by Sybil Bartel
Not this one. “My condo is under a holding company.” I’d bought it from a guy I’d met downrange. Ex-Danish Military Special Forces, Neil Christensen was the only fucker I knew who was deadlier than me. He’d taken an early retirement and come to the States to raise a nephew after his brother had died. Neil didn’t do anything half-assed. He’d gone into commercial construction and now his company was the number-one builder of luxury high-rises all over Florida. I’d kept the condo in his company’s name. If I died, he could have it.
“Where are you meeting Viktor?”
“I’m not.” I watched the rearview mirrors and road ahead for any signs of a tail.
She turned toward the window. “Do I get to know anything?”
I hated that I couldn’t see her face, because her tone wasn’t telling me shit. I debated not telling her about Luna but she’d figure it out sooner or later. “Luna’s taking the meet. I’m the trigger.”
She didn’t comment.
I forced the issue. “Anything you want to tell me? Now’s the time.”
“I don’t care what happens to Viktor.”
She should. “He tried to eliminate you.”
“And he’s blackmailing you. You know he’ll kill you the second he gets a chance.”
“He won’t get a chance.”
She didn’t reply.
Fifteen minutes later, she still hadn’t said a word. I made two extra loops and pulled into the underground parking of the condo once I was sure we weren’t being followed.
I cut the engine and scanned the lot then grabbed my backpack. “Wait for me to come get you.” As I got out of the truck and walked to her side, I cursed myself for never putting in any of my own security cameras for the building.
I opened her door and she silently got out.
One hand on my weapon, the other on her back, I led her to the elevator and punched in the code for the top floor.
She glanced at me. “Penthouse?”
“It was a good investment.” The doors opened on the top floor hallway, and I entered another code to get into the condo. Pushing the door open, I gestured for her to enter first.
“It’s dark.”
“I keep the hurricane shutters closed when I’m not here.” I flipped a few switches and the recessed lighting in the entryway lit up the space.
She walked toward the floor-to-ceiling windows. “I’ll open them.”
“Leave them.” Impact-resistant windows weren’t bulletproof.
She paused halfway to the windows and crossed her arms, but it wasn’t in defiance. She looked scared as fuck. “I wanted to see the view.”
Turning on the phones I found on the counter from Luna, and checking the batteries, I spared her a glance as I walked to one of the side windows and pressed the switch to open that shutter. “One window. No more,” I warned.
She nodded and quietly moved to the window as I checked the phones for preprogrammed numbers to make sure Luna had put the numbers in for each phone.
I handed her one. “Here. If you need to call me, the number is in the contacts.” I pocketed the other phone.
She took the cell. “Where is your friend meeting him?”
I tipped my chin toward the window I’d just raised the shutters on. “Indigo.”
Tension radiating off her, she looked out at the view.
It took an act of God not to touch her or say a damn word.
“That’s right next door,” she said quietly.
Not technically. “It’s across the street.” It was a fucking stroke of luck I owned a condo here. Or it wasn’t and Fedorov was one step ahead of me and already had someone on the roof. Either way, I was about to find out. “I need to go. Lock the door after me. Call me if anything comes up.” I put the earpiece com in one ear and my Bluetooth in the other.
She didn’t acknowledge me. She just stood at the window.
I reached for the switch to close the shutter. “You don’t need to watch.”
Her hand briefly covered mine and determination filtered into her voice. “Leave it.”
If she wanted to watch, I wouldn’t deny her. “Lock the door after me.” I could’ve locked her in, but I was giving her a sense of control. “Don’t let anyone in.” I set my second handgun on the counter. “Shoot first, call the cops second.”
“You said he wouldn’t know about this place.”
He wouldn’t. But the second I set up on the roof, I’d be visible. If Fedorov was smart, he’d have his own man nearby with a similar vantage point, and it wouldn’t take much to send a team to sweep the building. “He shouldn’t.” I checked my watch. “I have to go.”
“Where?”
