by Geri Krotow
Being in Silver Valley was supposed to be her respite from NYPD and losing her friend. Instead she was in the middle of what could potentially become an ROC revenge case. Because ROC protected its own and she was helping Kit take down its senior-most point of contact in Silver Valley.
Instead of a respite, she’d walked into an asp’s den. No amount of fuzzy skeins of yarn could take away a lethal threat.
* * *
Josh allowed the heat in Annie’s gaze to stoke his desire for her, but not so much that it would be creepy in front of Kit. As quickly as the fire was there between them, it blew out, the shadows in Annie’s eyes indicating she was struggling. He got it. She’d arrived in Silver Valley to take a break and instead found herself facing a lethal ROC operative, via his abused spouse.
He was grateful, and not a little glad, that she’d trusted him enough to reach out again. She could have called it into SVPD dispatch, but she’d texted him. He’d almost banged his head on the headboard when Annie’s text dinged on his nightstand and he’d grabbed his phone.
Kit’s here. Come now.
Annie’s place was actually her grandmother’s, but he felt Annie’s imprint all over the space. How could he not when she sat across from him, next to Kit on the small sofa? If he were honest, he’d admit he hadn’t shaken the sense of warmth and charged energy she’d left with him at the station.
First things first.
“Annie’s going to be your right hand through all of this, Kit. You have nothing to worry about. First, are you physically okay? Do you want a physical exam?”
Kit shook her head, much to Josh’s regret but not surprise. She looked at him with a hard expression. “He hasn’t hit me in almost a month. These bruises are old—I have very fair skin. I’ve been thinking about reporting him for a long time, ever since I came to the United States.”
“How long have you been in the States?” His records reflected she’d married Valensky five years ago.
“Six years. I was brought to New Jersey and introduced to Vadim at a strip club. He said he was going to give me a new life and he took me home. I trusted him, as much as I could, because he protected me from getting pimped out. I only ever had to dance in the club. We were married a year later.”
“How old were you then?”
“The records will say I was eighteen, because that’s what my fake passport says. But I was only sixteen when we married.”
Josh saw Annie’s chest visibly rise and fall, her shock evident. He got it. As many times as you read about these cases, it was always tough to see the victim, any victim, in person.
“So you were underage and forced into a marriage.” He pictured his own sister being treated so horribly, and knew he was going to do all it took to put Vadim Valensky behind bars. Along with his cohorts. The perfect timing of this wasn’t wasted on him. A chance to take down the Silver Valley rep to ROC, just as SVPD was assigned to help intercept and prevent another group of women smuggled from a former Soviet bloc nation to be sold into sex slavery. His nape tingled the way it always did when he was onto something valid in a case. He leaned in and listened to Kit’s every word.
“Vadim is a product of how he was raised, and his alcoholism. He’s never known any different. So this part I can almost forgive, as I’ve learned to avoid him when he’s drunk. If I wanted to see Vadim go to jail for hurting me, I could have already done it, but I have to save anyone else they want to hurt.”
“Other women, and whatever else Vadim’s doing, aren’t your business, Kit. He’s a threat to you. He could kill you with his bare hands if he decides to.” Annie’s professional skills were obvious as she tried to make Kit see the danger she was in.
Kit nodded. “I know that. But he’s involved in something far worse, and I want him and the men he works with to all go to jail. That’s why I’m here. To help get Vadim and his friends caught. They are horrible human beings.”
“Your safety has to come first, though. If anything happens to you, we won’t have a case. Right, Josh?”
Annie’s blue eyes saw through to his soul, and he wondered if she realized she’d said “we.” As if they were a team and working a case together. Which, practically speaking, they were.
“Yes and no. I’m going to file charges against him.” As the reporting officer, he had the right and obligation to press charges against Valensky. Standard SVPD procedure was for the police to press the charges in order to protect the domestic violence victim and ensure the abuser met justice. Too many victims recanted after their abusers once again intimidated and manipulated them. He silently damned the Podunk cop or sheriff who’d known what was going on with Valensky years ago but never pressed charges. It would have saved Kit from untold abuse.
