by Terry Towers
Chapter 14
Alexander
If you want something done right you have to do it yourself. That was such a true statement. Six men, six fucking men were sent here to find one woman and child and nothing. A few “maybe we saw her” comments and that was it. It was clear I had a group of buffoons working for me.
Getting out of the rental car, I made my way across the quickly filling parking lot of a local bar. Just before I reached the entrance, a young woman with short, black hair and wearing a t-shirt with the name of the bar written across the front in white block letters came from the opposite direction. I stopped outside the entrance and waited for her to meet me.
“Excuse me Miss,” I said as she approached, flashing her a wide smile that usually made the women swoon. When I first discovered Anastasia had defiled me, leaving my face scarred for the rest of my life, I’d been horrified. However, it seemed that women were actually more attracted to me with it. Gave me a bad boy vibe, I guess. The thought made me laugh inwardly. If they only knew.
She stopped before me, but didn’t speak.
“You work here right?”
She nodded. “For a few months.”
“Great.” Reaching into the inside pocket of my white sports jacket I pulled out a picture of Anastasia and Ura, the one that I had the men showing around town. I knew Boris had been here already, but the moron had only spoken with the owner. Why he didn’t have the good sense to check with the servers that evening was beyond me. Fucking idiots. “I was hoping you could take a look at a picture for me, I’m looking for a childhood friend that I was told comes here from time to time.” The lies rolled off my tongue as if they were the god’s honest truth.
She hesitated, suspicion in her gaze. She didn’t seem to be swayed by me as women normally were. Must be a dyke, only reasonable explanation for it. Humph.
I pushed the photo under her nose. “It’s really important. Please look carefully.”
She looked down at the photo and I saw a glimmer of recognition in her eyes.
BINGO!
When she looked up, she shook her head and shrugged. “Nope. Sorry. No one like that comes in here.” She pasted a fake smile on her lips and jerked her thumb in the direction of the bar. “Sorry. If you’ll excuse me I’m late for my shift.”
Lying bitch! Just goes to show, women are a bunch of lying whores. Despite my thoughts I smiled. “Thank you for your time, you’ve been very helpful.”
“Sorry I couldn’t have been more help.” Her chest fell as she released the breath she’d been holding. Maybe a normal person wouldn’t have noticed, but I did. You don’t stay alive and get where I am in life, not being able to read people.
My work here was done. After thanking her I spun around and made my way back to my rental car, pulling my mobile phone out of my pocket as I walked. Anastasia would show up here, no doubt in my mind, and when she did – my men would be waiting for her to take her home. In the meantime I’d have some of my men poke around the area. What it took my men weeks to not achieve, I achieved in one evening. Good minions were becoming extremely hard to find indeed.
Anastasia
“So? Any sign of him?” I asked Jaxson as he strolled through the door. I leapt from the sofa and met him halfway across the room, giving him a big hug, drawing from his strength.
Jaxson shook his head, hugging me back and giving me a quick peck on the lips. “None tonight.”
“What about his men?”
He shook his head a second time, pulling out of my embrace, shrugging off his jacket and draping it over the side of the sofa. He then proceeded to pull the gun from the back of his waistband and set it onto the end table.
“Did you hear from your friend?” I had a feeling, a really bad feeling. I’d been dismissing the feeling for the most part of the day, but it was becoming nearly impossible to ignore.
Jaxson sighed, flopping himself onto the sofa, grabbing my hand and pulling me into his lap. “Yes. He called and said he and some of his men would be flying in tomorrow morning.” He twirled a strand of my hair around his index finger, watching the strands as they slipped away. “We should really go to sleep tonight, it’s going to be a long gruelling day for you. I imagine they’ll have hundreds of questions. You could be interviewed for most of the day.”
Pulling my knees up, I snuggled closer to him. “You’ll be there, right?” I didn’t think I could do it alone.
“Of course. But I’ll need to take care of Ura while you’re with them unless you don’t mind one of the men watching over him.”
