by KJ Dahlen
“Let your man know and we’ll all meet at the plane in one hour.” Yuri turned to get himself ready.
Kosta opened the door behind him to get his team together.
One his way out, Kosta returned Red’s call and found out where they were and what their status was. He told them they would get together soon.
Red smiled as he hung up the call and looked around at his men. “We have help coming.”
“Who?” Leonid asked.
“The Bratva and believe me when I say they don’t like this ublyudoc Vitya Konovic anymore than we do. They couldn’t pin anything on him because no one would speak up against him.” Red smiled.
“Too bad, we don’t have any proof he shot a man in cold blood today.” Sasha growled. “With that we could really nail his ass to the wall. They wouldn’t want the local police involved in their business any more than Konovic would.”
Grace had been sitting there listening to the comments the men made then she remembered something and snapped her head up to glance at the man they called Red. “We do,” she whispered. “Well, we might if he hasn’t found our house yet.”
“What do you mean?” Red asked.
“Last year some of the businesses around us got broken into so my father had surveillance on the shop. He hid the cameras so no one would know they were there but he had the shop and the driveway covered and the cameras go 24/7. He keeps the tapes and stuff in a safe room at our house. If this Konovic hasn’t found our home or gone to it yet, the tapes should be there.” She lowered her head. “Besides there are some papers I should collect if I’m going to move on with my life and I’ll need to pack.”
“Where will you go?” Red wanted to know. He was curious to know what she would do now.
Grace shrugged. “That is a good question. I don’t know. I’ve always lived here in Red Wing and I’ve only ever known one business, my dad’s garage. I can’t cook very well but I can take apart an engine and put it back together with my eyes shut.”
“Leonid, I want you to take the truck and we’ll ride with four escorts,” Red told the group. “The rest of you stay here and defend the club, if Konovic comes here while we’re gone, I don’t want him getting inside the gates. He probably won’t have a crew with him as he most likely expected to get in, do the job he came here for, then leave like the skunk he is, all under the radar of the police. Remember we killed one of his crew at the bar so he’s down one man, but we also know he doesn’t go anywhere without body guards.”
“And his bodyguards are always armed.” Sasha growled.
“Da, so be careful, if he did follow us here, he knows the girl is with us,” Red added just as Anton joined the group. He handed a report to Red and waited while he read it. “Sonofabitch,” Red grumbled as he passed the report around.
Anton nodded. “Infrared cameras show a breach about an hour or so ago in the woods near the entrance gate. Three men were standing there for a bit then moved back out of camera range.”
“So they know we are back and that the girl is with us,” Red concluded. “Question is how did they know where to come to begin with?”
“It’s not like everyone knows where we are or who we are,” Leonid stated.
“Dormo, someone at the bar could have told him unknowingly.” Sasha suggested.
Red glanced at the clock on the wall. “It will take a few hours for them to get here from New Orleans, so we go quickly and quietly and get back the same way. We need the proof he’s even here and of what he did.”
“Let’s go then,” Grace suggested, getting to her feet. “The more time we give him the sooner he could find out where the house is and destroy it before we can recover what you need.”
“If he found your dad’s garage, he might have already found your house,” Leonid commented.
Grace shook her head. “Our house isn’t listed anywhere. It isn’t even listed under our name in the tax papers. I now know why my dad did it that way, I guess. Plus, it’s well-hidden. The only way he would find it, is if someone told him where it is and how to get there. Dad was always careful about that.” She let a tear fall down her face. “My father must have known this would happen one day and that’s why he wanted some protection against it.”
Red went over to where she stood and gathered her into his embrace. He did nothing but hold her for a moment and when she struggled to get free, he broke his hold and stepped back. “Come, we must go before Konovic figures out where the house is and destroy it too.”
They went to the front door and out to the parking lot. Grace got into the pickup truck beside Leonid while Red, Sasha, Pavel and Kolya rode up behind and on either side of them. Another brother opened the gate and locked it closed again, after they rode through.
Grace guided them to the house she grew up in, but she asked Leonid if they could drive past her father’s garage. She wanted to see the damage Vitya Konovic had done. As he drove past the burnt out structure, Grace didn’t say a word, instead she let her tears fall silently as they passed. The building she associated with her father and her childhood was gone. Nothing left but a burnt out shell. All her memories of growing up there were destroyed by an act of petty vengeance. Petty on Konovic’s part because her father had been defending his sister’s life. She motioned him forward trying not to look back at what had become her father’s tomb.
He hadn’t deserved what happened to him and Grace felt a rage beginning in her soul. She had a feeling the secrets of her life would no longer be secret and she wasn’t sure she wanted to know what her father kept from her all her life. She had a feeling it had to do with her mom and whatever happened to her that Grace might not want to know.
When she motioned for him to turn toward the outskirts of town, they followed the main road to the suburbs then she pointed toward the burbs outside the city limits. They continued to drive another twenty minutes before she had him stop the truck. They were at the base of a rocky outcrop but there was nothing there, nothing they could see that would resemble any kind of dwelling.
