Chapter 39
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Kyle pulled up behind Ivan Asimov’s Cadillac SUV parked on the side of Stokes Road. Five feet in front of the Caddy was a rutted dirt road with a sign so faded it was illegible. Behind him, Jack and three state police vehicles also pulled over, waiting for instructions.
“Got it.” Deke ended the call he’d been having with their boss. “Yuri’s phone pinged five minutes ago. He’s within a hundred-yard radius of this location. Rural areas are harder to pinpoint under a mile, so they can’t nail it down any closer than that.”
Kyle jumped from the Explorer, watching a small plane bank right and descend, as if it were in a landing pattern. He’d been waiting for Jack to get with an intel specialist as to why Yuri had chosen this location. Now it was obvious.
“Let me guess,” he said, when Jack jogged over, “there’s an airstrip in there.” He nodded to the tree line beyond Asimov’s car.
“Exactly.” Jack nodded. “Used to be a small commercial airport. It’s been abandoned for over twenty years.
Occasionally, someone comes in and clears the field enough to make it serviceable to pilots willing to take a chance.
The only buildings still standing are an old house and the original hangar. ”
“Ideally, we’d go in on foot and take him by surprise.
” The plane banked again, descending more.
“We can’t wait. If Yuri gets her on a private plane, all the pilot has to do is turn off the transponder and stay out of controlled airspace.
It’ll be a lot harder to track them.” Sick thoughts nearly drove him insane.
Victoria was at Yuri’s mercy. He imagined the worst and saw red––blood red––Yuri’s, as he killed him once and for all.
When this was over, one or both of them would be dead.
“Follow me,” he said over his shoulder as he hopped back into the Explorer.
The second Deke hauled himself into the passenger seat, Kyle gunned the SUV down the dirt road. He would gladly give up his life to save Victoria and their baby, but first he had to find them.
“You good, bro?” Deke asked, grabbing onto the oh-shit handle as the SUV dipped and rolled on the deeply rutted road.
“As good as I can be.” He was inadequately rested by most people’s standards, but he’d been on military missions going days on end without sleep. At this point, he was running on pure adrenaline.
He pushed the Explorer as fast as he could without bottoming out and stranding them.
Ahead, there was still nothing but pine trees.
They’d lost sight of the airplane, which only made him press down harder on the accelerator.
He was still shell-shocked that she would have disappeared without telling him about the baby.
That didn’t stop him from wanting her with every breath he took.
The road curved left, then right, then left again. Finally, sunlight broke through the trees. Up ahead, a small plane glided ten feet over the runway perpendicular to them, forcing Kyle and everyone behind him to hit the brakes or hit the plane. A lone figure stood at the end of the runway.
Yuri. He recognized that arrogant stance.
“Hang on!” He slammed his foot down on the gas, driving straight up the embankment onto the runway, then cranked the wheel hard right and punched it.
The runway was in far better shape than the uneven, rocky road they’d driven in on, but it had to be close to three thousand feet long. With the accelerator jammed to the floorboard, they quickly gained on the plane.
“Get on the radio. Tell Jack to have everyone block the runway behind us, and keep an eye out for Asimov.” There was no telling where Lebedev’s man was hiding, and he didn’t want to find out the hard way they’d been set up.
“You got it.” Deke grabbed the mic from the console and relayed the order.
Between his and Jack’s SUVs plus three state police vehicles, they could easily prevent the pilot from taking off again.
Pine trees blurred as they raced down the runway.
The old house intel had identified in aerial imagery came into view.
A car was parked off to the side of the house.
This part of the runway was covered with puddles from the recent rain.
A large, unavoidable one loomed five hundred feet ahead.
Not easing off the accelerator, he flew through it.
Water and mud splashed onto the hood and windshield, momentarily obscuring his vision.
Kyle flipped on the wipers. When the glass had cleared enough to see again, the sight before them had his heart climbing right out of his throat.
Victoria!
She raced from the bottom of the stairs. When Yuri spun and took off after her, Kyle choked down a moment of sheer panic.
Five hundred feet to go. The pilot had already reached the end of the runway and was turning the plane in a slow one-eighty, readying to take off again.
Yuri tackled Victoria to the ground. She hit the dirt hard. He straddled her back, gripping her wrists as he rolled her over and yanked her to her feet.
Sonofabitch.
Kyle slammed on the brakes close enough to the plane to see the pilot’s eyes widen as he caught sight of the police cavalry now blocking his takeoff route.
The second he had the SUV in park, he flung open the door and pulled his Glock.
Yuri’s mouth worked as he shouted at Victoria, but Kyle couldn’t make out the words. The plane’s propeller still spun, the sound loud enough that he could barely hear anything else.
“Kyle,” Deke shouted loud enough to hear. “Get behind cover!”
