19. Nikita #3
“She’s right,” Cindy says, stepping away from Sasha, who doesn’t look all that thrilled about it, so she can walk over to them.
“This family saved me that night. That drink was meant for Sav, and Sasha and his family saved me from a nightmare that I don’t even want to think about.
They’re not bad people. I swear to you, they’re not.
” She looks at me before facing Grace and Phil again.
“Niki loves Sav, and he would do anything for her. He’s going to find her.
He can do it faster than the police ever could. ”
“Then why aren’t you getting her?” Phil asks. “Why are we all just standing around?”
It’s a fair question. “I need your help,” I tell him. “That’s why you’re here. I know who Cupid is, but I don’t know where he is. He’s sent me a link so I can see her, but there’s no way for me to track it.”
“You can see her?” Grace asks, instantly perking up.
When I nod, she stands up. “Show me. I want to see her.”
The look on her face is one that only a mother could wear.
The pure, unwavering determination radiating off of her isn’t even slightly affected by her slight stature.
Right now, she’s a force to be reckoned with, and I can either show her the video feed or find myself on my ass with her foot on my throat.
I opt for the less violent choice and after making sure Savanna is still okay, I slowly turn my laptop around so they can see their daughter.
“Oh my god,” Grace says before falling to her knees in front of the screen. She reaches out, and my first instinct is to pull back, but I fight it and let her touch my screen.
I can’t resist saying, “Please don’t press any keys,” because it’s too important and instincts run deep.
“Is she handcuffed?” Phil asks, and the horror in his voice is exactly what we’d all thought when we’d seen it. I don’t fill them in on what they’ve missed. They don’t need to know about the other girl. For their sakes, I hope they never find out.
“She is,” I say, “but she’s okay, and we’re going to find her.”
“How?” Phil asks, looking up at me briefly before putting his eyes back on his daughter. “You said you needed my help, but what can I do?”
“I need you to systematically shut off power to the city,” I tell him.
He looks at the image of his daughter, and it doesn’t take him long to piece it all together. When his eyes meet mine again, I see a flash of the dimple he passed down to Savanna as excitement lights up his eyes. “When her light goes out, you can narrow down her location.”
I nod and ask, “Will you help us?”
We all wait for his answer. I may not know Phil all that well, but I know him well enough to not be surprised when he quickly nods and says, “Of course I’ll help.”
I let out a relieved breath and stand, motioning for him to follow me over to the kitchen island that’s covered in equipment. I set my laptop back where it was and then show him the monitor with the sections mapped out.
“I’ll have to go into work to do it,” he says, “but I can tell them I need to run a quick diagnostic test.” He points towards a section that covers the upper north side of the city.
“I’ll tell them I’ve noticed irregular load fluctuation in this area, feeder twelve.
It’ll go on record, but that’s not a problem.
This isn’t uncommon. I’ll only be able to isolate each section for about twenty seconds, so make sure your eyes are on that screen the whole time. ”
“They will be,” I tell him.
“Okay,” he thinks for a second while staring at the map and then says, “I think the best way to do it is to start with feeder one and work my way around.”
I follow the movement of his finger. We’re in feeder three, and the pattern circles out and around us, so the bigger the number, the farther away it is.
“When can you do it?” I ask him. Glancing back at the screen, I try not to think about all this hinging on Cupid keeping the feed going.
“I can go in now,” Phil says while my Uncle Vitaly grins and gently smacks him on the back.
“Welcome to the family,” he says, making Phil give him a startled look.
Fixing his glasses, Phil looks over at my uncle and even though I know he must feel a little intimidated, he meets my uncle’s eyes and says, “I’ll do whatever it takes to get my daughter back.”
My uncle’s always been an exuberant kind of guy, so it’s no surprise to anyone when Vitaly wraps him in a side hug and says, “Hang in there, Phil, and don’t worry, we won’t make you kill anyone on your first assignment.”
“He’s kidding,” I quickly say, seeing the color drain from Phil’s face. “This is just you going in and running a test, same as I’m sure you’ve done hundreds of times before. We’ll take care of the rest.”
Phil turns to me. “What will you do?”
I give him the same answer. “Whatever it takes to get her back.” When he seems relieved by my answer instead of horrified, I add, “And then I’m marrying your daughter.”
“Bring her back safely and you have my blessing,” he says.
Grace joins us and says, “You have mine, too. I could see how much Sav loves you when she brought you to supper. I’ve never seen my daughter look at anyone like the way she looks at you.”
She surprises me by giving me a hug. “Do whatever you need to do to get her back, Niki.”
“I will,” I promise her.
Letting me go, she gives her husband a hug and tells him to be careful before my mom coaxes her and Cindy to join everyone upstairs.
She knows we need to focus, and it’ll be best if Grace isn’t here.
If Cupid shows back up, her mom won’t take it well, and worrying about that is the last thing I need.
Sasha leaves to walk them upstairs, and as soon as the door shuts, we hash out a plan.
The sun hasn’t risen yet, so the night crew will still be on duty, but Phil doesn’t seem worried about the other men in the control room.
He’s treating it as a routine test, and that’s exactly what we need him to do.
I put myself in his contacts so he can text me what he’s doing, and soon he’s walking out the door with Ev and Vitya.
They’re going to escort him to and from his work since it’s best Ev doesn’t come along for the rescue, and Sveta’s husband usually stays more on the sidelines anyway.