I chewed at my lower lip. I hadn’t thought about that. My mind had been in such a state it didn’t even occur to me that many of the questions I’d be asked I wouldn’t want Ura around to hear. Ura still had some confusion on who Alexander really was to him. He’d called him Daddy for a long time, or at least it seemed that way for a five-year-old. As much as I hated Alexander, I really didn’t want Ura knowing the full truth about him. It wouldn’t do a lick of good.
“You’re right, I don’t want Ura around to hear some of the things I will have to say. And I’d rather not have him confused by having to spend the day with a stranger.” I flashed him a smile that I knew didn’t carry through to my eyes. “I’ll be fine.”
He returned my smile. “I know you will. You’re a strong woman even if you don’t think so.”
Our gazes locked and I knew he was telling the truth. God, I wished I could see myself through his eyes. The trouble is he still didn’t know everything about me. He didn’t know what I did to survive while in Ukraine.
His smile faded and a frown creased his brow. “Baby, what’s the matter? Aside from the apparent.”
I looked down at my hands in my lap and began fidgeting. Chances were my life in Ukraine would come out, if not tomorrow in the interview then sometime down the line. Did I want him to find out from me or through another source?
“Anastasia?”
“I need to tell you something. It’s important.”
He cupped my chin in his hand and forced me to look at him “How about I grab some wine and we can talk.”
I sighed. “Yes, please. That sounds like a great idea.”
Jaxson
“All right.” I rubbed her upper thigh, covered in Snoopy pajama bottoms. “I’ll be right back.” Slipping out from under her, I stood looked down at her. She looked so damned vulnerable at that moment. I couldn’t resist, slipping a hand to the back of her neck I lowered my lips to hers for a quick – okay, maybe not so quick – kiss before straightening, a smile on my lips, grabbing my gun and making my way to the kitchen.
Just as I was reaching into the fridge for a bottle of white wine a loud crash came from the living room, followed by screaming.
Anastasia!
Grabbing the gun, I thanked God I’d had the foresight to put it back into the back of my pants before going into the kitchen. I double-checked the safety was off and planted myself against the wall, inching my way slowly and noiselessly to the entrance to the living room.
“Alexander.” I could hear the trembling in her voice, but she kept it lowered, no doubt hoping that the crash and scream hadn’t woken Ura.
“Well, well, well. You had a nice little run didn’t you, you little bitch.”
Alexander’s voice came from the doorway. I listened carefully and heard three sets of footsteps entering the apartment.
“Let me go, you brute!”
“Did you really think you would be able to maim me and then just run away? You even had the nerve to take money from my safe!”
“Fuck you Alexander!”
Fuck, fuck, fuck. All right, there are four of them. More than I’d like, but if handled correctly, doable. I closed my eyes for a minute calming myself. I’d been in situations like this a hundred times before, just none had been personal like this before.
“Where’s Ura?” the man I assumed to be Alexander asked.
“At a friend’s house.”
“I
s there any end to your lies, Anastasia? Men, go check the other rooms.”
I heard movement and took the one and only chance I felt I would have to get the upper hand. I spun around the corner, focused on one dark-haired man who was heading toward Ura’s room, focused my gun and shot, the bullet hitting its mark and entering the back of the man’s skull.
Anastasia screamed.
The shot man fell forward against Ura’s door and then slid to the floor.
Immediately I lowered to a crouched position, looking for my next target as Anastasia screamed a second time, louder than when they knocked the door in. Between the gunshot and Anastasia’s screaming there was no doubt Ura would be woken.
The next target came to me, coming around the corner to the kitchen entrance; no doubt he hadn’t had enough time to register what had just happened. His eyes, which were as black as the night, grew wide as a bullet went sailing through the front of his neck and out the other side.
Grabbing the man as he began to fall, I used his body to cover mine as I took a couple of steps into the living room to see Anastasia to my right, the man Boris I’d met a few days earlier at the bar behind her with a gun to her head. To my left was Alexander, his gun aiming at my head. I immediately focused my gun at him in return.