Annie rubbed the place between Kit’s shoulders. “We’re going to keep you safe, Kit. It’s our job.”
Annie looked at him with determination and expectation.
“Exactly. What Annie said.” The bond between him and Annie was palpable. It made him feel like he was agreeing to more than Annie’s promise to help Kit. As if she wanted more of whatever they shared than working a case together.
* * *
Annie had never been so attuned to any other officer or colleague she’d worked with as she was to Josh as he sat in Grandma Ezzie’s feminine living room, his attention on Kit. Was it wrong to revel in the pure male beauty sitting right in front of her?
Kit waved her hand at both of them, as if Annie and Josh were naive. “Trust me, I’ve made it this far with Vadim. And I’ll outlive him as long as he keeps drinking like he does. He’s never used a weapon on me, and only hits me when he’s drunk. He doesn’t remember in the morning and is ashamed for what he knows he must have done. He’s not a total monster.” Kit spoke with the wisdom of an old woman, yet she was only twenty-one or -two. Annie disagreed with her on the monster part, but kept silent.
“Can you tell me a little more about what you meant, Kit? When you said Vadim’s involved in something you don’t like?” Josh’s tone was professional yet incredibly compassionate. Annie mentally stopped adding his sexy points up—he was off the charts.
“I’m not exactly sure because he hides everything from me. But I’m almost positive he’s helping other women get tricked into coming here.” Kit looked first at Annie, then Josh. “He treats me like a little girl who can’t handle anything except getting her nails done and buying the latest designer purse. He only allowed me to go to SVCC because he thought I might be interested in learning English better.” Kit referred to Silver Valley Community College. “I can speak it well enough, from watching television, but I still need work on my writing.”
“He lets you go to school?”
“Oh, yes. I was bored and wanted to get a job, but he was dead set against it. No woman of ‘his’ ever needs to work.” She made air quotes around his and scrunched up her face in distaste. “When I told him I needed something to engage my mind, he understood. I had to time it between his blackouts, of course. I didn’t want to come home to him drowned in his own vomit.” Spoken with such ease, as if dealing with a blackout drunk was a normal part of life. For Kit, it was.
“Are you still taking classes?” Annie had met so many domestic violence victims who had zero self-esteem left. Going to college would seem beyond them, even if they had the financial ability.
“Yes. And I’ve taken whatever I wanted to take.” Underneath the layer of wariness Annie had witnessed earlier, Kit was incredibly strong and driven. A woman with a purpose. But Annie didn’t want that strength to become her downfall, either.
“That’s brave.” Annie meant it.
“I’ve finished all the classes for an associate’s degree in Criminal Justice. Vadim won’t allow me to go away to Penn State, but he agreed to allow me to take more classes. I needed his permission to pay for them, of course. Now I’m working on a second associate’s degre
e, in computers.” She shrugged. “I want to be able to help other women who were brought here against their will. One day I’d love to work in law enforcement myself.” She said the last shyly, her eyes downcast. “But as far as Vadim’s concerned, I took the classes for him, to be able to help him with his business. I never, ever told him my hopes to escape and start my own business.”
Annie’s insides plummeted with her hope. “Wait—you’ve helped your husband in his work for ROC—Russian Organized Crime?”
Kit’s eyes widened. “No, no, I will never help him in what he’s doing. He’s not asked me to yet, but I’ve let him think I will. That I don’t have a problem with what he does. Of course, I don’t let on how much I know, and I tell him I’ll help him with his pawnshop. He thinks I’m book smart but life stupid. Sometimes the only way to survive is to go along with the flow, as you say.”
“What exactly do you think your husband is involved with, Kit? Besides the pawnshop?” Josh spoke up, and Annie knew that he already had his suspicions of Valensky, but needed Kit to share what she knew. She tried not to hold her breath, as the entire crux of what Josh hoped to accomplish here rested on this moment.
