by Becky McGraw
“Who do you work for, Viktor?” Susan asked moving closer, when he ground his jaw instead of answering. She grabbed his jaw, and tipped it upward. “One chance, Viktor,” she said calmly. “Answer wrong and I will get my knife.”
“Bratva,” he grated.
The Russian Mafia? Interesting. “What is your purpose at the Ardmore clinic?”
“I am security guard,” he answered, jerking his chin away.
“And Mario is the fucking concierge,” she shot back, pinching his chin again. “What do you do there?!? What does Mario do?”
“We are security!” he hissed, his eyes throwing daggers of hatred at her.
This was getting her nowhere. “Who does Mario work for?” Susan asked.
Again he ground his teeth, but didn’t answer. She let his chin go, and stepped back. He breathed deeply, and Susan smiled slyly, before she turned to walk away.
“Wait!” he shouted, and she heard him wheezing for air. “Mario is an American, um, how do you say bratva.”
“Mobster? Gangster?” she offered.
“Yes, the American Mafioso and Bratva are investors in the clinic and we are there to protect their interests.”
“Investing?” she repeated with a laugh. “You mean laundering money, don’t you?” she rephrased, and he shrugged. He wasn’t at a level in the organization to know that most likely. Viktor was just a pawn who did what he was told by the mob leaders. That’s not what Susan really wanted to know anyway. The feds could worry about that once Logan turned the Russian over to them. “What happened to the girl who disappeared with the baby?”
“The Italian girl?” he asked, looking confused.
Susan narrowed her eyes, stepped closer, and he flinched. “How many girls have escaped from there with babies?”
“Escaped, yes, just one,” he said.
The phrasing of his response told Susan that there would be plenty of information to be had on what happened to the other girls who disappeared, but didn’t escape. She would leave that for the feds to get out of him. “Where is the Italian girl and what happened?” Susan fired off.
“She and an American guard had relations and she got pregnant. The doctor implanted her, and she had two babies. One lived, and one died when it was born. It was deformed. She took the other baby and ran away, because they were going to kill her and the baby.”
Savage bastards, Susan thought. No wonder the girl ran. She was very lucky she had gotten away. “Who helped her run away? There’s no way to escape from there.”
“You did it,” Viktor shot back with a laugh.
“Answer my damned question,” she growled, and he cleared his throat.
“The guard who fathered the baby helped her escape. When he came back to the clinic, he was punished.”
“How was he punished?”
“He’s dead,” Viktor said coldly. “He got what he deserved, and I’ll get what I deserve for being stupid if I ever go back there. The girl will be dead too if they find her.”
“Are they looking for her?” Susan asked, her heart skipping a beat. Viktor clammed up, and it didn’t look like he was going to say another word. That told her they were definitely trying to find the girl. That also meant Logan needed to find her as soon as possible. But she had to convince this Russian to talk to figure out where she was.
“You won’t go back, if you cooperate. We’ll hand you over to the feds and they’ll deal with you. If you cooperate with them, they’ll probably just deport you.”
“I’ll be killed in Russia too. Either way, I’m a dead man.”
So, Viktor was between a rock and a hard place. With the right incentive, he’d probably tell her everything she wanted to know. And maybe she wouldn’t even need a knife to get it.
“I used to be the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigations in Dallas. I have connections there and can ask for diplomatic amnesty for you, but I need information.” Susan didn’t know whether that was true or not, but he’d probably believe her, and she definitely wasn’t above lying right now. “What was the guard’s name?”
He studied her for a moment, and Susan could tell he was thinking hard. She walked over to him and grabbed his ear and twisted it hard. He grunted, and immediately said, “Tony Lozio, I think he was from New York.”
Victory surged through her and she did a mental fist pump, as she turned his ear loose. She spun to find Dex. “Get everything you can find on Tony or Anthony Lozio from New York, and you’ll probably find the surrogate at one of his relatives,” she said with a grin.
