by Geri Krotow
First, she had to get her and Kit out of here. Alive.
Chapter 14
“I needed help with a project, and my school schedule is busy. I asked Annie to come over for some tea and to help me.” Kit walked past Valensky without batting an eye, clearly not fearing he’d hurt her with an outsider in the house. Annie wasn’t so sure.
“With the prices you charge in that shop of yours, you should make house calls.” Valensky glared at her, his attempt at casual banter falling flat.
“There are some local knitting instructors who are willing to do individual lessons. Kit doesn’t need lessons, just an adjustment here or there.” Annie followed Kit, but Valensky’s arm snaked out and he grabbed her elbow. She whipped around to face him.
“Be careful, Annie Fiero. My wife is complicated.” His beady eyes sparked with venom, and she made a clean move out of his hold. In one swoop he’d let her know he’d done some research and knew her full name, and also told her he was worried Kit had spoken to her. She’d have to ignore her desire to chastise him for his physical boundary issues. Feigned cordiality was best with this beast.
Tilting her head and frowning, she placed her hands on her hips. “Is there something I should know? Is she healthy?”
Kit was already out the door, leaving Annie alone with Valensky in the pool house. It didn’t take a lot of imagination to realize how easily a man like him could overpower a woman, drown her, kill her. Annie drew on every single tool in her arsenal to stay focused on the mission and not freak out. She headed for the door and let out a silent breath of relief when Valensky followed.
“Kit’s healthy. Just a little, what would you call it, skittish?” He reached out again and she jumped, but this time he grabbed the door handle to open it for her.
“You seem skittish, too, Annie. Has Kit been telling you ghost stories?” His skin was sallow and his nose red. She wasn’t a medical doctor but had treated enough alcoholics to see the physical signs. And his passive-aggressive, cat-and-mouse interpersonal skills reeked of abusive behavior.
She had to get Kit out of here; the sooner the better.
“We haven’t had a chance to talk about much more than knitting. I’m busy at the shop most of the time, and Kit’s said she’s got a full load of classes this semester.”
“I am proud of her. Don’t tell her that, of course. I don’t want her to get too full of herself. But she’s doing well for who she is.”
Annie didn’t comment as her incredulity tangoed with pure feminine rage. She added “complete dirtbag” to her list of descriptors of Valensky.
They walked through the trees, and when the house came back into view, her stomach sank to see the porch empty. Where had Kit gone?
“You have a beautiful property, Mr. Valensky.”
“Call me Vadim. It’s a nice resting place, don’t you think?”
She stared at him, frozen in place. Was he—
“I’m sorry, I meant a nice place to rest. My English is still rough after all my years here.” His smile didn’t reach his eyes. He meant to frighten her, to tell her he wouldn’t hesitate to kill her.
“Sure.” She wasn’t going to give this man an inch.
His breathing was harsh, and she noted his potbelly, which could be a sign of an enlarged liver or simply overeating. Either way, it was plain to see that her pace was beyond his comfort zone. Good. She mentally rehearsed the process of taking him down if she had to. He waved for her to go up the deck steps first, and she grabbed her bag from the chaise. She was out of here. Her only regret was that she knew Kit wouldn’t come with her.
Fortunately Kit was in the living room, waiting for her. “Thank you so much for helping me with the sweater, Annie. I’ll be by the shop after my exams.”
Annie nodded. “I’ll be there. I’ve got a nice shipment of Shetland merino coming in next week. If you’d like, I’ll put some aside for you.”
“I’ll call or text.”
“That’d be great.” Always aware of Valensky watching them, she refrained from hugging Kit the way she would if they were alone. Let him think they weren’t too close—it was for the best. She looked him in the eye. “Nice meeting you again, Vadim.” His name was a bitter poison on her tongue, but couldn’t match the sheer hatred reflected in his eyes. Annie ignored him. “Kit, thanks again for the tea and the tour. I’ll see you soon.”
