Jane kicked and screamed as he jerked her roughly off his shoulder and slammed her down on the table. The breath was driven from her lungs as the table shuddered under the impact. He leaned over her, caging her in his arms while she squirmed and tried to kick out at him. She used every self-defence move she’d ever learned and nothing got under his guard. He held her as easily as he would a child.
He forced her body to still until she had no weapons left but her mouth. She clamped sharp teeth down on the forearm he had foolishly placed within biting distance. She would have bit down even harder, sinking her small teeth into his muscle, but he jerked his arm away.
She snapped her teeth again. Irritated, Vlad picked her up by the waist, turned her struggling body around and slammed her facedown over the table. She shrieked and tried to launch herself back, but he took both of her wrists in one hand and jerked them up so she had no choice but to lay flat on the table.
She bucked backwards against him, but he had her in a brutal hold that would bruise the delicate bones of her wrist. As she finally quieted down she began to recognize the sizeable erection that was pressed against her backside. She froze.
"I should strip these jeans right off your body and fuck you right now, Jane," his voice was tense and husky. His words penetrated her furious haze of retribution. He licked the back of her neck. "I want you so bad I can already taste you.”
“You’ve taken everything else I have,” she cried out bitterly. "Why don't you take me now if that's what you want? Why torment me, destroy my career and leave me hanging? Just get it over with. Fuck you, Sitnokov, and your threats!”
“If I take you right here on this table you won't be ready for me. I'll hurt you,” he said, biting the back of her ear and sending a shiver down her spine. When he spoke in an accent thicker than normal, his hot breath caressed the side of her neck. “And I find that I'm loath to do that. More than I would have thought. But let me make something perfectly clear, woman. I have waited patiently for you. I won't wait much longer. Keep testing my patience and you will find out exactly where it ends."
Jane bucked back against him, but his grip only tightened unbearably until she thought her wrists would break. She breathed heavily, feeling more helpless than she ever had in her life before.
Sitnikov held her tightly, his breathing also heavy, but for another reason. He was ruthlessly holding himself back from hurting her. He leaned over her back and gritted in her ear, "You destroyed your own career, Jane. I merely handed you the means to do it."
The tension slowly drained out of her. Finally, he backed up, pulling her body upright as he went. He cautiously let go of her wrists and stepped away from her, giving her space to recover. She turned slowly and looked at him, rubbing at the aching skin where he had held her. Jane considered striking out at him again, but subsided, knowing he would retaliate. She didn’t think she could handle any more devastation tonight.
She clenched her hands at her sides. "Why are you doing this?" she demanded wearily. "Take what you want and be done with it. Maybe then we can get on with our lives. You can stop playing God in mine and I’ll stay the hell out of your way from now on. I don’t understand why you’re hesitating. If this is what you wanted then why aren’t you fucking me?"
He looked her up and down and said coldly, "Too easy, Jane. You're emotional, unstable, pathetic, not the determined woman that I want in my bed. Go rebuild your life. I assure you, I will be in the shadows watching."
"Waiting to strike you mean."
He shrugged and moved to the door, opening it. Glass from the shattered vase ground beneath his heels. "Leave now before I change my mind and decide I’d rather have even a fragment of Jane now than wait a moment longer."
For the second time that day Jane left Vladimir Sitnikov’s mansion in furious humiliation.
CHAPTER SEVEN
6 months later
The fire escape offered little coverage from the elements. Jane sat fantasizing about a certain mob boss’ bloody demise in graphic detail while shivering in wet misery. She was doing her part in what amounted to one of the few jobs she could get with her shiny new PI badge. She was helping a local bond enforcement agent, Mack Hudson, track and take down a man that had jumped his bail a week prior. This one was known to be particularly dangerous, which is why Hudson had asked for her assistance. Apprehending criminals is what she was good at. If she couldn’t do it as a police detective then she would do it as a private investigator.
