by Em Petrova
“Fine. I’ll help you. But like I said, we’re all screwed.”
He should feel good about her agreeing to give them information, so why did he feel they’d all just boarded a sinking ship?
They had fragile ties to untangle here. Somehow, they had to eliminate the hold the Bratva had on Ruby without getting her killed.
“What are they holding over your head?” Penn asked.
She barked a harsh laugh that tore at Gasper’s heartstrings. She pinned Penn in a look and then shifted it to Gasper.
“They have my father.”
Fuck. That was pretty strong leverage, and it rarely ended well. Actually, Gasper had never seen a case like this end well. Typically, the minute the mafia became aware that the Xtreme Ops was coming for their prisoner, they offed him.
“Tell us how that came about,” Penn said quietly.
“My father was stupid. He gambled and owed them. Isn’t that always what happens to idiots who get snatched by the mafia and held against their will? He isn’t a bright man—in fact, he’s weak. But I still have to keep him from dying, don’t I?”
Gasper noted the hitching breath she took and knew her tears weren’t far from the surface. “You’re doing what you know how to do, Ruby. Now tell us everything, starting with your real name, because we know you’re operating under an alias.”
She closed her eyes. “My middle name is Ruby, after my grandmother.”
That was in line with the intel they had.
“My given name is Elliana Ruby Rynizski. I don’t want to claim my father’s last name, considering what he did, and Ryan seemed close enough.”
Gasper caught her eyes and gave her an encouraging nod. Coaxing people to spill their stories was the worst part of the deal. Emotions and trauma ran high in these people. What he wouldn’t give to heal Ruby right now.
“Where is your father being held? Do you know?” Penn asked her.
“Russia. They beat him. Starve him. He’s ill, wasting away.”
“And they tell you this?”
“I see it with my own eyes.”
“How?”
“The bouncers show me a live feed on their phones.”
Hell, this was growing worse by the minute.
“If you know how to pay my father’s debts, they’ll free me from the agreement and return him to the United States.”
Gasper doubted it, and judging from Penn’s silence, he did too.
“Ruby, we’re going to do everything we can for your father. What you’ve told us helps. Now we know what’s at stake.”
“My father’s life!”
Gasper wanted to stand up and circle the table, take her in his arms and tell her it was all going to be okay, but he couldn’t do that. The words would be empty because they might not be able to save her father.
But they could save her.
“Keep talking, Ruby. What is going on in your restaurant?”
She chewed on her lip for a moment before the words started to spill out of her, tales of drugs being sold and shipments carried to Anchorage and farther to the lower forty-eight. With each word she spoke, Gasper saw some of the tension leave her body until she slumped in the chair, eyes red but no tears in sight.
“You did good, Ruby. Real good. Let’s get you back to your restaurant.”
Her head snapped up and she stared at Gasper with so much hope in her face that he knew she was still holding back with them and there was a lot more she wasn’t saying.
“I’m going back?”
He nodded. “Penn, call the trooper in to uncuff her. She’s coming with us.”
Chapter Eight
Salty night wind rushed through White Fog, bringing the brine of the sea. Gasper leaned against the wall of the truck stop, staring into space, his mind churning like the water he couldn’t see from here.
This mission felt even more tangled up than most. That bomber in the national forest and the people being killed by exploding packages seemed easy to solve compared to what was happening here.
But were they truly easier, or were they just easier to him? His feelings weren’t involved then.
He’d taken things too far with her. He never should have laid a hand on her, let alone his mouth. His gut tightened at the memory of her sweet juices drenching his tongue as he licked her to completion.
When two of his brothers emerged from the convenience store armed with energy drinks and enough snacks to tide them over for the night, he pulled away from the wall to join them. Though he tuned into their conversation, his mind was back at Ruby’s Place.