Annie forced herself to walk slowly to her car, fighting her instinct to bolt. The entire time to the gate, and until she was through the fortress and back on a legitimate Silver Valley highway, Annie’s hands gripped her steering wheel. Her calf twinged from tension, prepared to floor the gas pedal if Valensky or some unseen thug gave chase.
She pulled to the shoulder after a mile and quickly texted Josh the basic details. Tossing the phone aside, she shakily pulled back onto the road.
This was why she was a counselor and not an operative in any sense of the word. It was too easy to read into a person’s actions and put motives where they didn’t belong. With dangerous criminals like Vadim Valensky, it was best to have a trained cop or agent who didn’t care about anything but taking the bad guy out. While keeping the innocent safe.
Someone exactly like Josh.
* * *
Josh sat with Colt in Claudia’s office at Trail Hiker headquarters. They faced one another for the last time before Josh would leave with Annie on the Appalachian Trail stakeout.
“Any idea when Annie’s showing up, Josh?” Claudia seemed anxious to get him and Annie out on the trail.
“Yes, within the next twenty minutes.” As if Annie had heard him, his phone pinged.
Be there in ten.
He wanted to at once shout and run out of the room to go get Annie, which was stupid as she was on her way here. If she were his law-enforcement partner he’d be proud of her. But pride had nothing to do with what settled in the depths of his soul. Stone-cold fear. Didn’t Annie know she could have been killed? That ROC, like other organized crime units, didn’t value life—it was all about its own self-preservation?
“The FBI’s provided some information for us, but SVPD’s to be on standby only. I’ve told the officers to report anything suspicious immediately to you, Josh. Josh?”
He looked up from Annie’s text. “Yes, sir. Annie’s on her way in. She’s been at the Valensky place.”
“What?” Claudia leaned forward in her chair. “Is she okay?”
“Yeah. She went up there to work on a knitting project with Kit Valensky, from what I can make out from her text. It’s pretty cryptic—we agreed to keep it that way in case ROC is intercepting our cell phone transmissions.”
“Damn it, they’re going to be tracking Annie for sure now if they haven’t already been.” Colt’s brows were drawn together, a signal to tread lightly with him. Claudia’s expression wasn’t quite as annoyed, but she didn’t look happy, either.
“Colt, we always assume ROC is tracking everything all the time. Annie didn’t cause this to escalate.” Claudia put a hand on her husband’s forearm, and Josh watched as Colt’s anger morphed into concern within two heartbeats. That’s what the right life partner did for you.
It was what Annie did for him.
But did she want to do it, be the one for him, for the rest of their lives? He didn’t even know if she was going to stay in Silver Valley, and she’d made it clear whether she went or stayed, it wouldn’t be the result of their relationship. Or lack thereof.
Before his gut could settle into the hard knot it did whenever he thought about Annie not being a part of his and Becky’s lives, the conference-room door flew open and Annie whirled in, her flaming hair floating around her like a tempest.
“I’m sorry to burst in, but I’ve got something from Kit.” Annie shut the door behind her, and her gaze swept the room. When it landed on him, Josh saw the anxiety she had over the case, bu
t there was something deeper, a new light in her eyes that he hoped like hell had to do with him. Annie plopped into an empty chair next to him and pulled out a crumpled sticky note, the kind Becky loved to put on her mirror with her favorite movie quotes.
Annie looked hesitantly at Colt. “Is it okay to discuss all things related to the case in here?”
Josh imagined cartoon steam shooting out of Colt’s ears. “It’s safe in here, yes.” He looked at his wife. “Claudia, do you agree?”
“Yes, we’re good.” The retired marine in Claudia was visible in her assured manner, no matter the stakes.
“What do you have?” Josh leaned over to see the paper better.
“Kit gave this to me via a knitting pattern. According to this map of the back of Valensky’s property, which matches up with the satellite and drone photos we looked at before, there’s something new behind the pool house.” She pointed at the pool house. “Kit made it look like a knitting pattern in case Valensky intercepted it, but look—this is the pool house, and back here is another, smaller building. You can’t see it from above because of the tree canopy and what Kit’s drawn as a camouflage netting over the entire structure. So where it looks like the pool house might extend a bit, there’s actually an entirely unknown structure.”
