by Emmy Ellis
“Yes.”
“Whereabouts?”
“It is better that you do not know. For now.”
“I see.” I didn’t see, of course I didn’t, but I wasn’t about to push it. Even though I had it in mind to cajole more information out of him, I thought it best to sometimes sit back and be quiet. Only sometimes, though.
“We will be staying somewhere private,” he said.
“Like the metal cabin?” I’d quite liked that little place, even though it had been too bloody hot to start with.
“Maybe.” He stared out of the window to his right, past the two empty chairs on the other side of the aisle.
“Will it be cold there?” Maybe information would come with my seemingly innocent query. I wanted to know if we’d be in alp territory, blankets of snow covering everything in sight. “Because you know I don’t have the right clothes for that. So I’d need to visit some shops to buy something appropriate.”
That’s it, play the so-called typical woman, always worrying about her wardrobe.
“You do not need to think about that. New clothes are at our destination.”
“But you don’t know my size. I don’t want to walk around in things that are too big or small. I simply cannot wear certain fabrics, either.” Keep going. Wait for him to slip up… “They chafe.”
“Then you will have to suffer—for Guilia’s sake.”
Well, that put me in my place, didn’t it? Of course I’d suffer for her, and I wanted him to know that. My ploy had gone wrong, and now he’d think I was a terrible person.
Why do I care if he does?
I didn’t know. People’s opinions of me had never really mattered since Aaron. Until, that was, I’d met Sutton and now Kolya. What the hell was happening to me?
“Yes, well,” I said. “I’d go out in public naked for her.” It was the best I could come up with to show him my need to protect her.
“That will not be necessary.”
A small smile lifted his cheek, and I wished I could see his whole face to check whether that smile had reached his eyes. With him still staring out of the window, I couldn’t get a handle on his true expression.
“You will make sure she’s okay, won’t you?” I asked.
This child of mine, she meant everything. Just because I couldn’t see her every day and have a say in her upbringing, it didn’t mean the bond had gone. We’d always be tied, no matter what, by that invisible umbilical cord. I’d never wanted it severed in the first place. My life since she’d left it had been a parody of what it should have been, a joke where I played the part of a woman with not a care in the world.
But I did care.
“I will make sure the child is unharmed,” Kolya said. He turned to face me. His features had hardened, and his eyes were inscrutable, pale and beady. “It is not in me to admit defeat. I have been trained to accept only winning. Anything else is not an option.”
That made me feel better. The fierce tone of his words—this was the man who would do the job correctly. While Sutton had shown signs of promise in the spy department, he hadn’t had that edge about him. His ‘bumbling’ side, whether fake or real, had shown a weakness to him at times—and weakness wasn’t going to work in this situation.
Was I trying to convince myself, yet again, that I’d gone with the right person? Did it even matter who I was with, so long as my daughter was all right?
Some levity was in order, before I crumbled with the enormity of it all.
“Did you enjoy yourself with me?” I asked.
“I did.” His sudden smile shattered his previous expression. And it reached his eyes. “Did you?”
A pang of guilt speared me then. Was he feeling something for me that he shouldn’t? Had I got to him that quickly? “Yes. I did.”
“You are an exceptional woman,” he said.
“Do you have sex with all the women you come into contact with for your job?”
“No.” His eyes clouded. “I should not have…with you. My boss would not like to hear of it. This kind of thing does not go down well, with anyone.”
“I won’t be telling a soul. It’s none of their business. So your secret’s safe with me.” I curled my fingers around his. “Sometimes, stressful events make a person crave a release of that tension. That’s all we did. We took from another what we each needed. Does that make you feel better, to look at it like that?”
“Yes. Thank you for saying that.” His shoulders sagged a little.
Had what we’d done been playing on his mind? I suspected it had; otherwise, why be so uptight?
“It’s not a crime, you know,” I went on. “To want someone.”
