he hung the moon, but his eyes just pin me to the wall sometimes. Anyway, once they take off, I can drive over and meet you, and then Justin and me can run away as soon as he gets to feeling better. I’ve saved up lots of money, and I stole some of Daddy’s credit cards that he doesn’t know about. We can make it to Mexico, if you’ll just protect us for a little while, just until we get away. We’ve got passports. Our plan is to get married and sail down to Australia on a big cruise ship. He’ll never find us there.”

  “He’s forcing her…drugs,” Justin muttered, shifting his body and groaning with the effort. “She’s trying to clean up. He won’t…take her to rehab.”

  Irina couldn’t look at them. “Last night? After they took you away? They held me down and shot me up. Daddy says he owns me and that I’m his, and I’ll always be his. He does own me. Don’t you see?”

  “He can’t own you,” Lori said. “Nobody can own anybody in this country.”

  “He bought her…when she was six.” Justin wheezed and groaned, but that was all he got out.

  Lori didn’t buy it. “No way. That can’t be true.”

  “It’s true! He told me!” Irina pushed herself up and started pacing back and forth. She was wringing her hands. “He told me I came from a family in Moscow, and I sort of remember my mother’s face and that she worked in this big house, I think. My real father was a soldier or something, but he wasn’t around so I don’t remember him. It’s all real fuzzy. Daddy says he was there on a diplomatic trip, and my mother was a beggar out on the street. He said she offered to sell me to him, that she didn’t want me anymore, and that she had too many mouths to feed, but I don’t remember any of that so he’s lying.” Her face crumpled, and more tears came. “He said he’d always wanted a little girl like me to take care of. Yeah, he takes care of me, all right.”

  “That story sounds fabricated in order to keep you indebted to him,” Lori told her. “Your own memories are the truth.”

  “Taking an adopted child out of a country requires a lot of red tape and is against the law, here and in Russia, I suspect. He’d also need a legit passport to get you out. The whole story sounds like his attempt to make you grateful. Did he mention how he managed to smuggle you through Russian customs and into the United States?”

  “It could’ve happened, Lori,” Novak told her. “Maybe not now, but back then. He was already a Senator by then. He could have pulled strings or paid off immigration officials to get her out. Maybe this Petrov guy helped him. Maybe they’ve known each other for a long time.”

  “Is he really molesting you?” Lori asked bluntly.

  Irina’s face flushed as she raised her chin. “Ever since he got me. He did things. The worst started happening when I was almost thirteen. Usually now it’s when I’m so high that I can’t fight him off.”

  “He’s a bastard,” Justin muttered, licking swollen lips.

  Irina sat down on the floor and took Justin’s hand. “I thought I could get away this time, but he found out. He always finds out. When he threatened to kill Justin, I couldn’t bring myself to leave. Then I found out I was pregnant, so we had to get married, but Daddy went crazy. I didn’t think he would. I thought he’d want me to get married to Justin to keep people from talking about me. But he just wanted to kill whoever had done it, and made me point him out. I’m sorry, Mr. Novak, that I chose you. I got you into trouble, but I didn’t mean to.”

  Lori was angry. “They could have shot Novak outside that steakhouse, Irina, and asked questions later. What in God’s name were you thinking?”

  “How long have you been addicted to heroin? It is heroin, right?” Novak asked Irina.

  “Since he started making me sleep in his bed. Pills, too, but I need the heroin more.”

  “Do you take anything else? What kind of pills?”

  She looked away. “You know—opioids, hydrocodone, oxy, weed, too, sometimes. When I’m really strung out and need something, I let him give me whatever he wants to.”

  Novak had heard enough. “Don’t ever go back to that farm, or you’re going to end up dead. You need to get as far away from him as you can. Let’s get you into a rehab center in another state.”

  “He’ll never let me go. Not as long as I’m in this country. He’s got ways to find me. People who work for him, Mr. Novak, real horrible people.”

