“I do,” I reassured, heart pounding like the truth was written on my skin.
“Good.” His lip curled as he inclined his head. “Then I expect to see you at the meeting tonight too.” He turned and walked to the dock.
Gage hooked his arm around me, leading me back to the car. I could feel the tension in him, his muscles vibrating like a live wire. He didn’t give me a chance to do anything. He even pushed my hands away to fasten my seatbelt on me.
I would of complained, but I didn’t want to fight. I wanted to hold him longer, reassure myself that he was all right, that it was going to be all right.
My buckle clicked into place, and his eyes swept to mine. He was leaned across me, eyes level with mine, arms caging me to my seat, but it was his look that pinned me where I was and sucked the air from my lungs. The moment was brief, and then he was gone, hurrying to the drivers seat.
It wasn’t till we were a couple of streets away that my adrenaline receded, leaving me with shaking muscles and a chill to the bone.
“What happened Regan? What did he do to you?” Gage reached across the console to grab my hand, flashing his eyes to me when he could.
“Nothing.” That was the truth. Of all the things that just went down, what happened with Rusnak and me was nothing. It didn’t even take up room in my thoughts.
“Your hair’s a fucking mess, your jeans have a hole, and your hands…” he lifted my palm to his lips and kissed the padded part under my thumb. His warm breath stung the scrapes there. He placed another kiss to the side of my hand, and his voice came out in a soft plea, “Tell me. Everything.”
I nodded, wanting to hear everything that happened to him too. I told him play by play, how I saw the men, Rusnak caught me, the things he said. “And then you came out of the boat with Viktor and you know what happened then.” I cringed as it dawned on me, “Damn, he still has my gun.”
Gage tightened his hold on my hand. “We’ll get it back tonight.” He breathed a few deep breaths, fanning his anger or bringing it down, I couldn’t tell. But his jaw clenched and his teeth grinded. “He knew where you were? He said that? That sick fuck thinks he protects you, all because—”
“Stop, shh.” I brought our joined hands to his chest and my free hand to his face. “It doesn’t matter what he knew, or what he thinks he does. He doesn’t protect me.” I brushed my hand over his soft hair. “Forget about it for one minute, what happened on the boat? You didn’t see those two guys?”
I was trying to make sense of what Rusnak had said, ‘watch this’ what was I supposed to have seen?
He blew out air. “No. I saw your text and we moved. It took a minute to come up with an excuse since I wasn’t sure if the men were Viktor’s or not. I didn’t want to tip him if they were.” He shook his head. “We barely got started, barely worked out details…not that it matters now. Anatoli set it up. He told me to meet him, knowing that he would kill him.” His eyes kept sliding to the rearview mirror. “I don’t know what would have happened if you hadn’t texted me. What those men would have done.” He looked over at me, brows furrowed. “Because I can’t figure out why he wanted it to go down while I was there. What did he want me there for?”
A cold chill went down my spine at the thought. “We might find out tonight.” My voice was empty, drained, a ghost. “Or is it time to change our plans and stop going along with them?”
He gripped my thigh, silent for a moment. Then he shook his head, barely. “Not yet. But maybe soon. Let’s see how tonight goes.”
I closed my eyes, building my strength back up and calling on my adrenaline to charge me.
His hand left my thigh, and then his fingers pulled at the elastic of my hair tie, releasing my bun.
I looked towards him as he ran his fingers through my hair, smoothing down the front strands. His touch was so light, a stark contrast to the strain I could see in his muscles and hear in his voice. “Babe, tonight…I think you’ll be safe enough. Whatever his twisted reason, he does think he protects you. But I swear to God if he touches you, if he tries to hurt you—”
“I don’t think he will.” Gage’s eyes flashed to mine and I continued, “He only threw me down because I tried to go on the boat, he didn’t want me there.”
He looked straight out the window at the empty street we drove on. “He thinks he’s your fucking hero, your champion.”
