by Taylor Lee
“You see! And look, there is more!”
Groaning with perverse excitement, he sliced open the seams on her pants, exposing a second microphone. Using one of Nicki’s high heels as a hammer, Boris smashed both microphones into powder. With a growl, he stripped off her remaining clothes, leaving only her panties.
Aiden was staring at him as though he were a mad man. “Are you as crazy as you look, asshole? Who the hell is she? And how the fuck did you know she was wired?”
Boris stared at Aiden as if he were the crazy one.
“Do you know who this is? This is Yuri Petrakov’s daughter.”
At Aiden’s blank look, the Russian’s voice filled with scorn.
“You ignorant guttersnipe. If that name means nothing, you cretin, perhaps you’ve heard of Simon Industries, or PetroCo International, or any other of the dozens of international companies that Yuri Petrakov controls. In the event that you are capable of understanding, the woman lying on the floor is worth roughly fifty million dollars. Minimum!”
Heaping Nicki’s clothes and the smashed equipment in a pile, Boris tore her tank top into long strips and tied her hands behind her back. He positioned her body so her bare breasts and the gash on the back of her head were in view. He snapped a picture with the tiny camera, texted a message, then pushed ‘send’.
Aiden stared at him in disbelief.
“Hell, old man, you are full of surprises. I presume it’s occurred to you that if she’s wired up like this, there’s likely more out there with the same equipment. No telling where the guys on the other end are. We better boogie, Boss Man. Watch my back. When we get to the penthouse, you can tell me who the hell this is and how we’re gonna make fifty million dollars from one little pussy.”
He reached down, hoisted Nicki over his shoulder, and darted down the hall to the door leading to the roof.
~~~
Katya looked around nervously for Nicki. They’d stayed within several feet of each other since they arrived. When she had to go to the bathroom, Nicki shrugged and whispered, “Go ahead. I’ll be right here.”
Heading back toward the room where she’d left Nicki, Katya was accosted by two of the fiercer-looking guards. The one with the dirt blond hair and bulging biceps gave her a tight smile.
“We’ve been looking for you, Mindy. Aiden wants to see you. He’s waiting out by the pool. Come, I’ll show you where he is.”
He took hold of her arm and steered her toward the patio door.
After ten minutes chatting with the drugged out party goers by the pool, Katya managed to get free from the two men who must have been assigned to watch her. Pleading for a bathroom break, she sauntered off—heading for the room where she last saw Nicki. Pushing her way through groups of noisy young people, her anxiety flared. It wasn’t as though you could overlook Nicki in a crowd. That red hair was impossible to miss. Trying to hide her concern, Katya asked several people if they had seen her friend. Most of them just stared vacantly, as if remembering their own name was a problem.
One dark-haired woman who wasn’t as wasted as her friends frowned and actually looked as if she were thinking.
“Oh, the redhead in that smashing Dolce? Yeah, I saw her about fifteen minutes ago. She was with that weird-looking Russian guy. You know, the big one with the fat gut?”
She giggled. “I think he’s our host. At least he’s got great blow. As long as we don’t have to spend time with him. But yes, I saw your friend go with him down that hallway.”
Katya did her best to conceal her panic when she heard Rafe’s voice in her earpiece. His words sent her fears into the stratosphere.
“Katya, we’ve lost contact with Nicki. Where is she? Are you with her?”
In a loud voice meant for Rafe to hear, Katya asked the girl, “That hallway? That’s where you saw my redheaded friend with the big Russian man?”
Katya pasted a false smile on her face, picked her way through the clusters of oblivious partiers, and headed for the doorway the girl had pointed to. She waited until turning the corner before breaking into a quick jog. She ran down the empty hallway calling for Nicki, then stopped at an open door. To her horror she saw the pile of Nicki’s shredded clothes, the smashed communication devices, and the telltale stains on the floor.
Barely caring if anyone heard her, she punched in Rafe’s channel.
“Oh God, Rafe! Oh my God, help! Help me. They have her. They have Nicki! Her…her clothes, her camera… oh God, there’s blood!”