  “Does he deal drugs? Run them, maybe? How’s it work?”

  “I’m sure he doesn’t do it himself. He hires people for everything. Especially Vasily. He’s the creepiest man I know.”

  “Why?”

  “Because he’s always trying to scare me to death. He’s got these special gloves he likes to put on when he beats people up. He told me that’s what they were for. He said it protects his hands. He told me he’s got a special icepick, and he was going to find Justin and gouge out his eye with it. Then he’d beat him to death, and it would be my fault for messing around and being a slut. I’m not a slut. I love Justin.”

  Novak was ready to get them out of that hotel room. He tried one more time to make the girl listen to reason. “Irina, you need to get as far away from here as you can. You and Justin both. Petrov is going to kill you before this is over. Go with Lori and Justin. I’ll stay here and stir up trouble for them to deal with.”

  Lori was quick to nix that idea. “Whoa, Novak. I’m not leaving you here.”

  “I told you, Mr. Novak. I’ve got to go back to the farm today. If I don’t, they’ll find us and kill Justin, and you, too, probably. They really will. They’ll find us here eventually.”

  Novak believed her, all right. “Okay, we’ll get him out of here. Can you get away later? You’re sure?”

  “Take Justin somewhere far away. Maybe down to Richmond. I can sneak out later. I do it all the time.”

  “What if you can’t?”

  Irina smiled, but it wasn’t anywhere close to happy. “I’ve survived in that house ever since I was six. He loves me in his own nasty, perverted way, I guess.” She looked away from their concerned faces. “I just need to steal a big stash before I go so I can ease off the stuff gradually. I can do it myself. Justin says he’ll help me clean up.”

  “Justin’s not going to be able to do anything for a very long time.”

  “I’ll meet up with you wherever you take him. Find a hospital somewhere not too far from here, but not too close, either. Please go now, I know how Daddy works. I can get away again, I’ve done it lots of times, but if I don’t go home right now, he’ll go into a rage, and things’ll go bad for me.”

  “How long did you say Petrov worked with your father?”

  “For years. Five, maybe. He’s his personal bodyguard…or that’s what he says. How do you know him?”

  “That doesn’t matter.”

  “He’s like a devil, isn’t he?”

  “Pretty much.”

  Novak thought it was interesting that Petrov felt secure enough working with Blackwood to use his own name. He was wanted here in the U.S. He seemed pretty comfortable hooking up with a former Senator.

  “I don’t like leaving you here,” Novak said to Irina.

  “I sneak out all the time. He’ll think I’m so scared now after the beating he gave me last night. He usually doesn’t knock me around this bad, just locks me in my room and lets me get strung out. He’s mad because I brought you into this. He thinks you’ll cause trouble, I heard him saying that to Vasily. I heard them say they need to get rid of you, so you need to find a safe place, too, Mr. Novak.”

  “We need to get out of here now,” Lori said, walking to the window and looking down at the pa
rking lot.

  “I’ve played Daddy like this for years, Mr. Novak. If it weren’t for the drugs, I’d have escaped a long time ago. That’s why Justin was helping me. I can’t do it by myself. I can’t do anything without the drugs.”

  “How old are you, Irina?”

  “I’ll be seventeen in three months.”

  “That’s still underage. I assume he legally adopted you at some point.”

  “He says it’s legal. He says he’s in love with me and that it’s okay, you know, what we do, because I’m adopted and not a blood relative.”

  “Oh, God, this just keeps getting worse.” Lori’s face reflected her disgust.

  “Okay, we need to go right now. We’ll take Justin somewhere safe and let you know where later. Can you give us a number that Blackwood doesn’t know about?”

  “I use burners all the time. Oh, and I’ve got some of your things. I figured you’d want them back. I got them before I went out to look for Justin.”

  She walked across the floor and opened a desk drawer. She pulled out his cellphone and his Kimber. He was glad to see that gun, especially now that he knew Vasily Petrov might be coming after him. “Lori, go down and bring the car around the back entrance. I’ll bring Justin out that way.”