“A toolshed?” Josh didn’t want to burst Annie’s bubble, but a lead rarely unfolded this easily. His anger at her had nothing to do with worry that something could have happened to her on Valensky’s property.
“Actually, Annie, that might be what our agents have been looking for. Every little piece of evidence or information helps.” Claudia interrupted Josh’s thoughts and put a cold shower on the anger he was trying to turn his anxiety into. He had to face facts. He was in deep with Annie.
“I wish I could have taken interior photos, but I was very careful about what I did after Kit warned me that most of the property is wired.”
“Did she say if it’s audio or video?” Colt looked at the sticky note in complete puzzlement and passed it to Claudia.
“There are security cameras everywhere—I noticed them in just about every room. Kit thinks there’s audio in the house but not on the outside porch.”
“With technology being what it is, the entire property is probably bugged.” Josh looked at the mystery building.
“Do you think the women could be in that building?” Her expression was so hopeful he hated to be the one to crush it. But he could be wrong.
“I think you would have heard them, if it’s up against the pool house. And what’s this here—is she showing some kind of walkway between the two buildings?”
“Yes, I noticed that there is a ladder of sorts that runs up the side of the pool house. You can see it from the inside, on the outside corner. That’d be the one closest to this other building. I thought it was probably there for access to the huge framed skylight. It’s quite spectacular, if only it weren’t the brainchild of a man like Vadim Valensky.” Annie’s observations were priceless.
“It’s not his idea. There are other Silver Valley homes with similar pool houses, but not as big as what he has.” Colt paused. “What do you think, Claudia?”
She frowned at the sticky note. “It’s hard to say. It could be a soundproof building that he had constructed specifically for the purpose of bringing in the women, but it’d be awfully risky to have recently trafficked persons on his property. But it syncs with the intel we’re getting, that the women are on the AT and disappearing for a bit, right around Valensky’s wall, I’d say. He probably has some kind of hidden entrance either in the wall itself or a tunnel under it, from the AT.”
“That doesn’t play well with how careful ROC is to keep their criminal activity very separate from their family lives,” Colt mused aloud.
Annie turned to Josh. “But Valensky runs his pawnshop in town. That’s close. Maybe he doesn’t care. And he’s at the bottom of the ROC food chain in comparison to the superiors who are sending him the women to manage and distribute.”
Josh shook his head. “No, it’s not the same. The pawnshop is a local small business, that’s one thing. And he’s kept it clean, legally and on his books, because he’s had no choice. He knows he’s being watched closely, with his previous record.”
“You need to qualify that, Josh,” Claudia cut in, looking at Annie. “Trail Hikers is doing the work to monitor Valensky that the FBI can’t, and that SVPD isn’t in the business of doing.”
“Right. Sorry about that. I keep forgetting you’re not a full Trail Hiker.” And he had; Annie had been doing such a great job as the go-between with Kit and TH that she fit in like any other highly trained agent.
“Trust me, I’m very aware of my lack of tactical training. I do people, not criminal stakeouts. Going on the camping trail to monitor and save these women will be the furthest I’ve ever gotten involved in any kind of operational activity. I don’t even do ride-alongs very often. Most of the officers come in to see me at the department.”
“Don’t play your abilities down, Annie. Kit trusted you with her life.” He was mad at her but hated hearing her put herself down at all.
“She trusted both of us.” Annie looked at him, her eyes wide and lit from within. She’d said “us” almost reverently, and they were both fully clothed and in the company of Colt and Claudia.
