by Linda Ladd
“It doesn’t sound like they’re doing much controlling, not if she’s hiding out in this hotel asking us for help.”
Lori pulled around to the rear of the building. There was one car there, a white Mustang convertible with the top up. Lori backed the Jeep into a space, ready to take off in a hurry, if need be. He liked that about her, her foresight and preparation, but then again he liked everything about her. She would be ready when things got hairy. Still, there were no human beings anywhere to be seen. No tourists were carrying bags out of the hotel. Nobody was gassing up across the street. No cars were passing on the highway. The only movement was one stray dog eating something out of a discarded McDonald’s sandwich box.
Irina Blackwood had big problems, but she also had close ties to dangerous men. She needed their help, all right, Novak already knew that all too well. He and Lori should have cut bait and gotten the hell out of town. Every bone in his body was telling him to go now, but his loathing for men like Blackwood and Petrov burned hot inside of him. And he thought Irina Blackwood just might be able to give him the ammunition he needed to bring them down.
Lori turned off the ignition and turned in the seat. “So, now what?”
“What room is she in?”
“She didn’t say. She told me to ask the desk clerk for a key card that she was leaving with him.”
“Under what name?”
“She said she gave him your name.”
“Oh, that’s just great.”
Lori looked around. “What can happen to us in a hotel lobby?”
“You have to ask that? Really? You?”
Lori laughed. “Not really, no.”
They got out of the car. The only sound was the American flag flapping on a pole in the brisk breeze. The chain was jingling music; everything else was quiet. They chose to enter from an unlocked side door that led them to the lobby. The décor was modern, done in dark blues and whites with shiny white marble tiles on the floor. Soft instrumental elevator music played in the background, selections that nobody could possibly want to hear. There was nothing unusual anywhere, and no sign of anything threatening, such as multiple men crashing through the front door with AK-47s. Novak waited by the elevator and watched Lori stroll over to the reception desk. She dinged the little bell on the counter.
Novak waited where he was, feeling naked without his Kimber. He didn’t expect to get it back now, not if the police had confiscated it. Lori happened to be carrying legally at the moment, which made him feel better. The fact that she was the best shot he’d ever seen with a sniper rifle or any other gun helped his nerves. After a few minutes, a young man walked out behind the counter. He looked even younger than Irina. He still had on braces and a blue coat with the hotel’s name emblazoned on the pocket. They spoke for a moment. Then he reached under the counter and brought out a small envelope. Lori took it. A moment later, she was back beside Novak.
“This place has a penthouse, believe it or not, and here’s the card key. So la-di-dah, little Miss Irina has expensive tastes and money to spend.”
“Well, Blackwood’s loaded. She probably put it on his credit card or he owns this place, which wouldn’t be good for our health, either.”
“Let’s go on up. We need to get this over with and get on with our romantic tryst that isn’t happening the way it should be.”
“You won’t get an argument out of me. But not here. I am not shutting my eyes until we get a hundred miles from this place.”
The elevator was as deserted as everything else in the hotel. Something about this tourist stop seemed to scare off tourists, as well as locals. Novak was getting that vibe loud and clear. The penthouse encompassed the entire sixth floor. What a waste of available rooms. He wondered if anybody ever stayed there, or if it was just a money-laundering establishment, or even Blackwood’s private love nest. Their card worked for the penthouse floor, and the elevator doors slid open and revealed a large beige foyer totally devoid of furniture. A giant chandelier in the shape of Saturn hung in the center, replete with shining rings casting shadows on the walls.
A graceful archway led into a vast living area. Everything they could see inside was the same color: the dull tan of Egyptian sand dunes. The walls blended into the ceiling and tiled floor. They walked across the foyer and found Irina waiting for them inside the long living room. She was standing in front of a window with beige draperies that overlooked a panoramic view of the colorful autumn woods stretching as far as the eye could see.
