by Jordan Dane
“I thought you were dead,” she whispered into his ear and burrowed her face into his neck. “And I almost…pulled the trigger. I could’ve—”
“Shhhhh. I’ve got you now, baby. You’re safe, Nikki,” Payton’s low voice reassured her. “Oh my God, I love you so much. I thought we’d lost you for sure.” Eventually, he lowered her to the floor and pulled back. “Let me see you. Are you okay?”
When he had assured himself she was all right physically, he grinned that same crooked smile she’d grown to love. She could see he’d been crying, and it broke her heart to imagine how close she’d come to losing him a second time.
“How’s Mama? I can’t believe I did this to her…and to you.” She pictured her mother’s face, and a devastating wave of regret hit her hard.
With a gun in her hand, Jessica kept watch at the closed door, searching out the glass portal, then shifted her gaze back to them, listening.
“You didn’t do anything wrong, honey…” Payton kissed her cheek and pulled her to him again. “…except maybe trusted the wrong folks. But they’re the ones who’re to blame here, not you.”
“That Russian man killed Britney. He took her heart and her eyes…they had an operating room.” Nikki knew she wasn’t making sense, but the words kept coming and she couldn’t stop holding her uncle. “He was harvesting body parts, selling them to the highest bidder…and he killed her. He almost did that to me, but I got away. That’s how I stole this gun.”
She handed the weapon over to Payton, glad to be rid of it.
“The Russian? The same one from Chicago?” Jess stepped closer and stroked Nikki’s hair. When the girl nodded, she said, “We saw the operating room, honey. These men will pay for what they’ve done.”
Before she and Payton found the row of holding cells and began their search of each one, they had located the operating room. An unconscious man lay on the floor, and another one dressed like a doctor had been shot to death; the gunfire they’d heard earlier. They’d also seen a crematorium where bodies had been destroyed in an industrial-size furnace, remains reduced to dust and bone fragments. Emissions from the crematorium probably got chalked up to the contamination in the area, perhaps sustaining the belief this part of the island was still at risk.
She and Payton had discovered Globe Harvest’s setup while looking for Nikki, but Jess had no intention of telling the girl what they’d found. It would be hard enough for the kid to recover from her ordeal without adding to her night terrors.
To distract Nikki, Jess turned to face the others.
“We’re getting you girls out of here—now.” She held out her hand to the smallest girl, a blond kid with freckles who was crying. “It’s okay, honey. We’re gonna take you home.”
Many of the girls had ventured timid smiles, hesitant to move until Jess said the word “home.” Then one by one they rushed to her. And when she felt the press of their warm bodies, Jess was overwhelmed with a flood of emotion, one that had been building in her for a very long time.
The sensation propelled her back to the day when she was rescued. She’d been a severely abused child who only existed in the moment, without a future or a past—and she had no one to call family. She thought she’d forgotten what it felt like, but in a rush everything came back.
“I hate to break up the party, but we’re not out of this yet,” Payton said. “We’ve got to get these girls out of here, Jessie.”
She looked up at him and nodded.
“Yeah, he’s right, girls. We gotta go.” Jess wiped her face and retrieved her Glock from the waistband of her pants. She headed for the door and did a quick look through the glass, then fixed her eyes on Payton.
“I’ll take point. We’ll keep the girls between us.” And to the kids, she said, “Everyone keep real quiet, okay? Shhhh.”
Jess opened the door, trying to minimize the creak, and crept into the hallway. With one hand, she clutched the little blond girl’s fingers, and she gripped her gun in the other. And when she got to the end of the corridor, ready to turn for the elevator, she stopped short—not believing her eyes.
Standing between her and the elevator was Alexa Marlowe and an entourage of men dressed in black and sporting FBI gear. Alaska State Troopers Frank and Gary were with them. Every last one aimed a weapon at her. If she had more of an inferiority complex, she might have taken offense. But as it stood, she never felt safer in her life.
