The American smiled, which infuriated Dmitri even more. “This is your last chance, asshole. After this, the price for my cooperation goes up.”
“You bastard!” Dmitri yelled, face purple. Veins bulged in his forehead and he saw stars around the periphery of his vision. “You’ll never leave Rostov alive! And when I’m finished with you, after you’re cut up into pieces and thrown into the Don, I’ll take your daughter and bash her head open! She’ll—“
But then the American was on him.
Nick lunged over the desk, knocking papers and a laptop onto the floor, and grabbed Dmitri by the collar. He threw the Russian against the wall and held him there, a foot off the ground. Nick pressed his face inches from Dmitri’s and spoke in a savage whisper, spittle landing on the stunned Russian’s face.
“Listen, you little pissant,” Nick said. “The only reason you’re still alive right now is that I need you to get my little girl.” Dmitri struggled, eyes wild, but he made no headway against Nick’s strength. “Don’t you ever get between me and my family, you cocksucker. I’ll give you until noon to get the adoption going again. If you do, you’ll get your money back and get to keep this nice fucking office. If you don’t, I’ll be back and shoot you in your fucking head! Do you understand?”
Dmitri spit in Nick’s face.
Nick hesitated a moment, shocked, then slammed his forehead into Dmitri’s nose. The man sagged in Nick’s hands as blood poured down his face. Nick hadn’t hit him hard enough to put him out, because he needed action from the man, but Dmitri wouldn’t be going anywhere for a while.
Five minutes later, Dmitri began to get focus back. He saw as the door swung open again and, to his relief, Mikhail run in. What the hell had taken him so long, Dmitri thought dimly. Mikhail’s gun was out, but when he saw Dmitri awake and looking at him, the guard put it away.
Something was different about the room. In his haze, it took Dmitri a moment to realize what it was.
His treasures, the items on his wall, his heritage, dammit, were gone.
Chapter 27
Anya slapped Nick lightly on the cheek, mock anger on her face. “Stop worrying, you old babushka. I’ll be fine. They’ve never seen me before.”
Nick looked doubtfully at the car parked across the street from the only entrance to the orphanage. Dmitri’s men had been easy to spot. Nick was vaguely disappointed Dmitri hadn’t told his men to be more careful, after all they’d been through.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I should be the one to go in…”
“That’s stupid and you know it,” Anya said. “They’d spot you in a minute. Now let me help you.” She reached in a pocket. “Besides, I brought a hat.” She slipped a black beret over her hair and adjusted it. Nick saw it went well with her eyes, now flashing impatiently.
She noticed his expression and smiled. “Thank you,” she said as she adjusted her skirt. “Now stay off your cell phone and I’ll call you in five minutes with good news.”
She stepped out from behind the edge of the building and walked confidently up the street. Nick watched her stroll past the black car without stopping or looking. She disappeared through the gate without a backward glance.
Nick settled back, out of sight of Dmitri’s thugs, and waited for Anya to get back to him with news on Nonna. He had called her after leaving Dmitri’s office, and she immediately suggested that she go to the orphanage at noon to see if Nick’s daughter was cleared for adoption. Neither one really expected that she would be, but both thought it would be more correct for Anya to make the queries, since Nick has basically been barred from the orphanage. He didn’t expect that she’d be able to see Nonna, but Anya should at least get a feel for if Nonna was safe.
Nick felt guilty about putting her in harm’s way, but Anya insisted, and her arguments had validity. She pretty much stayed away from her father’s business, so she should be an unknown quantity to Dmitri’s men. But there was always a chance that somebody would recognize her as somebody’s daughter or cousin.
He felt better now that she made it in without incident.
The minutes crept by. He kept checking his watch, willing it to move faster. As the ten minute mark passed, he began to be more hopeful. Perhaps she was visiting with Nonna. Or perhaps she was arguing with the orphanage doctor about getting information on the baby.