“So this is the prick you took off to be with, whore?” Alexander snarled, his eyes glued to mine. “How long were you planning this?”
“No. He’s not. He’s nothing. He’s my boss, that’s all.”
“Nothing?” Alexander cocked a brow and shifted his eyes to her for a brief second. I couldn’t take the shot if I wanted to, Boris would kill Anastasia and then me. If Ura came out of his room he’d be hit in the crossfire. Why he hadn’t come out of his room already was beyond me, but I thanked God for small miracles. “Do I look like a fool to you?”
Alexander shifted his full attention to me. “If you do anything stupid, my man will shoot her in the head. Are we clear?”
“Yes,” I growled through gritted teeth.
“Good.” He looked over at Anastasia again, while keeping an eye on me. “Does Romeo here know what I’ve done for you? Does he know what you were before I brought you here and cleaned you up?”
“Please, Alexander. Please.” I quickly glanced over at Anastasia. Tears were streaming down her cheeks, but she met Alexander’s glare straight on. “He has nothing to do with this. He doesn’t and neither does Ura. Take me, I’m what you want. You never wanted Ura. Leave him here. Take me. You can do whatever you want to me.”
Alexander laughed and with his free hand motioned to the man lying on the floor, in an increasing pool of blood. “Do you think you’re in the position to bargain with me?” Then motioned to me. “Do you want me to tell him or should I, cunt?”
The man I was using as a shield was becoming heavy, and the warm, sticky blood that was spilling from his throat was beginning to saturate my t-shirt. It would only be the matter of a couple of minutes before I’d no longer be able to hold up his dead weight to shield myself and keep a steady aim on Alexander.
“Walk away, man,” I said. “Walk away and forget about her and this ends here.”
“No. No, I don’t think so.” He focused his complete attention on me again. “Did she tell you she was a whore before I brought her here? She was a gift from her handler for come coke.”
My jaw clenched. I won’t lie, it stung. For a brief moment I wondered how many men she’d been with, thousands? But did it matter? No.
Alexander chuckled and looked over at Anastasia again. “See, now that he knows the truth he’s repulsed. I accepted you. I gave you a life all women dream of having.”
“You used me as a slave. No woman wants that!”
A wicked grin spread across his lips. “If you think I treated you bad before, just wait until I get you back home. I have a special room all set up for you.”
I chanced a glance over at Anastasia. She seemed to be holding up; her blue eyes blazed with anger and hatred. Good. Those emotions might keep her alive.
“Mamo!” Ura flung the door open and stepped out.
“Ura! NO!” Anastasia screamed, attempting to pull herself from her captor.
A gunshot rang out.
Chapter 15
Anastasia
I screamed again as I fell forward in Boris’s arms, closing my eyes and holding onto my ears. My ears rang so bad that I felt like my head was going to explode.
“Put the gun down,” Jaxson commanded. Or at least that’s what I thought he said, I could barely hear and the world was spinning so badly I couldn’t open my eyes.
Ura… Oh my god! What if Alexander shot him! If they killed him then they might as well kill me as well.
Slowly I opened my eyes, hearing Ura’s screams and crying.
Alexander was dead.
I didn’t understand. I looked over at Jaxson and his expression seemed as confused as I was.
“This is what is going to happen,” Boris’s voice said from behind me. When neither one of us answered he continued. “Anastasia and I are leaving. I’ll leave her in a safe spot.”
His arm tightened on my neck and he began walking me toward the door. Jaxson, who had the gun now pointed at Boris, used his free hand to grab onto Ura’s and pull him away from Alexander’s body – which was bleeding out on the floor due to a gunshot wound to the head – and force him into the kitchen.
“Daddy… Mamo!” Ura screamed, but allowed himself to be ushered away from the bloodshed.
“Just let her go and nothing will happen, you can leave here. We won’t stop you.”