“Damn, am I glad to see you.” Jess grinned. “Whoever said there was safety in numbers really knew what they were talking about.”
Once Alexa relaxed and lowered her weapon, she pulled something out from her BDU pocket, an item Jess knew well. Shaking her head, the woman twirled her red lacy bra in one hand and raised an eyebrow.
“You really know how to send up a red flare, bounty hunter. Thanks, you saved us time.” As Alexa approached, she got a good look at the girls behind Jess and added, “Well, I’ll be damned. Good work, Jessie. But if it’s all the same to you, I’d rather not end up a slab of bacon. I’m partial to my ass the way it is. I’m sure Globe Harvest has this place rigged to blow.”
“It’s worse. Nikki told us Petrovin is here,” Jess said. “If he’s in charge, we gotta get out of here fast.”
Alexa clenched her jaw in anger. “Let’s roll—NOW!”
Without hesitating, she and Payton grabbed Nikki and the smallest girl, and Alexa’s men reached for the other kids. The Alaska State Troopers took point with weapons drawn, and Alexa followed close behind, armed and dressed to kill. They all ran for the elevator.
Mercifully, Jess didn’t remember much about the explosion in Chicago, but this place felt different. There were no propane fumes and no shrill alarm to grate on her nerves. Still, she knew Alexa was right. If the Russian had been here, he’d have the place wired to blow. She only hoped they’d have time to get ahead of the blast.
And she prayed Nikki’s good luck had rubbed off on them.
Out of the shadows, Stas Petrovin emerged from the escape tunnel in time to see his men fly away in both helicopters, leaving him alone to face the enemy…and his fate. He glanced at his watch. They had waited nearly forty minutes, well beyond the time he had warned that he would have left them.
What more could he have asked of them? What more indeed.
He shut his eyes and took a deep breath of the cool night air and looked up into the heavens. This place reminded him of Siberia, and he had mixed emotions about that. Casting a bluish haze over the foothills, a full moon shone above him. The sight of it should have made him feel small and insignificant, but nothing could be further from the truth.
He felt powerful and in absolute control.
In his hand, he had the means to bring down the underground facility and implode it under the feet of his enemy, perhaps taking the lives of many with the blast. If he did his duty, Bukolov would be protected once more. Yet for the first time, he sensed he had a choice.
Perhaps that was why he felt in control. He stood on a precipice of change and he knew it.
He contemplated his actions, then made his decision, reveling in the fact that the call was his alone to make. Without further thought, he initiated the detonation, knowing he had a time delay for his escape. But instead of thinking of his own safety, he pushed the envelope and chose to stay, standing in the glow of the moon. After all, it was a night for indulgence, and he had the heart of a poet beating in his chest.
Of this, he was certain.
After leaving the elevator, they barely had enough time to clear the collapsed wall when Alexa felt a familiar rumble under her feet. Self-preservation sent a second surge of adrenaline through her brain.
“Oh shit, not again.”
They raced for the way out, but with the first impact, the ground swelled under her, then dropped out. The quake nearly knocked her down as she ran. She saw one of the troopers hit the dirt, but the man scrambled to his feet, hardly missing a step. And, good man, he never dropped his weapon. The older girls
ran one step ahead, their age giving them an advantage. And her men kept the kids out of harm’s way like a team of bodyguards or a strong defensive line in the NFL.
“Pedal to the metal, people. This place is gonna blow,” she yelled, keeping her legs pumping. Her lungs heaved and her thighs were on fire from exertion.
Dust and debris fell from over their heads as they ran. The whole mountain could come down on their ears any minute. She took a quick glance back and saw that Jessica hadn’t let go of Nikki’s hand and Payton had the other. In his left arm the quarterback carried a little blond girl who had his neck in a fierce grip. He didn’t look like he minded the extra burden. She couldn’t blame Jess and Payton for not wanting to let go of Nikki and the smallest girl. The four weren’t making the best progress as they ran, but some things were worth the risk.
