I snarled, drew my gun and fired through the window. My first shot shattered the glass and made the thug spin around. My second caught him right between the eyes.
I lunged at the door and put my hand through the window, searching for an emergency button to stop the train, but then I heard the brakes hiss on—the driver must have heard the shots. I found the door release and jumped aboard before the train had stopped moving. Gabriella was hunched in the far doorway, her hands to her face, shying away from the body. I grabbed her and pulled up her sweater, checking her stomach.
Smooth, creamy skin. No wound.
I pulled her into my arms and hugged her closer than ever before.
I could hear panicked shouts and the hiss and crackle of radios—armed guards would be coming and the cops, too. We had to move...but I couldn’t let her go, yet. My whole body was locked up tight with fear, my heart crushed as if by a fist. I almost lost her!
I brought my lips down on hers and it was like coming home. That softness, that strawberry scent in her hair. My arms tightened around her waist, locking her in tight. Anyone who wanted her was going to have to tear her from my arms. Both of us let out a choked moan of relief.
I lifted her and carried her off the train in my arms. Station guards were running towards us, but they backed off when they saw the expression on my face. I marched straight to the nearest exit and then into the streets, plunging into the back alleys to lose anyone following us. Only when I was sure we were safe did I put her down.
Or try to. She wouldn’t let go. She clung to me and put her mouth to my ear. “Tell me it’s over!” she begged. “Tell me you won’t go to Russia, now. Tell me you’ll stay with me!”
I opened my mouth to tell her yes—
But I couldn’t do it.
She’d known that would be the answer. Her body went tense against mine, her arms clutching me even harder. “Please!”
I shook my head in despair. I didn’t want to ever let go of her again. But....
I explained it the only way I could. “Lizaveta is eight years old.”
She sniffed and I felt that her cheeks were wet with tears. I felt my heart tearing in two....
But then she nodded and drew back so that she could look at me.
“Okay then,” she said, her voice husky. “Okay. Then we do it. We try to save them. Together.”
I stared at her. This incredible woman had amazed me yet again.
“But you promise me,” she said. “You fucking promise me: if we save them, you leave. You’re out. Forever.”
I looked at her for a long time. The Bratva ran through my veins....
But she owned my soul.
I nodded. “I promise,” I said, my voice thick with emotion.
She clutched me close again. “Then let’s go to Russia.”
Gabriella
We knew the FSB was looking for us. No way could we get through Russian immigration with our real passports. It seemed impossible.
Then I remembered Lilywhite.
I dispensed with the normal chatroom and just called her and explained what we’d found out. “Is there any way that—”
“Two fake passports?” she asked. “Russian for him, American for you? New identities and all hooked up in the immigration databases in Russia and America?”
“Yes,” I squeaked, realizing what a ridiculous request it was.
“Piece of cake.” I heard her rub her hands together. “It’ll be just like old times.”
I realized there was a lot I didn’t know about Lilywhite.
“Give me a headshot of each of you,” she said.
I got my phone out and took the photos. Moments later, they were sliding out of her printer.
“Well, damn,” I heard her mutter. “Now I see why you fell for him.”
I blushed...but, despite everything, I smiled. “We have to get a flight to Moscow this evening,” I said, “Luka and his family start their vacation tomorrow.”
“It’ll be too late for a courier,” Lilywhite said.
My heart sank.
“So I’ll fly out and meet you at the airport.”
My jaw dropped. “You’d...do that?” None of the Sisters of Invidia had ever met. Until she’d seen my photo just now, none of us had even known what the other ones looked like. Anonymity was part of our security.
“For you? You’re damn right I would. You’re the closest thing I have to a friend.”
I got an unexpected lump in my throat. “Thank you, um…Lilywhite.”
“Lily,” she said quietly. “Just Lily. I’ll see you soon.” Just as she hung up the phone, I heard her yell, “Bull! Pack a bag!”
Bull? Must be a nickname.