“Damn, remind me never to piss her off,” Hawk muttered under his breath to Logan, and he nodded, his eyes fixed on her.
Susan knew she needed to press her advantage, while she had it, so she turned back to fire, “How many guards are there total at the clinic?”
“Fourteen, including the ones in the tower,” Viktor answered, his eyes darting to Logan.
“How many women are being held there?” Susan asked shortly.
“Right now there are nine women in the dormitory, five Russians, two Serbian and two Greeks.” he replied.
“Why all foreign women?” she asked again. “How are they being coerced to stay there and have babies?”
He hesitated and Susan shook her head, as she turned to walk off, but he started talking. “They offer them jobs in their countries, and take their papers when they get here. They cannot leave, even if they weren’t guarded.”
Susan walked up to Viktor and slapped his cheek. “Good, boy. Now, you go back to the barracks until we get back and decide what to do with you,” she said, then turned to Mac. “Take him back to the barracks and tie him up. Don’t turn your back on him.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Mac said with a snort, as he walked over to uncuff the Russian.
“We need a meeting,” she said to the others as she headed down the hallway to the conference room. She was seated at the head of the table when the men filed in.
Logan took the seat to her right, and grumbled, “That’s my damned chair.”
“Not right now, it isn’t, if you want to know what I found out.” Susan waited until they were all seated, then listed off the things she’d found out from the Russian. “Dex is digging up the dirt on Tony, so we probably need a few men on standby to follow up on any leads he comes up with,” she said with a sense of exhilaration flowing through her. She looked at Logan. “How many men do you have coming back tonight from Houston?”
“Five,” he replied gruffly, drumming his fingers on the table.
“Mac and Dex will have to stay here with Viktor,” Susan said thoughtfully. “Gray is in the main office working on the financials, and we need to check in with him to see what he’s found. Tell him about the mob connections. We’ll have three extra men to go with us tonight, plus Hawk and Fletch. Where’s Slade?” she asked, just realizing he wasn’t among them.
“He’s with the Russian girl at the hospital,” Logan replied gruffly.
“Good, you have someone on her. I’d like Caleb to stay with Jenna. These guys are savages, so they could be looking for them both, just like they’re looking for the surrogate. I imagine the heat will be turned up considerably, once we break into the college and find out what’s going on there. What their connection is to that clinic.”
“Anything else, Mistress?” Logan asked angrily, as he pushed his chair back to stand. He faked a yawn behind his hand. “Now, that you’ve taken over my team, I guess I’ll just go take a nap. Let me know what y’all decide,” he said walking around the table to the door.
“Yeah, there is something else, Logan,” Susan said leaning back in her chair to fold her arms over her chest.
“What?” he asked at the door.
“Go to hell, would you?” Susan asked with a snort. “Are you that insecure? I’m not trying to takeover, asshole. I’m trying help get this op together, since you can’t seem to be able to find your ass with both hands right now.”
“What you’re doing, Susan, is try
ing to take over and run roughshod over me and my men. I’m the one who gives the orders around here, not you. See how well they follow your directions, and let me know how that turns out, will you?” He shook his head and started to leave, but leaned back into the doorway. “Oh, and since you have the market cornered on brains, you need to figure out how you’re going to that clinic again on your own. I have the information I need to find the surrogate, so my job is done. I’m out,” he said as he ducked back out and she heard him walking down the hallway.
Hawk scraped his chair back and stood. “Need to check on the aircraft and refuel,” he said walking out of the room.
Looking embarrassed, Fletch stood, and said, “I’m going to take a Hummer and go to the campus early, so I can do some recon. I’ll see y’all tonight.”
Dex walked through the doorway. “Where’s Logan?” he asked.
A little stunned, Susan shrugged, and he left too. She was alone, and at a loss as to what to do now. She’d never felt this way, rudderless and thrown to the wolves. Abandoned at the time she needed Logan’s support most. Just another example of why she couldn’t trust a man. But she needed this one for now. These were his men, and he knew them. He was right they weren’t going to listen to a thing she said, because they had no respect for her. She hadn’t earned their respect, Logan had.