“I won’t be far.” The less she knew, the less she could be questioned about if this went south. I hoisted my backpack.
She nodded once but she didn’t make eye contact. “Be careful.”
I didn’t put stock in words. I studied people’s expressions, actions, tells, tone, and body language. But she hadn’t said the words with any inflection, nor did she give a tell. Both of which was a tell in itself, except I didn’t want to fucking acknowledge it.
“See you soon.” I didn’t kiss her, or hold her or even touch her. I walked out the fucking door because I wasn’t her hero. I was half her problem.
Fifteen minutes later, I was looking through the scope with the sun beating down on my back.
I scanned the perimeter for the fiftieth time. “Anything?”
“Not yet,” Luna answered through the com. “And it’s hot as fuck up here. Where’s the breeze?”
“Taking a day off and giving me an advantage.” I checked the distance and the lack of wind again then made a slight adjustment on the rifle.
“Anyone ever tell you you’re more talkative when you’re looking through a scope?”
“No, because they’d be ly—”
“Oh shit,” Luna whispered. “South entrance.”
I trained the scope to the south.
“Who the fuck is that?” Luna asked.
Goddamn it. Fedorov walked across the patio with four guards and a blonde. “Don’t know.” But I could guess. White-blonde hair, middle aged.
“We got a problem, amigo.” Luna kept his head down. “He’s right up on her.”
I saw. Fuck, I saw. “Play it out.” There was no way from my vantage point to get a shot in on him.
“You’re not gonna get a clean shot, amigo.”
“I know.” God-fucking-damn it. “Turn away. Buy me a few seconds.”
“He’s seen me. His whole fucking entourage is heading right at me.” Luna swore in Spanish. “You got two, maybe three seconds, bro. Take the fucking shot if you’ve got it.”
As if Fedorov knew where I’d be, as if he knew the exact fucking projection angle, the blonde was mirroring his every step, blocking him from my line of fire. If I shot at him, I’d be shooting through her.
My cell vibrated. I hit the Bluetooth.
“Oh my God,” Irina said in a panic. “That’s my mother!”
Fuck, fuck, fuck. “I see.”
“What the fuck is going on, amigo?” Luna hissed.
“That bastard is going to take her!” Irina shrieked.
I heard her footsteps.
“Stand down, Irina,” I warned.
“Stand down?” Hysteria filtered into her voice. “I’m not some military soldier. You stand down! She’s wearing my dress! He’s going to…” The connection cut in and out. “…wait around… to get… stand in…” The phone went dead.
Goddamn it. “Irina is on the move. Possible breach,” I warned Luna.
“Copy,” Luna whispered.
“Who are you?” Fedorov’s voice filtered through Luna’s com.
Luna picked up his glass of water and took a sip. “No habla ingles.”
Fuck, I didn’t have a shot. “I don’t have a clear sight line. Get out of there, Luna.”
“Bullshit,” another voice spoke. “That’s André Luna, boss.”
<
br /> The guard closest to Luna settled his hand on his gun.
Motherfucker. “Watch the guard on the left, Luna.”
Luna held his hands up. “No comprende, amigos.”
The same guard spoke again. “He’s a marine, boss. He knows Marek.”
“Really.” Fedorov chuckled. “How about I make you a deal, marine?”
The blonde woman looked side to side.
Fedorov leaned toward Luna but not enough for me to take the shot. “You tell Marek to give me my wife and I won’t fucking kill you.”
The blonde took a step backward, and one of the guards was on her in a second. His gun jammed into her side as he pushed her back into position as Fedorov’s human shield. Then he leaned toward another guard and said something I couldn’t hear. They both glanced in my direction.
I held my aim.
Luna slowly pushed his chair back and stood. His hands still raised, he smiled and told me in Spanish to take the shot. “Trata de acetar, hermano.”
I aimed at the guard who had the gun on the blonde’s back.
Fedorov scoffed. “Do you really want to play this no-English game with me?”
I breathed out and readied to pull the trigger.
