He spoke almost immediately. “I am curious why Victor would be interested in you. You’re practically a girl. How old are you?”
“Like I told these guys, I’m not Laura Stanton. I’m her friend.” She was hoping he was smarter than his henchmen.
“Do you know who I am?”
She nodded. “Alexi Amelin or something?”
He nodded. “I am Alexi Amelin. And you are?”
“I’m Amy Meyers.”
“Hmm.” He said. “So where is Laura?”
“Probably at Brad’s house with the FBI agents,” she said, hoping she’d pique his interest with the mention of the FBI.
It seemed to work. He lifted an eyebrow and leaned forward. “Go on.”
“Let me start from the beginning. I’ll give you the short version of what I know,” she started. All eyes were on her. “My friend Kali, well Laura, moved here to get away from this Victor guy who used to beat her and abuse her. She took some money from him so she could start over and so she could have some of his marks taken off her body. Her boyfriend, Brad, my boss, wanted to know about her past and she wasn’t forthcoming about it. So he sent a private investigator out to California to snoop around. The investigator guy ran into Victor, alerting Victor to where Laura was.”
She stopped, making sure everyone was following. No one said anything, but she did note a hint of amusement on Alexi’s face. Taking that as a sign to continue, she did. “So according to the FBI guys that showed up to talk to my boss and Laura, Victor killed the private investigator though they can’t really prove it without witnesses, and they had some guy inside Victor’s,” she paused to find the right word, “circle verify this. This guy told them Victor was sending his men out here to get Laura.”
Alexi sat back in his chair with a full smile on his face.
“The FBI wanted to catch Victor on kidnapping so they decided to use Laura and your name as bait by making sure it got back to Victor that you allegedly had Laura. I don’t think they counted on you finding out they were using your name to con Victor,” she finished. Letting out a heavy sigh she leaned back into the couch, painfully aware of how uncomfortable having her hands bound behind her back was.
“What if she’s FBI?” One of his men asked.
Alexi put up a hand. “I think she’s telling the truth. Untie her hands.”
Rory pushed her forward and removed the rope binding her wrists together. “What’s the plan?”
With narrowed eyes, Alexi smiled. “I don’t think I’ll ever see my quarter of a million from Victor. On the way here I seriously considered killing him, but that would be too messy. Then I thought maybe we should have him and his men beaten severely, but that merely facilitates war and further discontent. I could still make this work in my favor. We help the FBI catch Victor like they want; they get their task forces out of my business. I could almost see their interest if I was actually doing something illegal, but I’m not.”
Rory and several of the other guys nodded, but they all seemed a little bit unsure.
Alexi looked at Amy. “You see, my associates and I, we run legitimate businesses. We keep everything above board and on the books as they say. We’re not like Victor. We don’t kill people. If we did, no one would ever know.”
She had no reason not to believe him. Alexi looked her straight in the eye when he spoke and didn’t flinch, look away, or even blink.
“However,” Alexi continued. “I want assurance that Victor has no idea I’m involved in his downfall and I think I’ll use you to that end.”
Furrowing her brow, she decided to ask the question she really didn’t want the answer to. “Isn’t holding me against my will illegal?”
“No, you agreed to come with my men to come speak with me and you agreed to help put me in contact with the FBI. After all, I’m a concerned citizen who just wants to help catch a criminal.” Alexi gave her a brilliant smile, flashing perfect white teeth at her.
Swallowing hard, she realized she had fallen for Alexi’s charm. When he said he never did anything illegal, she was pretty sure he meant that he had never been caught and everything on the surface looked legal. Underneath there was probably a gray area. The comment about if he killed someone no one would ever know didn’t go unnoticed either. So while Victor was an outright criminal who was hard to catch, but sloppy enough that the feds were on to him, Alexi was more subtle and worked harder at not getting caught. Not to mention he was a smooth talker. Either way, cooperation seemed like the best plan for her own sake. Amy didn’t want to seem like a traitor, but she really didn’t have much of a choice, did she? After all, Alexi could make her disappear if he wanted.