Susan’s eyes burned, and she looked at the ceiling, breathing slow and easy until it passed. She couldn’t do this without him, and he knew it. The only way she was going to get his help was to apologize. Beg if she had to, so he would help her save her sister and those other girls. And she had a feeling that’s exactly what he expected her to do.
You win, asshole, she thought, as she pushed her chair back to stand. She walked out of the conference room and headed for his residential suite. The door opened before she got there and Dex walked out. She ran to catch the door before it closed.
“Probably not a good idea,” Dex said, stopping her with a hand in her chest.
“I have to talk to him,” she said, and the quaver in her voice pissed her off. “Please, Dex. Just let me inside, I ah…I want to apologize to him.”
Dex just stared at her a moment, then stepped aside to let her go under his arm into the suite. “Don’t tell him I let you in,” he said with a laugh, as she closed the door behind her.
Susan heard slamming in his bedroom, then a loud curse. It sounded like Logan was beating the hell out of someone in there. Her heart beat an irregular rhythm in her chest as she walked toward the door, then went inside. The bathroom door was closed, and she heard the shower running, so she sat down on the bed to wait. Smoothing her hand over the polished cotton comforter, memories of the things she’d done with Logan in that bed, what Logan had done to her in the bed, rushed through her mind, and she smiled, even as her heart sank lower in her chest. Why the fuck couldn’t he be different?
Susan wanted him to be different so bad it hurt. But he isn’t, she reminded herself quickly. He withheld information from you that could have cost your sister her life. It was just too damned bad Logan turned out to be a douchebag just like Carlos. Self-centered, and only concerned about himself and what she could do for him.
But he tried to help you too, her mind screamed, but Susan wasn’t listening.
The bathroom door opened, and Logan walked out steamy, wet and buck fucking naked. His eyes landed on her, every muscle in his body tensed, and he stopped. “What the fuck are you doing in here? Who let you in?” he demanded.
Susan couldn’t help herself, she let her eyes drink him in like a double-dutch chocolate milkshake, her favorite flavor. Her body craved the man like that milkshake too, but just like that treat, as much as she loved him, Dave Logan just wasn’t good for her. It was tough, damned tough, but she managed to drag her eyes up his slick chest to his very angry face.
He lunged toward the bed and she held up her hand. “I wanted to apologize,” she said quickly, before he decided to throw her out. “I’m sorry you thought I was trying to take over. I wasn’t.”
Logan’s voice was as hard as his body, his attitude harder, when he said, “You’re sorry I thought you were trying to take over? I didn’t have to think about it. That’s exactly what you did. If I had done that to you at the bureau, you would’ve fried my ass. I’m done with the pissing contest, Susan. You can haul your ass right out of here if that’s what you want.”
He was right, and something else hit her too. What she’d just done to him is what Carlos had done to her at the bureau. The reason she’d left. “I’m sorry for overstepping, Logan, and I’m not here to argue. I need you to help me save my sister and those other girls. Your men respect you, and you’re their leader, not me.”
“Well, goddamn, I better get my raincoat out. I think the bottom is about to fall out,” he said as he walked to his dresser and angrily pulled out the drawer to rifle through it. He pulled out underwear, black boxer briefs, that hugged his perfect ass and muscular thighs in all the right places. She had to forcefully drag her eyes away, when a throb started at the top of her thighs.
Being in his room was not a good idea.
Pushing up from the bed, she stood when he turned. “That’s all I had to say. I have no idea what to do to get this op on the right track.” Her pride choked her, as she swallowed it. “Fletch and Hawk left, Dex is working on the surrogate case, and I can’t go to that campus alone tonight. I can’t go to the clinic again without you either. I need you, Logan,” she said, injecting her voice with as much sincerity as she could manage. He turned and leaned on the dresser, his head bent. Susan walked over to put her hand on his shoulder. “Please help me, Logan,” she begged.
