by Beth Abbott
Tuck sighed.
“I think I knew that was going to be your answer, but I had to ask.” He shrugged. “I spoke to Kris and Yuri earlier, and they confirmed that they’ve brought in a couple of dozen of your most competent security people, with enough weapons to start a cold war in your own back yard.”
“As long as they haven’t replaced all the wine in my cellar with vodka, I’ll be fine.” Gregor smiled. “Besides, I’m rather hoping they won’t start anything in my back yard. There are a number of rabbits in the garden, that my daughter is rather fond of.”
Tuck smiled.
“Who knew we had so much in common?” He mused. “So, put my mind at rest and tell me you’ve at least got a panic room installed in your house.”
“Not exactly a panic room, as such.” Gregor shook his head. “But the wine cellar I referred to is part of the original house that was built two hundred years ago. The whole of the ground floor and upper floors were built on top, and are less than twenty years old. The cellar has a hidden entrance, accessible from a doorway in the side of the fireplace in the den and is completely self-sustaining. It’s wired to a separate electricity supply, as well as having a back-up generator which can also supply a heating or cooling system and lighting. There are communications points, and even a kitchenette and toilet facilities. It also has special vents which bring fresh air in from some distance away.”
Tuck frowned.
“Those are some unusual features for a modern house.” He noted. “Was there a reason for the vents?”
“I believe the previous owner had a longstanding fear of fire.” Gregor explained. “The idea behind the cellar was that the house could burn down around their ears, and still he and his family would be fine. They’d just have to sit tight and wait to be dug out.”
“Ok, I can see how those features might prove useful.” Danny nodded. “But how impenetrable is the entrance, in the event it was found?”
“You wouldn’t find it by accident.” Gregor reassured him. “And apart from you guys, only a handful of people know where it is.”
“How many of you could it hold for any length of time?” JT asked.
“If the worst happened and we came under a severe, sustained attack, it’s plenty big enough to get my whole security team inside comfortably.” Gregor confirmed. “It’s more than half the size of the ground floor area.”
“What about food and water?” Tulli asked. “How much do you have stored?”
“I haven’t checked recently, but I’m guessing there would be plenty to last a few days.” Gregor squeezed her hand to reassure her. “Marcy uses it as an overflow pantry, and rotates the food, so what is down there is always fresh or at least in date. There will be bottled water as well as piped drinking water.”
Tuck looked at Danny, JT and then Hannah.
“I don’t know about you guys, but I’m all out of reasons why Gregor shouldn’t stay at his house.” He shrugged. “There aren’t many places so well-equipped.”
Gregor’s muscles relaxed for the first time since he’d entered the room.
These were experts at security, so if they thought his house would prove to be the best place to lock-down, then maybe whatever was to come wasn’t going to be as bad as he’d feared.
He glanced at his watch.
“I’m sorry to break up the party, but I have to be back at the house for a one o’clock international video-conference.”
“No, it’s probably for the best that you get back before Lucky and her boys show up. We don’t want them to catch us off-guard before you’re even inside.” Tuck agreed.
Gregor stood, and Tulli immediately followed, keeping hold of his hand as they walked out of the office.
“I wish we had a few more minutes to be alone.” He murmured, as it became obvious that there was going to be a group farewell at the door.
Tulli glanced up at him, her eyes as dark and cloudy as he’d ever seen them.
“It’ll only be for a day or two, I’m sure.” She tried to smile. “Once the psycho woman is eliminated, we can start again, and get to know each other properly.”
“No, no starting again.” Gregor wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “I love everything I’ve found out about you already, and I certainly don’t want to forget a single kiss. Let’s just say I can’t wait for chapter two to start.”
He watched a single tear fall from the corner of Tulli’s eye, but she didn’t crumple.
“That sounds really good.” She whispered as they reached the car. “I’m just going to miss you, and worry about you the whole time.”
“Oh, that reminds me…” Gregor felt around in his jacket pockets, until he found what he was looking for. He pulled out a cell-phone which he handed to her. “It’s new, so not password protected yet, which means you can set your own. It has my number, Sophia’s number, and Kris and Yuri’s numbers programmed in. Add any more you can think of, and feel free to use it as much as you like, Ok?”
“Can I call you on it later?” She smiled shyly, clutching the phone like it was something precious.
“Why else do you think I got it for you?” He smiled. “My conference call should last no more than a few hours. Four o’clock at the latest. If you don’t call me later, I’ll be calling you to find out why you haven’t.”
He pulled a little pouch out of another pocket.
“Charger and earbuds.” He explained.
He turned and said goodbye to Tuck and the others, and then quickly murmured a goodbye to Tulli.
Unable to resist, he leaned in and placed a quick kiss on her soft lips.
The light it brought to her eyes almost made him want to go in for another kiss, but he knew time was running out.
He slipped out of her reach and into the car, Kris pulling away almost before he’d got his belt fastened. He watched from the rear window as the rest of the guys turned and headed back into the house, but Tulli stood still, staring at the car as it travelled further away.
