With a groan, she sat up and looked around, trying to shove the images from her mind and get her bearings.
Oh, right. Henry’s house.
A glance at the clock said she’d been asleep a little over two and a half hours. She swung her legs over the side of the bed, and the action pulled at her back, once again setting off a wave of pain and itching in her stitches.
She rose and padded into the bathroom to pull off her shirt. She turned her back to the mirror and got a good look at the area for the first time and winced. “Ouch. No wonder.” The area was swollen, red, and inflamed. “Great.”
Allie rummaged through the cabinets until she found a bottle of alcohol. Splashing some on a wad of toilet paper, she held it to the area. It stung, but probably wasn’t doing much good. The infection was deep and she figured it might need some professional attention.
As soon as she was able to, she’d get it.
Ignoring it for now, she dressed and grabbed her phone from the nightstand to find a text from Linc. And a voice mail. Both with the same message.
“Call me when you get this.”
She frowned and did so.
The call cut off immediately. And a text came through.
Linc
Can’t talk. Daria is in your place. Letting her sleep for a bit before I wake her.
Allie’s heart jumped into a double-time rhythm. She texted him back.
I’m on the way.
She had no vehicle.
Somehow.
She bolted out of the room, down the hall, and into the den. “Henry! Henry!”
He leaped from the couch, weapon in his hand faster than she could blink. “What is it?”
“Sorry. You don’t need that. Daria’s at my place. I need to get over there ASAP.”
He frowned and tucked his weapon into his shoulder holster. “How do you know that?”
“Linc texted. This is our chance to get what we need on Nevsky. Now will you please come on?”
“Allie, you’re still not a hundred percent. Let Linc handle it.”
She stared at him. “Do I have to call an Uber?”
He rolled his eyes. “Of course not, but it’ll take us twenty minutes to get there. Linc will probably have it all under control at that point and can contact us with what he finds.”
“He’s got it under control now, but I’m going. With or without you.” She knew she was pushing it. Technically, he could order her to stay put.
“Not going without,” he finally said, with narrowed eyes and a chill in his tone.
“Thank you, Henry.”
“Right.”
“So, let’s move!” Only the fact that she was mindful that he was her boss had her tacking a “Please!” on the end.
“Get in the car,” he said. “I’m coming. Going to grab a couple of vests. Which you will wear.”
“Gladly. I’ll be in the car.” Allie darted past him. She was in the passenger seat waiting impatiently with her seat belt on when he finally threw a vest in her lap and climbed in.
Once they were on the way, Allie slipped into the vest and started texting Linc.
On the way. Is she okay?
Yes. She’s still asleep.
We’ll be there in about twenty minutes.
Linc’s phone had blown up with text messages from his family, and he had to start answering them or they were going to put a BOLO out on him. One by one, he sent his responses, then set his phone aside and watched the young girl sleep.
Dark shadows were visible under her pale lashes and she looked too thin under the baggy shirt and jeans. She had to be absolutely exhausted.
His heart pounded in sympathy with her situation. It hadn’t been of her making and she didn’t deserve the hand she’d been dealt—or the family she’d been born into. He sent up a silent prayer of thanks for his own large, loud, loving family.
He started to send another text to Allie when a spray of bullets hit the sliding glass doors. Daria jumped up from her dead sleep and Linc tackled her in front of the sofa. A scream escaped her, and his hand clamped around her weapon, taking it from her easily.
“I’m not here to hurt you!” He dragged her across the floor and shoved her behind the love seat as more bullets pelted the sofa.
Daria let out another squeal, squirmed, and landed a solid punch to his right cheekbone.
“Daria! Stop it! I’m trying to keep you alive!”
Another hail of bullets seemed to convince her to be still. Linc kept his body over hers, not only to protect her, but to keep her from landing any more well-placed blows. “I only took the gun to keep you from shooting me.” The fact that they’d both moved so fast was all that had kept them from getting hit by the second round of bullets. He wondered how she’d learned to do that. Gerard?
“Well, who’s shooting at us?”
“Not sure. If you’ll stay still for a second, I’ll try to figure that out.” When she complied, he rolled off her and pointed to the floor, keeping his weapon—and hers—away from her reach. “Stay here. My name is Linc St. John and I’m an FBI agent. I’m also a friend of Allie’s. Now, no running off this time, got it?”
She nodded, terror in her pretty blue eyes.
“I promise, I’m not the bad guy,” he said. Bullets peppered the windows. “The guy shooting is!” From where the bullets landed this time, it was obvious the shooter had changed position. Trying to make sure he covered the whole place so anyone in the living area wouldn’t be able to walk out. And he’d been aiming for the sofa. If the bullets had been two inches lower, Daria would have been Swiss cheese.
Linc called for backup, then crept to the shattered sliding glass doors to look out. Stillness. No one moved. Doors stayed shut. The cops would be arriving shortly. And so would Allie and Henry. He dialed Allie’s number.
“What do we do?” Daria asked from her position behind the couch.
“Help’s on the way.”