“I know, but I should not have allowed it. I was not fully alert when we… Something could have happened—I might not have heard an intruder.”
“You would have heard something unusual. You’ve been trained. I’d bet that even in sleep you’d notice. Don’t beat yourself up.”
He nodded. “Yes, I think you are right.”
“I am. So next time, don’t even worry about not doing your job properly.”
He frowned. “Next time?”
“Yes, next time.” I raised my eyebrows. “Why, don’t you want a next time?”
He clamped his lips together, and they turned down, as though he hadn’t entertained the possibility of round two. “Yes, but I did not think… I did not think you would want to be with someone like me the first time, so a second?”
Oh, dear God, the poor man.
“Don’t you have sex very often?” I asked.
“Not with people who want to. Not without…paying them.”
Shit. He’d given me such a big insight into his life. And here I was, toying with his emotions. His words from earlier came back to me.
‘Unless, of course, the woman has fingers in pies.’
Playing the game I was with him meant I had fingers in pies. Would he kill me if he found out? I sensed he would. He’d do whatever he had to in order to complete a mission.
“You’ll never have to pay me,” I said, squeezing his fingers. “Because I want to. You’re a good man, Kolya.”
His eyebrows shot up. “Thank you. We have to get some sleep.”
So that was the end of that, then.
“Yes, we do.” I smiled.
Chapter Nineteen
The descent was stomach-churningly rough, and I held my breath and gripped the armrest. It was dark, and judging by the way we were buffeted about, windy, too. The blackness made it hard to tell when we would hit the runway.
“Welcome to Vienna,” Kolya said.
“Vienna.” My voice was hoarse. So we were in the capital of Austria. That both thrilled and terrified me. I’d much prefer for Guilia to have been left out of this whole drama. If she was on the other side of the globe right now, no one knowing of her existence, that would suit me very well.
But that wasn’t up to me. What say did I get in all of this?
No more than when I’d been sent to this country all those years ago. I’d had no choice then either. It had all been planned out for me.
The plane taxied for a few minutes then came to a halt.
A crew member opened the door, and a man stepped in from the outside world amidst a swirl of powdery snow. He carried what appeared to be a huge black fur coat, hat, and matching snow boots. They were peppered in white. “Ms Claudine?”
I was silent. Who was this bearded person wearing a ushanka and a stiff black jacket?
Kolya stood then sidestepped down the aisle towards him. “This is her.”
“She will need these.” He spoke with a heavy accent similar to Kolya’s.
“Thank you.” Kolya took the coat, hat, and boots from him.
“And you are to come with me now. The boss would like to see you both.”
“Now?” Kolya seemed surprised.
“That is what I said, Prizrak Chelovek.” He huffed and turned, slipping through the door and into the night.
I shivered. The F
loridian warmth we’d brought with us had already been sucked out into the wintery air.
“Put these on,” Kolya said. “And hurry.”
“Are we going with that man?”
“Yes.” He opened a top cupboard, dragged out a thick navy coat with a large collar, and shrugged into it. He whizzed the zipper up to his chin.
“What does Prizrak Chelovek mean?”
“Ghost Man.” He grunted. “It is his stupid name for me.”
“You don’t like him?”
“He is a colleague, not a friend.”
“Ah, okay.” I pulled my coat on. Not something I’d have chosen for myself. After swapping the sandals for the boots, I followed Kolya down the aisle.
As soon as I stepped outside, a blast of chilled air hit my face. It held small, freezing flakes of snow that clung to my cheeks and peppered my hair. Quickly, I rammed the hat on, tugged the flaps over my ears, then rushed to catch up with Kolya.
He strode towards a small terminal building that had a silver Range Rover parked outside, my belongings in a bag that slapped his outer thigh with each step.
“Get in,” he said, holding open the back door.
I did as he’d asked, glad to be out of the wild wintery weather.
He slid into the passenger seat, next to the man who wasn’t his friend, and stowed my bag in the foot well.
