by Leslie North
“You’re in no condition to go anywhere. What don’t I understand?”
Desi shook her head again, the urge to cry causing her to grit her teeth and steel her spine. “Look, I don’t even know your name. I don’t know why you’re after Ivan, or what you think you found in his office, but you’re welcome to it.”
Grigori looked at her and asked, “I was under the impression that you were interested in Ivan’s comings and goings.”
Desi shook her head. “He’s only a means to an end. I got what I needed last night. I just need to get back to the precinct and see if I can gain access to the—” She broke off, not wanting to say too much.
“I think we should start over.”
“Why?” Desi asked, slipping her shoes back onto her feet. She started to get up from the bed, but Grigori reached out and grabbed her hand, keeping her seated.
“Desi…is that your real name?”
“No. It’s Desiree, but everyone shortens it to Desi.”
“Desiree. A beautiful name for a beautiful woman. Allow me to formally introduce myself. I am Grigori Tokarev.”
Desi looked up at him. “Russian?”
“Yes. Now answer my question, please. Are you a cop?”
Desi nodded. “Yes. Clearwater Police Department.”
“So you are working undercover?”
Desi shook her head. “No. I’m not down here as law enforcement. This is personal.”
“Your father and brother?”
Desi nodded. “Yes. They were killed two years ago, and after only three weeks, the detectives working the case closed it.”
“So their killer is still out there?” Grigori asked.
“Not for much longer. I read all of the case notes after I got hired on, and all of the information points to the Russian mafia being responsible.”
“You have no idea what you’re messing with. This isn’t a game.”
“I never said it was. If the law won’t take action, I am more than capable of doing it on my own.”
Grigori wanted to shake her. She thinks she can take on the Ryndins or the Ogalla organization by herself and win? She’s crazy! “Desi, I assure you, you are not prepared to take on these men.”
“How would you know?” she asked.
“Because I’m one of them. The worst of the worst.” I’m the man they all cower in fear from.
Desi looked at him in shock. “What? You’re working with Ivan? But why would you break—”
Grigori shook his head. “No. I’m not working with Ivan. He is only a means to an end for me as well. I’m here to settle a score and avenge the deaths of two people held dear by a friend of mine.”
“I think maybe you’re going after the wrong guy. Ivan’s no killer. He’s a drug dealer who lucked into a nice operation. I’ve been following him around for several months now. Tonight he met with those higher up than he is and I have the picture evidence to prove it.”
“Pictures? You got close enough to Ryndin’s men to take pictures. Derr mo! You truly are crazy! Do you realize how dangerous that was?”
Desi shook her head. “I was careful. No one saw me. Now, I have a question. Did you follow me yesterday afternoon?”
Grigori nodded. “Yes. And your driving skills are horrendous.”
“My driving skills enabled me to get away from the vehicle chasing me,” she reminded him with a sexy little grin. “You’re just being a sore loser because I lost you on the freeway.”
“You’re lucky you didn’t kill yourself with the way you were driving. Why were you going to follow those cars?”
Desi firmed her lips and let the question roll around in her brain for a minute. Why was I so intent on following those detectives? Instead of answering, she shrugged.
“Not good enough,” Grigori growled at her. “Who were those four men?”
“Are you really part of the mafia?” Desi asked, thinking back to the tattoos she’d only glimpsed beneath his shirt.
“Yes. I’m doing a favor for a friend.”
“I want to see some identification,” Desi told him, meeting his eyes and daring him to refuse. The news that he was part of the Russian mafia, or Russkaya mafiya, should probably have struck fear in her heart, but for some reason she couldn’t explain…this man didn’t scare her. He intrigued her. Very much.
Grigori watched her for a moment, then reached into the bedside table and pulled out a leather briefcase. He handed her his passport and watched as she flipped through it.
“You’re from Brussels?” she asked, continuing to flip through the passport pages, amazed at all of the places he’d been.
“Yes. Satisfied?” he asked, reaching out and plucking the passport from her grasp.
“I guess. Why are you after Ivan?”
“Now we get down to the questions. I have my own as well.”
Desi nodded. “We could share information. I just want to see the men who killed my father and brother be held accountable.”
“My intentions are not quite so noble. I do not plan to give the main players in this group a second chance.” As he finished speaking, he mentally kicked himself. Way to go, Gri! Confess to the little cop that you intend to kill a bunch of people.
Desi watched him, then smiled. “You’re going to kill them? You think it’s that easy?”
“I know it that’s easy. I am what you call a Torpedoe.” Grigori watched her as she tried to place the word and its meaning. Taking pity on her confusion, he explained, “Basically it means I’m a hitman. Gun for hire. I clean up other’s mistakes.”
“So, someone Ivan is connected with has messed up?” she asked.
“Very much so. If you knew what I did, you would have no problem with them leaving this life as soon as possible.”
“Really?” Desi asked, curiosity in her voice.
“Yes. And now, unfortunately, I’m afraid you are going to need to stick close to me until my mission is accomplished. With your connection to law enforcement, I can’t take the risk that you present.”