He and Penn had an in-depth discussion about whether or not to bug her with a listening device so they could detect what was going on with the Bratva and even get intel off those ugly bouncers. But in the end, the fact that the Russian mafia suspected everyone, even those who were loyal for years, had made them stop. Neither of them would put it past the bouncers to have apps on their phones that detected listening devices and hidden cameras.
So she was out there alone.
He and the guys crossed the parking lot and settled in the SUV. Some of the doors hung open and Broshears sat in the opening, sharpening the blade of his pocketknife.
Broshears cocked a brow at Winston. “You grab me my sunflower seeds?”
Winston reached into the bag he carried, found the seeds and tossed the bag to Broshears. He caught it out of the air and used his knife to slice into the bag.
Gasper leaned against the side of the SUV and gazed in the direction of Ruby’s Place. What was she doing right now? Those assholes Big Mike and Max—Gasper learned they were really Maxim and Mikhail and wanted for evading arrest in their motherland—knew Ruby had been arrested. Were they questioning her right now? Using force?
He must have made a noise because every member of his team turned to him.
“What’s goin’ on, Gasper?”
“I don’t like leaving her alone this long. I know the plan’s to return at twenty-one hundred, but…I don’t like it.”
Nobody spoke for a moment. He caught Shadow exchanging a knowing look with Lipton.
Edgy already, Gasper jerked away from the side of the vehicle and planted his feet wide as he stared at his buddies. “What are you givin’ each other that look for?”
Lipton’s lips quirked at the corner. “Calm down, dude. You may be the jack-of-all-trades, but you’ve never experienced a situation like this, have you?”
“No,” he almost growled.
“You’re feeling confused. Overprotective to the point where you’d like to go in that restaurant and kill for her.”
“Hell yeah!”
Shadow chuckled. “Man, you’re learning a new skill.”
He gaped at the special operative, waiting for him to expound on his statement. When he didn’t immediately speak, he burst out, “Well?”
“You’re learning what it is to care about a woman.”
He closed his eyes, counted to ten and slowly reopened them to find half a dozen men shooting him grins or outright laughing at him.
He scowled at them. “Dicks.”
They burst out in laughter. Gasper shook his head at their antics, which he’d also joined in on before when it came to the other team members falling in love.
Shit, was he? Falling in love? The strong word meant little to him, but if he dwelled on it, he only associated the emotion with seeing his mother’s smiling face as she revealed his cake for his tenth birthday or his father slinging an arm around him when he got a home run in little league.
And he loved the men he fought alongside. That brotherhood came with a lot of emotions, but what he was feeling now for Ruby was different.
He’d hated seeing her in those handcuffs, fear dimming the lights of her beautiful eyes.
“Fuck you guys,” he shot out, which earned him more laughter.
Finally, Penn spoke, and what he had to say ended their amusement. “I think Jack’s right—we go in, order some drinks. Keep an eye on the woman.”
; His muscles clenched. “I’m ready.”
“Man, you mean I don’t get to eat my cupcakes?” Winston pulled a package from his bag.
Penn snorted with a chuckle of his own. “Nobody’s stopping you from eating your cupcakes. Guys, I hope y’all have your singing voices tuned up, because we’re going into Ruby’s Place for karaoke.”
This time Gasper laughed. “She claims they don’t have karaoke, but we know Shadow’s already tuning up to sing Elvis.”
“I got the karaoke app on my phone.” Shadow wasn’t kidding.
They stowed their food and drinks inside the SUV, locked it up and took off walking in a group in the direction of the restaurant and bar. The wind flooded his nostrils with scent of the sea he’d grown used to during his time in Alaska. It was much different from his childhood home of Minnesota, where tree sap or the tang of crushed grass underfoot as he headed to the nearest lake for a spot of fishing flooded him with nostalgia.
Ruby had grown up here, though. This tiny speck on the map was her hometown. And it seemed most of the population lived under her roof.
Girls brought in by the mafia, they learned. Though she refused to say what happened to them after arrival, he could guess. He’d seen enough young girls trafficked to understand why she didn’t want to speak of it.
