by Alexa Davis
"Excuse me? Excuse me!" I shouted at the driver who refused to turn and look at me. "Did you hear me? I said I'm going to sixty-five Goethe Street!"
"You're going where I tell you you're going, so shut the fuck up and sit down!" came the reply. I felt like I'd been punched. And then, the panic set in as I tried to open the car door and found it securely locked.
"Oh no, you're not getting out, little lady," the driver laughed. "You're coming with me."
"Let me out! Let me out!" I shouted as I pounded on the window hoping that someone on the outside would see me and stop the cab. "You can't keep me in here! Let me out!"
"Shut the fuck up," the driver said as we reached a stoplight and he turned to point a pistol at my head. "I hate stupid women who don't know when to shut up, so I'm not opposed to silencing you. Hand over the phone."
I shrank back in the seat and stared at the barrel of the gun with wide eyes. Anna paced in her carrier, mewing at me to let her out as I dug into my purse. I wanted to resist, but my common sense took over and I handed the man my phone
"Shut that fucking cat up," he demanded. "I hate those fucking things. They're sneaky – just like women."
"Where are you taking me?" I asked, trying to keep the rising panic out of my voice. I had no idea who this man was or what he wanted from me.
"You'll see when you get there," he said before tossing me a mask and yelling, "Now put that damn thing on and shut the fuck up!"
I sank into the backseat as I pulled the mask over my eyes before quietly opening Anna's cage so that I could pet her. She seemed to understand the situation and silently climbed onto my lap. I held her close and petted her head as I thought about Max. I suddenly regretted my foolish outburst in the lobby of Peter's building. Had I not fired the security guard Max had hired, I might not be in this situation. I cursed myself as I felt the tears welling up.
Eventually, the cab pulled into a garage and I could hear the doors being quickly pulled down. The cab door opened, and a hand grabbed my arm, roughly pulling me out of the car. I was startled and Anna responded by jumping out of my arms. I heard a gun go off, and I screamed thinking they'd shot her.
"You heartless bastards!" I shouted as I began to cry. "She's a baby! You shot a baby!"
"Shut up!" a voice near my ear warned. "Or you'll be next."
I ground my teeth together so hard that I was certain I would crack one or two as I was shoved forward and told to walk. The hand on my arm gripped me tightly, and I felt the cold metal of a gun pressed against my right temple as I walked. My stomach roiled and I was afraid that I was going to vomit, so I swallowed hard and tried to calm myself by breathing deeply.
When we reached a doorway, I heard a lock click and felt the breeze from the door opening as the hand on my arm shoved me forward. I went flying across the room and landed hard. Something padded broke my fall, and the voice said, "You can take the mask off if you want, but I'd recommend that you stay really fucking quiet or else I'll have to silence you."
I nodded miserably as I reached up and pulled off the mask so I could look around. The room was no more than six by six feet and was made of cinder blocks with one small window at the top of the wall. It was large enough that I thought I might be able to squeeze out of it, if I could manage to boost myself up high enough. The walls had been painted numerous times, as evidenced by the layers of paint that had been chipped away, leaving a rainbow of colors in various places. The floor was cement and looked like it had been scrubbed to try and remove what looked like bloodstains that spread out across it. There was a drain in the center of the room, and after looking once, I tried to avoid repeating my mistake as it confirmed that the stains on the floor were, in fact, blood. I looked down and realized I was laying spread across a dirty mattress, covered in who knew what. I quickly pushed myself up off of it and walked to the far corner of the small room. I pressed my back into the corner and sunk down facing the door.
I had no idea where I was or what these men wanted from me. All I knew was that no one had any idea where I was and that these horrible men had murdered Anna. I began to cry silent tears for my little kitten and then for myself.
"Aw, don't cry, little girl," a voice at the door said in mock sympathy. I looked up and saw a tall man with a blond crew cut dressed in jeans and an army jacket zipped to the neck. He was casually holding a large hunting knife in one hand and when I saw it, my blood turned to ice in my veins as my eyes dropped to the stained cement floor. "That's it. Connect the dots, little girl."
I was frozen on the ground, knowing that I had no chance of escape and that this man was most likely going to butcher me and dispose of my body so that no one ever knew what had happened to me. The tears continued to flow as I tried to accept my fate.
"Oh, I'm not going to cut you up, if that's what you're afraid of," he laughed. "Don't be foolish, little girl. You're a valuable commodity."
I looked up into his cold blue eyes and my first thought was how different they were from Max's warm ones. This man looked like he could cut diamonds with his stare, and I quickly looked away.
"No, no, look up at me!" he said in an encouraging tone. "I want you to look at me while I film you pleading for your life."
"But…but you said you weren't going to hurt me," I whispered.
"I might or I might not, depending on how good you play this role," he said as he examined his nails and then used the knife to remove something from underneath one of them. "You're an actress, aren't you?"
"Y…yes," I stammered.
