She backed away. “I don’t like guns.”
“It’s just a tool, Raisa. One I happen to know how to use and when to use. You told me last night that this man would stop at nothing to possess you. I promised you he wouldn’t and I got the tools I needed to make sure he didn’t. It’s perfectly safe in my care, I promise, as are you.”
She knew her fear was unfounded but she didn’t like that her life had taken this turn. Kris was right, he had promised to keep her safe. She knew that Gregori and Nestor would never hesitate to use guns to take what they wanted. So it made sense that Kris would use one as well to stop them from doing so when it came to her but she had no idea he even owned a gun much less knew how to use one. “You know how to use that?”
He nodded. “I spent eight years in the Navy, sweetheart. I am a master marksman with several different types of weapons. I also work part time for a security firm.” He handed her a laminated card that had his picture and the words Blackguard Security on it. “Part of that job requires that I stay master marksmen qualified. I’m licensed to carry both openly and concealed. So yes, I know how to use it.”
She shivered. Her sweet and kind florist was also some kind of a badass. While that should have caused her to be afraid, if she was honest it kind of turned her on even more than his perfectly chiseled body did. No wonder he was fit and toned. He was a part time bodyguard. “Holy crap,” she thought. “I have my own personal hot bodyguard.”
She went into the bathroom and quickly threw on her clothes, she really needed a shower after last night but she’d wait until she got home tonight. She headed for the kitchen to grab a piece of fruit and Kris followed her. “I brought you something else too. It’s an alarmed door stop. After you get home, shut and lock your door and sit this right up against the bottom. See how it is now?” He’d set the triangle thing up to the door and she nodded. He unlocked the door and pulled it back like he was opening it, after a half inch it stopped and a loud wailing siren sounded. He shut the door and reached down pushing a button on the device, springing the triangle back up and silencing the alarm. “It won’t keep someone out if they really want in but it will slow them down and give you time to get out.”
She frowned. “But how? There is only one door?”
He shook his head, “That isn’t true you have two. He pointed at the balcony door. She shook her head, “But if I go out there I’m still trapped.”
“No you won’t. I’m going to fix that today with a bridge you can use to cross over to my side.”
He took her hand and pulled her to the front door. “Come to my place for a minute. I want to show you why you’ll be safe inside my place.” Raisa followed him into his apartment. “I’ll leave the balcony door unlocked so that you can get in anytime you need, okay?”
She nodded. “But how does this keep me safe? I still have to go out past my apartment.”
He shook his head. “Not if you come here, go this way.” He pulled her down the hallway to a door at the end with a metal plate with a palm print in it. He laid his hand on the print and the door in front of him slid into the wall. He pulled her in and showed her a red button on the other side of the wall. When he hit it the door slammed back across the opening, sealing them in the room. “This is my panic room. It’s bulletproof and blast proof. We are going to record your handprint so it will open for you as well as me. If someone comes after you, get to this room and hit that button. Then see the one beside it, the green one?”
“Yes, does that let me out?”
“No, it calls me and my security company.”
“Not the police?”
He shook his head. “No, you told me that they worked for the man who is after you so only three people can open that door after today. You, me and my boss at the security company. He’s a friend from the Navy, you’ll meet him at lunch today.”
“I will?”
“Yes, he’s having lunch with me at your diner today.”
“Oh, okay well I need to go to work, Stephan is going to be mad.”
“Can you be a little bit later? I want to get you logged into the system right quick. If he gives you any shit remind him that you’re trying to clean up his mess.”
Raisa giggled, and he smiled in a way that almost turned her into a melty puddle right there. She looked around the safe room, it had a small cot and several shelves filled with freeze dried food and bottled water and then there were the weapons behind a locked mesh door. Lots and lots of weapons including something that looked like small eggs of clear liquid with a black bean on top. “What are those?”
“I’ll give you the full tour tonight after we get home, okay? You’re late, remember?”
She giggled and then warmed at the fact that he said when we get home. She was a part of a ‘we’ now. He typed on a computer and pointed to a glass scanner beside him. “Can you put your right hand on the scanner, please?”
She put her hand where he told her to and a bright green light slowly crawled from the bottom of the screen to the top. Then a voice said, “Hand print for Raisa scanned and logged, voice sample needed.”
Kris pointed to the computer screen and then to her mouth and opened and closed his hand to indicate she should talk. She looked at the screen and then read the phrase she saw there. “Every rose has its thorn.”
“Voice print accepted. Hello Raisa, I’m Friday, the Artificial Intelligence security system for Blackguard Security.”
“Hello Friday, what does an artificial intelligence security system do?”
“I help the security agents with research and protect anyone with authorized entry into this room. I can make calls and provide entertainment and first aid if needed.”
“Friday, it’s Thorn. Update the panic room at the Doghouse and all safe houses with Raisa’s entry information.”
“Affirmative, Agent Thorn. All systems updated.”
“Thank you. We’re leaving now, open the door then return to standby mode.”
There was a whoosh as the door opened.
“Returning to standby mode. Have a good day, Thorn.”
