Girls With Guns

by Ali Vali

  “Uncle, I more than anyone know I serve and work for you at your pleasure. What you trust me with, you do, and what you have reason not to, you don’t. I went to the meeting with Captain Baylor, and I doubt his influence will stop the investigation. That’s my opinion, anyway, and you know I don’t have those often.” She never lost eye contact with him as she spoke, but it had to do more with gauging his reaction for any funny surprises than making him think she cared what he thought. “Men like Boris are the ones with the opinions and snide remarks. All I want is to take care of my mother and family in my father’s memory.”

  “How are your mother and little brothers?” he asked, his cultured and practiced accent digressing to a more Russian accentuation on the word brothers.

  “Good,” she said and smiled for the first time that day. “They’re doing well in school, and they both are getting ready to try out for the wrestling team.”

  “Ah, like me and Victor.” He slapped his hands again and laughed. “It’s in the genes. Don’t forget that. You can’t deny your family.”

  Not if I can help it, fucker, she thought as she laughed with him. Once she had enough money, she was taking her brothers somewhere the Antakov name didn’t mean shit. She’d have to leave their mother behind because she was too engrained in the old ways, but she was okay with that. Her brothers were safe for that moment in the private boarding school that was her greatest expense.

  “Yes, just like you and Papa. You can be proud.” She was tired of the lying, but it’d become the extent of her life, so she plowed on. “Is there something else I can do for you? You usually don’t like coming down here if you can help it.”

  “Boris said one of those women was able to get a message out.” Yury’s voice was deceptively calm, but she could sense the anger under the surface, like slight ripples in a pool. “How the hell did that happen?”

  “Boris is the security man, and from my understanding one of the men got a phone in while we were set up at the construction site on the river.” She walked to one of the black filing cabinets and took out a red notebook from the middle drawer. “I’m not sure who forgot the pat-downs, but I sent a couple of guys over to see our Papa Bell and explain the rules again and to warn him about coming by now that he’s been exiled.”

  “Did you have him checked out?” he asked as she pointed out the notation she’d made about the incident.

  “Yes, sir, and he swore on his mother that the girl only wanted to talk to her mother, and he didn’t see the harm. I turned his life inside out and discovered he was a construction worker with a soft spot for hookers. There wasn’t anything sinister about it, and the guys working the sites understand that the next time it’s their balls on the line.” She put the book away and returned to her seat. “I’m surprised Boris didn’t share that with you.”

  “Everyone has their own agenda. Don’t forget that, either.” He stood and pulled the lapels of his jacket to adjust the fit. “Take an extra twenty from this month’s take and treat yourself to something nice. You’ve been working too hard, so take a break and come by for dinner. I want to talk to you about a few things.”

  “I’d love to.” She kissed both his cheeks when he came close, glad her day was almost over. “Call me with a date.”

  Yury placed his hands on her cheeks and stared at her for a long time before letting her go with a kiss to her forehead. “Your papa would be so proud of you.”

  “Thank you, Uncle. That means a lot to me.” She saw the softening in his expression, so she decided to take a chance for once. “I don’t want to ever disappoint you or his memory, so I hope what happened today had nothing to do with me. If it did, let me bear the weight of it alone.”

  He touched a few fingers to her cheeks and shook his head. “Today had nothing to do with you, precious girl. It was a necessary purging, but sometimes we must do unsavory things for new beginnings, and we could all use those every so often. True?”

  “True,” she responded and watched him go. “What the hell was that?” she muttered aloud.

  Chapter Five

  Abigail carefully extracted herself from the girls and checked to make sure Liam was still sleeping before going into the other room to order coffee and something to eat so the pain meds wouldn’t knock her on her ass. Her wound was throbbing to the point of nausea, so she was ready to give in to the siren song of the bottle in her purse.

  She stopped when she left the bedroom. Finley Abbott was still there, only instead of being the alert guard from the night before, she was asleep on the couch. Granted, she was still fully dressed, including her boots, but the tall cop appeared different with a bit of drool at the corner of her mouth.

  It was impressive how quickly she woke up when Abigail closed the door the entire way and it slightly creaked. “Could I offer you some coffee?” she asked as she held the sash of her robe.

  “I’ll call down for it,” Finley said, rubbing her face before sweeping her hair back. “How about something to eat as well?”

  “That’ll be necessary if I take one of these.” She shook the bottle and stopped when someone knocked.

  “Did you call anyone?” Finley asked as she placed her hand under her rumpled jacket.

  “No, did you?”

  “Could you step back into the bedroom, please?” Finley asked, her gun unholstered.

  “I could, but let’s see who it is first. It’s the Plaza—the only danger is how high your blood pressure and shock factor go when you get your bill.” She didn’t know why she was being so difficult, but she wasn’t going to be intimidated into crawling under the bed.

  “Please. I promise I won’t be long.”

  “Okay, but after the maid drops off more shampoo we’ll have to discuss your overactive imagination.”

  Whoever it was knocked harder, and before Abigail could torture Finley anymore, the door crashed open and two men came in. It was too late to run, and the pain of Finley pushing her down on her injured arm made her cry out, but it prevented her from getting shot again. Whoever these people were, they came in ready to kill, and she assumed from their frozen expressions when everything was over, they’d never expected someone to shoot back.