Finally, after nearly fifteen minute, the phone buzzed. He saw her name flash, clicked the talk button immediately, and put the phone up to his head.
“Yes?” he asked.
There was silence, punctuated by his heart beating in his ear, then she said slowly, “I have bad news.”
Nick felt his body deflate. “The adoption is still off? Perhaps they haven’t had time to make the change yet. Maybe if you ask the doctor—“
She cut him off. “It’s worse than that.”
“Oh, god. What?”
“Nonna’s gone.”
“What? What happened?” He abruptly felt dizzy, and sat down hard on the grass.
“They took her.”
“Who took her?”
Anya started to cry. “Oh, I’m so sorry, Nick. She won’t tell me! She said she can’t say.”
“Put her on.”
“I had to leave her office to make the phone call.”
“Put her on.”
Nick heard the sound of footsteps, and the muffled voice of Anya talking. Another voice answered, even more muffled, but definitely a man’s voice. The went back and forth for a moment before Anya pulled the phone away from her clothes.
“She had to go check on the babies, Nick. They won’t let me see her.”
Nick stood up. “OK, I’m coming in.”
“That’s not a good idea.”
“Tough shit,” he said. “I’ll try the back, see if I can get in that way. Sounds like breaking and entering is the least of my worries now. Can you stay there for now?”
“I think I can. I’ll sit in the waiting room.”
“Good. Hold tight. Call me if you see her.”
She sighed. “OK. I’m so sorry, Nick,” she said again.
“Don’t be. It’s not your fault. And I’m not done yet.”
Nick knew the tall wrought-iron fence ringed the orphanage, except where the buildings stood. The fence was about eight feet high, but was probably designed more to keep short kids in than tall adults out.
At least, that was Nick’s hope.
He crossed the street, ducking his head in case one of the enforcers checked their rear-view mirror, and disappeared behind the back of the orphanage. With the large building blocking him from his adversaries, he stood up and moved fast. Around the back side of the orphanage, in the courtyard between buildings, he saw several large trees near the fence. He picked one near a building, relatively out of sight from casual observers.
He sped up as he neared the tree, then jumped and jammed his foot in the tight space where the trunk split in two. He reached up, grabbed a large branch, and swung himself up into the tree. He quickly slithered out on a branch hanging over the fence. Once over the fence, he swung his legs over the side and slid off the branch until he hung by his hands. The branch cracked ominously as Nick hung there for a second. He dropped into the orphanage courtyard.
There were a few parents playing with kids near Nonna’s building, but nobody looked his way. Nick straightened up, brushed leaves and a few sticks off his shirt, and walked to the building.
He saw Anya in the waiting room outside the doctor’s office. She looked surprised to see him so quickly, and began to stand up. He made a motion with his hands to keep her in her seat as he walked through the waiting room and out the door on the other side, to the hallway that led to the crib rooms.
He heard the cries of the babies and smelled the orphanage smell. This time, however, the familiar smell didn’t make him feel happy. It seemed to mock him. These aren’t your babies, it said. Your daughter is gone and you’ll never see her again.
Instinctively his hand
felt for the gun in his pocket. He left the gun hidden there, reassuring, unused but ready.
The doctor was in Nonna’s room, shaking a rattle in front of a little boy sitting up in his crib. The boy’s eyes tracked the rattle but he didn’t reach for it, and there was no smile on his face.
There was no smile on the doctor’s face when she noticed Nick next to her, either. A flash of fear, then her composure returned.
“You shouldn’t be here,” she said.
Nick ignored her. “Where’s Nonna?”
“She’s gone,” the doctor replied simply.
“Where?”
“You needn’t concern yourself.”
Nick stepped closer, causing her to flinch slightly. “I’m her father. Tell me.”
She looked at him with eyes that were not unkind, and pursed her lips. “Please don’t,” she said softly. “There are…powerful people who don’t want this adoption to proceed. I cannot fight them.”