A hot vaporous cloud of gases and dirt swept by them as they finally made it outside. Alexa remembered how it felt to barely escape the carnage in Chicago.
“Keep moving. Don’t stop.” And under her breath, more to herself, she added, “And whatever you do, don’t look back.”
A wall of fire belched from what remained of the cinder-block structure they had used to enter the old radar station. She felt the heat crawl up her back as if she’d caught fire. Eventually, cool night air touched the inflamed skin of her face, and she knew she’d beaten the blast once again. When she got free, she did a quick head count and was relieved everyone had made it through, until she saw Jessica ranting up ahead.
Alexa’s hearing had been hampered by the siege at Providenija, where they’d captured Anton Bukolov earlier, the aging captain at the helm of Globe Harvest. But as she neared the bounty hunter, she heard what the woman was complaining about. In the distance, the sound of helicopters brought back a feeling of déjà vu.
Only this time Alexa knew things would be different.
“That bastard got away again. Damn it!” Jessica cursed, and flung her arms out in sheer rage, stomping her foot. “We were so close.”
Although the bounty hunter’s words sounded muffled, she heard enough to approach the woman with details she’d been waiting to share. She raised her voice, unsure how loud she sounded, and told Jessica the good news.
“I learned my lesson in Chicago. When we first touched down here, I had one of my men search the perimeter, knowing how the Russian and Globe Harvest liked a back-door escape plan.” She forced a smile, though she ached all over.
“And?” By the smirk on the bounty hunter’s face, she knew what was coming.
“We’ve got tracking beacons on those birds. He and his men won’t get far this time.”
With that news, Jessica grinned and turned to listen as the helicopters flew south. Once again Alexa saw Petrovin and his men were airborne without lights, but even in the distance the rotor noise was unmistakable. They were making their escape, only now she couldn’t help but match Jessica’s grin.
Until the night sky lit up like the Fourth of July.
“What the hell?” They both cried out in unison.
Two huge explosions erupted in the distance like a super-nova up close. Alexa could have sworn she felt the force of the blast from where she stood. Out of reflex, Jessica grabbed her arm, but kept her eyes fixed to the sky. Her mouth gaped open until she finally spoke.
“Oh…my…God,” she muttered under her breath. “Did you have anything to do with that?”
“You may not believe me, but no, I didn’t.” Alexa hated thinking about what had happened to the men onboard. No one deserved to die like that…except for Petrovin.
Jessica never took her eyes off the fireballs that pierced the night. The unexpected explosions shredded both fuselages. The airborne wreckage fell to the earth like heavy globs of molten steel, and where each piece landed, the ground caught fire. The inferno would rage for a while, but Alexa thanked the heavens that this part of the island had few inhabitants. As it was, the residents here would not soon forget the Globe Harvest facility explosion and the helicopters that had been blown out of the night sky…and neither would she.
Alexa stood alongside the bounty hunter, staring into the bright light on the horizon. Eventually, she felt the presence of the others, her team, the troopers, the girls, and Payton Archer, but none of them said a word. After a long moment, Alexa wasn’t sure what to say to Jessica, except that the woman had been through hell and needed to hear something good.
“It’s over, Jessie. This time…it’s over.”
The bounty hunter looked at her for a brief moment with tears welling in her eyes, only nodding in agreement before she turned away.
But even as Alexa had said those words, she wasn’t sure she believed them. Helicopters don’t just fall from the sky without help. And it might take weeks to uncover what happened, too late to do anything about it. Any trail would be ice cold.
Once the shock and the numbing realization that they’d almost died had worn off, each of them would grasp that they had no idea if anyone was left behind. Nikki had done her best to save the girls she had found, but were there others?
Only time would tell…and an army of cadaver dogs.
But she knew that wasn’t what Jessica needed to hear. The bad news would follow soon enough. No, the woman needed to feel her ordeal was over. They all did.