“You two definitely make a good team, no arguments.” Colt coughed. “We’ve still got a problem to solve. A group totaling thirty women has been flown and shipped out of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan over the last month. They’ve been verified as entering the US at the border with forged passports and visas, but then, like so many young women in similar circumstances, they’ve disappeared. They were given false names and IDs almost immediately to facilitate their incorporation into sex slavery. There is a minimum of ten who are unaccounted for. We believe this is the group Valensky’s responsible for dispersing throughout Silver Valley and the greater Harrisburg area.” Colt paused as they digested the information.
“Our job is to intercept the ROC shipment of women that we know from our sources is on the Appalachian Trail. Claudia, you know my department is standing by to help wherever you need it, but it looks to me like this is mostly TH territory.”
Claudia nodded. “Exactly. We’ll need the extra SVPD patrols where Josh’s sister was assaulted, and I’d appreciate it if you could send one or two of your officers to question the men you arrested for the crime. I know FBI wants to interrogate them but it’d be best if we could link them to ROC ahead of time.”
“How’s Becky doing?” Annie turned to face Josh. He quickly filled her in on what had happened. “They have two men in custody.” Josh looked over at Colt. “We’ve not gotten anything out of them, but we think they’re thugs working for Valensky. His way of threatening me because he knows I’m working this case.”
“I’ve already had the suspects interviewed, and they’re not talking.” Colt took the sticky note from Claudia. “I’ll make a copy for both our records, and I’ll email one to the FBI agent assigned to this.”
“Do you still want us to conduct the stakeout at a public camping site?” He looked at his bosses.
“Yes, but I’m wondering if you still want to go, Annie. Josh is correct—you’re not a fully affiliated agent and you only have the firearms training that you needed as a basic part of working at NYPD, am I right?” Claudia said.
“Yes.” Annie looked at Claudia, her spine straight. Josh couldn’t read Annie, and it bothered him. “I trust Josh, and I will not make things more complicated if that’s what you’re asking. I’d like to be there for the experience and to support the hostages. It’s what you hired me for, I thought?”
“It is. I’m shorthanded right now with several global ops. I don’t have anyone to spare, which is why Josh is going to take time from SVPD and clock in with TH.”
“SVPD is stretched incredibly thin, too. The on
e psychologist I normally contract for these types of ops is committed to another case clear across the state,” Colt said to Annie. “I appreciate your willingness to serve, Annie. The yarn shop’s covered?”
She nodded. “It is.”
“It’s settled, then. You’re the team to intercept the women heading for Valensky. Our TH agent is reporting their location hourly. They’ll be in the area by tomorrow. You’ll both head out like any other hiking couple and pitch your tent less than a quarter of a mile from Valensky’s back wall.” Claudia pointed on the blown-up version of Kit’s sticky note. “You were supposed to set up here, on the outskirts of the main camping area, but actually if you pitch your tent here—” she pointed at a place in the middle of the designated camping site “—you’ll be closer to that back wall. And better give the appearance of being normal, run-of-the-mill Appalachian Trail hikers.”
Annie looked at him. “Ready when you are.”
Josh stared back at the woman he realized was who had been missing in his life for too long. The woman he should be trying to keep out of a risky position. Her courage was immeasurable.
Josh stood up. “Let’s do it.”
* * *
They left Annie’s and Josh’s cars at the station and took an old, beat-up Jeep Wrangler that one of the officers brought in for Josh to borrow. Even the officer who owned the Jeep didn’t know what they were up to—he thought Josh was really going camping, for fun.
“I’m so sorry about what happened to Becky, Josh.” She spoke as he drove, and the brilliant hues of the rolling mountains that rose up and around Silver Valley were reflected by the midday sun. It was going to be hot at the campsite, but they’d have the woods for shade.
“She’s fine, really. I’m the one who’s most upset. To her it was an adventure, and she took care of it. I’m so damned proud of her.” The ferocity of his love and pride in his sister made Annie care about him all the more.
She was beyond caring about Josh, as she realized with a jolt of shock that she loved him. It should be too much, too soon. The counselor in her knew and preached to her clients that real relationships took time. Yet her feelings for Josh were very mature and while they seemed to have appeared overnight, they also had been a part of her for a long, long while.