“Don’t let that mess with your head. That’s what he wants—”
“No, what he wants is you. But he can’t have you.”
“That’s right, he can’t.” I wish we weren’t driving because I could tell he wasn’t focusing on my words. I needed him to look at me, touch me, and let me reassure him.
“You don’t get it. You don’t know what he’s done,” he spoke between his teeth with a growl.
“Then tell me, what don’t I know?”
He kept turning his head to me, making eye contact in brief spurts, but each time the pain in them struck me.
“He has protected you in ways I couldn’t. Those men from the wreck, Shadow’s men?”
His words squeezed my heart in a tight, painful hold, draining all the blood from it. And I had no air to breathe, let alone speak.
“He killed them after. I didn’t even get to avenge our baby, he did it first. He was there first, doing what I couldn’t do, what I should have done.”
The cold chill that covered me all night shattered as my blood burned with anger. “Good. I’m glad they’re dead.” And that was the truth. “There’s a lot to be angry at Rusnak about, but not that.”
Gage’s head snapped to mine, eyes narrowed. “Don’t go thanking him just yet. He only knew who they were because he works with Shadow.”
I sat silent for a moment, trying to take in the new information. Trying to fight down the demons rising in me that wanted to light the world on fire for what had happened.
“Why were they after you that night, Gage? Are they still after you?”
He shook his head, and stopped at a light, we were close to home now. “I had protected some girls that didn’t want to work for Alessandra outside the club. And even when they handed over the club to Ian, I kept the same policy that the girls there couldn’t work the streets too. I didn’t know that was tied to Shadow’s business. Viktor may have agreed to it, but Shadow blamed me.”
I hadn’t been able to look at him as he spoke, but glancing at him now, seeing the tears on his cheek blew out my anger, leaving me charred and empty. It all felt useless and pointless. So what if we disappeared now, we weren’t taking down any of them. None of them would pay for what had happened, for the life they took, for the innocent lives they will continue to take and destroy.
He sucked in air, and when I looked back to him his tears were dried up. “Maybe Anatoli had something to do with him backing off me, I don’t know. But I haven’t heard anymore since.”
“But you think Anatoli knows who Shadow is?”
The light turned green and he pulled forward. “I think Anatoli works for him.” His eyes questioned me as he glanced in my direction. “Don’t go there, Regan. We have to stick to our plan.”
“I didn’t say anything.” But I was surprised he had been able to follow my thoughts so well. I did want more. But I knew he was right, our chance at having some sort of life was to stick to the plan.
“You didn’t have to. Believe me, if we switch to the kill everyone plan, Shadow would be at the top of the list, Anatoli next.”
Gage turned into the lit interior of our parking Garage, and the moment we approached the elevator, he pulled out his phone and showed me the screen lit up with a message.
Car’s our front for both of you. Come now.
“We’re going to stick with the original plan?” I wanted to double check.
He looked down on me with a sigh and his hand skimmed my hair. “For now.”
He grasped my hand and we stepped into the elevator together. I took a breath
and my finger hovered over the button for the lobby.
“No,” Gage reached in front of me and pressed the button for our floor. “We’ll go to our room first. You need to change and arm yourself before we go anywhere. He can wait.”
***
It wasn’t Rusnak waiting in the car for us, only a driver. But as the city lights faded and the night grew dark around us, so did my thoughts. We went in the opposite direction of the docks from earlier, but the end spot was a different type of boat slip. Not the personal yachts that Viktor had, but a small business wharf that advertised dinner cruises and rental fishing boats.
The car pulled as close as it could to a dock of one of the largest boats in the wharf. It glowed with inside lights on, but there were several people moving on the deck of the ship. I pushed down the dread in my stomach and steeled myself to face whatever came next because I hadn’t a clue what we were about to walk into. And I could tell from the way Gage pulled me to his side, he wasn’t sure what was going on either.
40: Ticking Bomb
A MAN LOOKING READY FOR WAR WITH an assault rifle in his arms, guns visible at his side, and knives attached to his vests walked down the ramp of the boat to us.