“I’m not asking you to fight them,” Nick replied. His voice choked with emotion. “I just need a little help, please. Nonna needs me. And I need her.” We need her, he thought.
A trail of tears wove their way down from each of her eyes as she spoke. “I’m sorry, I cannot say anything. If I do, they’ll hurt me or, even worse, take my children. You must leave!”
Something in her voice, or in the tears she made no effort to wipe away, convinced Nick that she would be no help. But he had to try one more time.
“Is it Dmitri?” he asked.
She looked down for a long moment, until he was sure she wouldn’t reply. She shook her head. “I can tell you’ll be a wonderful father. But Nonna isn’t in your future. Just leave her be, for everybody’s sake, including hers.”
Air hissed out through Nick’s teeth. His mind began to work, to plan, to leave the orphanage. The image of the doctor began to fade from his sight, bit by bit, until a dismembered face looked at him with concern. He brought her back long enough to say, “No, that won’t happen.”
Then he left her, an unreadable expression on her face.
Anya sat in the same position she had been in three minutes earlier. Nick doubted she had moved a muscle. He noticed her beret was off, probably stuffed in her pocket because of the hot air in the waiting room.
“Let’s go,” he said. His throat felt hoarse.
She stood up. “Any luck?”
Nick shook his head. “She clammed up. They have her scared to death. But I’m sure Dmitri knows, even if he didn’t grab her himself.”
She nodded. “So you visit Dmitri again?”
“Yes. But this time he’s not getting off so easy.”
She nodded as she slipped her beret back on. “And if he doesn’t tell you what you need to know, what will you do?”
“I’d rather not think about that.”
She turned to face him, her expression earnest. “Nick, it’s time to, how you say, man up.”
He stared at her for a long moment. “Man up.”
“Yes. You want your daughter, let’s go get her.” She held out a hand. “You told me you have two Glocks.”
“Damn right I do,” Nick said. He pulled the second one out from behind his back. It had been sticking into his skin for the past hour, but the pain was security. He handed it to Anya.
She checked it expertly, making sure a round was chambered and the safety off, and slipped in into her purse.
“You seemed familiar with guns.”
“I’m my papa’s little girl. You ready?” Her eyes glinted. He had never seen her like this. He was glad she was on his side. He wondered if she had stayed out of daddy’s business as much as she said she had. At that moment he hoped not.
“What’s the plan?” Nick asked.
“You know those two guys out front?”
“Yep.”
“It’s time for them to be useful.”
“How so?”
“They can give us a ride to Dmitri’s place.”
It turned out to be easy. Anya sauntered around to the passenger side of the car, knocked on the window, played the demure female, toyed with the man in the passenger seat, then shot him in the leg as Nick hopped in the back seat.
“Sorry,” she said to Nick with a shrug as the man screamed and held his leg. Nick, busy holding a gun to the driver’s head, said, “No worries. Take off his belt so he doesn’t bleed out. I don’t want any attention.”
She tied the makeshift tourniquet quickly and the passenger settled down to a whimper as she cinched up his leg and relieved him of his sidearm. She slid into the back seat next to Nick.
Nick focused his attention on the stunned driver, who had both hands on the wheel. “We want to talk to Dmitri,” he said, and pressed the barrel of the gun into the man’s head. “I assume you have orders to take us to Dmitri. So we’re all happy.”
The man looked confused.
Anya said something to him, and the man nodded quickly
“Go,” Nick said.
The man started the car and screeched out of the parking spot.
“Slowly, for Christ’s sake,” Nick said. “None of us wants the cops.”
They pulled up to a gate in the alley behind the house. The driver, with no prodding, produced a card. He pressed it against the reader and the gates slowly swung open. He drove into a small parking lot and stopped in a spot, engine idling.
Nick didn’t relax his grip on the Glock in the back of the driver’s head. “Do you have a family?” he asked.
The man looked at him in the rear-view mirror, confusion on his face.