***
We had to go shopping, keeping a watchful eye out for Nikolai’s men. This time, we didn’t make the mistake of keeping the same car too long, boosting one from a long-stay parking lot where it wouldn’t be missed for a while.
I expected the shopping mall to trigger me. But I found that, as long as I pressed close to Alexei, I didn’t slide into the past. Something had changed, that morning. We’d been together...but now we were inseparable. If we came through this, we were together forever—I knew it like I knew my own name.
He never left my side, which was exactly what I needed. He even came into the changing room with me, despite the shocked protests of the sales clerks, and stood watching me undress and then dress again in the tiny space. I didn’t complain—after everything I’d been through, the closeness felt wonderful.
We bought travelling clothes for both of us. I wanted to go with another pair of jeans, but Alexei shook his head. “Skirt,” he told me. “Short skirt.”
“In November?”
“Skirt,” he said firmly, and refused to explain further. Well, fine. It was a small sacrifice—we were going to be on a plane anyway so it shouldn’t be crazy-cold. I found a loose, short black skirt and bought a pair of thick nylons—Alexei threw an extra pair in, as well, which confused me. I added a bottle-green ribbed sweater and new underwear, then a bag to put it all in.
Next, Alexei took me to an outdoors store to buy what he called “practical” clothes—boots and warm, waterproof layers. I looked down at myself, dressed all in black. The clothes were the closest to combat fatigues that Alexei could find. It brought home to me that we really were going into action.
The last thing Alexei did, just before we arrived at the airport, was to dump his guns. We had no way to get them past the metal detectors so it was the only way, but I could see the worry on his face as he did it. We’d be going in completely defenseless. We’d just have to hope that we could get close to Luka and warn him before Seventeen showed up.
Minutes before check-in for our flight closed, a gorgeous woman with long dark hair ran up to me. She looked vaguely Italian, and not at all how I’d pictured Lilywhite. “Lily?” I asked in astonishment.
She thrust two passports into my hands. “You’re all set.”
A man jogged up behind her. A huge man. Alexei-big, but with a very different look—All-American, with soft brown hair and the big brown eyes to match...and a cowboy hat on his head.
“Thank you,” I said. “I mean, I don’t know how—”
“What are friends for?” Lily squeezed my shoulder.
“Yeah, but—We’ve never even met. I didn’t think that—”
Lily glanced over her shoulder at Bull. “It’s been brought home to me that maybe life online ain’t all that,” she said. “You get home safe and we’ll have a proper meet up. You, me and Yolanda.”
I nodded. “I’d like that.”
She gripped my shoulder. “Listen...you see Luka, you tell him I said hi, okay?”
I blinked. “You know Luka?”
She nodded at the passports. “He was a client, back when...well, back when I used to do more of these. I wanted to call him, to plead your case, but I don’t have a way to contact him—everything was always one way, him to me, for security.”
I nodded. “You’ve done more than enough.” I looked over her shoulder to where Bull was standing. He and Alexei were eying each other as if unsure of what to say. They settled for a respectful nod. Then Alexei turned and looked at me and I drew in my breath—even now, that smoldering, ice-fire look was enough to make me weak.
Lily saw it. “You’re in as deep as I was,” she muttered. She gave me a squeeze and then slapped me on the ass, pushing me towards the check-in desk.
***
It was an overnight flight and most people slept. An hour into the flight, with most of the cabin gently dozing around us, Alexei nudged me and jerked his head towards the back of the plane. He must want to discuss the plan, I thought. I unbuckled my seatbelt and followed him all the way to the back.
To my surprise, he checked around for cabin crew and then opened the door to one of the toilets and nodded me inside. Did we have to be that careful? Couldn’t we just whisper? But I slipped inside and waited until he’d joined me and closed the door.