Rafe’s heart thumped painfully against his chest. The last recording they’d had from Nicki was now seven minutes old. He didn’t try to decipher it—it was clear the Russian man talking to her knew her and knew her well. Rafe had practically shouted in her ear to ask what the hell was going on. But she hadn’t answered. Now her line was dead. He didn’t have to hear Katya’s frantic voice to know what she had found. He already knew.
Suddenly, Rafe realized he’d missed a message that had come in several minutes earlier. Opening the email, he saw a hideous picture. The text message accompanying the picture of Nicki’s body was even more chilling. “Please tell Yuri we will take as good care of his daughter as we did his wife. Volkov.”
The whirr of helicopter blades whipping through the peaceful afternoon drowned out Katya’s sobs. Looking up, Rafe saw the EC135Eurocopter heading toward the Long Island Sound. Pain tore at his gut. His worst nightmare had come true: Volkov had Nicki, and Rafe had no way to find her.
Chapter 37
Barking orders to his team that was already in high gear, Rafe focused on Katya.
“Katya, we need to get you out of there immediately. Do you hear me? I’m turning you over to Caleb. He will tell you exactly what to do.”
Rafe half listened to Caleb’s orders as he replayed the last message they’d had on Nicki’s channel. They’d amplified it so they could clearly hear the man’s voice, as well as Nicki’s shocked responses. What the hell was this about her mother? Yuri told him she’d died giving birth to Nicki. Now this Russian prick said she was alive?
Caleb nudged him with a scowl.
“Katya won’t listen, Rafe. She’s hysterical. Insists she has to stay, to get to the auction.”
Rafe called up Katya’s channel.
“Katya, this is Rafe.”
“Rafe, please. I have to stay. I have to get to the auction. How else will we know where she is? All of her GPS tracking devices are here. Please, Rafe….”
Rafe’s voice was soft, but edged with danger.
“Katya. Listen. To. Me. Now.”
“No, no, Rafe, please….”
“Katya Yashim. I want you to listen to what I am saying as if your life depended on it—because it does. Your cover is blown. I’m going to say this once. If I have to say it twice you are finished with ISA. Do you understand? I’ll take your silence for an affirmative. I want your ass over by the shed next to the fence within fifteen seconds. Danny tossed you a rope ladder. Do you see it?”
“Yes.”
“Good. I want you up and over that fence, now! And so help me God, you better be within ten feet of me by the time I count to thirty. Got it?”
Caleb was jubilant.
“There she is, Boss!” He added with a scowl. “Damn what is it about women that make them think they have to question every fucking order?”
Rafe expelled a large breath of air.
“They’re women. That’s why. I’ve been told that is enough of a reason. Get Vlad on the line.”
When Katya saw him, she ran to him and burst into tears.
“Oh God, Rafe. I’m so sorry. It’s my fault. I should never have left her. I thought I’d be right back. But those men pulled me away. I didn’t know what to do and I thought Nicki just went back to the party. Oh God, Rafe, where is she? Do we know?”
Rafe held her in his arms. He didn’t know when he had been more scared, or more angry. He forced himself not to take it out on Katya.
“Listen to me, sweetheart. You did t
he best you could.”
Katya sobbed.
“But I shouldn’t have left her. I should have insisted she come with me. I should have…”
“Stop, Katya. We can’t do anything about it now. We have to move forward. First we have to raid that fucking party and get all those young people out of there. Then, we need to take down every one of those armed and dangerous men; and while ISA and the NYPD are doing that, I’m going to talk to a certain Russian who has a hell of a lot of explaining to do.”
Caleb came over and held out his cell phone.
“Here you go, Katya. I got Vlad on the line. You know sweet cakes, I always look on the bright side and I gotta say, it’s a damn good thing there’s fifteen hundred miles between you and Vlad or I’m not sure you’d survive this conversation, at least initially.”
Rafe moved away, consumed with envy. What he wouldn’t give to have Nicki in front of him so he could scream at her and tell her know how angry he was—and how glad he was that she was safe. The way Vlad was lucky enough to do with Katya.
~~~
Rafe watched the squads pull up. As the black-suited men spilled out and got in position, Rafe and Grayson met the squad leader. Like many men in the dangerous ranks of first responders, Manolia was former Special Ops. Though he and Rafe had never served together, they’d known one another for years.