"Then you'll do the best acting job of your life or you will die. Are we clear?" he asked in a matter-of-fact tone. I nodded as he grinned and brought out my cell phone. "Now, I'm going to use your phone to record your plea, so make it good because this is what Malinchenko is going to get. You need to tell him to cooperate or we will kill you. It's pretty simple. Ready?"
He turned the phone's camera on and began recording with the light shining brightly into my eyes. I swallowed hard and began speaking, "Please, Max, they're going to kill me. Please, help me! They already killed Anna and now they said they're going to kill me if you don't give them what they want! Please, help me!" By the end of my plea, I was crying hard as the tears flowed down my cheeks and I sobbed for Max to help me.
The man shut off the camera and nodded, "Good job. But who is this Anna we killed? I don't remember anyone else being brought in with you."
"My kitten!" I sobbed. "He shot my kitten! She was just a baby!"
"Oh, well, good," he said as he brought up a wad of spit from his throat and hocked it on the ground. "Cats are filthy animals. It's better for all of us that she's dead before she became an adult."
He turned and walked out of the door, slamming it shut behind him.
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
Max
I'd only been home a few minutes when the doorman rang and said he had a package for me. I told him to send it up in the elevator and when the doors slid open I found a small cardboard box with my name and address written in block letters on top. There was no postage or return address, so I took it to the kitchen and carefully examined it.
It didn't look like any explosives had been attached to the box, so I lifted the lid and inside, I found Lexi's phone. My heart dropped to my stomach as I picked it up and pressed the power button. Once the phone was powered up, I read the instructions that had been typed on the home screen and played the video.
When the camera came on I saw Lexi huddled in the corner of a room with what looked like cinder block walls. She looked small and very scared as she looked up at the camera and begged, "Please, Max, they're going to kill me. Please, help me! They already killed Anna and now they said they're going to kill me if you don't give them what they want! Please, help me!" For a moment, a black rage descended and I wanted to murder anyone and everyone who was connected with her kidnapping.
The video feed returned with the camera pointed at an empty chair in a wood-paneled room that had the old Sovi
et Union flag pinned to the wall. I watched for a moment, and then Alexsander Dementyev walked into the frame and sat down. His slimy smile spread across his face as he prepared to speak. I wanted to murder him.
"Malinchenko, I imagine that right about now, you want to murder me," he laughed. "You wouldn't be a man if you didn't, but that's not why I'm here. I'm here to claim what's rightfully mine and if it means that I have to use a bit of incentive to get it, then so be it. You might wonder what a man like me could possibly want, since I have everything any man could desire. I have money, power, and immunity from prosecution under diplomatic law.
“So, I'll tell you what I want. I want your father to pay for his crimes against the state and against his fellow vory v zakone. I want the head of Vladimir Malinchenko, and once I get it, I will be happy to return the little American actress to her proper place."
Dementyev's laughter filled the small room as he reached out and accepted the glass of vodka offered by a disembodied hand. Then, he continued, "You have exactly twenty-four hours to bring me Vladimir or I will cut up that pretty little girl and spread her out across this city so that you will never be able to find her again. I hope that you understand that this is nothing personal with you, my friend. It's an old debt that must be paid." He accepted a second glass of vodka, raised it toward the camera, and declared, "Za vashee zdaróvye!" before downing it and slamming the glass on the desk.
"Twenty-four hours, my friend," he said as he flashed a sinister grin and the screen went dark.
"You bastard," I hissed as I clenched my fist and then slammed it down on the patio table, shattering the glass top and sending everything on the table crashing to the ground. I stood up and paced the length of the balcony as I thought about what my next move would be. He wanted me to turn Papa over to him, and no matter what my father had done, there was no way I was going to do that. Or was there?
I stormed back into the penthouse, grabbed my phone, and dialed my father. When no one answered, I swore a blue streak as I ran back to my bedroom and changed into a black t-shirt, black jeans, and a black hoodie.
I wasn't sure how I was going to do this, but I was going to rescue Lexi.
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
Lexi
Despite the small window, I quickly lost track of how long I'd been the small cement room. I cried myself to sleep in the corner and when I woke up, I saw that the kidnappers had left a tray of food just inside the door. I crawled over to it and then pulled it back to my corner.
They’d given me some soup that was now cold and a thick slice of rye bread. There was also a cold bottle of water and an apple on the tray, and I laughed a little at the notion that these ruthless kidnappers had somehow decided to provide me with a balanced meal. Suddenly, the memory of Anna in my arms came crashing back in and I dissolved into tears again. These awful men had killed a small, defenseless kitten. It didn't get any colder than that, so I hardened my heart and ate what I could of the food they'd given me. I would keep up my strength and then when the time came, I would find a way to break out. I would save myself.
As I was finishing my meal, the door swung open and the same blond man walked in, only this time he was carrying a gun. I cringed before I could stop myself and then lifted my head and looked him directly in the eyes.
"Oh, you are a brave little girl, aren't you?" he said as he moved closer. There was something so sinister about him that I could smell it.
"Perhaps, I am," I said as I set my jaw and prepared for him to shoot me. If I was going to die, it wasn't going to be cringing in the corner.