“Rory, get me one of the cell phones,” Alexi instructed.
The tall, plainly dressed balding man left the room and returned a few minutes later with a disposable cell phone that he handed to Alexi. Alexi, in turn, stood up, walked over to her, and handed her the phone. “Call Laura. Tell her we want to meet these FBI agents and we will cooperate and help them with Victor. I have my men meeting Victor at the airport and bringing him here tonight.”
Amy nodded and began punching in the number
“And Amy,” Alexi said with a smile, “Don’t do anything stupid. You agreed to come here, remember?”
She nodded again and finished putting in the number. The phone picked up on the second ring.
There was a pause, a sure sign the line was being recorded. The sound of Brad’s voice gave her a tinge a hope. “Hello?” he said.
Trying to sound nonchalant she chimed, “Hi Brad, it’s Amy.”
“Amy, where the fuck are you?” She’d never heard him sound so panicked before. “When we got here there was a pissed off pizza guy and the house was wide open. All your stuff is here…”
“I’m fine; I didn’t realize I’d be gone so long. See, Alexi Amelin’s friends stopped by and asked if I would swing by here to talk to him, but then he was late getting here…” she tried to make it sound good.
Alexi was nodded affirmatively, so evidently she was doing what he wanted.
“What? Are you fucking serious? Ames - wha…” Brad’s voice seemed to drift off as the phone changed hands.
“Amy, are you okay?” It was Eric. He sounded scared.
“Eric, I’m fine,” she assured him. “Look, who I really need to talk to is Agent Brocco.”
She could hear Brad’s voice in the background. Then Eric said, “What’s this about you going to see Alexi Amelin? What possessed you to do that?”
“Look, he wants to help out any way he can,” she said. She gave Alexi a hopeful smile.
“Is he there right now?” Eric asked.
“Yes,” she said.
“He’s Russian mafia, Amy. These people are dangerous. They’re not people you just go to meet with on a whim. So tell me the truth, did they kidnap you?” She could imagine Eric running his hand through his hair.
“That doesn’t matter. I need to talk to Agent Brocco.” She let out an exasperated sigh. The last thing she needed today was a lecture about Russian mafia. Of course she knew what kind of danger she was in, but she didn’t have time to sit around talking about it. Alexi was sitting right across from her.
She heard Eric let out an audible breath. “Okay, I’m giving the phone to the agent, but I want you to do everything you can to be safe. Do you promise you’re okay?”
“Yes. I promise.” She kept the answer short because Alexi seemed to be getting a bit annoyed with the length of the conversation.
“Agent Brocco here,” said the gruff voice on the other end of the line.
“Hi. This is Amy Myers.”
“Yes, Amy, I know. Are you okay?” Brocco sounded concerned, too.
“Yes, I’m fine. Look, I’m here with Alexi Amelin and he wants to know if he and you can meet to talk about Victor. He wants to help out.” She tried to keep her voice bright and cheery.
“I see. He must have somehow heard we were using his name.” Brocco paused for a s
econd, then said, “Let me talk to him.”
She pulled the phone away from her ear and held it out to Alexi. “He wants to talk to you.”
“Agent Brocco?” Alexi asked.
Nodding she handed him the phone.
“Agent Brocco,” he said with that same charm. “I got a call from Victor Kolknov earlier today saying he was angry that I took his girl, Laura, away from him and he said I stole money and killed one of his men. So I find out who to talk to about this and Amy here was nice enough to come over to explain it to me. As a concerned citizen, I’m naturally interested in doing my part. Now how can I help you?”
Alexi listened for a few minutes, nodding ever so slightly to the voice on the other end of the line. “Well now that you ask there is something you can do for me. It seems I have a task force nosing around two of my repair shops, interrupting business. We do insurance claim body work and vehicle repair. It’s a legitimate and honest business. I’ve shown them my records and everything and still they send in spies to see how we do business. They haven’t found anything and yet they don’t go away. Maybe you can help me there and I will help you catch Victor by playing along in your ruse. Maybe I also give the task force some information on businesses that I know for a fact aren’t on the up and up.”