“Thank you so much for coming, Mr. Novak,” she lisped out through a fat, bulbous lip, awfully polite all of a sudden. Her voice was low, her manner quiet, and she looked directly into Novak’s eyes. Her eyes were no longer wild and weeping. She had gotten her pills or injection recently, it appeared. Her calm manner told him that she was probably high but inwardly calm. It also told him that her father had used her for a punching bag after they’d dragged Novak off to jail. Both her eyes were bruised and turning black. The left eye was swollen shut. An ugly cut in the shape of her father’s big gold Senate ring marred her cheekbone, the bruise dark purple against her pale white skin. She looked awful, and there were probably lots of other marks hidden beneath her clothes.
“I’m so sorry for what I did to you, Mr. Novak. I promise I am. I was just so scared and desperate and needed a fix. I’d gone way too long. I shouldn’t have told them you got me pregnant.”
“You need to see a doctor, Irina. He beat the hell out of you after I left, didn’t he? It might have harmed your baby.”
Novak glanced around the room, hoping Petrov wasn’t lurking behind a corner with his icepick. That’s when he caught sight of the young man lying on a red sectional across the room. He looked like a teenager, too, one that had been trampled by a herd of wildebeests. Somebody, probably Petrov, had worked him over and for a good long time. His beating made Irina’s look like a playground scuffle. Under all those cuts and bruises and swelling, he looked slender and slight of build, certainly no athlete or tough guy. He looked like some nervous kid with a summer desk job as a gofer at an accounting firm, or a boy who had survived a car crash with a runaway semi. He didn’t move or look at them, but kept his eyes closed tight. He came off as terrified.
Irina walked over to him and placed her hand gently on his fair hair. He still didn’t open his eyes. “This is my boyfriend, Justin Dalton. He’s hurting real bad right now. They caught up to him last night. They did this to him after Daddy beat his name out of me.” She burst into tears at her own betrayal and went down on her knees beside the couch. She put her head on the kid’s stomach and sobbed. Justin flinched at the pressure, so she sat back on her heels and wept harder.
Novak and Lori looked at each other. Irina had put up a pretty good tough-girl act the night before, but her protective walls were crumbling to dust. She was done holding her fears and bottled-up grief inside. For the first time, she looked and acted her age. In that moment, and against all reason and better judgement, Novak knew he was going to help her.
Chapter 4
“This boy is likely to have internal injuries, Irina. You need to get him to a hospital right now. It looks to me like you need to see a doctor, too.” Lori knelt down beside Irina and put her arm around her, her tender heart getting the better of her.
Irina raised her swollen eyes, shining with tears that overflowed from her lashes and tracked down her bruised cheeks. At that moment, she looked about thirteen. “You just don’t understand. I can’t risk taking him anywhere that Daddy can find him. If he does, they’ll kill him this time. That’s what Daddy wants. Last night he told me I’d never see Justin again. So I snuck out of the house and drove around until I found him. You know what they did? They just left him in an alley to die, so I got him in the Mustang and brought him out here.” She was crying again. “Daddy’s beaten me up enough for me to know how to take care of him. I ought to be good at it by now.”
“Please sit down, please, just for a few minutes.” Irina was still on her knees, begging now. “Let me tell you everything. Then I know you’ll help us.”
Novak wanted to hear what she had to say. Lori nodded, and they sat down together on a couch opposite the injured boy. They waited while Irina tried to compose herself enough to speak.
Novak didn’t have much time to waste. “Okay, we’re here and listening.”
“You’re still mad at me, aren’t you? I can tell.”
Irina’s naiveté was back. “Hell, yes, I’m ticked off big time about what you did last night.”
“I chose you because you looked so big and strong. I was in bad shape then. I didn’t think they could hurt you the way they hurt me and Justin.” Irina looked suitably contrite, Novak would give her that. He waited another moment, and when she just sat there and sniffled and wept, he became impatient, not sure what she was working up to.
“We’re here, like you asked. You need to tell us what we need to know or we’re leaving. Okay?”