The wet misery wasn’t helped by her choice of attire. When Jane was forced to give up her uniform she embraced the somewhat gothic style she had always favoured as a teen in an attempt to rebel against her strict upbringing. These days she tended to wear dark, biker-like clothes with her black hair cut severely to her shoulders with straight bangs. She’d even indulged in manicured nails, painted shiny black with a tiny crystal skull glued to her trigger finger. Something a police officer would never be allowed to indulge in. She now doubted the versatility of wet denim and leather boots as she shifted uncomfortably on the metal grill and wondered if twenty percent of $25,000 was worth this level of misery. She never had been good at math.
“McKinley, you there?”
Jane rolled her eyes and, ducking her head to protect the short-range speaker from getting wet, said, “Where the hell else would I be Hudson?”
He paused, then said, “Thought you might’ve drowned up there.”
“Fuck. You. Hudson,” Jane replied, suppressing shivers.
It was his idea that she take the fire escape. His reasoning was two-fold. The building was old and he doubted the fire escape had been kept up to code. Mack Hudson weighed close to three hundred pounds of raw, ripped muscle. Whereas Jane was a little on the scrawny side, especially after her ignominious leave-taking from local law enforcement. They’d decided the odds of the rusty, precarious life-saving instrument was more in favour of holding her weight than his. Now, sitting three stories up during a downpour, Jane was feeling less agreeable to the idea. Hudson had also insisted she take the less dangerous avenue of their quarry’s potential escape. Again, Jane was now less in favour of his questionable chivalry.
“Do you see anything?” her soon-to-be nemesis, current partner-in-apprehension, asked.
Jane swiped a small river of rain from her eyes and hunched in close to the kitchen window she was supposed to be covering. She couldn’t see much. Blinking several times to clear the water from her eyes she looked again. This time she was able to see a dingy little kitchen, sparsely furnished with the bare basics of appliances and a small card table with one pathetic chair. No shadowy human forms were in sight.
“No,” she replied sulkily.
They had no idea if their guy was even home or if he had any company. They had set up their stake-out three hours earlier and so far there was no movement. Leaning back against the railing, she settled in for more waiting. Until they had relatively certain confirmation that the trace was alone in his apartment they would maintain their positions in the stairway and on the fire escape from hell. After another twenty minutes of waiting Jane brought her hand up to ask Hudson a question, and dropped it. Then she brought it up again with purpose.
“Hey, Hudson.”
“Hey, McKinley,” he answered immediately, his deep voice rumbling in her ear.
She shifted uncomfortably wondering fleetingly if the grill was going to leave permanent marks in her backside. “Have you ever hunted any of the Russians?”
They both knew she didn’t mean just any Russians. They were talking about anyone affiliated with Vladimir Sitnikov. Jane figured if anyone had the balls to take on the Russians it would be Mack Hudson. The guy was built like a tank and seemed to enjoy life on the fringes. He also appeared to have a disdain for living safely. His quick answer showed her that even Hudson had limits.
“No fucking way,” he answered quickly. “Those guys are creative when they feel wronged, or annoyed, or even having a bad hair day. Anyone with half a brai
n would stay many miles out of their sphere of notice.”
Jane closed her eyes and sighed. She waited silently.
Moments later she heard a whistle, “That’s what you got fired over, isn’t it McKinley? You fucked with the wrong crew, didn’t you?”
Jane sighed again and refused to answer. Hudson was nothing if not dogged. He was the best bond enforcement agent in the state for a reason. He rarely lost a hunt, which is why Jane had agreed to team up with him despite their differences in the past. Cops rarely got along well with men of his profession. They were borderline criminals to most law enforcement. Now that Jane was enjoying some of the freedoms involved in working cases without a badge, she was less willing to cast stones.
“Holy shit, woman!” Hudson growled into her ear. “Heard a rumour that one of our city’s finest dragged the Boss himself down to the station for a sit-down. I just assumed that particular officer was either dead or breathing through a machine by now. How the fuck are you still alive?”