“What?” I asked. “Did something happen? Do you think Seventeen knows we’re coming? Could he—”
I was silenced by Alexei pushing me back against the wall and kissing me hard. His lips possessed mine, hard and hungry, his mouth forcing my head back and my mouth open, his tongue pressing my lips apart. My breasts crushed against his chest and the feel of him, the hardness of him, set up an immediate response in my body, a low throbbing that went straight down to my groin.
“Oh,” I managed when we came up for air.
Lust made his accent even stronger. “We’ve had no time, since I got you back from that bastard.” His hand slid up under my sweater, his palm caressing my bare skin. “I need you.”
And then I realized why I was wearing a skirt.
He lifted me under the arms and perched me on the sink. He swept my new green sweater up my body, bunching it under my arms, and then flipped up the cups of my bra. I groaned as he pushed between my legs and took a breast in his mouth, tongue lapping at the nipple. I buried my fingers in his hair, twisting them into his dark locks, and tried not to think about what might be going on outside. I’d never done anything remotely like this. Did someone see us go in here? Did one of the cabin crew see?
His hands worked their way down my naked back and over my ass. Then he jerked my legs apart. Is someone about to knock on the door?
I wasn’t sure how he was going to manage the nylons. Then he simply pushed his thumb through the thin material at my groin, making a hole. I remembered him throwing in a second pair when we’d been shopping. My man was nothing if not practical.
An instant later, he had my panties pushed to the side. I stiffened as his fingers entered me, finding me warm and wet. He opened his pants and rolled a condom onto his cock—God, he was already hard, he’d been thinking about this for hours. He positioned himself for entry and I glanced once more at the door. Wait—did he lock it?
And then he slid into me and I stopped caring about getting caught…or anything else. I let out a long, low cry, much louder than I’d intended to, as he pushed all the way up into me. Immediately, his palm pressed over my mouth. I looked up into his eyes and he was smirking at me.
He started to thrust and I rocked against him, wedged between his huge body and the wall. The movement was slow and silky smooth—perfection. The heat of him throbbed inside me, adding to my own rising lust, and my legs came up to wrap around him. My hands grabbed for his ass, then slid up his back to cling to his shoulders. His thrusts got harder and the pleasure expanded, a liquid-hot core wrapped around silver and satin, so good I was glad of the hand over my mouth because I wanted to scream. We were so tightly wedged that there was almost no noise—just our quiet breathing and the sound of his hardness pumping into me.
I felt myself ratcheting higher and higher, my groin twisting and jerking towards him as I climbed. He shoved one hand between us and palmed my spit-wet breast and that made it even better, a slow circling that joined to the main spiral of pleasure. Alexei’s thrusts were getting faster and faster, hammering into me, and as we both reached our peak he leaned in to whisper in my ear. “Kogda eto budet sdelano , i vy zhivete so mnoy, ya sobirayus' yebat' vas kazhdyy moment, my poluchayem.”
I had no idea what it meant, but the lust in his voice was all I needed to hear. I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him in close as I shuddered and rocked through a silent climax, and heard him groan low in his throat as he did the same.
When we emerged, the cabin was still in semi-darkness—I’d had visions of everyone wide awake and turning around to applaud. Back at our seats, I whispered to him, “What did you say to me?”
He put a finger on my cheek and turned my head so that I was looking into his eyes. “When this is done and you live with me,” he said, “I'm going to fuck you every moment we get.”
I felt myself flush, but I cuddled in to his chest. It might not have been the most romantic speech ever, but it sounded really, really good.
Alexei
We hired a car at the airport, making sure to get something with four wheel drive. It looked dry outside but bitterly cold and we changed into our hiking gear in the airport toilets. God, Gabriella looked fantastic even in the unisex baggy pants and jacket.
We bought road snacks and coffee to keep us going, with me helping Gabriella with the unfamiliar Russian candy labels. Thanks to the time difference, it was mid-afternoon. It would take two hours to get to Luka’s holiday home. As we drove along the highway, I saw Gabriella staring out of the window. “I never thought I’d see this,” she said after a while.
“Moscow? Russia?”