I swear it’s because my Uncle Vitaly wants to protect him since he’s married to his daughter, but he’ll never admit it.
After they leave, I sit down and get ready.
Savanna wakes after a few minutes, letting out a pained groan when she tries to move and realizes she’s still in the hell she was hoping was a nightmare.
I watch her wiggle her hands, trying to get the circulation back while she rolls her neck, wincing at how sore it is.
“Just a little bit longer, Van,” I whisper. “Stay strong for just a little bit longer.”
She sighs and stretches her legs out. There’s no getting comfortable when you’re chained to a bed, so she doesn’t waste her energy trying.
She slumps down and just accepts the fact that she’s going to be miserable.
I swear to myself that as soon as I get her out of there, I’m spoiling her for the rest of our lives.
This woman will never know a single discomfort ever again.
My dad checks his watch. “You ready? He should be walking into the building soon.”
I double-check that everything is now on battery and nod.
“I’m ready,” I say, and the words are barely out of my mouth before I get a text from Ev, letting me know Phil’s just been dropped off. “He’s there.”
I feel the excitement and tension in the room. Everyone is exhausted and running on adrenaline, and we’re all more than ready to find her and put an end to Cupid once and for all. My leg bounces as I tap my foot against the barstool, too antsy to sit still.
I grab my phone as soon as it buzzes. “He’s about to do feeder one,” I tell them.
Everyone stands behind me, all eyes on the screen, waiting to see if the light goes out. I get the text that it’s done, but the lightbulb stays on.
ME:
Not it.
Less than a minute later I get a new text.
PHIL:
Feeder 2 in 5 seconds.
I watch the screen, my body tense with worry and hope, and when the light doesn’t even flicker, I tell him that’s not it either.
PHIL:
Feeder 3 in 5 seconds.
The electricity goes out around us, plunging everything in darkness.
The quiet feels impossibly loud. The couple of seconds it takes for my hotspot to kick in and restore the connection feels like a lifetime.
My screen stays black, but I know it’s on because Savanna’s terrified scream fills the room we’re in.
I’m not surprised that Cupid’s camera has a backup battery, and for once I’m grateful for his planning so I don’t lose this connection to her.
“Van, just a couple seconds more, baby,” I say while I text her dad to say we’ve got it. My heart breaks at the fear in her voice when she screams my name. “Goddammit,” I yell, so sick and tired of not being able to do anything.
The lights click back on as I’m pulling up schematics of zone 3. I glance at my laptop, making sure Savanna is okay. She’s huddled up in as tight of a ball as she can manage, head buried in her arms and crying loud enough for me to hear.
“Let’s find the basements,” my dad says, gently pulling my attention away from the thing that’s slowly killing me. “We’re close, Niki.”
I use the big monitor and replace the zone images with an even more detailed, zoomed-in one of the residential and commercial buildings in this area.
It’s only a few blocks, but there are a ton of buildings crammed into each zone and narrowing it down is still going to take longer than I want it to.
Pulling up all the property and building records, I immediately discard the skyscrapers, luxury condos, and major commercial properties.
Those will all be too heavily monitored and busy.
Cupid needs privacy, so I focus on older brownstones, warehouses, anything with a documented cellar space.
Soon, I have a list of twelve possible locations.
Switching to a satellite map, I point out the addresses to the others.
“This can’t be it,” Damien says, pointing to a building that’s located in between two businesses. One’s a take-out Chinese place that’s always busy, and the other is a coffee shop that stays open late. “Look at the security cameras.”
We all see the cameras that both businesses have. It’s a stupid location to pick, and Cupid’s not dumb. I cross it off the list and pull up the next one. We work our way through each property until we have three left. Each one could work, and I know in my gut that Savanna is in one of them.
“I’ll take the first,” my dad says, while I search for the owner of the second one.
After a few minutes of typing, he says, “One’s out. It’s a guy who owns several properties around the city. He guts them and then resells them.”
I read through the records on my screen while I say, “Check three just to be sure, but I’m pretty sure I’ve got it. The second one is owned by an LLC. It was bought five years ago, and the age of the building fits what we’re seeing on the video.”
While my dad searches the third one, I bring up the second address again.
It’s the perfect spot. There’s a chainlink fence surrounding the small property with a padlock on it.
It looks rundown, but not so decrepit it draws attention.
It’s the kind of place you’d walk past and forget about as soon as it was no longer in view.
It’s the perfect place to hide someone, and knowing the woman I love is chained up there has me getting up and grabbing my gun.
My dad pulls up the CCTV cameras on that street, and I’m not surprised to find there’s a huge blindspot along the back of the building.
“Well, that’s our entry point,” my Uncle Lev says. “That makes it nice and easy.”
While they discuss strategy, I zero in on the figure I see walking down the street. He’s wearing a baseball cap that’s pulled low, and he’s careful to keep his face angled away from each camera he passes.
“That’s him,” I say before darting my eyes to Savanna. She has no idea he’s walking towards her right now, no idea that fucking monster is going to be walking into her room in just a few minutes.
“Niki,” my dad starts to say when I grab my laptop and head for the door.
“Well, fuck,” I hear my Uncle Vitaly say from behind me. “Okay, family road trip. Let’s go kill this guy.”
Before I open the door, I look back at my family.
“No one touches Cupid but me.”
I don’t wait for them to agree. They all know this fucker is mine. He put his hands on Savanna, and I’m going to be the one to kill him for it.