“He’s been working with his criminal colleagues and bringing in shipments of women to the Silver Valley and Harrisburg area. Women from all over Eastern Europe and Asia, young women. They are told they’ll work in a home as a nanny and be able to go to school. But they...they never do. They have to work in a strip bar, or as escorts. Some get sent out to be married, like I was.”
“Escorts, as in prostitutes?” Josh needed Kit to give him the truth, but Annie hated that Kit had to feel all of these emotions again. Because she had no doubt that Kit had been one of these women six years ago when she’d come over.
Kit nodded. “Yes. But not on the streets, not like you see on television. This is in private men’s clubs, where the girls are never seen in public, only by the customers. He had a good friend, a criminal contact he worked with exclusively. But he’s disappeared, and now I’m not sure who Vadim’s working with.”
Annie’s jaw started to ache, and she realized she’d been clenching her teeth. It was one thing to be exposed to the sickest parts of human nature in a huge metropolis like New York, but to be faced with such ugliness injected into Silver Valley was sad. Her hometown, the place she went to in her mind whenever life on the city streets proved too much, had been infected with the same vile human behavior.
“Did you know the name of Vadim’s contact?”
“Yes. It was Yuri Vasin. I saw in the paper that he died in that crash a couple of months ago.” As Kit spoke, Annie watched Josh’s expression. It remained neutral, but when he looked at her, she recognized the gleam of determination. Josh had just confirmed that Kit’s account matched the police records. Annie gave him a quick nod before he turned back to Kit.
How was it possible to be thinking about saving Kit and her overwhelming emotions regarding Josh at the same time?
“I’m going to need you to give me an official statement about what you know of your husband’s actions, Kit. Who he talks to, where he works on a regular basis.”
Josh’s voice only increased her confusion. How could she feel so comfortable with him when she hadn’t seen him in over ten years? She’d worked with NYPD colleagues for years and still didn’t enjoy the immediate sense of trust she did with Josh.
Dare she trust Josh as she had no other? If she wanted to be an asset to SVPD as they faced down ROC, she’d have to.
Chapter 4
Kit cleared her throat. “Vadim’s always in his pawnshop during the day, but that’s not his real work. His real work he does from home, in his safe room in the basement.” Kit wiped her nose on a tissue.
“Are you willing to come into the station with me to file a report?” Josh hated to ask her again, but it would be better for them all if she could come in. He’d need every resource and means of recording her statement as possible. This was the center point of a huge ROC operation. An op he longed to be in the middle of but had to make sure his sister was permanently situated first.
Kit grasped Annie’s hand and looked at her. Josh’s heart constricted. Annie was so damned beautiful, her attractiveness only rivaled by her infinite strength.
“You’re not alone.” Annie squeezed Kit’s hand. “We’ll be with you each step of the way.”
Kit nodded. “Okay. Yes, yes, I’ll come in. I can tell Vadim that Annie here got caught driving after too much vodka. That’s real enough, right? And that I had to come help her, get her out of custody. That’s only if he finds out I was gone.”
“You’re talking like a cop now, Kit.” Annie’s smile radiated confidence, and Josh couldn’t help but wish it was directed at him, too. “But it’s not your job, as we’ve said. It’s ours, and you’ll be best in a safe house.”
“Annie’s right, Kit. You’re a brave woman. You’re going to help a lot of people, more than you know. And we’ll keep you safe. You have my word. But the only way I can promise that is if you let me call the social worker who manages the shelter we’re sending you to.” Kit stared at Josh for a long minute, and he prayed she’d agree to go. As much as a part of him wanted to incarcerate Valensky—and Kit was the most direct way to do that—he didn’t want to risk her well-being. Finally Kit nodded.
“I’ll go to the shelter.” She turned toward Annie. “Will you be able to get my things that I need, to keep studying?”