He kept the rifle angled down as he approached, but I felt Gage shift, moving his arm to his jacket, close to his own guns. I didn’t pull my eyes away from the man approaching us though to see if I was right.
“Stoyt.” He put his free hand up, making his command for us to stop clear, but the stream of words that came next weren’t.
Neither was Gage’s response, but his tone was harsh, and he wasn’t backing down from whatever the man had said.
Rusnak’s smooth voice silenced the other man. He appeared at the entrance of the boat, saying one line in Russian, and the guy turned and walked away without another word. Then Rusnak gestured for us to board.
“Put up your hood,” Gage spoke low beside me.
I glanced at him while sliding my hood over my head. His hood was already up, shadowing his face. He had it up even before that guy came down.
“I don’t know who these people are, and they don’t need to know who we are.”
I nodded in agreement, stomach squeezing adrenaline to every limb as we walked up the steps to the boats side entrance. “What was he saying?” We walked slowly, both not in any hurry to get on the boat.
“He wanted us to give up any weapons.”
But Rusnak had stopped him and let us come on with them. That seemed encouraging, like he possibly still trusted us. At least a little.
“Excuse Erik, he overreacts.” Rusnak smiled to us, to me, when we walked through the door and followed him down the hall of the boat. “But one can never be too careful in these situations.”
“Except we just drove right in…” Now that the hall opened up to the outside, I could tell what everyone was doing. Unloading a large cargo container into smaller crates, right out in the open, in the middle of the deck.
“Only because you were in my car. No one else could do that. The entrance is guarded. Don’t worry Sweetheart—”
“Regan,” Gage interrupted him. “You’ll call her Regan.”
Rusnak’s smile stretched even further, and he chuckled as he nodded his head at the containers and men, continuing un-phased, “This is all secure.”
Gage frowned. “But this was supposed to be at E dock tomorrow.”
“Some plans have to change. Those docks can’t be used.” He nodded to the door at our side. “Lets talk inside.”
We followed him down steps and a hall, deep inside the yacht, for that’s what it was, I could tell now. The inside was decorated nicely with warm wood tones, even if the outside looked more industrial.
A door in front of us opened, and Cherry slipped through, pausing when she spotted us, but her slick smile was quick to appear as we all met in the middle of the hall.
“I thought you were with Alessandra?” Rusnak questioned.
“We finished. The arrangement was settled, terms agreed to, and everyone left happy.” She ran her fingers through her hair and looked up at him. “I was looking for you to let you know.” Her eyes shifted to Gage and I, and her smile widened but held uncertainty as she nodded a greeting.
“Good. Check with Yuri if he needs help, and then you can go.”
“Already did. I’m going up now. Unless,” she pointed between us all, “If this is anything to do with the delivery this week, I’ll stick around.”
“No, this is something different.” Rusnak laid his hand on her jacket covered shoulder. “You’ll be notified if anything changes this week.” She pouted and his grip tightened as he dipped his face down to eye level with her. “Golubushka,” he spoke soft, but with a razor edge. “Lay off the merchandise while you work.”
Gage tensed beside me, and I was wound tight thinking he was going to spring to rescue her at any moment. But Rusnak released her and walked past to the door she originally came out of.
“I didn’t—”
“Tcht.” He raised his hand, silencing her. “No excuses, just stop.” He stood at the door and gestured for Gage and I to enter.
Gage slid his hand to my back, but his gaze followed Cherry as we passed. She stood against the wall, eyes locked with Rusnak’s for a moment before she turned and walked away, brushing past Gage but never looking towards either of us.
I wasn’t sure exactly what it was that seared my veins, but my fists curled, aching to hit her for even that slightest touch of Gage.
“She’s Alessandra’s pet,” Rusnak sneered as he walked to a large desk in the room, pouring liquor from a bottle into a glass. “She has potential to go far, she’s always on top of things.” He raised his eyebrow at us, his chest vibrating with a slight laugh. “But maybe a bit too eager, she needs to learn her limits.” He raised the bottle. “Do you want a drink?”