Chapter 12
Desi shook her head. “I don’t really care what you do with these scumbags. Ivan’s selling massive amounts of drugs to the other small timers, and frankly the streets would be better off without his influence. As for his bosses, if whatever they are doing is worse than drugs, they can go to hell, any way you choose to send them there.”
“That seems like a very different attitude for a cop to have,” Grigori commented.
“I’m only a cop because it gave me an opportunity to investigate my father and brother’s deaths. If the drug cartels want to fight among themselves and take each other out, I think we should let them.”
“This is not just about drugs.”
“No? What’s it about then?” Desi asked, turning to look Grigori in the eye.
He paused for a moment, wondering if she would be so intent on putting her nose into this business if she knew what these men were truly capable of. “Trafficking.”
“Drugs? I already know that.”
“Not just drugs. They bring the drugs up from South America, but it’s what they are taking back to the jungles with them that I take great exception to.”
“What’s that?”
“Women.” Grigori watched her eyes widen and her mouth open in a gasp.
“Women. Like, American women?”
“I believe so. They take them back to the jungle and sell them to the highest bidder at auctions.”
“That’s awful. Ivan’s involved in that?” Her mind immediately brought forth the wall of pictures back in the precinct. In the last six months, over twenty women had gone missing from the St. Petersburg-Tampa area. Twenty missing women with no evidence or leads to go on.
“Probably not. From what I could tell, he’s simply the keeper of the drugs.”
“So then who is taking all of those women?”
Grigori looked at her and narrowed his eyes. “What women?”
Desi sighed. “It’s not my department,
but there’s this wall in the crime division covered with pictures of missing persons. Twenty women have gone missing in this part of Florida in the last six months or so.”
“That’s a lot of women to disappear.”
Desi nodded. “You really think Ivan’s connected with whoever is responsible for those women disappearing?”
“Yes. I do. I was hoping Ivan could lead me to them.”
Desi shook her head. “I don’t think so. He never leaves this area. I’ve been following him around for several months, and he travels the same ten-mile radius like clockwork.”
“What about the men who came to see him yesterday afternoon?”
“They’re detectives with the Clearwater Police Department.”
Grigori raised an eyebrow and stated what he’d seen. “They purchased drugs from Ivan.”
“I know that’s what it looked like. I think maybe they’re working some side investigation…”
“You don’t look like a stupid woman.”
“What? Did you just accuse me of being stupid?” Desi asked, infuriated that he could think such a thing.
“Grow up. Those detectives are on the take.”
Desi shook her head. “No. They can’t be. They worked with my father and…they were there…the night…my father…” Desi broke off as tears filled her eyes. It couldn’t be. They were friends of her father and brother. They were all there the night they were killed.
Thoughts raced through her brain faster than she could process them, and she stood up and began pacing the space between the door and the window. Grigori watched her, amazed as he watched the emotions flow over her face. She was on open book, and it was obvious she’d never even considered that the men her father had considered friends were on the take.
She began muttering to herself, and he just leaned back against the headboard and listened in.
“Scoundrels…Ramirez was the first one to find Joe…Murphy signed the report…”
Desi’s emotions were quickly changing from sadness and shock to outrage and righteous anger. Fifteen minutes into her rant, she turned and leveled Grigori with an angry stare. “I will help you if you help me.”
Grigori smiled. “Help you with what?”
“Nail those bastards that got my father and brother killed.”
“So you have it all figured out?”
Desi shook her head. “No. But everything is starting to fit together. I think maybe my father or brother found out what was going on in the department and tried to put a stop to it. Ivan was afraid of being outed, and silenced them.”
“So you still think Ivan pulled the trigger?”
The only other option is too horrible to verbalize! Desi gave a short nod and returned to the dresser where she’d seen her weapon lying. She pushed it into the waistband of her jeans and then motioned for Grigori to follow. “Come on.”
“Wait. Where are you going?”
“We are going to go get the pictures I took yesterday. With any luck, you’ll know whose images are in them and I won’t have to go back to the precinct. I don’t think I could handle running into those detectives right now.” All of a sudden, she stopped. “Shit! I’m scheduled to work tomorrow.”
“Call in sick,” Grigori suggested, coming up behind her and laying a gentle hand on her lower back.
Desi froze at the feel of his callused hands on the skin above her waistband. “I can’t do that.”
“Why not? Is there someone who will know that you aren’t really sick?”
“Well, no, but…there are rules about this sort of thing.”
“Do you always follow the rules?” Grigori asked, unable to stop himself from leaning down and smelling her unique scent. She smelled like lemons and woman.
Desi felt him nuzzle her neck behind her ear, and shivered as she asked, “What are you doing?”
“Don’t you know?” he countered, licking her skin and smiling as another round of shivers overtook her.
“I don’t even know you,” Desi said, tipping her head to the side to give him unfettered access to her neckline.
“We can easily remedy that. There’s a bed just to our right.”
“I don’t sleep with men I don’t know.”