“Viktor!” Irina ran across the patio.
Six heads turned toward her and three of the guards drew their weapons.
“Dios mio,” Luna muttered, drawing his 9mm and aiming it at Fedorov’s head.
Irina froze as every other customer on the patio either hit the ground or fled.
Rage consumed me. “Do not let them take her, Luna,” I barked.
Luna dropped the pretense and switched to English. “What are you going to do, Fedorov? Your men shoot her, I shoot you.”
“No one’s going to shoot anyone,” Fedorov calmly replied, his gaze intent on Irina. “Well, pet, quite a spectacle you’ve caused.”
“You stupid girl,” her mother bit out. “Viktor gave you everything and this is how you repay him?”
“Shut up, Mother.” Irina’s hands went to her hips. “Let her go, Viktor, or he’ll shoot you.”
Viktor laughed. “Really, pet. Do you think I am so stupid that I would allow that to happen? Do you really think he has a clean shot? Would I show up unprepared to such a standoff?”
Goddamn it. I scanned the other roof lines.
“Talk to me,” Luna whispered.
“I’m looking. I don’t see anyone.” I trained the scope back on them and a red dot appeared on Luna’s chest. Fuck. “You’re targeted.”
Luna glanced down at his chest.
“Ah, there we go, Mr. Luna. It’s seems you have lost this round.” He grabbed Irina by the back of the neck like a disobedient dog. “Come, pet. I think it’s time we go home and you show me how sorry you are.”
“Fedorov,” Luna called.
Fedorov paused and spared Luna a glance. “Really, Mr. Luna. You are out of choices.” The red dot moved to Luna’s forehead. “If you shoot me, you die. Is my life worth yours?”
I pulled my cell out and dialed her.
Fedorov spun Irina to face Luna. “Tell your new friends, if they want to live, they’ll forget about you.” Fedorov gripped a handful of her hair. “Go ahead. I’m sure your new marine fuck toy can hear you through this one’s earpiece.”
The phone still ringing, I cataloged.
I shoot Fedorov. His sniper shoots Luna, Irina and her mother. He could pluck off the three shots as fast as I could take out the guards. They’d all be dead.
Irina threw the cell phone I’d given her on the table. “Take me home, Viktor.”
It wasn’t his hand gripping my hair or the cold detachment in his voice. I wasn’t frightened of his tone. I wasn’t afraid of the body he spent hours working on in his home gym to keep himself as muscular as his guards. I wasn’t even terrified of what he was going to do to me.
It was his cologne.
Thick and suffocating and permeating, it spread all over me like a poisonous fog and erased every last memory of Dane’s scent.
“Chica,” André Luna warned, his gun aimed at Viktor’s head. “You don’t have to go with him.”
The red dot on his forehead said I did.
“Of course she go with him,” my mother snapped with her Russian accent. “He is her husband.” She shoved Viktor’s shoulder. “Go.”
Viktor’s hand curled around the lock of hair he held hostage and he lowered his face to mine. “Should we show your marine what a real man does with his wife?”
Bile rose and I effected my disinterested expression. “Whatever.”
He lowered his voice and dipped a finger into the waistband of my leggings. “Did you forget what happens when you wear pants in public with me?”
I wanted to spit in his face. “My marine fuck toy picked them out after he screwed me with a dick that works.”
Viktor backhanded me.
“Fedorov,” André barked. “You hit her again, you’re dead.”
Blood pooled in my mouth.
Viktor laughed. “You move a single inch before I walk out of here and you are dead.” His hand still in my hair, he dragged me toward the restaurant as he spat out orders to his guards in Russian.
“Stupid girl,” my mother hissed.
I didn’t bother speaking to her. She had no idea how disposable she really was to a man like Viktor.
“You should listen to your mother,” Viktor mused, dragging me through a now empty restaurant. “Did I not give you what you need?”
A few waitstaff huddled in a corner as Viktor led us past them and down a hall. My mother on my heels, the guards on hers with their weapons still drawn, we made our way to a service elevator.