Gage nodded and walked to where Rusnak stood. “Do you have anything else?”
“The bar’s over there, but there’s no beer.”
“Then I’ll have a glass of that.” He nodded to the bottle in Rusnak’s hand.
It was driving me insane, this conversation, like we were all just hanging out. Drinking. Having a good ol’ time.
“Regan?” Rusnak questioned me.
“She doesn’t—”
“I’ll take a glass.” I hadn’t drank since Louisiana, but I could use something to dull the edges of this meeting. I was no longer the lightweight I use to be.
Gage glanced at me with sharp eyes but didn’t say anything otherwise.
I pushed my hood back from my head, now that it was only just us three in a closed room, and took the glass Rusnak offered me and took a sip. I spoke, wanting to end the formalities, “So, what happened tonight? What’s changed?”
At first I thought Rusnak might be angry, the way his head snapped up at my question, but then he smiled. “For someone who begged to get out, you are eager to get in deep.”
Gage pushed his hood off and set his glass down with force. “She’s already in, we both saw what happened tonight. But why did it happen, and what has to change?”
Rusnak scratched his chin, eyeing us. His shoulders rose and fell in a slow shrug. “He became a risk, he had to go.” He picked up his drink and walked behind his desk to sit, gesturing for us to sit as well. “And as for what has to change, anything Viktor was a part of, whatever you told him about this shipment should change. The fire trucks and police are already at the docks. That’s why we changed this drop off to tonight, to here. To take advantage of them being preoccupied.”
“At the docks for Viktor? Already?”
Rusnak smiled over the rim of his clear glass, sipping slow before he explained, “A fire tends to draw attention.”
Every word he said just added to the jumbled puzzle pieces in my mind. “Why?” I couldn’t hold in the question.
“How long has this been planned?” Gage asked at the same time.
&n
bsp; He shrugged, that easy, carefree shrug. “Not long, but I’ve had my suspicion of him for a while.” He leaned back in his chair, pointing to Gage. “You only reaffirmed them when you came to me about the conversation you had with him. Cherry did too, she told us his plans to move you two to Florida to open a club. But what tipped it over for him was that his job began connecting him to our organization.”
“He was a lawyer?” Gage questioned, and I knew he was thinking the same thing I was, about his connection to the FBI.
“A lawyer for the U.S attorney’s office.” Rusnak leaned forward on his desk. “I’m only telling you this so you can better organize this delivery. So you’ll understand the importance of changing some of the routes. He worked with the FBI as legal counsel. It was to our advantage, but recently we got word that they were on to him and his…affiliations. He knew it too, and in order to deflect, he supplied them with information, we think.”
I gulped down my drink, trying to swallow my nerves. If they found out all that, then it was only a matter of time till they found out about Gage and me going to Anthony. But hopefully not until next week when we would be gone.
“So you see, he had to go. And we can’t be sure what he’s told. Anything he might have known about this shipment needs to change.”
“He didn’t know anything about the deliveries—”
“But the warehouses are all connected to him,” Rusnak interrupted. “So we won’t be using them. You have to pack the trucks here.”
“Fuck,” Gage swiped his hand over his head. “This place is too open.”
“There’s not enough time to find a new place, and the goods are here. Make it work, but stick to the timeline.”
Gage’s head nodded as he thought through something. “Then we have to load tomorrow night, and it has to be quick. Who will you have here?”
They discussed the details of tomorrow, who would be there, who Rusnak would bring, who Gage would bring. They planned the details down to the minute. The packing should be done in less than an hour, and they would deliver from there.
“Tell me about the routes, especially the California one, what’s that timeline?” Rusnak poured himself another glass, and lifted the bottle to us, but Gage waved him away, and my drink still half full.
OtherSide Of Fear (Outside The Ropes #3) Page 34