Anya sighed and translated. He nodded quickly and rambled out a few sentences in rapid fire Russian.
Anya turned to Nick and said, “He says yes, he has a wife and two children.”
“Good,” Nick replied. “Tell him to take his friend to the hospital and then find a new job.”
Anya relayed the message to the driver, who paled as she continued to speak. When she was done, he nodded.
“What exactly did you say?” Nick asked.
“I told him what you said,” Anya replied, averting her eyes.
“Did you use the word ‘dog?’” Nick asked. “I thought I recognized ‘dog.’”
She blushed. “I may have told him I’d hunt him down like a dog if he talked to the police.”
Nick nodded. “Fair enough.”
They relieved both men of their guns and cell phones and got out of the car. They ducked next to the wall of the building and waited, guns at the ready, as the car sped out of the lot. The driver believed Anya, apparently, or at least her gun, and didn’t try anything.
Nick turned his attention to the wall they leaned against. Two windows on one side, door on the other. They were in a blind spot from inside the house but would easily be spotted by a camera in the parking lot or on the wall separating the lot from the street. Therefore, time to move.
Anya stood next to him, arms touching. He motioned to the door and she nodded. They slid along the wall until they came to the door. It was a standard door, not reinforced, with a small window at head height. Nick jiggled the doorknob and felt it give, unlocked. He breathed a sigh of relief, glad that he wouldn’t have to pick it or, even worse, shoot it off and alert Dmitri and his minions.
He eased the door open and the two intruders entered Dmitri’s headquarters.
Chapter 28
Once inside the door, Anya shouldered her way past Nick. “I’ll take point,” she whispered as she moved ahead.
“Why?” Nick asked.
Anya turned her head, dimpled, and batted her eyes at him. “Why do you think, dummy?”
Nick shrugged and followed. She had a point.
They were in a kitchen. White-paneled cupboards over granite countertops, a coffee maker in a corner, surrounded by several bags of beans. A cutting board with a knife lying across it, breadcrumbs everywhere. Nick was briefly tempted to grab the knife, but Anya made her way across the kitchen quickly and slid up to the door at t
he far end. Nick glanced at the knife, then followed her.
She cracked the door open and peered out. After a moment she closed the door again. “Where was Dmitri’s office?” she whispered, glancing at him.
“Third floor,” Nick replied.
“Did you notice any bedrooms?” she asked.
Nick shook his head. “Didn’t see any. I assume she’d be on the second or third floor, though.”
“Yes,” Anya agreed. “If Nonna’s here she’s probably on the second, if Dmitri does business on the third. We can start there anyway.”
The hallway was short, running from the kitchen in the back of the house to the entryway in the front. At the far end were the front doors, with double doors on the left and a stairway on the right. Nick put his ear to one of the double doors and listened. No sounds. He nodded to Anya and they quickly went up the stairs to the second floor.
The second floor was darker due to no front window. The hallway ran to the back of the house, like its twin one floor below. There were two doors on each side on this floor, all open. Nick and Anya quickly looked in all of them. All were bedrooms, all empty. The house was silent.
Nick swore softly. “Where is everybody?” he asked.
“Out looking for you,” Anya replied.
“Not everybody,” Nick grumbled. “Somebody has my daughter.”
Anya turned to say something, but they were interrupted by noise from downstairs. The door slammed open and at least two people walked in. There was arguing, somebody yelling. Somebody cursing.
Nick looked at Anya and without a word they crept into one of the bedrooms. They huddled together, guns drawn, as the voices snaked up the stairs. They passed the second floor and headed to the third. Somebody was obviously being propelled along against their will, based on the shouts and bangs as something hit the wall.
Nick looked at Anya, concern on his face. Anya shrugged. Both kept their guns at the ready, even as the sounds began to recede.
There was a moment of silence, then Nick clearly heard a crunch of something hitting flesh. There was a muffled scream, followed closely by another crunch. The second scream was softer than the first.
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