Allie answered before the first ring stopped. “Hey, what—”
“Got a shooter here! He was in front. Don’t come in unarmed.” He wanted to tell her not to come in at all, but didn’t bother. She was his partner and only circumstances beyond her control would keep her from helping him. “How far away are you?”
“Three minutes out.” All business, she relayed the information to Henry.
He could hear the sirens.
“Give me the phone.” Henry’s order reached Linc. Henry spoke again. “Allie’s not entering this gunfight. We need her to stay out of sight if we can do that without you getting killed. I’ll back you up.”
“We’re okay right now.” He dared a peek out the nearest window. “The cavalry will be arriving soon.”
“We’ll be right there with them, but I’m the one coming in.”
“Be careful.” Linc hung up. The shooting had stopped. Linc dialed Roland’s number. Voice mail. He tried again. And again with the same results. What if the man had been hit? He hesitated, then looked at Daria. “Do you promise not to leave if I go check on someone?”
“You’re leaving me?”
For the first time since he’d started listening in on her conversations, she sounded like a scared teenager who needed a protector.
“I’m just going to step out the door and see if I can spot my friend. Cops are almost here and I’m guessing the shooter may have taken off. He isn’t going to wait around to get caught.” He hoped. “If you stay hidden right where you are, you should be fine.”
“I won’t move, I promise.”
He believed her. Linc bolted to the front door. Weapon held ready, he opened it and darted a quick look to the right before jerking back behind cover of the wall. Nothing. He made the same move once again, this time looking to the left.
Again, nothing. He stepped out and let the door close behind him and hurried to the end of the short walkway that took him into the parking lot. Empty.
As was Roland’s small porch on the second floor.
Linc diale
d the man’s number one more time as he hurried back to Allie’s apartment. If Daria hadn’t been there, he’d go searching for Roland, but he couldn’t leave the teen. Once inside, he checked to see Daria exactly where he’d left her. Roland’s phone rang three times, then went straight to voice mail. “Come on, Roland. Let me know you’re okay.” He hung up and moved to the shattered sliding glass door. A man dressed in jeans and a short-sleeved black T-shirt walked toward him. He lifted his weapon. Linc dove backward. The bullet whizzed past him to dig into the wall of Allie’s kitchen.
Daria squealed.
“Stay put!” Linc swung out, weapon up, ready to fire.
At nothing.
Where had he gone? Wherever he was, Linc had no doubt he planned to show up again.
Sirens screamed into the complex, growing louder with each passing second. He turned to Daria. “Get ready to run when I give the word, okay?”
She nodded.
19
Allie kept her hoodie and sunglasses in place, but the truth was, she was more concerned about Linc and Daria than keeping her identity hidden. Linc had stopped answering his phone two calls ago and Daria had yet to answer hers.
“Stay low,” Henry ordered. He flipped on his lights and siren and rolled into the parking lot at the same time as the local police. One cruiser stopped at the entrance and Allie knew that officer would set up a barricade. No one except law enforcement would be allowed in or out from this point forward.
“I’m going to pull around,” Henry said.
“Just get as close to my apartment as possible, then let me out. I can cover the back.”
“SWAT will be surrounding the place, Allie, I don’t think—”
“SWAT’s not here yet. At least, they’re not in position. Linc and Daria could be hurt. Let me get in there and help if they need it. I’ve got a full first-aid kit in there and I know how to use it. Just do this, okay? Please?” She shot him an unwavering stare.
He stopped the car and she slipped out of the vehicle to race around the side of her building. Linc and Daria were darting down the steps of her screened-in porch.
“Linc! Daria! You’re okay.”
They ran for the cover of the trees and Linc pulled to a stop, scanning the area. She reached him and Linc nodded to the teen. “Take her and find a motel. For now, the shooting’s stopped, but the shooter’s not in custody. Where’s Henry?”
“He dropped me off. I’m not sure.”
Allie looked over his shoulder and flinched, turning. “Roland’s headed this way,” she murmured. “See if you can stall him so we can get out of here. There’s a hotel three blocks from here. I’ll text you the room number.” She grabbed the girl’s hand and led the way through the trees, taking the path residents often used to get to the service station behind the complex. The same one where Linc had met her after packing up her family’s crime wall.
She and Daria pounded down the path.
Until a soft pop reached her ears. Something hard slammed into her back and Allie dropped to the undergrowth, her lungs paralyzed, her gun flying from her hand as she fell. Daria screamed and ducked behind the nearest tree. Run! She mentally screamed the order at Daria while she flailed on the ground like a fish trying to breathe. She managed to roll to her side, caught the teen’s eye, and mouthed, Run!
Finally, her lungs jumped back into action and she was able to drag in a wheezing breath and fill them. “Go,” she rasped. “Go!”
“But—” Daria’s eyes flitted from one spot to the next, sheer terror on her face, then her gaze hardened. “I’ll get help. I promise, Allie, I’ll get help.” She darted through the trees. Allie watched her go while she struggled for another breath. Footsteps crunched, drawing nearer.
When she tried to roll to her knees, lightning bolts of pain shafted through her back and she gasped, collapsing back onto the ground.