"You think I'm going to shoot you, don't you?" he asked as he moved away and kicked the dirty mattress, causing a cloud of dust and who knows what else to fly up out of it. I felt the food in my stomach shift and I swallowed hard to keep it were it was.
"I think you're going to do whatever it is that people like you do," I replied.
"You think I'm a monster, don't you?" he asked as he turned and looked out the door. "You think I have no feelings."
"I think you're whatever you think you are," I countered. "I don't really care what that is because to me, you're nothing."
"Oh, little girl," he laughed in the way that adults laugh at children. "You are so very wrong about that. So very, very wrong."
An instant later, he was squatting down next to me with his hand wrapped around my neck, squeezing off my air supply. I choked and gasped, but his hand tightened and I couldn't draw air into my lungs. His face was inches from mine as he watched me struggle like a fish out of water, and his smile grew wider, but colder as I felt the blackness encroaching around the edges of my sight.
Instinctively, I reached up and tried to pry his hands from my neck, but that made him squeeze harder and the darkness threatened to consume me. I stopped struggling and began to focus on trying to take a breath. As I calmed myself, he loosened his grasp enough to let a small trickle of air into my lungs, and I almost cried with relief.
"See, when you're a good girl, I let you breathe," he whispered into my ear as he tightened his hold once again, cutting off my air. This time, I sat completely still and waited as I counted as high as I could go. Soon, he loosened his grip and I blew out what was in my lungs and sucked as much fresh air in as possible expecting him to play this game again. Instead, he let go completely and stood up. "You see how this works, little girl? I have the power to determine whether you live or die."
I nodded as I tried to slow my panicked breathing and return my pulse to normal. I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of knowing he'd gotten to me, but he already knew he had. It was his entire aim. He would unsettle me and make me grateful for his willingness to allow me to breathe. I'd learned this in a psychology class that Josh and I had taken our senior year, and now, I wracked my brain trying to remember what our professor had said about psychopaths who had a God complex.
"You aren't going to make it out of here alive, you know?" he said quietly. "It doesn't matter what Malinchenko does, I'm going to slit your throat and watch your blood flow down the drain. Like I've done with countless other women before you."
"Oh goody," I said flatly. "Thanks for letting me know the plan. It's so comforting."
"Your sarcasm is duly noted," he grinned. "It won't save you, but it will certainly make my time with you more interesting."
With that, he lifted the gun and pointed it right at me. There was something freeing about staring down the barrel of a semi-automatic weapon knowing that I wasn't going to get shot. "You're not screaming or crying," he said, sounding disappointed.
"That's because you just told me that you're going to slit my throat and watch the blood go down the drain," I said in a dull voice. "I felt fairly certain that you'd stick to the plan."
"You're a smart little girl," he told me as he lowered the gun and flashed me a smile that chilled my soul. "This will be so much fun when we get to the end of the road."
He turned and walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him. Only once I heard the click of the lock turning back in place and his boots echoing in the hallway did I let my tears fall fast and hard.
"Find me, Max," I whispered to no one. "Please come find me."
CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
Max
Since I'd gotten no answer at Papa's house, I had the driver take me to Ursus, thinking that he was probably there hanging out with his bratán, despite the fact that the doctor had told him to stay home and rest. When we pulled up in front of the bar, I noticed that there were men stationed outside.
"What's going on?" I asked the one closest to the door.
"Vladimir is here," he said and then tipped his head, indicating that I should go inside and see him. All eyes were on me as I entered the bar and looked toward the back room. The crowd of men parted as I slowly walked toward where my father sat with his closest advisors. They were all protected by his men, and the one in charge patted me down whispering, "Sorry, Maksim, I have to." I nodded to indicate that I didn't take it pers
onally as one of the other men held open the door to the back room and motioned for me to enter.
"Maksim," my father said as I walked through the door. "I am glad you're here."
"Papa-" I began.
"Enough, I know what's going on," he said holding up a hand indicating that I should listen rather than talk. "Maksim, I know what that sookin syn Dementyev wants and I know what needs to be done. I am prepared to go with you and trade myself for this Miss Wallace. I can't guarantee that she will be safe, but I will do everything in my power to ensure that she makes it out alive."
"Papa, why is he doing this? What is going on?" I asked as I searched my father's face for an answer.
"It is an old grudge, Maksimka," my father said. "One that began many, many years ago and one that Dementyev has never been able to put to rest. Now, he seeks revenge for a slight that he thinks is my fault, but really is not."
"What does he think you did to him, Papa?" I moved around the table and sat down in the chair next to him. "What on earth could have possibly caused him to decide that hurting Lexi would make things even?"
"Maksim, there are many things in this world that happen in the course of a lifetime," he sighed. "Things that you don't know will have any kind of consequence until years later. And, things that are so small that you don't even notice that you're doing them, but those small things become big things for someone else and years of nurturing the resentment and hurt create a home for the wound to fester and become filled with the pus of rage and anger. Dementyev is trying to lance the boil of his anger, and I am his target. Miss Wallace was an unfortunate bystander in his plan."