Raisa’s eyebrow rose. “Thorn?”
“Yes my dear, Raisa. I told you every rose has its thorn and I’d be yours. Your name does mean Rose, does it not?”
“Yes, but why are you calling yourself Thorn?”
“I’m not, it’s been my call sign since the Navy and still is at Blackguard. Because I’m a florist my old Commanding Officer said I was too ugly to be a flower but just painful enough to be a thorn. It stuck. I’m Thorn, have been for ten years. Until I left the Navy I was more likely to answer to Thorn than I was to answer to Kris. Now I answer to either.”
He walked her down to the parking garage and she opened her unit and got in her Jetta, and he opened his and pulled on his helmet climbing on the motorcycle she’d seen parked behind the flower shop almost every day. Yes her florist had a bad boy side to him and that excited her like nothing else. He waved as she started her car and pulled out and he followed her.
Her smile lasted until she walked through the back door of the diner. “Where have you been? I’ve been trying to call you. I thought something had happened.”
“I was making sure I had some safety measures in place thanks to the situation you’ve gotten me caught up in.”
Stephan hung his head. “I’m sorry Raisa, I’m trying to make it right.”
“Have you found anyone who can loan us the money?”
Stephan shook his head “No, no-one wants to get involved. I talked to the bank this morning and we can get an equity loan on the diner but it will take at least a month. I’m sorry.”
His face told her he had something else on his mind. “What Stephan? What are you thinking.”
He shook his head. “Nothing…”
“Oh you’re thinking something, spit it out.”
“Couldn’t you just do what he wants?”
Raisa couldn’t believe what she’d just heard. “What did you ask me?”
/> “This is Gregori, Raisa. He’s going to end up with what he wants anyway so why not go to him now and buy us time to get the loan from the bank?”
Anger flashed through her. Her own brother was telling her to buy them time by giving herself to a disgusting mean man so he would be safe. “I can’t believe you even suggested that, Stephan. I will never give that man what he wants. I’ll die first, do you understand me?”
“It’s just sex, Raisa.”
She looked at her brother and realized she didn’t know him anymore. “It is not just sex. It is my body and my soul and I will not sell it to anyone let alone that man, not for any price.”
“Everyone has a price Raisa, even you.”
She slapped him, how dare he speak to her like that. How dare he think like that. She spun back around and stormed out the door leading out the back, stopping to look at him before she left. “I’m taking a sick day because you make me sick. Papa would be so disappointed in you, Stephan.”
She slammed the door and marched over to the back door of the flower shop and banged on the door. When Kris opened the door she threw herself in his arms. “What’s wrong?”
“Can you take a sick day with me?”
Kris looked down at her and wiped at the tears running down her face and leaned down and kissed her.
She heard a grunt behind her and turned to see Stephan standing there with an angry look on his face. “I see how it is. You and the flower boy. This is why you won’t do your duty to family. This pretty boy?”
She gasped and Kris looked at her. “What’s he talking about?”
She shook her head. “He wants me to give myself to Gregori and buy him some time on the loan.”
Kris looked at her brother. “How much do you owe?”
“What?”
“I asked you how much you owe?”
Stephan looked at him and sneered, “It’s none of your business. Leave me and my sister alone.”
Kris walked up to her brother and placed his hand on Stephan’s shoulder and her brother gasped. Kris looked him in the eye. “I’m not going to ask again, I’m just going to keep pressing right here until you decide to answer me.”
Her brother cried out and glared until his knees gave out and then he screamed. “Twelve thousand dollars today, it goes up a thousand every day until it’s paid.”
Kris let him go. “When is this man coming for his payment again?”
“Friday.” Stephan rubbed at his shoulder and upper arm that was still hurting from the pressure point Kris had pressed on.
“I’ll be back to see you after closing, with the money and a contract for you to pay me back.” Kris pointed at Stephan, “You, not your sister, is that understood? You got yourself in this mess and then dragged your sister into it as well. You will get yourself out of it and I’ll take care of getting your sister out of it.”
Then he turned and took Raisa into his arms. “Let me tell Carol I’m taking the day off and we will go see my friend somewhere else for lunch.”
Raisa nodded and together they walked into the flower shop and shut the door, leaving her brother outside.
Chapter Four
B efore they could even leave his store and head back to the apartment for the day, Kris was getting a call from a Blackguard phone. “Thorn here.”
The voice on the other end was deep and calm but the words spoken sent adrenaline racing through Kris. “Thorn, you got problems.”
“Mac, what do you mean?” Kris moved over to his weapons stash and prepared to lift the table top for heavier weaponry.
“I mean that name you gave us, Gregori Volkov, is the head of the local Russian mob and that diner you want to meet at is one of their fronts.”
“What? No it isn’t, its owned by a brother and sister.”
“That’s right, Stephan and Raisa Felfan. The diner launders money for the Syndicate as the group is called. Spidey has the paper trail right here. What is the nature of your involvement?”
“Raisa is my next-door neighbor, Gregori came into the dinner and demanded her favors as part of a payment for a loan.”
“When was this loan supposedly given.”