I clipped up my belt, the windscreen wipers making short work of the wet slaps of sleet hitting the glass. It reminded me of one of the few trips I’d taken with my parents as a little girl. We’d been to Scotland. Father had gone shooting, and Mother and I had stayed in the elegant hotel and read together, swam in the indoor pool, and sampled cakes from the patisserie menu. Each evening he’d come back with fantastical tales of his triumphs and adventures, and I’d hung on to every word, wondering if he might take me with him next time.
He hadn’t.
On the way home, back to Juniper Hall, the weather had become unpleasant, but sitting in the back of his high-end Merc, I’d enjoyed having my parents together, listening to their gentle conversation and seeing him reach for her hand and kiss her knuckles without taking his attention from the road. I’d felt complete. Loved. At one with my family. As an only child, those feelings had been rare. And after Miriam bloody Pennington had slashed a hole in the fabric of their love, those moments had evaporated, drifted away, never to be repeated.
A dark car, on a dark rainy night, was one of my happiest childhood memories.
The car I was in now filled with the glow of headlights as we hit the main roads. I peered out, enjoying the majestic architecture—a huge domed church with a clock tower, the dial flanked by elegant figurines, a palatial civil building with ornate arches and a frosty, tree-lined avenue sparkling with Christmas lights. It appeared to be a replica of the Doge Palace in Venice.
Christmas.
It was just around the corner. Easy to forget about it when drenched in the heat of Florida and the Caribbean. But here, the festive season screamed its presence with a dazzling array of fairy lights, trees bursting with baubles, and illuminated candles that balanced on top of the ornate lampposts.
Where would I be this Christmas Day? I’d planned on being in the US by then, working my way west in search of treasures for Blooms. I’d thought New Orleans would be fun, or perhaps Dallas, maybe a spa in Palm Springs.
But now…
The car slowed behind a vast building made of sandy-coloured stonework—the kind that were much bigger than bricks, more like slabs stuck together. Large baroque iron gates swung open, and a man in the same outfit as the one who had come aboard the plane waved us through.
The driver halted the car beneath a sheltered area supported by huge decorative columns. Four giant steps led to a shiny black doorway.
Within moments I was being ushered through that doorway. I should be scared, I knew that, going to see this bossman who’d sent Kolya to get me. A person who knew of my Father’s dodgy dealings. But I wasn’t. I felt indignant. Being shunted from pillar to post and prising information from people was getting old.
Maybe I’d have a few questions of my own to ask. Do a bit of digging and get a few chapters ahead in the murder mystery book-slash-movie my life had become.
A lavish hallway with elaborate chandeliers and a decorated Christmas tree at least four times my height welcomed us. The floor was shiny marble. High windowsills held flickering candles, and a fire roared to my right. Heat wrapped around me, and I tugged the hat off, balling the ear flaps in my fist.
“This way.” Kolya placed his hand in the small of my back and urged me to the left. He’d clearly been here before and navigated down a series of carpeted corridors then stopped at a door at the very end.
“Remember our deal,” he said. “Do not let him know…”
“Know what?”
“That we fucked,” he whispered.
“No, of course not. I’m not a kiss-and-tell girl, you know.”
The right side of his mouth twitched, as though he was trying to hold in a smile.
The door was opened from the inside. I couldn’t see who held the handle.
“Get in here, Kolya, and you, the woman.” Another sharp, heavily accented voice.
I stepped in, a hair’s-breadth behind Kolya.
Sitting at a ridiculously wide and highly polished desk was a man in a white shirt, no tie, the top two buttons undone. He appeared to be about Father’s age, but it was hard to tell in the shadowy light. His bald head caught the glow of candles behind him, and a scar over his right cheek had disfigured his mouth. I wasn’t sure whether he was grimacing or if it was his usual look.
“Ah.” He steepled his hands and knotted his fingers. “So this is the precious cargo.”