  Lori didn’t hesitate as she headed for the elevator. Novak turned back to Irina one last time. She was punching a number into his cellphone. “Don’t ever call me. Leave a text, and I’ll call you back.”

  “You sure you’ll be all right?”

  “Yes. He always catches me and punishes me, but then he relents. He will this time, too. Trust me. I know him better than anybody.”

  “Okay, but I don’t like it.”

  “Wait, Daddy gave me some morphine last night because he felt bad after he beat me up. I need to give Justin some more before you move him.”

  Novak stood and watched her inject her boyfriend with an expertise that showed lots of practice. Justin tried to sit up, groaned, and lay back down. His pain had to be excruciating. The worst foreboding Novak had felt in a long time gripped him as he watched Irina lean down and kiss the boy gently on his battered cheek. Novak would help them, but he feared they were both going to end up dead, and sooner rather than later.

  Chapter 5

  Justin Dalton was only sixteen years old and looked like a brainy computer nerd. He was neither big nor tall, and had picked the wrong girl to love. After the morphine injection, the boy put on a brave front, assuring Irina he would be okay as he placed a pair of wire-rimmed glasses atop his broken nose. One of his arms was also broken, cradled in a makeshift sling made out of a pink scarf. With his naked eye Novak could see the break where it was pushing against the skin of his forearm. He rewrapped the scarf to bind that arm tightly to Justin’s chest. Any movement of that limb would be excruciating. Justin knew that, too, because he clamped his teeth together and nodded that he was ready.

  Novak knew it was impossible not to hurt this kid when he moved him. He’d had too many injuries and broken bones himself. He lifted the boy off the couch as gently as he could, but it didn’t matter. Justin screamed with pain, and came close to passing out. The morphine had not taken full effect, and he never stopped groaning. Novak suspected he had multiple cracked ribs, and that intensified Novak’s concerns about internal bleeding. Moving him without a backboard was dangerous, as evidenced by the blood at the corner of his mouth. If the boy lived through a beating this severe, Novak would be shocked. Petrov and his men had basically taken their time and beaten him to near death. Fortunately, the kid blacked out before Novak got him to the elevator.

  “Don’t take him anywhere around here, please. Daddy’s got people everywhere. You need to take him down as far as Richmond, at least. It’s less than an hour if you take I-95 South. He should be safe there, don’t you think? Go to the VCU Medical Center on East Marshall. It’s easy to find, okay? That’s where I found out I was having my baby. Please, just be careful, okay?”

  Irina was crying the whole time she told him all that. She followed them to the door, waving goodbye, sobbing as the elevator doors slid together and blocked her from Novak’s view.

  Lori was already out at the curb with the Jeep. She jumped out of the driver’s seat when she saw Novak, and hurried around to open the back door. Novak settled the boy on his back as best he could. He hoped Justin remained unconscious for the duration of the trip. He shut the door and glanced around looking for Petrov, but didn’t see him or anyone else. Again, the whole area seemed deserted, but that was good. He climbed into the passenger seat, and Lori took off.

  “He’s really bad off. I hope we get him to the hospital in time.”

  Lori nodded and turned on the blinker. “Did she say where to take him?”

  “Yeah. VCU in Richmond. An hour or so away.”

  “God, I hope he makes it. She should have called an ambulance the minute she found him like this and had him medivacked somewhere else.”

  “She knew better. Those thugs would have shown back up before the ambulance did, bloody baseball bats in hand. Nobody would’ve lifted a finger to save him, not in any hospital with ties to the Senator. Looks to me like Blackwood owns everybody and everything in this part of Virginia, especially in that little make-believe town called Blackwood.”