After they settled at their usual long table and had drinks in hand, delivered by yet another girl nobody had ever seen before, Shadow stood up and announced to the room it was karaoke night and he was first on the list with “Love Me Tender.”
As soon as he had the song up on his phone on high volume and hit his stride with the tune, Gasper spied the goon called Max striding toward the table.
He tensed. Penn was already dialed in to the bouncer.
When he got in Shadow’s face, Gasper, Penn and Lipton moved as one. Gasper got Max around the neck, dragging him backward as Penn swiped his feet out from under him. Lipton had his hands pinned behind his back before the waitress got a full scream of alarm out.
The few patrons in the restaurant watched with interest but made no move to help the bouncer as they bundled him out of the restaurant.
“Hey! What are you doing!” The thump of feet on stairs sounded as they passed by the staircase carrying Max outside.
Ruby rolled to a stop at the foot of the stairs, took in the situation and surged toward them. “What are you doing?”
“Please stay back. We don’t want you getting hurt.”
She sucked in a sharp breath at Gasper’s command. As they passed her carrying the man between them, a ruckus followed in the restaurant. By the sounds of it, Big Mike was riled by what they were doing to his friend, and the rest of the Xtreme Ops team had to put him in his place.
The Elvis tune cut short. Shit was going down with the other bouncer indoors.
Ruby issued a half scream of pure frustration and ran back inside.
Once they had the big man on the ground, with Lipton binding his hands with a zip-tie and Gasper’s knee in his chest to pin him to the sidewalk, Penn rifled through his pockets and got his phone.
Now to bypass the lock screen. This wasn’t their first rodeo, and Penn’s skills were honed. In seconds, he bypassed the security code and accessed the device.
Again, they hadn’t planned for this to happen, but the stars had aligned for them and put this man into their hands so they could see that app on his phone with the live footage of Ruby’s father.
Max’s chest vibrated with fury, and he spat a stream of curses tinged with his Russian accent.
Gasper glared down at the man. What harm had he done to Ruby? Did he grab her? Knock her around when she didn’t do his bidding?
He was close to spouting all those accusations, but he checked himself in time. Penn swiped his finger over the phone screen before pocketing it.
“It’s there?” Gasper asked.
“Yeah.” He drew out his own phone and called the state trooper who’d assisted them earlier with Ruby. Having other law enforcement on their side always made things operate more smoothly.
Inside, a crash sounded. Seconds later, a couple who’d been enjoying a drink ran out. They spotted the bouncer pinned to the sidewalk and hightailed it from the restaurant. The night swallowed them.
“You guys got control here?” Penn asked.
“Go!” Gasper responded.
While Penn rushed back into the building to see what was happening, Gasper focused on Max’s ugly face. He had the brow of a Neanderthal. His lips were thick and off-kilter too, like someone had smeared them across his face. And his beak of a nose had been broken more than once.
His chest heaved, and Gasper crushed his knee into his stomach deeper to hold him in place. The breath whooshed from him.
The door opened, casting a warm, gold glow over the sidewalk. The light crept toward where they had Max pinned, but it didn’t illuminate them. The footsteps coming toward them didn’t belong to any of the Xtreme Ops members.
Gasper glanced up to see Ruby. She balled her fists at her sides.
“Let him up!”
Gasper wished he could see her better to make out if she was playacting her outrage or she really was pissed that they’d thrown her bouncer out and turned the tables on him.
He wished they could just reach the root of the evil in residence here, but they just had to bide their time and wait for the men to come with another shipment of drugs, girls or both.
Then the mission would come to an end…and he wouldn’t see Ruby again.
That didn’t have to happen, he thought. He could stay in touch. Visit.
And what? Take her to bed and leave her with empty promises?
He swung his head to look away from her. “Ruby, go into the kitchen and wait for me.”