Jane glowered and refused to answer. Again giving the big guy an opportunity to think things through. Finally he spoke, his voice sombre. “You’re a beautiful woman, McKinley, and determined. Both traits a man like Sitnikov would enjoy.”
“Shut up, Hudson,” she growled in answer.
Now it was his turn to be silent. After several long minutes, Jane assumed he wouldn’t answer back. Finally his voice crackled through the ear bud, “Why did he let you go?”
Jane closed her eyes and then stared out into the darkness of the quiet street below. “He didn’t. I think he’s waiting. Maybe for something to happen, or an opportunity. I don’t really know. I’m living on borrowed time though.”
“Sorry about that honey, wish I could help.”
“Yeah, me too,” she said with a sad smile.
He whistled again, “Thank fucking god we had this conversation. I was going to try to seduce you out of that sexy wet T-shirt you’re wearing. Good to know you’ve been marked. I value my life too highly for a little tail.”
Jane laughed out loud and had to clap her hand over her mouth to muffle the sound lest their quarry hear something odd out on the fire escape. Trust Hudson to lighten the mood with inappropriate sexual innuendo. “Hey man, I’m not just any tail. This is the finest piece of ass you’ll never tap!”
Hudson was in the process of making another comment when Jane caught movement out of the corner of her eye. It was their mark. The giant ugly bookie stumbled into his kitchen from another room. He opened the fridge and stood looking into the pathetically empty appliance for a few minutes, leaning over and giving Jane a not so awesome view of his ass crack.
“I have confirmation, he’s alone as far as I can see.”
Hudson didn’t waste any more time. They had been staking the place out for hours waiting for conformation that the guy was home. He spoke swiftly, “Get ready McKinley. I’m going to knock on the door and announce my presence. If he heads your way make sure you’re ready. Use your taser if he resists.”
“Copy,” Jane replied.
She knew the moment Hudson knocked on the door because the big guy in the kitchen jerked his head turning toward the sound. Jane was in the process of standing up and drawing her taser when the unexpectedly swift movement of their quarry startled her. Instead of heading cautiously toward the front door like they had anticipated, he turned and hurtled toward the kitchen window where Jane sat crouched. She stood as he flung the window open, and drew her weapon.
He was busy climbing through the window into the dark, rainy night when Jane announced her presence. “Stop!” she snapped holding the weapon on him as much as she could in the tiny cramped space. “I’m private investigator Jane McKinley, you’re under arrest for…”
Jane found her leg taken in a crushing grip as the guy used her to pull himself the rest of the way out of the window. He didn’t seem even remotely concerned about her. Deciding she had done her legal responsibility in announcing herself and her presence she kicked him sharply in the shoulder with her other foot to get him off her so she could tase him. He grabbed her other leg.
“Fuck that, bitch!” the guy snarled, “I ain’t going to prison again.” Using his enormous strength, he shoved her hard, tipping her over the side of the fire escape. Jane screamed as she went over.
She held onto the railing in a death grip, her body slamming unmercifully into the side of the metal fire escape. The rain made the metal slippery, she was forced to drop her weapon in favour of gaining a better more life-saving hold. Her taser fell thirty feet to the ground below. She feared her assailant might try to force her over the rest of the way, but he was too busy yanking himself up and then hurtling toward the stairs. He completely ignored her dangling body. She was grateful, but also slightly peeved that he hadn’t offered her a helping hand. She was definitely going to tase the shit out of this guy when she got safely out of her current situation.
“Jane, where is he, he didn’t come to the door. Should I take it down?” Hudson’s voice sounded in her ear.
She levered her body down, crawling carefully through the gaps in the railing until she was laying panting on the metal grate once more. She took two deep lung full’s of precious air before rolling over and pushing to her feet. She brought her speaker up and gasped out, “He’s on the move, dropped me on the fire escape. Dude is way faster than he looks!” as she hurtled after him. He had a head start and was rounding the second floor, but she was smaller and faster. He gained the ground as she was rounding the floor above him. Without a second thought she flung herself over the railing and dropped the several feet down on top of him.