  It didn’t take them long to reach the Interstate, and Novak breathed easier once they were headed south at a high speed, with no tails behind that he could see. There wasn’t much traffic this early, which was good. They had been lucky thus far, considering everything, and he hoped that held out. Novak had no doubt that Petrov had been the one who’d pummeled Justin and left him to die. Novak had seen Lori’s intelligence on some of the Russian operatives. Their reputation of brutal cruelty to prisoners in the Middle East was well known. They had beatings and torture down to an art.

  Obviously, Blackwood had no qualms about allowing Petrov do whatever he pleased, as long as his victim ended up in the ground. Anybody who dared cross the Senator was given over to his deadly henchman for a swift penalty, and Novak had to find a way to prove what they’d been doing. He settled back into the seat and tried to figure the best way to bring them down. Now that he’d learned more about Blackwood, he wanted to take him out. They needed to pay for what they done to those two kids. God only knew what else they’d done.

  Novak pulled out his cellphone and found a map of northern Virginia. They were moving farther away from his boat at the marina. That might complicate things, but he might have to leave it there for a while. Once Justin was safely under a doctor’s care in Richmond, maybe he and Lori could get a flight back to Washington. But no, that would leave the Jeep at the hospital, and he wasn’t about to leave Lori anywhere alone. He’d have to worry about logistics later. Right now, Justin was in a life or death situation and had to remain their primary concern. They were on their way, and if they continued to make good time, maybe the boy would make it, after all. Even a Senator couldn’t bribe everybody in a huge metropolitan hospital. That last shot of morphine was holding up so far. The boy hadn’t moved. Novak needed to come up with a story that would satisfy the ER personnel. He couldn’t tell them the truth.

  Behind him, Justin strangled and stirred, groaning, then settled back, his breath rasping. Novak spoke the exact coordinates for the hospital into the GPS system, and then turned around and watched the road behind them. Nobody was following them, not yet, but they would as soon as they found Irina and got the boy’s whereabouts out of her. She would tell them, but at awful expense to her body. They’d beat her even worse this time. She should never have returned to that farm. He should never have let her. After that, they’d come for them. Blackwood wanted this kid dead, and Petrov wouldn’t stop until he was. Novak had to think up a reason to have them put Justin in a protected room.

  In contrast to their dark task and the horribly beaten boy in the back seat, the autumn day was glorious, the sun high
in the sky, bright and shining, the air outside windy and cool. Both sides of the divided Interstate were beautiful with the fall colors, and even more vivid in the sunshine. Novak couldn’t dredge up much enthusiasm about scenery, or spending a romantic holiday alone with Lori, not anymore. He wanted this poor kid to survive and for Irina to get out of that hell house before she ended up dead, too. She was in a lot more danger than she knew. Willingly placing herself back under Blackwood’s control had been a stupid move. If she pushed him too far, Blackwood would get tired of it as well as her. That’s when he’d give the kill order and find another plaything to corrupt.

  Novak had seen plenty of young people destroy themselves on opioids, both while in the military and in civilian life. It was a scourge that needed to be eradicated. The last he’d heard, several hundred Americans died of heroin or opioid addiction each week. Even worse was the fentanyl, the synthetic poison being smuggled into the country and sometimes mixed into the heroin, causing overdoses. He’d watched helplessly while a young girl had died of an overdose on a New Orleans street only a few months ago. He had since started carrying the antidote, naloxone, in his backpack. He never wanted to see a young person perish in front of his eyes again. Irina just might be the one who needed it before her nightmare was over. Since Petrov was in the mix and Irina had been addicted, Novak believed the two men were into drugs somehow. He meant to find out.

  Apparently, Lori had been thinking along the same lines. “Irina is young and naïve; she’s underestimating what’s going on here. She may have gotten away with bad behavior when she was younger, but loving another man and getting pregnant by him could be the bitter end for her. It would be the worst possible offense to a man as possessive and egotistical as Blackwood.”

  “Charles Blackwood’s known for his pride and vanity. He sent men to murder Justin for loving her, and he almost got away with it. Her bringing me in was just a fluke that probably saved his life.”