“Your body doesn’t seem to be in agreement with that statement. You’re turned on.”
Desi didn’t try to ignore his assessment of her condition, nor did she comment on the hardness she could feel pressing against her back. “I have to stay focused,” she murmured.
She’s right, Gri! You need to stay focused on the goal as well. Grigori wrapped his arms around her and hugged her close for a moment. “So do I. Let’s table this for the moment. We’ll come back to it in a little bit.”
Desi was both relieved and disappointed. I wish I could just forget why I’m doing all of this and go with my feelings. We could be really good together. Not trusting herself to say the correct thing, she simply nodded and pulled herself away from his embrace.
Grigori let her go, closing his eyes and mentally locking his libido away—at least for the moment. Opening his eyes, he grabbed her hand and headed out the door. “Let’s go get your pictures.”
Chapter 13
Grigori couldn’t believe the pictures she’d been able to get. Both of the Ryndin brothers were clearly visible, as well as several high ranking officers that had once served in the Russian Army. After the end of the Cold War, many officers had turned to private security for one organization or another.
The picture that caused him to smile the broadest was the one where the primary target’s face wasn’t visible. “That has to be Leonid.”
“Who is Leonid?” Desi asked, looking up at Grigori as they sat on the small couch and reviewed the digital photos.
Grigori looked at her and muttered something under his breath. “You really don’t have any idea of whom you’re messing with, do you?”
Desi shook her head. “I guess not. Tell me.”
Grigori proceeded to tell her about the Ogalla group, their connection to the Colombian drug cartels, and how truly evil Leonid had become.
“We need someone on the inside,” Desi murmured, and then she smiled. “Wait!” She rushed to the door of the hotel room where she had dropped her purse and backpack after they had retrieved her vehicle and its belongings. She dug out her wallet and sorted through a pile of business cards, discount coupons, and credit cards before finding what she was looking for.
“Voila!” She returned to the couch, smiling and waving a business card in front of her face. “There was this man at the funeral I’d never met before. He stuffed this card into my hand as he went through the reception line and told me that if I ever needed some inside help, all I had to do was call. I didn’t know what he was talking about and dropped the card into my purse and later my wallet.”
Grigori took the card and looked it over. David Patterson. He turned the card over and then looked at the name again. The name and a phone number were all the information the card contained. “You’ve never called him?”
“No. I’m going to now.” Desi grabbed her cell phone and dialed the number.
After seven rings, a gravelly voice whispered harshly into the phone, “Yeah?”
“Uhm, Mr. Patterson?”
There was a long pause, and then the voice came back on the line. “Who is this and how did you get this number?”
“Mr. Patterson, this is Desiree Addams. You gave me your card a few years ago at my father and brother’s funeral. It’s been a while, so I realize you might not remember—”
“I remember. Why are you calling me now?”
“Mr. Patterson, what did you mean when you said you could offer me inside help?”
“Miss Addams, I can’t discuss this over the phone. If you truly want what I have to offer, you’ll meet with me. Alone.”
Desi swallowed, seeing Grigori shaking his head with an angry look on his face. “Uhm, no offense, but I don’t know you and I need to bring one person with me.”
“A friend. Someone I trust with my safety.” I do trust him with my safety. That makes absolutely no sense, but there it is.
“Fine. Meet me at the Grotto tonight at nine o’clock.”
“What? No, I can’t meet you there.” Desi started to protest again, but the line went dead.
Grigori could tell she was very agitated about the meeting locale and asked, “What or where is the Grotto?”
Desi looked at him in horror. “The Grotto is a Goth club, but it’s more than that. There are rumors and…”
Grigori watched the color infuse her face and started laughing. She was so innocent in so many ways. “What kinds of rumors?”
Desi shook her head, “Uhm, well, it’s about the type of things that go on inside. It’s owned by a Russian businessman…”
“Keep going. You’ve already figured out that the place is most likely a hangout for the Russian mafia in the area. What kind of things do the rumors hint at?”
Desi swallowed and then quietly said, “It’s rumored to have all kinds of things inside besides a bar. A tattoo and piercing parlor, different types of activities for people with certain tastes, a strip club, kind of…”
Grigori knew exactly what she was talking about and decided to let little Miss Innocent off the hook. “Don’t worry about it, doll. We do have a slight problem with me accompanying you however. I’m fairly well-known. If not in person, definitely by name. Once word gets out that I’m in Florida, getting any kind of information out of people is going to be very difficult.”
“So I have to go by myself?” Desi asked in horror. I can’t walk into that place by myself. No way!
“Let me make a call and I’ll find someone else to go with you. I’ll be right outside the entire time. But, you’re going to need to change your clothes. Drastically.” Grigori watched her nod her head even as fear of what might happen remained on her face. He’d call Stefan and have him go with her. Hopefully this David Patterson could provide them with the information they needed to end this mission.
*****
While Grigori was still trying to piece together what was needed to ensure Desi’s safety for tonight’s meeting, his cell phone rang. “Hello?”