Leonid looked around then looked at her. “What? You live out in the open? There is no house here. What kind of game are you playing at little girl?”
“Not playing any game, I told you, you wouldn’t find the house and I’m just hoping that bastard won’t either unless somehow he followed us here.” Grace glared back at him.
The truck door opened violently beside her and Red was there glaring at her. “There is no house here. What is this, a trap?”
Grace was startled by his furious rage at her, as she looked up into his eyes and shook her head. “I told you, my father was a very private man. I didn’t know why until this Konovic person showed up. But this is where we lived. If you’ll let me show you, that is.”
Red reached his hand out and she put her hand in his. “No one even knew where we lived let alone there was even a house here at all. There are cameras all around us.”
“Show us your house little girl.” Sasha ordered while sitting atop his bike.
Grace nodded as she slid to the ground beside Red. She went over to the rock formation and touched a rock. It then popped open and she pressed a button they didn’t know was there. The top of a rock just to the left then lifted exposing a keypad. She typed in the code and a small portion of the rock wall slid back creating an entrance like opening.
She didn’t turn toward them but instead walked through the portal.
Barron followed her, amazed at what he was seeing. Once inside the entrance, one could see the dwelling. Inside, it looked like a normal home. He gazed around and was surprised and more than a little stunned. “How can this be?” He glanced over at her with amazement.
Grace looked around proudly and smiled. “My father was a brilliant man. We lived in the city until I was about five years old. The whole time he was building this. The outside isn’t real but rather an optical illusion. Oh, it looks real and some of it is very real but the rest of it isn’t. He wanted me to grow up in a safe environment
and this was his solution.” She shook her head as she looked around. “I didn’t know what his reasons were for all of this but I always trusted him. I hoped one day he would think I was old enough to finally know the truth but that day never came.”
The others soon joined them and Leonid asked, “Where is this safe room you spoke of?”
She motioned them down the hall. Leading the way, she punched in the code they would need to use to enter the room. Once the door opened, she stepped aside and let them in.
Immediately, Leonid and Sasha began looking over the security files and screens.
Grace went to the ceiling to floor safe and dialed in the combination when she opened the heavy door she grabbed a large to go bag on the floor and then reached up to take a small duffel bag from the top shelf. She unzipped the larger bag and placed the smaller inside, zipped it back up then she turned to leave the safe room. She proceeded to her bedroom to pack her clothes and other items she wanted to take with her in another duffel bag.
Barron closed the door and followed her into the bedroom. He stopped and looked around for a moment. He was surprised yet again, at how big the house was. He hadn’t even known it was here. He had to wonder what other surprises Grace would reveal to him. He looked over at her and wondered who she really was. There had to be more to Gennedi, her father, Gene Daniels. Grace was already a surprise to him but he hadn’t known about her before last night. Now he couldn’t wait to get to know her better.
He heard the zipper being pulled together and swung his gaze over to her.
Grace looked up and stared at him. “I think we should go before someone finds the house. This is all I have left of my father and I don’t want to see it reduced to ashes like his shop is.”
Barron nodded then turned to the door and thought he saw someone duck inside the next room. He reached for his weapon and turned to Grace. Motioning with his finger for her to be quiet, he pushed her against the wall. “Someone is in the house and I don’t think it’s one of my men,” he whispered.
Grace reached down and grabbed the two bags at her feet. “Come with me.” She motioned toward the closet. They moved quickly and quietly to the closet, opening the door she walked in about two feet then reached through a few hanging pair of jeans, and pressed a combination on a hidden pad. A door quietly popped open and they walked through it.
Barron stopped and walked back to shut the closet door then followed her down a short hall.
She had to punch in another code on the other end and they surprised Leonid and Sasha when they turned and saw her and Barron standing there in the room.
Barron followed her through the door, closing behind him. He looked at the screens and growled. He saw who their guest was and he growled at the sight of one of Konovic’s men. The man’s name was Niko and he was always trying to get higher in Konovic’s echelon. Barron had heard the rumors from home about this man. He was wanna be and had seen too many mafia movies.
He thought it was the man who had been with Boya the night before. “What is he doing here?”
Leonid shrugged. “I have no idea. How did he know where we were? How did he even get in here?”
Barron turned to Grace. “How can we close the house so no one else gets in here? Can you do it from this room?”
Grace nodded. She leaned over the keyboard and began typing commands. Soon, they saw the front door close quietly.
“Can he get in here? Into this room?” Sasha wanted to know.
“Not as long as the door is closed,” she answered him while looking over the screens in front of her.
They all could see Niko move quietly through the house, going from room to room.
“Can we get to him?” Sasha asked as his hand slipped down to the knife at his waist.
Grace turned around to stare at him. His tone didn’t bode well for the other man.
Barron looked at her and then to Sasha. “The door we came out of will take you to her bedroom.”