Jane landed on his back and they both crashed to the ground. Her landing was much softer than his and she managed to roll out of his reach while he processed what had happened. She searched the darkness for her taser, wishing that she hadn’t decided to leave her gun behind. She didn’t see the stun gun and unfortunately she was trapped between their mark and the building.
“You gonna pay for that, bitch,” he snarled, lumbering to his feet and spitting blood out of his mouth. His face must have hit the pavement when she took him down.
He lunged for her, fists raised. Jane tried to run around him, but he grabbed her arm, lifted her right off the ground and slammed her back into the brick wall. Jane cried out as her shoulder wrenched painfully and her head bounced off the wall. She brought her hand up in a swift uppercut to his chin. He stumbled away from her and, much to both of their surprise, into the massive body of a man standing behind them.
The huge man brought his hands up, gripped her mark’s head and twisted it to the side until it cracked sharply. He stepped back, allowing the body to fall to the ground. Jane stared in gaping astonishment. She’d seen her share of violence, and even meted some out herself, but she had never seen anything like the swift execution of the man at her feet. It’d been done so calmly, so effortlessly, as though the dead man were nothing more than a bug to be crushed without thought.
“Are you hurt, Jane McKinley?” The hulking giant asked.
Fury flooded through her as his thick accent registered. He was Russian. She finally recognized him in the shadows, Boris Grekov.
“I’m fine,” she snapped, “And I was doing just fine before you came along. What exactly the fuck was that?” she demanded, waving her hand at the body on the ground.
He glanced down dispassionately.“Boss told me, make sure woman unhurt while she works on dangerous cases. This man attack you. I ensure your safety.”
“McKinley,” Hudson said, coming up behind the massive Russian. He held his weapon on the hulking giant. “You okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” she answered rolling her sore shoulder to make sure it hadn’t been pulled out of the socket. It was fine. She glared down at their bail jumper and sighed, “Unfortunately this idiot felt the need to kill our mark.”
“Fuck. We needed him alive to get the bond. Back up,” Hudson snapped at the Russian and waved Jane toward him.
Jane suspected the man had a weapon as well, under his jacket, but he wouldn’t be able to pull it without being shot by Hudson first. She made her way warily past him until she stood next to Hudson.
“What the fuck is he doing here,” Hudson asked, staring hard at the face of the other man. Recognition lit his rugged features. “Motherfucker, Jane. This is Boris Grekov, he’s Sitnikov’s enforcer.”
Hudson and Boris watched her as that bit of news sunk in with all of them. Sitnikov had sent his right hand to watch over her. She knew he hadn’t simply let her go. Had likely been watching her for months. Waiting patiently until she fell into his lap. Or until she did something to force his hand. Did he know she had quietly continued her investigation on him, using her newer, dirtier connections to weed out information? She shivered, certain he didn’t know. If he did, she was pretty sure she would have endured another face-to-face with the terrifying boss.
“He must really have a hard on for you to send Grekov as a babysitter. Too bad he fucked up our capture. That’s $25,000 lost,” Hudson said in annoyance kicking the body on the ground.
Jane eyed Boris with calculation. He eyed her back warily. She sensed he didn’t like Hudson’s proximity to her. “Give me your weapon,” she said to Hudson and held out her hand.
To his credit, Hudson didn’t even hesitate. He knew Jane was capable with pretty much any kind of weapon. That was part of the reason he had chosen her as his back up. Jane took the taser from him, pointed it at Grekov and fired. Two small electrodes struck the big man and currents of electricity crashed through his body, causing his muscles to spasm and cease to obey. The massive Russian fell to his knees and grunted.
Savage Vendetta (Fire & Vice Book 4) Page 5