Just as they were about to turn out onto the road, he thought he saw her lift her hand to wave one last time.
He waved back, but doubted that she could see him through the tinted glass.
If there was one thing he would make sure of, it was that he’d never put that look of sadness on her face again.
That was for damn certain!
Chapter 25 – Lucky
Luciana climbed off the fourth plane in less than twenty-four hours, her legs as shaky as a new-born foal.
She hated small planes at the best of times, but one of the nice things about being as rich as fuck was that at least you got to fly on private jets, that got you from A to B in pretty damn quick time.
Apparently, though, those swanky private jets with bathrooms and bedrooms and decent food, were quite high on the FBI’s watch-list, so if she was going to be travelling around the USA in her hunt for her father’s murderer, according to Pedro, it had to be done ‘under the radar’!
Even now, she wasn’t exactly sure what would have constituted ‘over the radar’, but thanks to her fuckwit of a lieutenant, she had taken three planes and a bus, just to get from LA to the outskirts of Philadelphia.
A bus! What the fuck was the man thinking?
She now had the mother-fucker of all headaches, a crick in her neck that left her barely able to turn her head without wincing, plus pain in her back that it would take Marta a week to massage out!
Shit! Fuck!
Marta!
Why was it that every time she’d closed her eyes in the last twenty-four hours, the only face she could see was the woman who had given her so much in the last few years? The woman who was as close to a friend as it was possible for a cartel boss to have.
The look of shock on Marta’s face as she slid down the wall was the only way Luciana could see her now. But there was something else in Marta’s expression too. Not betrayal, as such… more… disappointment.
That was it. Marta seemed to be disappointed in Luciana, that
after all she had done for her boss, Luciana had ended Marta’s life in such a ridiculous and childish fit of temper.
Luciana’s cheeks burned with shame as she realised it was true. She’d killed her friend in what one could only describe as an immature tantrum.
How disgusting a person did that make her?
Oh, she’d killed people before. Holy fuck, she’d probably killed more than a hundred.
But those had been deliberate acts, and for the most part they’d deserved it.
Ok, maybe ‘deserved’ wasn’t entirely true, but at the very least, they’d put themselves in the way of her bullet by virtue of their career choices.
Some of them were cops or with one of the agencies, which in Mexico meant they were either corrupt or idealists. Either way they were a pain in her ass, and highly disposable.
If not law enforcement, then they belonged to a rival cartel, in which case it was almost an obligation to shoot them. Nothing less would have been acceptable to her men.
But that was all so different. That was business.
“Senora?” Pedro’s voice broke into her misery. “There’s a car waiting outside to take us to the hotel.”
“A car?” She scoffed. What was it going to be? A rust-bucket station-wagon?
Pedro smiled at her so smugly she was tempted to slap him, but Luciana didn’t want to draw any attention to the two of them.
“A nice car, I promise you.” He reassured her.
“It had better be.” She grumbled. “Or you’ll be travelling in the trunk!”
When they left the small building, Luciana was never more relieved when she saw the smart Lincoln waiting at the kerb.
She slipped into the back where a man was already waiting.
“Senora Vega.” He smiled. “I hope your trip wasn’t too arduous.”
“It was a fucking nightmare, as I’m guessing you already knew, Max. So, wipe that fucking grin off your face before I remove it permanently.” She snarled.
Max Vega was a distant cousin of Hector’s, who spent most of his time in New York, dealing with their customers and negotiating new lines of business.
He was an asshole, in Luciana’s humble opinion, but he did seem to know how the business worked, and he had a good line of customers ready and waiting for whatever product they could ship into the country.
More importantly, he actually liked his life just the way it was, and, thankfully, had no wish to take over the cartel. That made him something of an ally.
It had only taken one phone-call to Max yesterday to have him hightail it to Philly with a couple of his men, to try and get a glimpse of the target and any of his family.
“So, what have you got for me?” She asked as she slipped her shoes off her aching feet. “Have you seen the Russian yet?”
“We spotted him this morning at the house, and saw him leave with a couple of men and women at about ten o’clock.” Max confirmed. “He arrived back just before one o’clock, but my guy couldn’t see who had returned with him because of the blacked-out car windows. Plus, he had to keep back because of the increased security numbers.”
“How many security people does he have at the house?” Luciana asked.
“We’re not quite sure, as not all of them will be security, but we saw about twelve men there before he went out. There seemed to be more than that later, but maybe he’s just brought some people back for a business meeting.” Max shrugged.
“Ok, so did you get the weapons I asked for?”
Max grinned.
“Yep, even the rocket launchers.” He looked exceptionally pleased with himself. “Are you really gonna start a war with this guy?”
“He’s responsible for my papa’s death.” Luciana’s voice was steely, and the words were clipped. “Do you think you need to ask?”
“No, I guess not.” Max nodded. “When I get the men back to the hotel, I’ll go over the layout of the property with them. I’ll let you have a proposed plan of attack by the end of the day.”
“Why so long? Can’t we just get in and out?” She complained, too impatient to want to wait.