She pulled up the tail of her red sweatshirt and wiped away tears. The front had a picture that he assumed was her school mascot. It looked like a black panther. “Daddy researched you after you left. I heard him say that you’re a private investigator, and then he got all upset and worried about what you’d do. Is that true?”
Novak knew where this was going and didn’t want to hear it. He’d heard similar halting, vulnerable requests for help. “That’s right, I am, but I want nothing to do with your father.”
“He thinks you’re on to him. He thinks you’re dangerous.”
Novak scoffed. “Hell, Irina, everybody who reads the newspapers is on to him. He’s a damn criminal and has been for years. He’s just too connected to bring down. Everyone knows he’s dirty.”
“I know. But don’t you see? I can hurt him. Me and Justin both can. We know things that other people don’t know.”
Novak glanced at the kid lying on the couch. He didn’t look like he could do anything to anybody. He was lying there, unmoving, not saying anything. He didn’t look at them or try to speak, or maybe he was in too much pain. Maybe Lori was right: the boy was broken up inside, his lungs punctured or multiple ribs broken, or both. His raspy breathing sounded like it could be a collapsed lung, but he wasn’t coughing up blood just yet. Blackwood’s men had pummeled him to a bloody pulp, all right. People had died from beatings this severe, and Lori was right about internal injuries. They needed to get him to an ER and fast. More than that, he needed some morphine for the pain. “Justin’s not going to be able to do anything, not for a long time. So it would just be you against your father, Irina. You, all alone, up against him and all his men.”
“I know, but not if you protected us.” Irina stood up. They watched her battered face as she worked to check her ragged emotions. It took some effort, but then she took a deep, cleansing breath, and set her bruised jaw. “Daddy’s not going to get away with this. He ordered his men to pick up Justin and hurt him bad. Just because I like him. They nearly killed him, you see that. They probably left him there to die. They’ll come back if they find out he’s still alive.”
Lori’s voice was gentle. “If you don’t get him to a hospital, he’s going to die, anyway. I’ve seen enough injuries like this to know that.”
“But I can’t!” she cried. “Everybody around here is scared of Daddy. The doctors and nurses, too. The minute somebody reports that Justin was admitted, they’ll call Daddy and they’ll come get him again.”
Novak resigned himself. He had to help this girl. He could not sit around and let the boy die on that couch. “So you want to hire me to get him to the hospital and protect him while he’s there. Is that what you want?”
“Yes, please, please, Mr. Novak. I can’t go there or Daddy will beat me again and lock me up in my room. If you don’t take him somewhere safe, he’ll die. There’s nobody I can turn to but you. I can’t trust anybody around here. If Daddy wants Justin dead, they’ll come back for him, they will. I know how he works. I’ve got to go home, too, or he’ll get suspicious.”
“No, no, Irina.” Those were the first words Justin had uttered, proving he was conscious and listening. That was a good sign. When he spoke, his words came out slow and halting. “Uh uh, no way, Irina. You need to go with us.”
“Daddy won’t kill me. He loves me too much.”
Novak glanced at Lori. She looked incensed, and spoke up. “Irina, take a good hard look in that mirror over there. Then tell us that animal loves you.”
Novak didn’t think Blackwood was above killing anybody, even his daughter, if she made him angry enough. “Looks to me like you both need somebody to run interference with these guys.” He hesitated, not wanting to stick around, but he knew he had to. “Okay, I’ll help you, but only until we can get both of you to a safe place where he can’t find you.”
Lori didn’t hold back. “Novak’s right. You both need to get the hell out of this town where that terrible man can find you. These guys mean to kill you, probably both of you. Why haven’t you left before now, Irina? Or reported that monster to the police?”
“I wanted to, but he got me taking all these drugs, and I have to have it now. He won’t give it to me when I don’t do what he says.” She looked ashamed. “That’s how he controls me, with the pills and heroin.”