  Abigail didn’t see exactly what happened, but Finley hadn’t hesitated, and her quick thinking had saved Abigail again. No way could this be coincidence. Someone wanted her dead and didn’t care who was around, including her children, who were now awake and crying again.

  “What’s happening?” she asked when Finley helped her up and hurried her into the bedroom.

  “Get dressed,” Finley said, and the order sounded like it was for everyone. “Come on—we can’t stay here,” she said before she closed the door behind her.

  Finley moved fast and removed anything she could find in the pockets of the two guys she’d killed, but not before checking the hall for anyone else. She didn’t find a lot, but she pocketed it for later and texted Russell when she was done. It was time to run much farther than New York, if Abigail and her children were going to survive this.

  “Ready?” she asked when she opened the bedroom door.

  “We’re ready,” Abigail said, back in her jeans and a hastily buttoned coat with blood on it. “Let’s go,” Abigail yelled and repeated it when she didn’t move.

  “Okay, take a deep breath, and I’m not being condescending.” Finley closed the bedroom door, knowing she didn’t have that big a window to get out of cleanly. Going out with a hysterical woman and three children was a good way to attract unwanted attention.

  “We need to go,” Abigail said, all her calm gone.

  “We will, but I need you to stop crying.” She held Abigail by the shoulders just long enough to get her attention. “I don’t want anyone to remember us leaving here.”

  Abigail nodded and finally took her advice of a deep breath. “Let’s go. I promise we’ll be fine.”

  The door was hanging by one hinge, and the occupants of the rooms close to them were starting to come out and inve
stigate the strange noises. “Okay,” she said when she came back for them. “Use my coat.” She took hers off and held it up for Abigail. “When we get into the hall, keep your head down and follow me,” she said as she took Liam from Sadie.

  She put her badge around her neck and checked behind the door for the location of the stairwell. Her plan was to go up a few floors and hunt for the service elevator. The two guys she’d shot had to be the advance team, so it was time to put some distance between them and whoever else was lying in wait.

  “Who’s got a cell phone on them?” she asked, and both Sadie and Abigail held up their devices. It didn’t take long to crack them open and take the SIM cards out and snap them in half. “Let’s get moving.”

  *

  Yury stood in the window of one of the condos in Trump Tower. He had a perfect view of the Plaza and the swarm of police cars parked out front. If Boris didn’t want to pay with a few of his fingers, the incompetence of the last few days had to have come to an end.

  “Anything yet?” his hostess asked from the direction of the kitchen.

  He really shouldn’t be here. To have someone trace him here would derail all the plans he’d made in the last couple of years, but the young woman owned a part of him that he’d never get back, but then he’d gladly given it away. The best place to hide at times, though, was in a city that moved a million miles an hour. Here no one had time to stop and really stare at who was right next to anyone else. For now, Crista Belchex would be his little secret hidden away in this fast-paced universe.

  “Something, yes,” Yury said as he adjusted his binoculars, “but no phone call. The cops are swarming the place, so maybe for once they’re being smart and not leaving any evidence behind.”

  “You didn’t tell me about this morning,” Crista said as she came out with two plates. “Get away from the window before you attract unwanted notice and eat.” She poured him some orange juice and slid the glass across the antique table. The apartment was furnished with similar fine pieces, but then he knew Crista finally had the time to shop for the things she was knowledgeable about. “What was yesterday about?”

  He told her about the lax security and how the girl had made contact with someone they couldn’t really trace. The cleanup of their mistakes wasn’t usually so public, but the location had served another purpose as well, and she shook her head when he told her what.

  “You don’t approve?” he asked as he took a sip of his juice. “Don’t tell me all this forced relaxation has dulled your instincts.”

  “I do approve, if it had worked, but it didn’t,” she said, and he swallowed hard from anger. “Now anyone interested in the business will have a way of tracing this back to someone, so let’s pray that doesn’t happen.”

  “No one’s that smart,” Yury said, but gazing at Crista he knew that was a lie. She was that intelligent, but he doubted there was another like her.

  “I hope you’re right,” she said, and something cold came over him like she’d poured ice water on his head. “If you’re not, we might not have enough manpower to fix the damage.”

  *

  The gawkers disappeared when Finley flashed her badge and barked an order to get back inside. In the stairwell, Victoria hung on to Abigail’s hand, and Liam clung to her when she lifted him up on her shoulders so they could take the stairs quickly.

  Three floors up, Finley checked before leading them all out, praying she wouldn’t have to draw her gun again since she was draped with children. The service elevator was close, and they made it to the basement without picking up any company.

  “Will they bring your car down here?” Abigail asked as she held Sadie close to her. The only possessions they’d brought were Sadie and Victoria’s backpacks.

  “Come over here first.” She pointed to a spot near the loading docks but out of view. “Did you call anyone last night?” she asked Abigail but had Sadie in her line of sight. When Sadie started crying instantly, she wondered if children were like this all the time or only in high-stress situations. “I’m not mad, but who’d you talk to?”