Susan heard the beep at the door of the suite, then it opened. Dex rushed into the bedroom with a stack of papers in his hand. “We hit fucking pay dirt, Logan. That keylogger you planted gave me a goldmine of information. I accessed their emails, and found correspondence between Dr. Warman and a professor at the college. A guy with a Russian name, Kovloski, or something like that. It’s like science fiction, mad scientist shit. They’re using that drug to make the women produce more eggs to harvest from them, so the professor can make cloned human embryos. Evidently that process isn’t perfected and it takes millions of eggs to get it right, so the mad professor invented this drug to juice up the women’s ovaries. Kovloski thought he was close to a breakthrough on the cloning, but I guess the first baby came out malformed.”
“The surrogate’s baby,” Susan filled in. “The second twin who died at birth.”
“Twins?” Logan repeated, looking at her as if she’d lost her mind.
“Weren’t you listening earlier?” Susan asked, with a huffed breath. “The Russian said that the girl who escaped got pregnant by a guard, and was also implanted with an embryo by the clinic doctor. The regular baby survived, but the second baby, evidently a cloned human, died at birth.”
“Well, I did a little research, because I damn well thought human cloning was illegal in the United States. It’s not, but can’t be funded by the government. I just talked to Gray, and he said that clinic is not being funded by the government, it’s being funded by the Russian and American mobs. They’re donating to the clinic, then the clinic is paying them for security services.”
“Money laundering,” Logan clarified.
“Bingo,” Dex confirmed. “Gray thinks the bursar at the college may be getting kickbacks of some kind too. He found large payments to Bertie Williams from the clinic for accounting work. I don’t know what her part in all this is, but I don’t think it’s accounting work. He also found donations from the clinic to the science department for the GenMax project. What he didn’t see were payments to surrogates, or women for egg harvesting.”
“That’s because they have nine or more women in bondage at the clinic. They were promised good jobs to get them to the states, but the clinic took their papers once they got here. The women have no money and nowhere to go. Now, they’ve upped their game to fund their clinic. They�
�re also giving the drug to coeds at Wellington to get their superior genetics donor eggs to supply their designer baby operation. The women in servitude are convenient surrogates for those babies.”
“Jesus Christ, this is unbelievable,” Dex said.
“We’ve got to get those women out of there, before they kill them. We could probably get the feds on board with all this evidence, but they’ll take too long. I know the FDA would take months, and those women don’t have months if they’re injecting them with that drug,” Logan said flinging open drawers to find a t-shirt.
He ran into the bathroom, and came back out with a pair of jeans, which he pulled on as he walked back over to them. “Dex, get Mac to call and get us another appointment at that clinic as soon as possible. We’ve got things to do tonight, but we’ll be back tomorrow.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Susan was being awfully quiet during their meeting, and in truth, it kind of scared Dave. Not once has she interjected, or even contributed to the conversation. He wanted, needed her input, just not her taking over.
“We’re going to have to formulate a multi-prong attack plan here,” Logan said, glancing at Susan again. That’s what she’d been saying in the meeting earlier in the day, she just didn’t speak military-ease. Almost to a man, that’s the language his men spoke. Like Dave, except for Mac, Dex and Gray, they had all been enlisted or officers in the service before they came to work for Deep Six. Mac, Dex and Gray had all had stints in government service with alphabet agencies before working for him.
“We have several fronts to fight tonight and tomorrow, so we’ll need to spread our efforts to get it all done.” Dave just wished Slade and Caleb were here. Those two needed to be part of this group, since Slade was his go-to guy for planning, and Caleb was his sniper.
He would definitely need Caleb’s talents tomorrow night when they got those women out of the clinic. Mac tried to set up another appointment for an official visit, and was told the clinic wasn’t taking appointments at the moment. Mac thought that might be because they were bugging out soon. With the injunction, and the missing and sick women who escaped, that was entirely possible. Logan almost wished he’d have waited to stir that pot now. Time and the element of surprise were not on their side.