Novak was disgusted but not surprised. He’d already guessed that’s what was going on. “You need to go into rehab. That’s your only choice now. What about the boy downstairs at the desk? Do you trust him, or has he already given you up to your father?”
“He would never. Mark and me are best friends, ever since grade school. He’s scared, too, but he’d never tell on me.”
“Does he know Justin’s up here?”
“Yes, he helped me get him up here on the luggage cart. He’s real scared of Daddy, but he wants to help us. Mark cried when he saw what he did to my face. I told him I wouldn’t ever let Daddy know that he helped us.”
“He hasn’t come up here or checked on how Justin is?”
“No, and he won’t. I know he won’t unless they beat him up real bad and make him tell them.”
“What was going to happen if we refused and walked out that door?”
“I don’t know. They’d come here eventually, I guess. I know they’re looking for me right now, probably. Please don’t leave us here all alone. They’ll kill him, and maybe me, too, or take me to one of our beach houses and lock me up there. That’s why you gotta get Justin away from here. Daddy’s crazy jealous of Justin. He can’t stand it if I like anybody but him. We gotta go do it now. We’ve been here all night, and they’ll find us soon. I know they will.”
“They didn’t kill him this time. Maybe they’ll leave him alone now, as long as you stay away from him.”
“Daddy’s still mad about you, and now he knows I snuck out last night. He’ll never let me be with Justin, or anybody else.”
Novak didn’t like anything about this, but the boy lying on that couch was seriously hurt. “Has Blackwood done this before? Ordered your friends beaten up?”
Irina nodded. “Once, he did, but I didn’t get to ever have any boyfriends. I didn’t dare disobey Daddy, not until I met Justin. We were keeping it secret and stuff, but Daddy found out somehow.”
“How far are you along with the baby?” Lori asked.
“Three months, but it doesn’t show yet. At first, I thought he might let us get married since I got pregnant, but then he got so angry, I couldn’t tell him about Justin. So I rode around with them to see if we could find his car, and when they started getting impatient and pushing me around, we were close to that steakhouse so I just said my boyfriend told me to meet him there. I just
made it all up, and I was going to say he wasn’t there, either, once we got inside. Then I saw you, and you were looking at me, like, you know, like you knew I was in trouble and stuff, so I just pointed at you. You looked big and stronger than them, and I thought they wouldn’t be able to hurt you. I’m sorry. I really am sorry, Mr. Novak.”
Sorry didn’t mean squat to Novak, not right now. “Okay, maybe we can take him to a hospital in the next town over, somewhere like that. What about you? Will you be safe here? Will they come here looking for you?”
“All Daddy wants is for me to stay away from Justin. If he has to kill him to do that, he will. If I go back home and say I’m sorry and beg him to forgive me, he probably won’t send those guys out looking for Justin again. So you’ll have time to get him to the doctor.”
“Don’t you have anybody you could go to or stay with?” asked Lori. “Surely you have an aunt or uncle or grandparents somewhere?”
“No, there’s no one but Daddy. He got me over in Russia, he said, but I don’t know if that’s true. He didn’t tell me anything about my real family except they didn’t want me.” Her voice hardened. “God, I hate Daddy. I hate him so much. I’d rather kill myself than stay in that house with him.” She looked down and wouldn’t meet their eyes. “He comes to my bedroom at night and does things. Bad things, but I can’t stop him.”
Novak’s stomach rolled. He felt sick to even think about it. She had just given them another connection to Russia. Petrov had probably been involved in her adoption, if there really was one.
Lori did not mince her words. “You’re saying that he sexually molests you?”
Irina’s features dissolved into a grimace, and she still wouldn’t look at them. “Don’t you see? I’ve got to go back today, I’ve got to. It’s like he owns me. I can probably sneak away again later this week if he doesn’t force me to go down to Fripp Island with him. I think that’s where he’s going next. He’s always traveling somewhere with that Petrov guy.”