“Sorry to hear the big shots got away, Rafe. Gray said you’re gonna need us late tonight.”
Rafe nodded, his face rigid with strain.
“Sure as hell hope we do, Pete. Without Nicki’s tracking info, we have to rely on my inside guy. He’s s due to report any minute. Pray to God he gets us a venue. As soon as we hear, Gray will let you know. My gut says Midtown. You better bring some of your ‘spidermen’—it’s a good bet we’re going to scale some walls tonight. The security will be tighter than Fort Knox. We expect some high-level sheikhs—one of whom you might recognize. There’ll definitely be thobes and guthras.” He threw the experienced cop a caustic grin. “The better to hide an M 16 or two.”
Sgt. Manolia leaned over close to Rafe. His lips pressed in a thin line. The creases around his mouth deepened.
“Gray told me they got your woman, Rafe. Sure as hell sorry. Gotta tell you, you’re a hero in our community. We’re gonna make tonight a personal one. Just want you to know that.”
“Thanks, Pete. Can’t have better backup than you and your men. Especially given that we don’t want anyone to know that ISA set foot in that snake pit. For us, it’s in and out. We were never there. We’re happy to give you the credit.”
Manolia smiled.
“Credit we like. Blame? Not so much. But let’s make this one a ten-strike. We got your back, Rafe.”
Rafe nodded—then grimaced, remembering that Nicki had said the same thing this morning as she boarded the plane. The last time he saw her.
~~~
Rafe stood quietly for several minutes, taking in deep lungfuls of air. His fury had cemented into a rigid ball lodged in his throat. It made normal breathing impossible, and hampered his ability to swallow. He wasn’t sure he could speak. He punched in the number and waited for the man he thought he knew as well as he knew himself.
“Hello. Rafe?”
“Where’s your wife, Yuri?”
Yuri gasped.
“What? My God, Rafe! What…what are you saying?”
“I asked you a question. Where is your wife? You know the one, Yuri. The one who died giving birth to Nicki?”
There was a long silence. When he spoke, Yuri’s voice was thick with pain.
“My wife is dead, Rafe. She was murdered twenty–five years ago. When Nicki was barely a year old.”
Rafe’s icy voice sliced through the older man’s anguish.
“Not according to the man who kidnapped Nicki and is planning to kill her. But don’t worry. He said to tell you they will take as good care of your daughter as they did your wife.”
After Yuri sobbed out the hideous story, long moments passed in deafening silence. When Rafe allowed himself to speak, quiet rage colored his words.
“And you did not think it was important to apprise me of this, Yuri? Even when you knew how desperately I wanted Nicki off this mission?”
“Rafe, please….” Yuri’s harsh sobs made his words unintelligible.
“Yuri, Grayson is here with me. I am going to put him on the line. I want you to tell him everything about that day twenty-five years ago and everything you know about this man who calls himself Volkov. Do you understand?”
Silence met his command. After a long pause, Yuri’s strained voice broke through.
“Rafe, find her. Please find my daughter. Bring her back safe. Don’t let them hurt her. I beg you.” Anguished sobs swallowed his words. His whispered plea was barely audible. “Rafe? Please forgive me.”
Rafe closed his eyes and fought a wave of dizziness. His voice was flat, emotionless.
“Good bye, Yuri.”
Rafe handed the phone to Grayson, closing a door in his life he swore to never open again.
~~~
Nicki lay still. It took everything she had, not to put her hands over her naked body. To hide the snake they were peering at. Pretending to be unconscious, still drugged, she lolled from side to side. Even now the pain from the blow to the back of her, and the remains of the drugs they’d given her, made her nauseated. She prayed she wouldn’t throw up. She needed to hear what they said, understand their plans. She felt rather than saw Aiden and the Russian man staring at her. The women who’d started to bathe her, had gone to get them when they saw her naked body, her odd and extraordinary artwork. Nicki lay quietly. She couldn’t bear to see them staring at her. Their salacious voices were painful enough. She was sick with shame. More than anything she wanted Rafe.
