by Sweet, Izzy
“Any chance we have Alexei in the vehicle?” I ask as I motion for Meghan to get up.
“Yes, confirmed from a quick traffic light camera shot before they got on the highway. Also, there is a good chance Meghan’s father is in the vehicle, but we can’t be sure.”
Grabbing my jeans and t-shirt off the floor, I say, “We’ll be out the door in two minutes.”
Dropping the phone to the bed, I quickly begin to pull my clothes on. “Get ready, baby. They got a location on Alexei.”
“Oh god, it’s starting up again, isn’t it?” Meghan asks as she stands up from the bed.
“No,” I say quietly to her. “It’s getting ready to end. I’m through fucking around with these guys.”
I watch as Meghan quickly yanks on a t-shirt and a pair of jeans. Since I talked her into using a hip holster for her gun when we go out in public she’s taken to wearing some of the tightest jeans I’ve seen on a woman.
Tight clothing is good on Meghan, very good.
Both of us race through the house, grabbing our gear from the kitchen as we go. I strap on my vest before I hop into the black Lexus with tinted windows, and we squeal out of the garage.
* * *
Connecting to Simon through the car’s phone system, I ask, “What’s the distance between Alexei and me?”
“Five miles, no traffic in-between,” Simon responds.
“Who’s all in this parade?” I ask.
“We’ve got Johnathan and Andrew a mile ahead of you. James is enroute, but at the present he’s fifteen miles out from the current target,” Simon says.
“What about Jude?” I ask.
“He’s on a different task. We’ve still got Alexei’s father to deal with,” he says.
“So, he’s guarding the guy’s incapacitated body?” I ask.
“Yes, even though we’re positive that the location is secure, we’re not taking any chances.”
“That’s so fucked,” Meghan mumbles as she looks over at me.
Shrugging my shoulders, I say, “It’s a good bargaining chip for us. We’ve not used it yet, and from what Simon says about the gas line explosion they caused, Alexei more than likely thinks that he was killed.”
“Agreed.” Lucifer comes on the line. “Although we’ll be letting that little secret out soon enough. I think if we’re careful and use it at the right moment, we’ll cause quite the shitstorm back in Russia.”
“Bringing the rest of the crew on comms, one moment,” Simon says.
While we’re waiting, I reach over to Meghan’s leg and squeeze her thigh. Taking my eyes off the road for a brief look, I see that her body is tight and tense. Her hands keep squeezing themselves. She’s as wound up as can be.
“Calm, Meghan. Take deep breaths,” I say as I squeeze her thigh again.
This time, though, my hand slides up close to the parting of her legs.
Looking down at my hand and then up to my eyes, she gives me a small laugh.
Then she whispers, “You’re thinking about that even now?”
“Yep.” I smirk at her before turning my eyes back to the road.
It’s a partial lie though. Sex is always going to be on my mind when I have her anywhere near me, but right now I’m thinking more about what I’m going to do when I get my hands around Alexei’s throat.
“On another note, I’ve spoken with the Italians. They’ve adamantly denied any and all actions against the Irish when the bombing happened. They’ve also requested a sit down with us to discuss the matter,” Simon says through the speakers,
Meghan freezes up beside me.
Turning my attention to her again, I see anger flash through her eyes.
Well shit. I was planning on talking to her about this, but hadn’t had the time or information to go further than my suspicions of what might have happened.
“What… what…” Meghan growls out.
“They weren’t in a position to do what they were accused of,” Simon says quickly, before he curses loudly. “Shit! The damn undercover officer is pulling the lead car over. Get moving now!”
“We’re about thirty seconds from them,” Andrew says through the speakers.
“All parties switch to ear comms,” Simon says, and the car suddenly falls silent.
Pushing the earbud deeper into my ear, I look over to Meghan as she does the same. Her expression is a mixture of shock and anger.
Fucking hell.
I’m going to fucking wrap my hands around Simon’s fucking neck and slam him into a fucking brick wall the next time I see his stupid fucking ass. I’ll have to shove my fucking boot so far up his ass, he can fucking feel it coming out of his big fucking ears.
“Meghan,” I say quietly, trying to get her attention.
Ignoring me, she starts fussing around with her gun holster.
Her hands are shaking horribly.
“Focus!” I shout at her as I watch her try to get her vest even tighter around her chest.
Her eyes snap over to me and for an instant I swear she would slide a knife right through my neck. She’s got a fire burning deeply in her eyes.
“Focus,” I say gently this time. “Focus on what’s going to happen now. Don’t think of anything past the next ten minutes.”
“Tell me what Simon’s talking about,” Meghan says, and from the tenseness in her voice, I know she won’t be dropping this.
“We were talking about the bombing and how it didn’t make sense to us… Especially since at the time of the bombing the Italians were weak on all fronts. They were dealing with a ton of shit out in Ohio as it was. None of us think it was them, so we’re looking into it,” I explain.
“But my father said it was them. Said it was a message from them,” she states to me.
I shrug my shoulders. “I don’t know, Meghan. I don’t think he’s right. Something else was going on.”
“What?” she asks, incredulous.