“You want to take out the daughter as well, don’t you?” Max waited for her nod. “Then we need to check the place out, so we know for sure when she’s there. If she doesn’t come near the house, we’ll just have to find out where she is. It’s just twice as much hassle if we have to do them separately.”
“Don’t forget that I want to be there when it all goes down.” Luciana reminded him. “Ideally, I’d love to pull the trigger myself, but if that’s not possible, I’ll settle for watching him being blown to pieces from a distance.”
Max nodded.
“All the more reason why we need to plan this thing properly.” He said thoughtfully. “You look like you need a few hours sleep. By the time you wake up, we’ll have a plan ready.”
Luciana was about to argue that she wanted to be involved in the planning phase, but then stopped herself. She did need to sleep.
Anyway, if she didn’t like the plan they came up with, then all she had to do was change it. It was her show.
One way or another, she was going to see to it that Gregor fucking Diminov was going to die soon. And if it was with his daughter’s lifeless body lying at his feet, so much the better!
Chapter 26 – Tulli
Tulli sat at the kitchen table in the Tucker household, feeling more alone than she could ever remember feeling in her life.
Mischa was asleep upstairs, having spent several hours listening to Joel and his funny stories. Lara was taking a bubble-bath in the huge tub in the en-suite bathroom, and most of the ladies were still working hard in Tuck’s office, trying to track down Luciana Vega and her men.
Candy Tucker had been here, there, and everywhere, trying to keep all her guests happy, but there seemed to be so many people in and around the house, Tulli hadn’t liked to bother her.
Left with strict orders from Candy to explore the house, and to help herself to anything in the kitchen she wanted, Tulli had taken one look at all the expensive kitchen appliances that she had no clue how to use, and happily settled for a glass of tap water.
Not that it mattered. Water was as good a drink as a person could want if they were thirsty. She’d realised that during the six months they’d spent in a shack with nearly forty other women, with just the one tap that supplied warm brown water. It was barely safe to wash with, let alone drink.
It was already late afternoon, what her mama would call tea-time, and she was desperate to know how Gregor was doing.
Her new phone was burning a hole in her pocket, and she longed to be able to just dial his number and ask him how his meeting went, or what he was going to have for dinner.
Just a normal conversation. Was that too much to ask?
Yes, apparently it was!
Why couldn’t Gregor have left her the phone’s operating manual as well?
Tulli felt the tears prick the back of her eyes. What an idiot she was! She couldn’t even get the damn phone to do what she wanted it to, which was simply to switch on.
Why had Gregor decided to buy her the latest all-singing, all-dancing model?
Did the man not realise that she’d never owned anything like this in her life, and hadn’t touched anything remotely technological for over six months?
Hell, she’d had a tough enough time operating the TV remote in the den in his house! They’d ended up watching a documentary on deep-sea fishing, because she hadn’t been able to figure out how to change channels!
“Tulli? Are you Ok?” Candy’s voice made her jump up, and she almost turned the chair over in her haste.
“Hey, it’s Ok!” Candy took a firm grip of the top of Tulli’s arm to steady her. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you like that.”
Tulli took a few breaths to calm herself, before turning to Candy with an embarrassed smile.
“I was in my own world, I’m afraid.” She admitted. “I didn’t hear you coming, but you couldn
’t know that, so please don’t apologise.”
“You looked upset when I came in. Is everything alright?” Candy rubbed her arm soothingly. “Anything I can help with?”
Tulli felt foolish, but was so desperate to speak to Gregor, she swallowed her pride. She pulled the phone out of her pocket and placed it on the table.
“Gregor gave me this, so I could call him, and he could reach me.” She explained.
“That was nice of him.” Candy smiled. “I’ve noticed how close the two of you are getting. It must be difficult to be away from him already, just as you were probably getting used to him being around.”
Tulli stared at Candy.
“That’s exactly what it feels like.” She whispered. “After our time in Colombia, coming back was such a huge culture shock. Gregor was my new reality, and he made everything seem so easy. Talking was easy, silence was easy. His company was just so easy. He was my new normal.”
“And now he’s gone, and your world is upside down again?” Candy guessed.
Tulli nodded.
“Please don’t think I’m ungrateful, Candy. You’ve been so kind to us all, and your family are wonderful…” She trailed off.
“But we’re not Gregor.” Candy smiled. “I get it.”
“Is it wrong that I’m feeling so dependent on him? That I need his company so badly, especially so soon after meeting him?” Tulli bit her lip, praying that Candy wouldn’t try and put her off him in any way.
“Honey, when I met Ryan, I think it took about ten minutes in the same room for me to fall madly in lust with him.” Candy grinned. “Five minutes after that and I knew I wanted to marry him. Of course, he thought he was too old for me, and worried about starting something because we were working together. In the end, it took me almost getting killed for him to really admit to both of us what he felt for me.”
“You were nearly killed?” Tulli gasped.
Candy pulled her shirt collar to one side to show Tulli the scar from where she had been stabbed.