“Of course, but we’re going to recommend you don’t go to class for a week or two, until we make sure you’re not being followed,” Josh stated, and too late realized he’d spoken for Annie. He looked at her, expecting her censure. Instead, she smiled at Kit.
“What Josh said. Do you happen to have your computer with you now?”
“I do. I packed my laptop and some clothes, just in case I needed to go to the shelter. I need to take my car with me, or you have to hide it.”
“Smart thinking. You’ll make a fine law-enforcement official, if that’s what you hope to do.”
“I’ll put a call in to the shelter coordinator now. She’ll show up to take you there. We’ll take care of getting your car to you later.” Josh pulled out his phone and scrolled through his contacts. He stood up and walked down the hall, out of earshot of Annie and Kit.
He needed the space, too. In that small living room he could feel every time Annie’s gaze landed on him. Whenever he met it, looked into the depths of her eyes, his heart threw itself into overdrive. They were going to do this. They were going to work the case together. And he didn’t think the only actions they took together would be professional. There were other things they could do, would do, once they were alone.
He had no illusions of what else he planned to do with Annie, when it was safe to do so, when she invited him to. Not that making love to Annie would ever be good for his heart.
* * *
Kit looked at Annie the minute Josh was out of earshot, her gaze beseeching. “I can’t miss that much class time. I’m sure I’ll be safe. I would know if Vadim had me followed.”
“I’m sure you can arrange to take your classes online or at least do your homework remotely. You can’t risk your husband’s temper.”
Kit didn’t answer her right away, tearing at the tissue she held. “I told you, I can handle him. The most recent bruises were because I was stupid and got in his way. I didn’t realize how drunk he was.”
Annie stared at her and knew that like every other abuse victim, Kit wasn’t going to heal overnight. “Let’s talk to Josh about it, okay?”
* * *
After Kit left with the social worker, Annie and Josh agreed to share a pot of tea and go over a to-do list. Kit had left with both of their phone numbers memorized and put into her cell under pseudonyms in case Valensky was able to remotely access her contact list. Annie was relieved for Kit but also anxious for both hersel
f and Josh. ROC was notoriously efficient and invasive. The odds of Kit being discovered in the shelter, no matter how far away, were good. Annie would be surprised if Kit weren’t being surveilled all the way to the shelter, even under police protection. If Valensky found her, there’d be no telling how much danger she’d face.
The thought made Annie shiver.
“Cold?” Josh’s voice wrapped around her, causing an explosion of warmth in her chest.
She shook her head. “No. Worried. This is going to need to be cracked more quickly than most cases, isn’t it?”
“You’ve already confirmed you’re familiar with ROC. You know how vile they are, how quickly they infiltrate an area.”
“Yeah, unfortunately. Since you mentioned it in the police station, I’ve been fighting my anger that it’s seeped into Silver Valley. Is no place sacred?”
“You already know the answer to that.” Josh’s eyes were so bright, so intense.
“I’m willing to do whatever you need me to, Josh.”
Annie sat across from him at Ezzie’s miniature dining table, a fold-down contraption that made sharing a pot of tea seem more intimate, as if they were on a date having champagne in a New York City bistro.
“Thanks for coming in on this, Annie. I know you’re on sabbatical and are busy enough with Ezzie’s shop.” Josh’s strong face was inches from hers, his motions efficient and reflecting latent strength. She wanted to all at once embrace the moment, throw herself at him, or flee. “I admire you for looking out for Kit. Because it’s butting up against our bigger concern that I told you about when you came into the station. SVPD’s primary objective right now is to intercept a group of women heading to Silver Valley and prevent them from being put to work against their will in the sex trade. Valensky is involved in it, we’re certain. We just haven’t had enough to arrest him, or break up their op.”
“I’m not afraid of Valensky, Josh. As I’m sure you understand, it’s my job. Whether on duty or off. Have you ever turned your back on a crime victim? Whether you’re on duty or off?”