He could almost hear her grinding her teeth. “Why should I obey you!”
“Go. Back. In. Please.”
“Ugh!” She whipped around and stalked into the building.
Minutes later the state trooper who’d been waiting on standby showed up on the scene. The trooper arrested him for endangering the same minor Ruby had been arrested for earlier and he read him his rights. With the trooper’s help, they bundled Max into the back of the car.
Gasper watched them drive off. Scraping a hand over his face, he muttered, “Fuck.”
“Is that ‘fuck, Ruby’s pissed at me?’”
He dropped his head. “Hell yeah.”
Lipton rested a hand on his shoulder. “Been there, brother. Go to her and I’ll finish what the other guys started.”
Gasper fisted his hands and a half-dozen knuckles popped. When he was old, he’d be so arthritic from his line of work.
As soon as he walked in, he saw Big Mike was nowhere to be seen. Had he already caught wind that his crony had been arrested and carted off to jail?
Penn waved Gasper over with barely a glance away from Max’s confiscated phone. Damn. Ruby would have to wait.
He veered toward his captain. “What’d you find?”
He held out the phone to show him the man on the screen. Surrounded by the grungy gray walls of his prison cell, he lay curled on the bed, so still.
“Is he dead or sleeping?” he asked in a hushed voice.
“Dunno, but look close at his hand.” Penn swiped a finger over the screen to zoom in on the twisted, broken digits. Something thin and white gleamed, and Gasper’s stomach knotted.
“The bone’s sticking out of the flesh.”
Penn gave him a grave nod. “As soon as Broshears is done there”—he jerked his jaw toward the rest of the team who were back at the karaoke as a cover for their actions—“I’ll set him to work tracing the feed. We need to find out where it’s coming from.”
Gasper nodded. “Ruby said Russia, but see that?” He pointed to the screen and the time stamp in the corner. Below it was a series of digits the Xtreme Ops team knew well.
The coordinates for Anchorage.
“Good catch, Jack. I didn’t notice that. Guess we’l
l be sending half the team to Anchorage.”
Gasper gave a nod. “Looks like operation find-the-father will soon be wrapped up. Next on the list: save the girls.”
But first, another woman needed his attention.
Ruby heard Elias’s heavy footsteps before she saw him. He appeared in the opening, huge and powerful and just about the only human she wanted to see right now, aside from her father.
When he set eyes on her, relief passed over his face. He took two steps into the kitchen, and she ran the rest of the distance. As soon as his strong arms enveloped her, she closed her eyes and drank in his manly scent.
“Why is this the only place I’ve felt safe in the past year?” She didn’t mean to blurt it, but when Elias’s arms tightened around her, she couldn’t regret it. It felt too good.
He buried his face into her hair. “It means so much that you trust me, Ruby. Even after what I did today.”
She shoved against his chest. “That’s right! You disrupted my place of business. That B&B owner is always looking for a reason to bring the cops into my bar. Then! You got me arrested.”
“And out of jail too.” His lips tugged upward as he pulled her back into his arms.
She settled in his hold and took a moment to ground herself. She was alive. So was her father, for now. The girls were still all upstairs and unharmed. And now she had the backup of Elias and his men. Even though one bouncer was in jail and the other pissed off beyond measure.
“You claim you’re special ops, but you have Navy tattoos.”
“I can’t explain yet. But I will, I promise.”
She nodded, rubbing her cheek on his soft shirt. Underneath it, she felt a harder layer and realized he wore a bulletproof vest.
“Where have you guys been staying?” she asked.
“Around.”
She couldn’t think of any place in White Fog besides the B&B down the street. For years, the owner had nothing but bad things to say about Ruby’s Place. Every man who hit his front steps became a suspect in his eyes, and she couldn’t imagine he welcomed the special operatives into his establishment.
They must be sleeping in their vehicle. The thought of so many huge men piled on the seats like sleeping dogs made her shake her head.