I didn’t bother answering Viktor, and he didn’t push it until we were all in the elevator.
“I asked you a question, pet.”
One of the guards eyed me and smirked.
Fucking asshole. “Is this the part where I tell you how great you are?”
Viktor shoved his leg between my thighs. “This is the part where you remember not to speak like a stupid American.”
I couldn’t stop myself, I baited him. “I am American.”
He slammed me back against the elevator wall as he grasped one of my nipples through my blouse. “You are what?”
I glared at his washed-out blue eyes and rugged features that I used to think were handsome. “American.”
He twisted my nipple, hard.
I bit back a cry.
He smirked. “We will fix that later, pet. That’s a promise.” He turned to my mother but addressed me. “Irina, did you know your mother has decided to move in with us?”
Disgust made my stomach bottom out. As much as I hated my mother, she was my family. My only family. But she was too stupid to realize she was Viktor’s next target. I’d realized it the second I saw him show up at the rooftop restaurant with her wearing one of my dresses. I should’ve seen this coming years ago, but I was in denial.
I glanced at my mother, but she was too busy smiling up at Viktor like he was a fucking movie star. “You two deserve each other.”
Viktor pinched her cheek. “She is the mother I never had.”
My mother blushed and called him her boy in Russian, despite the fact she was only two years older than him.
The elevator doors opened and Viktor pulled me to his chest like a human shield before walking us out after the bodyguards. “I am wondering, pet.” The hand not in my hair snaked under my blouse and shoved into my pants. “What will I find when I touch my pussy?” He licked my ear. “Will it be wet? Will I find she waited for me?”
My nostrils flared and I willed myself not to cry. Fighting to bury every thought of Dane, I reminded myself why I’d done this. Viktor was my problem. I never should’ve gone to Alex or let him take me to Dane’s. And now his friend André was involved and he’d pulled a gun on Viktor. Viktor wasn’t going to forgive that.
Attitude my only defense, I channeled it. “You won’t find a
nything.” Viktor hated my disinterest. He thought the world revolved around him. “Except a well-fucked pussy by a man who knows how to make a woman come with his dick.”
“Oh, pet.” Viktor chuckled. “How you like to ask for it.”
“If asking for it means telling you how much I hate you, then I’m asking for it.” I didn’t care anymore what he did to me. This was the only way I knew how to get Dane and his friend out of this.
Viktor’s guards led us to the garage and one of them opened the door to a brand-new SUV.
Viktor leaned down to my ear. “You just might make me hard yet.” He shoved me into the back seat beside my mother and slammed the door.
One guard got behind the wheel, another got in on the opposite side of my mother and Viktor got in the front passenger seat. The two other guards got in an identical SUV parked next to us.
“How much did the new vehicles cost, Viktor?”
With a smirk on his face, Viktor turned in his seat as we drove out of the parking garage. “Oh, pet, are you worried about my finances? Did you honestly think you were going to get your money after—”
He never got the rest of the sentence out.
Screeching brakes, crunching metal and flying glass all happened so fast, I barely saw it. But Viktor’s body slamming back against the seat from the impact of the airbag was gloriously in slow motion.
My body twisted, metal pressed into my side and a hand grabbed the front of my blouse and yanked.
My chest hit my thighs, Viktor landed on top of me and automatic fire started popping over the hissing sound of an engine after a violent impact.
Russian filled my head.
Screaming, yelling, barked orders, panicked voices—none of it outweighed the roar of automatic fire raining down on the SUV like the fires of hell.
I smiled.
“Tyler, Collins! Move, move, move!” Luna barked into the com. “Front entrance, garage, cover!”
I grabbed the backpack with the extra ammo and I was on my feet.
“I need eyes, Marek,” Luna demanded.
Fuck. I paused for half a second and looked through my scope. Luna stood on the patio, arms out wide in surrender. The red dot was still on his forehead. “Still in sights,” I warned.