“Look, we’ll talk about this as soon as we can,” I say, then point up ahead to the highway.
The highway’s not too busy right now so we have the perfect view to see a swarm of cars pulled over on the side of the road. A police officer is facing the wrong way though, and he’s walking toward Andrew and Johnathan’s car with his hand on his pistol.
What the fuck?
“Simon, we have an issue,” Andrew says over the radio.
“Yeah, fucking cop is trying to tell us to go away,” Johnathan says.
“Shit. I’m getting a bad live feed from your vehicle’s cam,” Simon says.
Slowly pulling off to the side, behind our guy’s vehicles, I make sure to pull far enough over that I’m in the grass and able to get a better view of what’s happening.
“He’s radioing something in,” Andrew spits out.
“Motherfucking simple-minded fucks,” I spit out.
The chief of police exits his vehicle and starts walking over to us.
Fuck!
Hitting reverse, I slam on the gas while saying, “They’re going to bolt if we don’t get ahead of them.”
“Get around them and hold them there!” Simon hisses loudly in my earbud.
Meghan whimpers loudly as I tear back out of the grass and then shift into drive. Pushing the pedal down hard, I whip us around the cars in the back.
What a fucking mess this shit is. Everything’s going to going to hell in a handbasket.
Slamming on the brakes in front of the cars, I twist the wheel so that my car is almost fully sideways as we come to a stop to block them. Looking at the cars, I yank my door open and grab Meghan by the shoulder strap of her vest, pulling her along with me.
“What the fuck?” she yelps as she finally gets her body under control and exits the car through my door.
“Soon they’re going to know exactly who the fuck you are and I want a car between us if the bullets start flying,” I say as I yank the back door open and pull out my AR-15.
Switching the safety off the semi-auto machine gun, I resist
the urge to aim it at Alexei’s car and start pulling the trigger.
“Oh god, what the hell are we going—” Meghan says, worried, then suddenly falls silent as she motions to something behind me.
Turning to look around, I groan inwardly. Two fast approaching state police cars are heading our way with their lights flashing.
Then their sirens suddenly turn on.
“Fuck!” I yell loudly. “Simon, we’ve got two state police cars coming in hot.”
“Goddammit!” Simon snarls into the comms.
“Can you get rid of the extras, Simon?” Johnathan asks.
Turning back to the car Andrew and Johnathan are trying to exit, I see that this whole fucking thing is turning into a shit show.
Especially when I spot Meghan’s dad climbing out of Alexei’s car and standing behind a door.
Fuck me.
The two state police cars screech their tires behind me, and it’s in the moment that I turn to see them that I also see a flash of gunfire.
Ducking down behind the car, I aim my AR-15 down at the ground as the police behind us jump out of their cars and aim their pistols at us.
“Chief’s down. Someone in one of the Russian cars shot him,” Johnathan yells in the ear comms.
“Goddammit!” Lucifer bellows into the ear comms as well.
A couple of shots ring out behind me and then I see Meghan taking a step around the back of our car before she starts rushing toward her father.
18
Meghan
I know what I’m doing is stupid. I know it will probably get me hurt or killed. But once I lay eyes on my father, there’s only one path forward for me. I need to reach him. I need to know who the fuck killed my mother if it wasn’t the Italians.
And if was him…
I need to fucking kill him.
Gabriel told me to focus, and that’s exactly what I’m doing. Focusing on my target.
Orders to freeze are shouted behind me, but I ignore them. Gabriel roars my name, but I ignore him too.
Gunfire erupts from somewhere close by, but I don’t care.
Dashing across the fifteen feet that separates Gabriel’s Lexus from the black Audi my father ducked out of, all the craziness that’s going down is just background noise.
I don’t see the flashing red and blue lights. I don’t smell the blood and lead on the air.
I only have one purpose, one goal. To reach my father and get the truth out of him before someone else kills him.
“Meghan!” Gabriel roars again, and I almost hesitate.
Almost.
But then my father slowly turns my way.
“Meghan,” he gasps as I run up on him, his face draining of color.
He looks at me like he’s just seen a ghost.
Multiple blasts of gunfire suddenly ring out and my father shakes his head, seemingly snapping out of it.
“What the hell are you doing?” he hisses as he jumps forward, grabs me by the arm and yanks me down behind the car. “Are you trying to get yourself killed?”
Shots ping off the front of the Audi and my father curses under his breath.
I let him drag me down. I let him think he’s protecting me. But when I hear a car door opening behind me, I grab my gun from my holster.
My father turns away, his wide, anxious gaze darting around, seeking out the sources of danger surrounding us, and I bring my gun up.
I aim it at the back of his head.
When he finally turns back to look at me, he’s got the barrel of my pistol in his face.
“What—” he starts to say and then looks in my eyes.
Whatever he sees there causes him to freeze.
Taking a deep breath, I slip my finger over the trigger and resist the urge to pull it now.
For so long he lied to me… lied to my fucking face. Lied to me while he held me in his arms as I sobbed over my mother’s closed casket. The betrayal cuts and burns like nothing I’ve ever felt before, eating me from the inside out like boiling acid.