“Oh, I’ll be leaving. And so will you and the kid. After we leave, you and the kid are going to get out of here and to the bus station and wait for my instructions. Make sure you have your mobile with you. If you try to stop us, I’ll kill everyone including the kid.”
Jaxson caught my gaze and I could tell he was about to protest, but I shook my head. “It’s okay Jaxson, I’ll go, do as he says and keep Ura safe. Whatever you do, keep him safe.”
“Anna –”
“No Jaxson. Please.” Tears sprang up in my eyes and began to flow down my cheeks. Boris had negotiated us until we were at the entrance to the apartment and backing our way out the door.
“All right.”
Without another word, Boris ushered me out of the apartment. I went freely. If it meant he was far away from the two people I loved more than anything else in the world, that’s all that mattered.
Once we reached the staircase leading us to the outside of the building he released me. “If you don’t keep up, or try something funny I’ll kill you then go back and finish off the job with your kid and boyfriend. Are we clear?”
“Crystal.”
He looked over his shoulder at me and nodded. “Good.”
~*~*~*~
“I don’t understand what’s going on,” I said, as Boris and I reached the car and he turned to me. My head was racing, trying to figure out what had transpired at the apartment.
“The organization wanted Alexander dead. He’s dead,” he explained.
My brow creased. “I don’t understand, why did they want him dead?”
“He’s been stealing from them, skimming from the top. He got a little too full of himself for his own good and the bosses weren’t pleased. They just found out and gave me orders to kill him and take over. This just made things easier for me. He’s usually so goddamned sharp it would have been hard to make a move on him, but since you took off he’s been so obsessed with getting you back he didn’t see it coming. Thanks for that, by the way. You gave me the perfect opportunity.”
“So... This is it?”
He huffed. Reaching into the inner pocket of his suit jacket, he pulled out an envelope and tossed it at me.
Even more confused, I tore open the top of the envelope and shook the contents onto the hood of the car. My passport fell out, followed by Ura’s, our citizenship cards and two stacks of cash marked $5,000 each.
&nb
sp; “You’ll be needing those if you want to start a new life. And there’s a few bucks to get you started. Along with what you’ve already helped yourself to that should be plenty.” He jerked his head toward the bar. “It looks like you’ve settled in nicely already.”
“I don’t understand, why are you doing this for me?” Boris was always Alexander’s right-hand man. He did everything and anything Alexander said without question. It was mind-boggling.
Boris glowered at me. “I’m not. Weren’t you listening? I’m taking over. I’m doing this for me, you just got lucky to be winning in the process. Besides, I refuse to kill a kid and that kid needs a mother. If anything I did it for him.”
“What’s going to happen when the police find the bodies?”
“That’s your boyfriend’s problem. I suggest you tell them Alexander and his men came for you, and in self-defence you killed them.”
“What about his brother? He’ll be out for blood.”
“The brother is already taken care of.” His expression softened – slightly. “I’ll give you a bit of advice, stay the fuck out of Miami. Stay nice and clear. And if I get even a hint of the feds or some other type of agency sniffing around, I’ll be back to finish what Alexander didn’t, kid or no kid. Are we clear?”
My throat felt like I’d swallowed gravel. Shit! Jaxson’s friend was supposed to show up tomorrow. I swallowed hard, trying to clear the lump in my throat. But Alexander was dead. That’s who they were after, and that’s what they were getting. I wouldn’t even speak of this conversation with Jaxson. As far as everyone was to be concerned it was over.
“Did the fucking gunshot deafen ya?” He took a menacing step toward me and I matched his step backward. “I asked are we clear?”
I shook my head. “No. We’re clear. It’s over.” I forced a smile on my face and stuffed the ID and money back into the envelope. “We’re clear.”
“Good.” Pulling the pistol from his pocket along with a white handkerchief he proceeded to empty the gun except for one bullet, wiped it down and then passed it to me. “You shot Alexander with a gun you’d kept hidden under the coffee table.”