  “Grandmother called to see if we wanted anything,” Sadie said, sounding like she’d start wailing any moment. “I didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to—” Her tears wouldn’t let her finish.

  “Sadie, please, I’m not mad.” Jesus, she really needed to call in reinforcements and get back to her life and her job. She glanced to Abigail for help, not having any experience in this arena.

  “Sadie.” Abigail kissed her forehead. “You didn’t do anything wrong, baby, but Finley had to know so she can take care of us. When did Grandmother Eaton call you?”

  “Last night when you were talking to Finley.” Sadie’s case of hiccups made the sentence take forever to come out.

  “Did you tell her about Finley and where we were?” Abigail asked, as if reading her mind with that question.

  “No,” Sadie said, but Finley could see that wasn’t true.

  “Sadie,” Abigail said, but Finley shook her head.

  The kid already felt bad enough. No sense in making it worse when Sadie didn’t have the ability to repeat her mistakes.

  “We’ll talk about it later,” she said, trying to figure a way out that didn’t involve her car. “Please stay here.” She walked away from them, badge still out, and weighed her options. “Peter,” she said, wanting to make the call from a place that was already compromised.

  “What’s going on? Russell’s got me working on some shit that’s like black ops, and he said you shot some guy. I work with you for like ever, and the most exciting thing that happened to us was food poisoning.”

  “Peter, focus for two seconds since I’ve got no time. I need you to wipe me and tell Russell not to wait up.” The truck at the end closest to the Eatons was being unloaded, and the carts full of the dirty linens were lined up ready for loading when it was done.

  “Wipe you from what?” Peter asked, and she could hear typing in the background.

  “Everything having to do with this job for now, and don’t forget about Russell.”

  “You have to give me some reason why,” he said, but he was still typing. “Detective Abbott was some of my best work, including all that background.”

  “Your memory’s getting faulty. I finished this cover while you were at lunch.” She glanced behind her, glad to see Abigail was still out of sight. “And I’m not exactly asking you to completely get rid of me from everything. Just wipe me from NYPD’s databanks for now.”

  “Are you okay?”

  “There’s some major shit going on, and I’m running out of people to trust, so until I can get my witness someplace safe, just get this done for me.” She saw the driver of the laundry sharing a cup of coffee with someone in a white smock, so she’d wait until they were done. “Tell Russell I’ll follow protocol for once.”

  “He’ll think I’m lying if that’s your message.”

  “I’m not that bad,” she said and laughed. She needed to do that, after having taken two lives that morning. She’d never have imagined a complete geek like her would have showdowns and kill the people she chased. She missed the anonymity and seclusion of her office and computers.

  “Keep your head down and stay in touch,” Peter said and sighed. “I hate that you’re out there alone.”

  “Will do, and I’ll be back before you know it.”

  The delivery guy came back when the staff started loading the carts, laughing with the two workers hauling the dirty linen. On their last trip one of the guys finally asked who she was and what she needed.

  She wasn’t interested in waving a red flag to heighten their attention, but she wasn’t getting out of there unnoticed without giving something away either. “I’m here on official police business, and I need your help.” She showed them her badge and explained what she needed. “Where’s your next stop?”

  “Where do you need it to be?” the truck driver asked. “And will NYPD cut me some slack on my parking tickets?”

&n
bsp; “Stop at this address and I’ll wipe them from your record—you have my word.” She handed him a slip a paper with where she wanted to go.

  They all got in the back with a promise from everyone present they’d never tell anyone how they’d left or where they were going. She doubted that under pressure one of them wouldn’t crack, but she wasn’t planning to stick around in one spot very long waiting for whoever was after Abigail to finish the job.

  “Where are we going?” Victoria asked when they started to move and the only light was the few spots peeking around the door where the rubber seal was broken.

  “On an adventure,” she and Abigail answered together, and Finley heard clapping from who she figured was Victoria.

  At least one of us is happy, she thought as the carts slammed forward when the driver hit his brakes.

  *

  “You need to go,” Crista said as she glanced at her watch. “It’s late, and you need to find out what happened.”

  “You don’t want me to call from here, do you?”

  “What I need and what I’m getting are two different things.” She poured herself a small glass of vodka from the freezer and drank it quickly. It was the one guilty pleasure she allowed herself every day. A life of solitude and waiting were making her want to scream in frustration, but that wasn’t something she’d ever allow herself. Her hands twitched at times from the desire to give in. “I’ve never begged you for anything, but I need you to finish this.”

  “You don’t think I’m trying,” Yury screamed, something he seldom did with her. “When it comes to everything now, from the business to the house, it all falls on my shoulders, so don’t add to that.”

  “I’m sorry. You’re right,” she said, pouring another glass and drinking it. If he wanted any he’d have to get it himself. She could manage only so much domesticity in a day. “We’ve come too far to lose patience now.”

  Yury looked at her as if to see if she was being sarcastic, but in reality all she needed was for him to keep his head. The only time he lost his mind was when he lost complete control of his temper. It didn’t happen often, that she could remember, but more than one person had died when he indulged his true nature.