Ignoring Deke, he kept going but couldn’t get a clean shot while on the move.
He understood his brother’s warning. With no cover, he was a sitting duck if Yuri decided to shoot it out like the Wild West. That, and he was between his brothers, the state troopers, and Yuri. They’d have a hard time taking Yuri out without accidentally drilling him in the back.
The moment the pilot cut the engine, Yuri pulled a gun from his belt, holding it to the side of Victoria’s head. She clawed at his arm wrapped around her chest. Bruises bloomed on her cheek bone, and blood streamed from a fresh cut on her lip and one of her wrists.
Kyle ground his jaw, enraged that Yuri had done this to her. If he’d done anything else to her…
His stomach churned at the thought Yuri had touched her.
Yuri’s mouth curved into a snarl as he caught sight of Kyle. “Come closer, and she dies.” He yanked her to his chest, jamming the gun’s muzzle against her temple and using her body as a shield.
A horrific image flashed before his eyes, hurling him back in time to the bank robbery. The little girl in the pink ballerina dress.
The only thing separating Victoria from sudden death was the trigger finger of a madman. Any wrong move and Yuri would kill her. By accident or intentionally.
“All of you, stay the fuck back!” He tightened his hold around Victoria’s waist.
Kyle didn’t have to look behind him to know his brothers and the state troopers were backing him up, guns drawn and ready to fire, if given the opportunity.
The door of the plane swung open. A middle-age man with a shock of spiky gray hair poked his head out, extending his arms in question. “What’s going on here?”
“FBI!” He refocused on the gun at Victoria’s temple. Preventing Yuri from taking off with her was paramount. “Get out of the plane, lie down on the ground, and interlock your hands behind your head. Do it now!”
“Shit. Okay, okay.” The pilot stepped from the plane and lowered to his knees.
“Get back in the plane!” Yuri started edging toward where the pilot was busy planting himself fully on the ground. “I paid you good money, now get back in the fucking plane!”
The pilot shook his head. “Hey, man, I did not sign up for this.”
“Gates, if you don’t let me on that plane she dies right here.”
If he let Yuri take off with her, she’d still die. Eventually. The only chance of getting her out of this alive was to keep Yuri on the ground, but he still didn’t have a clear shot without risking Victoria’s life. Yuri was smart enough and tactical enough not to take the gun away from her head.
“Let her go, Yuri.” His calm voice sounded completely at odds with the adrenaline coursing through his system.
“She never did anything to hurt you. I did. Take me instead. But let her go.” For the first time in years, he wasn’t risking his life out of guilt.
He was risking it to save Victoria and their baby.
His steady voice masked the blood-curdling fear eating him up inside.
“Killing her won’t get you anything,” he said, moving steadily closer.
“It’s me you want. I lied to you, humiliated you, and threw your worthless ass in jail.
Now’s your chance to get back at me.” Yuri’s ego should have a difficult time ignoring that invitation.
“That’s right, Gates. I do want to get back at you, and what better way to accomplish that than by taking my woman back?”
“Taking her won’t change anything between us,” he said, continuing to inch closer. “You’ll still have to live with the fact that it was me who brought you down.”
“You’re wrong about that.” Yuri chuckled. “This time, it will be me on top. I will win this time. You have nothing I want. I have something you want.”
Kyle was close enough to see Yuri’s lecherous gaze dip to Victoria’s head.
“She’s coming with me, and so is your bastard child.”
Fear. Rage. Hopelessness…emotions with no outlet that didn’t end in death. The death of his family. Again.
He said the only thing he could, because it was the absolute truth. “There’s no place on earth you can hide and nowhere you can go that I won’t find you. You’ll never be free. Not as long as I’m alive.”
He let his words hang there, hoping and praying harder than he’d ever done in his life that Yuri would take the bait and turn the gun on him. Once he did, he’d shoot him between the eyes.
But Yuri knew better. His time in the Gulag and on the streets as a Russian gangster had taught him well.
Victoria was the only thing standing between him and certain death.
Kyle had to get the gun away from her head.
It was a basic rule in any hostage situation.
His best chance was to keep messing with Yuri’s ego. Hit him where it hurt.
“Any man in your position should want to kill me, considering how your wife is carrying my child.”
Yuri’s eyes narrowed to slits.
“You didn’t have it in you, did you? You couldn’t even sire an heir to your own pathetic legacy. Don’t you want to kill me for doing what you couldn’t?”
Kyle waited for a sign his mind-fuck was working. Dammit. It wasn’t. Somehow, in the last decade, Yuri had found a way to tamp down his uncontrollable rage.
They were at a standoff. No way would he ever let Yuri take off with Victoria in that airplane, and Yuri would never let her go.
“Victoria!” he shouted, locking gazes with hers. “You’re not alone. I won’t leave you here. I promise.”
And he meant it. Even if it was only to die with her.