She was impressed with Alexi’s mastery of English. Most foreigners didn’t speak with the eloquence and command of the language that he did. Sitting back into the couch she got comfortable. Something told her she was going to be here for a while.
***
Eric was in a panic and understandably so. Kali was feeling pretty low. All of this was the last thing she ever wanted to happen. They, the infamous they, always said that the past always had a way of catching up with a person, but this was more than she could bear. Pull on your big girl panties and own your past, Kal, she scolded herself.
She gave Eric a forced smile to hide her own fear. “Don’t worry. I met Alexi a few times and I’m pretty sure he won’t hurt her. He just wants assurance Agent Brocco will help him out and I have no doubt he wants to see Victor go down, too. He may be a mob guy, but he’s one of the more polite and professional ones. Brocco isn’t going to flake on us and try to nab Alexi. Right?”
The agent had just gotten off of the phone. “No, I have no qualms with Alexi Amelin. The task force has agreed to lay off him if he can give them the scoop on an illegal operation. We have the go ahead. Now, Laura, we need to get you in your vest so we can head over there. We’re confirmed that Victor is on the plane.
Brad hadn’t said anything.
She grabbed the vest and gave Brad an apologetic look, wondering if this meant the end of their relationship. God damn she was so insecure. But if it was the end, she couldn’t blame him. Wouldn’t. No, she’d understand it completely if he wanted nothing to do with her after this. As she passed him to head toward the bathroom to put on the bullet proof vest he grabbed her hand and stopped her. There was no way he could go with his thigh stitched up. The agents had already told him no.
“Make sure you put that on right,” he said. Addressed like a true Dom. He hid is feelings and proceeded to tell her what to do.
Had she not been terrified for Amy, she would have laughed. Instead she nodded and slipped into the bathroom to put it on under the t-shirt she wore. When she was done she came out of the bathroom and stood next to Brad, waiting for Brocco and Salazar to finish their conversation.
Finally Brocco said, “We’re ready to go.” Then he looked at Brad, “We’ll do what we can to make this go quickly and painlessly.”
She noticed he said nothing about doing it safely, but then nothing about Victor was safe. She was more worried about Amy than herself and not so much because Alexi had her, but that if she was in the same room as Victor, what Victor might do. He wasn’t above using women as shields or shooting someone to make a point. Yeah, she could easily see him doing something like that.
“Ms. Stanton?” Brocco asked. “It’s time to go.”
She came to attention, realizing she was clutching Brad’s hand. “Oh, right.”
She let go of his hand and leaned over and kissed him.
“Be careful,” he whispered. At that moment all of her fears that he would no longer want her melted.
“Take care of Eric,” she said and started to turn to leave.
“I will, and Kal…”
She turned back to him.
“I love you,” he said.
The knots in her stomach twisted violently. She merely nodded and turned, following the two agents out the door and leaving the house that they were supposed to have lived in together, even if it was temporary, behind her. Getting into the car was a blur and next thing she knew, Salazar was driving out toward the countryside.
“So here’s the plan, Laura,” Brocco started.
Fighting back a groan, because she knew all about Brocco’s half-assed plans, she gave him her full attention and tried to forget that Brad had just told her he loved her and she never answered him back. She fought back the wave of panic that overwhelmed her as she wondered if she’d ever be able to tell him that she loved him, too. Finally, she fought back her concern for Amy’s safety. She needed her head in the game and allowing her worries and fears overwhelm her wasn’t going to help her one damn bit.
“Alexi is going to pretend you’re his woman. You’re going to play the part. Victor will hopefully grab you or shoot someone and we’ll take him down. At worst we might let him get as far as the front door with you.” Brocco stopped as if waiting to see if she had any questions.
“So you’re going to let him kidnap me,” she clarified. She knew if Brad were in the car right now he’d be protesting.
“We need something concrete to charge him with. If he only comes in and argues with Alexi, the entire operation could be a bust,” he admitted.