“Another country,” she said in a small voice.
“You okay?” I asked, running my fingers through her hair.
She turned to me, took a deep breath and nodded. “As long as I’m with you.” She turned back to the window.
As we drove out of Moscow, heading north-east, the city gave way to towns and then villages and then finally just trees. The roads changed from asphalt to dirt and soon become little more than logging tracks, pitted with tire marks and potholes.
Luckily, I’d been to the Malakov holiday home once before, when I’d stood in as one of Luka’s bodyguards, and I remembered the route, and that they usually arrived late afternoon. I just hoped that we would get there before them.
For the last hour, we barely saw anyone at all and the vehicles we did pass were logging trucks. The forest closed around us, a green canopy that almost shut out the sky.
At last, we came to the private road I remembered. We dumped the car out of sight and we went the rest of the way on foot, with me giving Gabriella a crash course in how to move quietly.
We found the checkpoint where Luka’s car would wait for a moment before entering the compound. Beyond the gate, a winding road led up to the luxurious, chalet-style house complex, while smaller roads led to the guards’ and servants’ quarters. We crouched down in the trees to wait.
In some ways, it was just like being on a job. I’d been in this position many times, sitting waiting for a car to drive up before quickly taking out the driver and his passenger. But now everything was backwards: I was the one trying to stop the killing and it was my own people who’d be trying to shoot me. I glanced to my side. And the most important difference of all: I wasn’t out there on my own, with only me to worry about. I had Gabriella and that was wonderful and terrifying all at the same time.
Within a few minutes, the SUV arrived. I recognized Yuri at the wheel, Luka’s ever-reliable driver and head bodyguard. Luka himself and his girlfriend, Arianna, would be in the back, hidden behind tinted glass. I held my breath....
...and stepped out into view, hands above my head. “Don’t shoot!” I yelled in Russian.
Yuri had his window down, talking to the two guards at the checkpoint. As soon as he saw movement out of the corner of his eye, he slammed the SUV into reverse and tore off backwards down the track, then swung it around in a one-eighty, ready
to drive off. The two guards had sub-machine guns and both of them were suddenly pointed right at me.
I fell to my knees and put my hands behind my head. “Don’t shoot!” I repeated.
The guards’ radios blared—Yuri, asking what was happening. One of them told him that they had the situation under control. A little way down the track, the SUV stayed where it was...but Yuri kept the engine running.
“Tell him it’s Alexei Borinskov,” I said. The ground was frozen almost solid beneath my knees, the cold soaking through my clothes. “I just want to talk. Tell Yuri I have information—an attempt on Luka’s life.”
One of the guards must have called for backup, because more guards arrived, Soon, there were five of them, all pointing their guns at me. Some of them started cautiously hunting through the bushes, looking for my accomplices. Any second now, they’d find Gabriella. “Please,” I said. “I just want to talk.”
There was a moment of silence. Then the SUV slowly turned around and drove back up to the checkpoint. Yuri got out first, gun pointed at me the whole time. He opened the rear door and Luka climbed out.
It had been a while—I’d forgotten just how big Luka was, one of the few men who can look me right in the eye. Glossy black hair not so different to my own and his usual immaculate suit, together with a long gray overcoat to ward off the cold. Beside him, Arianna, his girlfriend—small and slight—attractive, in her way, but she didn’t have Gabriella’s incredible, soft femininity. Supposedly, she used to be CIA.
“Alexei,” said Luka. And immediately, I knew this had been a mistake. His voice cut right to my soul like a whip soaked in ice water. He almost spat my name. “Nikolai has told me everything.”
I shook my head, but he didn’t give me a chance to speak.
“You betrayed him...and so you betrayed me. You betrayed our whole family, Alexei.”
I swallowed. “No—”
“Nikolai says you’ve shot or injured several of our people. That you went to see Konstantin, to cut some sort of a deal with him, maybe selling our secrets—”
Kissing My Killer Page 24