Away from the compound, and in the quiet of a darkened clearing of evergreens, a lone figure crept toward an Alaskan State Trooper helicopter, taking great pains not to be seen. In the confusion of the massive explosion and the aftermath of the sabotaged choppers, it would not be difficult to steal the aircraft from under the nose of the American law enforcement officers.
The man had not anticipated such a random convenience, but he was not above taking advantage of low hanging fruit. In no time he had hot-wired the aircraft to start, a skill acquired from a misspent youth. Once the helicopter lifted into the air, he felt freer than he’d ever been. Years had gone by since his military training, but flying an aircraft such as this was like riding a bicycle, as the Americans said—a proficiency for which he would forever be grateful. Now he’d let the stars and his instincts guide him wherever he wanted to go.
Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, he felt the significance of his newfound opportunity to reinvent himself. He knew how to disappear. And by doing so, he would eliminate the need for looking over his shoulder if the great Anton Bukolov got the urge to look for him.
For all anyone would know, Stanislav Petrovin had died on St. Lawrence Island, Alaska.
And by the time the Americans had concluded their investigation of the explosion and the helicopter crash—and sifted through the remains of those who had died—the actual truth might still not be discovered for some time…if ever. Who could say? The name Petrovin might even become legend. He liked the sound of that.
But he knew that the euphoria of his escape would not last long. Eventually, what had happened in Chicago and on St. Lawrence Island would eat at him—personally—until he could no longer bear to remain dead.
Perhaps if revenge was a dish best served cold, Stas Petrovin could learn to be a patient man—and bide his time.
CHAPTER 32
Talkeetna, Alaska
Three days later
Susannah had gotten up early that morning to make blueberry pancakes from scratch, Nikki’s first choice for breakfast. The house smelled of coffee, fresh squeezed orange juice, honey-smoked bacon, and a buttery maple syrup courtesy of the Roadhouse Inn in Talkeetna. After getting Payton’s call that he was bringing Nikki home, Susannah had rushed to clean the house and fill her refrigerator with all her daughter’s favorite foods, then anxiously waited to see her sweet face.
The longest wait of her life.
She knew it would be an uphill battle for Nikki to reclaim her life. The same could be said for her too, but the little girl who had run away from home was not the same young woman Payton brought back. She saw it in her daughter’s eyes. An underlying sadness remained and might never go away
, but Nikki also had a newfound strength that Susannah hoped would stay. And like a good batch of pancakes, she felt like they were starting over…from scratch.
“Nikki, breakfast is almost ready,” she yelled loud enough for her daughter to hear upstairs. Calling the girl’s name, even doing the simplest daily chores for her, had become a blessing she never wanted to take for granted.
But she also knew they’d have their bad days too.
Every night since she’d come home, her daughter had horrible nightmares. But when she woke up crying, she had been there to hold her. Nikki had taken to sleeping in her bed, an arrangement a mother could get used to. She’d become addicted to the natural smell of her daughter’s skin and the sweet scent of her hair after a shower. And another memory lingered in her mind as she set the table.
On that first night after Nikki was home, Payton stayed over. He was too big for all three of them to fit in one bed, so they slept on the floor in the living room. Her brother never asked to sleep over. It was something they all wanted, and it just happened. She hated the reason that they needed the comfort that night, but she would always treasure the memory when they’d been reunited as a family.
So far, Nikki hadn’t wanted to talk to her friends or see anyone else since coming home, but maybe later that day it would change. After her painstaking cruise through a living hell, life had certainly gotten simpler, and Susannah didn’t mind that at all.
“Nikki? I’m makin’ pancakes. Your favorite.” She listened for the sound of her daughter’s footsteps upstairs, but hadn’t heard movement in a while.
She set the pancakes to warm in the oven and went searching for Nikki. She looked in her bedroom, the one they’d been sharing, but her daughter wasn’t there, and the upstairs bathroom was empty. She tried Nikki’s bedroom and didn’t see her there either. For a moment she felt a rush of panic, a mother’s reaction she found hard to contain.