Kris sighed. “Why don’t you meet me at my place in half an hour. I’ll introduce you to Raisa and we can talk there. Bring the files I asked for.”
Mac was silent on the phone for a moment then said, “Make it an hour and the file has already been sent to your secure email. Don’t do anything until we talk, Thorn.”
“I’m going to take Raisa to my place and get her to relax. Her brother just told her to sell herself to the man they owe to pay the loan so if this is a situation like Cambodia the players are pro and I don’t fall for pros, you know that.”
“Depends on how close to the situation you are. You did say this was a personal contract. You’ve never had one of those before.”
“Not true, I did that one in Russia.”
He heard Mac sigh. “That wasn’t really personal though, was it? I’m worried you’re being played.”
Kris gritted his teeth. “Come see for yourself then.”
“Roger, one hour.”
“Copy, Mac. We’ll be waiting.”
Raisa looked at him as he put his phone back in his pocket. He walked over to the girl and she smiled. “That didn’t sound like good news.”
He smiled at her. There was no way he was being scammed here. She had been pure and untouched and he wouldn’t believe a girl would waste such a precious gift on trying to scam him. “It’s my boss at the security company. He has some information we need to see. He’s going to meet us at my place in an hour.” He pulled her up and kissed her. She responded with a small moan in the back of her throat. Which made him almost lose control of his tightly held passion; but there was no reason to embarrass his staff by ravishing his new girlfriend on the work table. “Are you ready to get out of here?”
Raisa nodded and they walked out the back door with a wave to his manager, letting her know she was in charge. They got out to where Raisa’s car was parked and stopped. There was a yellow folded note under her windshield wiper. Kris pulled it out and opened it. In simple block writing was the message. “If you don’t give me what I want, soon I may just have to cut my losses.” The word cut was underlined four times and when they looked at the car they realized that all four of her tires had been raggedly slashed open.
Raisa cried at the expense and Kris pulled her into his arms. “Don’t worry about this, Raisa, I’ll get it taken care of. For now you can ride home with me.”
“He’s not going to quit, Kris.”
“He will quit. I’ll make him quit and I’ll keep you safe.”
She shook her head. “You can’t say that, you don’t know who you’re dealing with.”
“Let’s go home and meet my friend and see what we can do. Because Raisa, you and they don’t know what I can do either. But I promise you, if I say I can make them leave you alone, you can take that to the bank. I. Will. Make. Them. Leave. You. Alone.”
He handed her a helmet and the two of them climbed on his bike. He touched the Bluetooth in his helmet as they took off.
“Ratchet.”
“It’s Thorn. I need a retrieval.”
“You mess up that viper or the land tank?”
“Neither. Client’s wheels, all four slashed. It’s a pink Jetta parked behind my shop. Can you fix it up and do run-flats? She’s in trouble with the local mob.”
“This a personal favor, Thorn?”
“She’s my girl, Ratchet, and this slime bucket wants to force her into his bed.”
“Well hell’s bells, buddy. I’ll make sure she’s flight ready.”
“Appreciate it; when it’s fixed put it back where you got it.”
“Can do.”
They pulled into the garage and then went up in the elevator to Raisa’s place. “Honey, I want you to go get a few days’ clothes and put them in a bag along with spare toiletries. Then I want you to grab two more days’ wo
rth of clothes for my place. Until I get this settled I want you to stay with me so you can get into the safe room easier.”
“What’s the other bag for?”
“We call it the bug out bag. It will go in my emergency vehicle, my bug out ride. In case we have to leave in a hurry for a while.”
“You said you’d get them to leave me alone,” Raisa said biting her lip.
Kris pulled her into his arms and kissed her. “I will but it always pays to be prepared.”
“Okay.” She kissed him and then went and did as he asked. He looked around her place and didn’t see anything out of place. When she came out with two bags he took one leaving, his dominant hand free. Again he made a quick check of his door and found the place unbothered. So they went in. He went straight back to the spare bedroom and put her bags there. He’d take her extra bag down to the Land Rover next time they were heading to the garage level. He showed her where the restroom for that bedroom was and let her know he’d be in the safe room with the door open working on something for his security job.
He opened the email package that Mac had Spidey send him and began to read. It really didn’t look good. The computer expert had gotten into the bank account for the diner and followed the money like he always did. Sure enough, he saw what was worrying Mac. It looked like the diner had been laundering money for the Syndicate for a long time. There was no deposit that could be considered the principle on the loan that Raisa said was creating the problem.
Kris was so involved in what he was reading, both about the Syndicate and the bank statements of the diner, that he didn’t hear Raisa until she was wrapping her arms around him from behind.
“What are you working on?”
“Reading the files my team sent me on Gregori and the Syndicate.”
She frowned when she saw what was on the screen. “How did you get the diner’s bank statements? I don’t understand, is that how much money is in the account?” She pointed at the balance which was over five figures.
“Yes. You haven’t seen these?”
She shook her head. “No, Papa took care of that before he passed and Stephan has been doing it since. How can we have that kind of money and owe Gregori?”
Her Hero: Next Door Page 3