Salazar, a man of few words, didn’t speak. He simply drove.
“Okay,” she said. “So we want him to react. We want him to shoot someone or do something very illegal.”
“Precisely. We already have enough on one of his guys to charge him for shooting Mr. Hudak. But we need Victor specifically and Victor is such a hot-head we’re hoping jet lag hasn’t made him calm and amiable.
She snorted. Nothing about Victor was amiable unless he was lying to lull someone into a false sense of security. “That shouldn’t be an issue.”
“Let’s hope not. We still have some time when we arrive to work this out with Alexi and let’s hope he’s not secretly working with Victor,” Brocco said.
Somehow she seriously doubted that. If she remembered correctly, Victor and Alexi’s falling out hadn’t been a small affair. It was a pretty big deal and bridges that big, when burnt, weren’t easily rebuilt in a matter of years. Perhaps decades, but not years. “I wouldn’t count on that,” she said carefully, pulling a lip balm from her jeans and putting some on. She slipped the lip balm back in her jeans and hoped she wasn’t under-dressed. She knew Alexi’s girls were a bit more high-class that she was, but at this point it didn’t matter, did it?
It didn’t take long for them to finally arrive at the gated grounds of Alexi Amelin’s mansion.
Chapter Eleven
Alexi hoped his offer would entice the agent to take it. He’d give the task force one of the gang operations in the area. If possible, Alexi always tried to find amicable solutions to all of his problems and this was a golden opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. Victor Kolknov goes to prison, the task force leaves Alexi alone, and everyone would be happy. Especially him. Well, Victor wouldn’t be happy and that fact made him smile.
He heard Brocco sigh on the other side of the line. “You won’t take it personally if I don’t trust you?”
“Of course not. I know everyone is wary of me because of my cousins and some of my associates, but you have to understand that it is hard to be a Russian immigrant and not know members of the Russian mafia,” he said.
“Of course,” said Brocco.
Alexi held back a chuckle. It was obvious the agent wasn’t buying it, but he didn’t care. He only cared that Brocco agreed to the deal. He was counting on Brocco wanting Victor more than he wanted Alexi. “So what do you say? Can a concerned citizen lend a hand? My friend Amy has told me she’d stay here with me until we worked out a deal.”
“I see.” Brocco paused. In the end, Brocco wanted Victor, or Amy, or maybe both. “Fine, I’ll contact the task force and arrange for them to leave you alone as long as your lead on the car theft ring is legit and my agents and I will bring Laura to your house. Are you sure your guys are escorting Victor and his men to your place?”
“Yes. I assure you. If I’m lying you may arrest me for obstruction.”
“I would, too,” the agent said.
Alexi laughed. “Agent Brocco, you must understand that at one time I thought Victor was a legitimate business man like myself. I befriended him and invested in an import deal. He didn’t honor that business deal and I lost a quarter of a million dollars. I have no love for Victor, but being a legitimate business man myself I walked away and took my losses like a man who made a bad decision. I learned from that mistake and never dealt with Victor again. Admittedly I do see this as a bit of payback,” he admitted. “But can you blame me?”
Brocco sounded surprised. “Oh. Now I see why you’re so eager to help. You win no matter how this goes down.”
“I am a business man, Agent Brocco,” Alexi repeated. “I do very little that doesn’t benefit me.”
“At least you admit it,” Brocco mumbled, then added, “We’ll be at your place in a half hour so we can go over the plan. I’m bringing agents and there will be additional agents and a SWAT team surrounding the property.”
“Very good. Just make sure they aren’t obvious or it could cause Victor to run. His plane lands at midnight. It makes me happy to be able to help,” Alexi said before hanging up. He looked at the blonde girl on the couch in front of him. She couldn’t have been more than twenty-three. For her situation she seemed quite calm. “They are coming. What a fortunate night this ended up being, and I thank you for your assistance. You may leave with the agents after Victor is in their custody and as long as the agents don’t attempt to arrest me.”
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