Grace got up and walked over to the safe. Opening the heavy door again, she reached inside for a set of walkie talkie’s. “Me and my father used to play a game with these when I was little, I would hide and my dad would try to find me with the cameras in here.”
The men all stared at her. It was an unusual childhood game to say the very least.
“If you use the ear piece, you’ll be able to hear us but he won’t hear you,” she instructed.
Sasha fit the ear piece in his ear and then they tested it and found it worked. He nodded at Barron then he stepped through the doorway.
Grace waited until he got to the other door and told him the code to open it. Then watching the screen, she led him to a position to surprise Niko.
She didn’t want to see what came next but she couldn’t stop herself from watching it either.
Sasha crept up on the other man and without hesitating, he got the other man’s gun away from him. They all watched as Niko turned to face Sasha and they all saw the terrible evil grin Niko wore as he reached for his own knife.
The battle between the two men wasn’t over quickly and it was a bloody battle. Both men were bleeding by the time it was over and tears ran down Grace’s face as she watched them take hit after hit. She didn’t dare breathe when Sasha made his final move.
Niko thought he’d won the battle but Sasha turned the tables on him at the last moment.
He gave Sasha a look of complete surprise as his knife slid in his chest just below his breastbone. When Sasha turned the knife, Niko’s eyes glazed over and he crumpled to the floor in a heap. Sasha groaned as he tried to stand.
Leonid pushed his chair back and rushed for the door growling when the door wouldn’t open on its own. He turned back to Grace and yelled out, “How the hell do I get this fucking door open?”
Grace called out the code and watched as he punched in the code and flew out the door. She and Red followed and they saw Leonid help Sasha over to the sofa in the living room.
Leonid tore at the other man’s clothing and all they could see was the blood on his skin. Grace ran to the kitchen for warm water, towels, and the first aid kit. When she came back, she knelt in front of Sasha and began bathing away the blood.
Leonid was speaking to Sasha low and Red was standing there watching it all happen.
Grace had discovered four rather large wounds and as she began taking care of them, she overheard the conversation between Leonid and Sasha.
“I’m so sorry brother. You shouldn’t have had to do that,” Leonid told Sasha.
“It was better this way.” Sasha gasped as Grace wrapped his arm then taped the gauze.
“Killing family is never a good thing,” Leonid insisted
“He’s had this coming for years,” Sasha insisted. “And you know he would have killed me without remorse. It wouldn’t have bothered him a bit to shove his knife into my chest. In fact I think he would have rather enjoyed it.”
Leonid nodded. “I think you might be right about that boyo. Your cousin always was a killer.”
Grace paused in what she was doing and gasped. “He was your cousin?”
Red looked at her and nodded. “Da, Niko was a cousin, but he always did like the darker side of his humanity. Once you taste the blood for the first time, you either like it too much or you hate it. Niko liked it too much and that’s why he had to die.”
Grace shivered, almost feeling a ghost walking over her grave. “I can’t even imagine that.”
“Let’s hope you never find yourself in the same position. I would never want you to have to make that choice. But sometimes a person has to fight or die trying to live,” Red reminded her. “Should you ever have to make that decision then the hard part is living with what you’ve done.”
She looked up at him and the others. “I have a feeling before this is over, I may have to make that choice. I don’t think Vitya Konovic will have it any other way.” Grace continued to clean and do her best to wrap Sasha’s cut on his side.
“Not if we ge
t to him before he gets to you,” Red stated in the quietness of the hallway.
Chapter Six
Grace drove the truck back to the compound with Sasha inside while Leonid rode his bike. Sasha had been weak before they left Grace’s house and now, when they got back, his wounds were bleeding again. They had dragged Niko’s body out of the house and cleaned up the blood as best they could. Red had disposed of the body in the woods far enough away from the compound and her house. He’d left it there, telling her that even the animals had to eat.
Grace understood his meaning but the whole thing just didn’t seem right to her. She had shivered at the thought of animals eating... She pushed the thought away as she drove.
As soon as they arrived at the compound, they got Sasha inside and Alexi took over his care. Grace curled up on one of the sofas in the corner of the main room. Everything hit her at once, the shock of seeing her father shot in front of her, the chase, the bullet she’d taken trying to escape, the meeting of these men, seeing all that blood after those men fought to the death... finding out her whole life was a lie, just everything.
She just didn’t know anymore what to think. Her tears were gone for now and she never felt so hollow inside. One man, Vitya Konovic had taken everything from her all at once and she didn’t know what her next step would be.
Laying down on the sofa, she turned her back to the chaos behind her and closed her eyes. She tried shutting it all out but she knew she couldn’t shut it out forever. Falling asleep was almost impossible but her body needed rest to confront what she knew was coming next. That one bullet had changed her life forever and she didn’t know if she could cope. She was hoping her dreams would show her a way.
Barron found her over an hour later. He could see the tracks of her tears, she’d been crying in her sleep, and the expression on her face nearly broke his heart. He gathered her up in his arms carefully and carried her to his room.