“Fuck. I thought I’d seen everything. Damn, I wish Jamal was here. Hell, I can see it now. He’d have a snake twining up that foot long dick of his by end of day. And we’d all be hearing about it for years to come.”
The Russian bellowed.
“I’ve told you, Aiden! None of your animals will be allowed within twelve city blocks of this place! One look at those gutter rats and there would be a mass stampede. There is not a man we have invited who would be in the same room with them.”
“Settle down, Boss Man. I’m just pulling your chain. Your Ruskies are in charge tonight. The only thing I’m gonna do is charm our patrons, introduce the lovelies, and count the money. Aiden poked Nicki’s thigh. Only years of training allowed her not to respond. “And speaking of counting the money, you were right about this one, Boris. Only problem is your estimate is way low. Fifty million from her dear old Papa, another ten from whoever buys her tonight, and maybe we have a little show and tell. A sideshow if you will. Give them a peek at what she has hiding here. Course, they’ll have to pay for the peek.”
He convulsed in laughter at his risqué proposition, then added, “I figure this lovely redhead is a virtual ATM.”
Nicki peeked out of half-closed lids and saw Boris slap the woman who had been bathing Nicki.
“Finish getting her ready! And don’t give her anything else. She’s already too groggy. I want her feisty, glaring at the patrons the way she glared at me. There’s not a better turn on in the world than screwing an angry woman who puts up a fight. I’m just hoping she’s as much of a fighter as her mama was. Hell, there were eight of us and Tatiana fought every one of us, right to the end. It made for a hell of a recording to send Yuri. Let’s hope his daughter has as much fight in her as her mother did.”
“Christ, man. I thought you said you told our little redhead that her mama was alive.”
Boris sneered.
“How else could I have gotten her to come with me? Hell no. Tatiana died twenty-five years ago, after my uncle and his men and I had at her. We showed Yuri Petrakov but good. He might have put the screws to our clan, but we screwed his wife. To death.”
Aiden whistled in appreciation.
&nb
sp; “Damn, Boris. You sure had me fooled. If I’d known what a cruel son of a bitch you are underneath that drunken old man exterior, we could have made some serious bank. But as it’s late in the game, we’ll have to settle for a hundred mil or so.”
Once she was certain that they were gone, Nicki sat up, cringing at the pain in her head. A wave of nausea swept her. Boris’s ugly words echoed in her brain. Her mother was dead. But not in childbirth the way her father had told her. No, she had died a horrible painful death—and one of the men who had killed her was in the next room. Fighting blinding rage, mixed with grief and shame, Nicki excoriated herself. She was furious that she’d allowed herself to be captured, that she’d listened to the evil man spouting what she knew at the time were lies. She knew something was wrong. Her father would never have lied to her about that. He would never have said her mother was dead if she was alive. But Nicki hadn’t listened to her instincts or her rational brain. She’d ruined their careful plan, and in the process put her team, the kidnapped girls and herself in radical danger. And she’d done exactly what she’d promised Rafe she wouldn’t. She’d deviated from the plan. Big time!
She struggled to stand, horrified at how weak she was. Startled, she saw that it was after 10 o’clock. Damn, whatever they had given her must have been strong. She needed to focus.
At that moment, the Asian women who had bathed her returned. They looked relieved that she was awake. When the older woman spoke, her voice was low, frightened. “I am glad you are awake. The big man would have beaten us again if you were not ready. We must hurry. The important men will be here soon. You must be ready or they will hurt us. We need to make you beautiful. Shiny. Like the other girls. You are more beautiful than any of them. But we will make you even more beautiful. Come. Now we will finish bathing you, and wash your fire hair. Make you shiny all over.”
After they bathed Nicki, and brushed her hair into a shimmering cascade of curls, all three women grabbed their makeup tools and went to work. One did her face and neck, the other her lips and cheeks, and the third spent at least twenty minutes on her eyes. When Nicki finally saw herself in the mirror, she was surprised but not ashamed. She did look beautiful. Definitely shinier than usual, but beautiful. When they were finished, the Chinese woman gave her a pair of flowing harem pants. Nicki put them on then looked for a top. The women shook their heads, refusing to meet her gaze.