Black shoes filled her line of sight. She reached out, grasped the ankle, then dropped her hand. Breathing was becoming easier, but she didn’t let on. The person wearing the black shoes leaned over and placed the muzzle of the weapon on her forehead.
“So, we meet again,” Gregori said.
“I’m going to kill you,” she whispered. “If it’s the last thing I do, Gregori Radchenko, I’m going to end you.”
He laughed and fury bubbled through her. “You never did know when to quit, did you?” he said.
She dragged in another lungful of air.
He reached out, clamped an iron hand around her upper arm, and yanked her to her feet. Her legs wouldn’t hold her.
Tsking like she was a disobedient child, he tossed her over his shoulder. Her phone tumbled from her pocket and she grabbed for it. And missed.
“I can see we have a lot to catch up on,” he said.
The pain in her back flared blowtorch hot, and she cried out, even as she fought against the darkness that threatened to pull her under.
Gregori tossed her into a car he’d hidden behind the service station. “Got you in the vest, did I?”
“Yeah. Were you aiming at Daria?” She winced as she shifted, trying to find a comfortable position.
“A moving target’s harder to hit,” he said. “Fortunately for me, you had the foresight to wear the vest.”
“I guess when you have your victims on their face, the base of the skull isn’t nearly as hard to find, huh?”
His fist shot out and she ducked, just not quite fast enough. His knuckles grazed her jaw and pain shot through her skull. She let her head fall sideways and kept her eyes shut. He grasped her throat and squeezed. Her eyes flew open and she jabbed out with the knuckle of her right index finger. The punch landed in his right eye. He screamed, jerking his head away from her. She scrambled for the door handle. His fingers caught her hoodie and yanked her back around.
Their eyes collided and she shuddered at the pure rage behind his gaze.
“What happened to you, Gregori?” she whispered. “What happened to my big brother that I loved?” Tears gathered and she choked them back.
Gregori flinched and drew back, dropping his hand. “That boy is gone forever.”
“Why?”
“Because I was never really your brother.”
“What?”
“You haven’t figured it out.”
She wasn’t sure what to do with his amusement. “No, Gregori, I haven’t figured it out. Could you just spell it out for me?”
“Of course. How’s this? I am not your brother because I am Vladislav Nevsky’s son.”
Henry rubbed a hand over his head. “Go check on Allie and Daria and let me know where you land,” he told Linc. His gaze flicked over the organized chaos that came with a full-blown manhunt. Helicopters circled above. “I’ll keep you updated on this end.” He turned abruptly and headed for the officer in charge.
Roland Carter stepped up next to Linc. He was glad to see the guy unharmed. “Thanks for your help,” Linc told him.
“Anytime.”
“Linc!”
He spun to find Daria racing toward him.
“He took her!”
Linc grabbed her arm. “What?”
“We were running,” she gasped, “and he shot her. She told me to run.”
“Shot her!”
Daria nodded, tears dripping onto her cheeks.
“Show me.”
“Need some help?” Roland asked.
“Can you find Henry, the guy I was just talking to, and let him know we’re going after the shooter? He has a hostage.” Thankfully, Daria hadn’t mentioned Allie’s name.
“Of course.” He trotted off, and Linc fell in behind Daria as she turned and took off toward the back of the complex. “Is she hurt bad?”
“I don’t know.”
“What happened?”
“We were running and then she fell.”
“Did you hear the shot?” Because he hadn’t.
“Yeah, kind of. Like a muffled pop. He must have used a suppressor.” She led him in
to the wooded area, and when she came to a small path, she stopped and pointed. “There.”
Examining the area turned up nothing other than signs of a struggle—and Allie’s phone . . . and her gun. “There’s no blood.”
“He got her in the back. It seemed to knock the wind out of her because she couldn’t talk. She mouthed for me to run, so I did.”
He dialed Annie and focused on slowing his heart rate. Without revealing he was looking for Allie, he filled Annie in on as much as he could. “There’s been a kidnapping at the apartment complex on Billings. I need any security footage in this area and the convenience store on Hampstead. See if it picked up anything and can give us a direction.”
“On it,” Annie said.
If the footage showed Allie’s face, so be it. Getting her back was far more important than keeping her “dead.”
Daria swiped another tear. “I’m sorry I ran. I should have stayed, but she told me to go and I thought it would be best if I let someone know. I . . . I couldn’t help her, I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault,” Linc said. “You did exactly right. If you hadn’t run, he would have killed you or taken you too.”
She swiped a stray tear. “I didn’t know you were trying to help me. I thought you two were working for my father like the man you were with.”
Linc stilled. “What man?”
“The day you and Allie found me being held in the office, my father had ordered his men to take me there and said he would be there soon to get the information from me. I’m guessing he meant the security footage I have.”
“How did he know you had it?”
“I don’t know that either. I figured Allie or you had told him.”
Linc’s lips tightened and he led the way to the convenience store. “Wasn’t us.”
“I’m starting to see that now.”
“Who was the man you saw us with?”
“I don’t know. He had on tactical gear like everyone else. I saw him once at my father’s house, maybe like six months ago, and I only recognized him because he stared at me for a minute. I didn’t like the look in his eyes and ran.”
Vow of Justice Page 17