The words want to stick in my throat, unsure if they want to be a whisper or a shout, but I force them out, my voice cracking. “Who the fuck killed mom?”
He turns his face away and tries to hide the flash of panic in his eyes, but I catch it. I fucking latch onto it. “Why are you asking me this? You know who killed your mother, it was the Italians.”
Looking back to me, he meets my eyes again and tries to hold my gaze, expecting me to buy his bullshit.
But I’m not buying it.
As I just stare at him, he must realize it.
Switching tactics, he acts as if I’m a child and he’s exasperated. “We don’t have time for this, lass…”
“Don’t call me lass,” I snap out and take another deep breath, trying to keep myself calm.
Trying to keep my hand from shaking.
There’s just so much going on inside me, though. A maelstrom of anger, confusion, and hurt is swirling inside me and I’m on the verge of completely losing it.
Steadying my hand, I lift the barrel up, aiming it between his blue eyes. “I know it wasn’t the Italians. Stop fucking lying to me!”
This time my father can’t hide the panic he’s feeling as he looks to the barrel of the gun and back to me.
It’s plain on his face.
He knows the truth, has known it all along, and doesn’t want me to know it.
“Meghan, love, now is not the time to be discussing this. We can talk about this later,” he says calmly, completely avoiding the question.
I shake my head. With all the shit going on around us, there might not be a later. And I’ve believed his lie for so long, I need the truth now.
“Was it you? Did you kill her?”
Just speaking the words out loud causes tears to prick at the corners of my eyes.
I think deep down a part of me has always suspected he did it. Did it because she wasn’t onboard with starting a war.
“No,” he breathes out in shock and then shakes his head in denial. “No. I didn’t kill her.”
“Why should I believe you?”
Why should I believe anything his lying mouth says?
One heartbeat passes, then another as we stare at each other. So many emotions pass over my father’s face, I can’t keep track of them.
Then he seems to crumble in on himself with a look of pure devastation. “Because I loved her, lass. Loved her with all my heart. She was my sun and my moon.”
Something inside me rips open to hear him say that. I can’t even count how many times I heard him calling her his sun and moon over the years with pure adoration.
And god, the way she would smile at him just before she kissed him…
His own eyes full of unshed tears, his voice cracks. “I still love her. I love her as much as I love you.”
I’ve never seen my father cry before, not even at my mother’s funeral. I always wondered if it was because he didn’t feel enough to do so, or if it was a front for the rest of the family.
But that’s what he’s doing right now. Crying and standing in front of me with the posture of a broken man.
And I believe him.
I believe him so much I start crying with him.
He didn’t kill her, I’m sure of it now, and I should be relieved, but all I feel is the same devastation mirrored on his expression.
Oh god, how did we come to this? What the fuck happened?
“If…” I start and have to stop to swallow back a sob. “If you didn’t kill her, who did?”
I watch my father’s mouth open. I watch as a shadow passes over his face and it doesn’t even register why that might be happening. I’m so focused on him, on the answer he’s about to give me, I don’t realize the danger before it’s too late.
The hair on the back of my neck suddenly stands on end as my father closes his mouth, pressing his lips together with a look of resignation.
I straighten as I sense someone behind me and then a body is pushing into m
y back.
I try to whip around, but I’m too damn slow. A strong, hard arm comes around my middle, locking me in place while a hand covers my hand over the gun.
As the hand covering mine presses against my trigger finger, I freeze, afraid I might accidentally fire my weapon.
Alexei’s voice slides into my ear, chilling me to the very marrow of bones. “Hello, Meghan. So glad you’ve decided to return me.”
Everything inside me shuts down in shock. I can’t breathe, I can’t think.
I can’t fucking fight back.
Alexei’s nose rubs against my ear before he asks, “Did you miss me?”
My body begins to tremble and I squeeze my knees together, afraid I might embarrass myself like that damn priest.
Alexei chuckles, his breath moving my hair as the arm wrapped around my middle begins to drift down. “I’ll take that as a yes.”
“Alexei…” my father says cautiously as he straightens in front of us.
His tears are gone as he squares his shoulders. The faint tracks down his cheeks the only proof that they ever existed.
I sense Alexei moving his head, and then his damn hand is forcing me to move the gun.
Forcing me to lift it up to aim it at my father’s head.
I close my eyes and open them, hoping that what is playing out in front of me will change.
“Ah, yes. Your father was about to tell you who killed your mother before I so rudely interrupted… Well, go on, Brady, tell her,” Alexei says with a hint of laughter.
My father looks from me to Alexei and then his forehead creases with worry. “You said you wouldn’t hurt her. That was our deal.”
“And I won’t… even though our deal was broken.”
My father stiffens and narrows his eyes at the gun pointed at him. “Hurt comes in many forms.”
Alexei sighs and his grip on my hand forces me to wave the gun at my father. “Just answer the fucking question.”
My father’s eyes meet mine once more, full of shame and apology. And I know the answer before it even passes his lips. “Alexei killed your mother.”
A sob escapes my throat and my knees threaten to give out.
Alexei killed my mother and my father tried to marry me to him…