Did he just refer to me as cargo?
I folded my arms, not easy in the oversized coat, and tipped my chin. Being compared to a tea crate or a luggage set had offended me.
“She has come quietly,” Kolya said.
“Clever girl.” He stood, revealing a long, lean, six-foot frame, and walked around the desk.
The click-click of his shoes on the hard floor chipped away at the bravado I was attempting to muster.
I had no idea who I was dealing with. Sutton, Kolya, Father, I had some measure of them, but this man? I didn’t even know his name.
“I am Ivor Belikov.” He stopped right in front of me. “And Claudine Montague-Fostrop, you have not been an easy person to pin down.”
“And why did you want to pin me down?” I held his eye contact.
“That is easy to answer: somebody wants you alive.”
“Wants me alive?” That hadn’t been the response I’d been expecting. “Who is that exactly?”
“Why does that concern you?”
“Well, clearly they are paying a lot of money. Fancy jet and all that, plus the professional services of my man here.” I gestured to Kolya.
Ivor said nothing, just continued to stare at me.
I frowned. “I’m pretty busy, you know, setting up my own company and sourcing product. Well, I was.” I turned to Kolya. “Until he came along.”
“Ah, but it wasn’t him who interrupted your little charade at being a businesswoman, was it?”
I was silent.
“I know the details.” He tapped the side of his nose. “But your father’s attempts at safeguarding you failed, and now you are under my control.”
“Well, I hardly think—”
“You are mine!” he shouted, his nose only an inch from mine. “And you will do as I say.”
My heart raced. Tension tugged at the muscles in my neck, and I clenched my fists.
“I will not lose an important client because of a foolish woman.” His voice was low and dangerous, his breath spreading on my face.
“Who is your client?” I asked, knowing I was pushing.
“She will cooperate,” Kolya said. “She knows it is for the best.”
Ivor stepped away and smoothed his palm
over his head. He appeared to be composing himself after his outburst.
I stared at his back, at the way his shirt stretched between his shoulder blades. Hidden power lurked there. I didn’t like to imagine what he’d used it for in the past. Kidnap, beatings, murder?
The same as Sutton. He’s a murderer, but I still like him.
The thought of Sutton created a tug in my chest. If only he could walk through the door now…
No, that was foolish thinking. He was probably still searching Florida for me, no doubt sifting through the Everglades without a bloody clue that I was nestled in Vienna with a bunch of charming Russian mobsters.
And yes, this Ivor was a mobster. He was clearly being paid a lot of money to protect me and Guilia, but he was a man with fingers in pies, and there was more to this than one pay packet, I was sure.
Kolya stood very still next to me, as if waiting for Ivor to calm down. I suspected he’d seen it all before.
Eventually, Ivor turned, signalled to the man who must have opened the door, then sat.
A shot of clear liquid was put before him.
He knocked it back in one go.
“You are going to the mountains until further notice, both of you.”
“The mountains? What do you think I am, a bloody goat?” Shit, what was it with my tongue?
Confusion crossed his face. “No, not a goat, bait.”
“Bait?”
“Yes. Where you will stay, it is near this secret daughter of yours. You will both be my bait.”
Red rage misted over my eyes. The pounding in my chest rattled through my bones and was deafening in my ears. He was placing me near Guilia, so we could both be bait. What the hell? Kolya had not given me this impression. He’d made it sound as though he would be saving us, not using us in this way. He’d made me trust him, and I had. Now I didn’t know what to do or who to trust.
Again I found myself wishing Sutton was here.
“Look, Mr Ivor Belikov, I didn’t ask for any of this, none of it.” I pointed at him. “And neither did an innocent child. I’m an adult, do what you must with me, but leave her out of this. I’ll do whatever you want. She is nothing to do with our family, that fact was seen to many years ago.”
“I have no interest in your family dysfunctions and, for the record, it is not me drawing her into it.” He held out his hands and shrugged.