Chapter 22
Alexsey
“I need a sweeper and follow me!” I instructed Mario who was driving. “And find Thomas and tell him he’s fucking fired.”
“What? What happened?”
“He was assigned to protect Ms. O’Leary. He failed. Her child was taken.”
“Ah, shit.”
Time was of the essence, a child’s life was at stake.
“A sweeper,” he repeated, trying to keep up with me as I stormed toward the car.
“Yeah. And call Mikhail. Tell him to have the resorts swept as well. I have no doubt we have people listening in on our conversations.” Several years before, we’d stopped bothering to use a method of detecting listening devices once so prevalent in our worlds.
They were heavily used by law enforcement when my father and uncle had moved their families to the United States.
Through the years, we’d become smarter than law enforcement, carrying on our less legitimate operations far removed from anywhere they had access to.
Over time, we’d realized the practice was cumbersome and not needed.
And not only because we owned half the police force, but also because the practice of doing business was often handled through emails and offshore banking handled on secure servers.
What we’d learned only a few years before was that basic old-fashioned surveillance tactics were back in fashion. But this time used by syndicates spying on the opposition. Along with most syndicates employing at least one hacker, bugs were often planted in hopes of learning future plans.
It would seem we’d gotten careless, far too complacent in how we handled business. I could just imagine our father’s reaction.
Bottom line. I’d been stupid enough not to sweep the car, thinking that since it had been in the shop, there was no need.
“Mario. Follow Ms. O’Leary. Don’t allow her to follow me.”
“I’ll do my best,” Mario said.
He barely acknowledged before I jumped into the car, revving the engine, and jerking out of the parking space.
At times, it was damn good to have the police in my family’s deep pockets.
Today was one of them. With one phone call, they’d coordinated blocking off certain areas surrounding Emily’s school, forcing traffic to two different routes.
Not only did that create a massive traffic jam, it also allowed me a choice of which roads to use.
In addition, the police had called out one of the helicopters, which was in the air by the time I made it close to the school.
In speeds in excess of ninety miles per hour. I’d been forced to make the damn call standing outside the office building, fearful I was right that there was a tracker located somewhere. That had cost me precious time. But I made that up quickly, driving recklessly in trying to get there.
There was no time to find out if Halle was okay. I had a short window to try to get Emily back. This would take a precision effort and given the number of places to hide, I didn’t have confidence I’d find the black sedan. If needed I would burn the city to the ground to find the precious girl.
I made a sharp turn, my phone ringing. “Yes?”
“We have the vehicle in sight two miles northwest of the school. Do not approach.” The officer was one I’d worked with before. Which meant he should know better than to try to tell me to stand down.
“Not a chance.” Just like the woman who drove me crazy had done, I ended the call, tossing my phone onto the passenger seat. And I pressed down on the accelerator, weaving in and out of traffic.
I’d always been a man of purpose, but usually my thoughts, anger, and personal determination had either been selfish in nature or all about my family.
While Halle and Emily should mean nothing to me in comparison, I’d never felt such fury at someone trying to destroy anything having to do with my life.
They were both innocents in a world full of criminals and assholes.
Maybe I should include myself in the generalization.
With both hands white knuckled around the steering wheel, I sped through the streets, relying on my expertise in driving my Porsche. My driving wasn’t simply reckless; the way I was taking turns, driving straight into oncoming traffic was dangerous. But nothing would stop me.
My phone rang twice, but I ignored the calls, concentrating on scanning the various vehicles.
Less than a minute later, I caught sight of the dark sedan. The driver had obviously figured out they were being chased, doing everything he or she could to try to reach the interstate. If the fucker reached I-15, there was more than a good chance of losing them.
Police were everywhere, but so far, none in actual pursuit.
The driver sensed I was following them, making a sudden turn. I was forced to swerve to make a hard right just in front of a truck. Horns honked. Tires squealed. Thankfully, no one crashed.
I pushed down hard on the accelerator, continually glancing from the side mirrors to the rearview and I’d be damned if I didn’t notice a small car that looked suspiciously like Halle’s. She would not try to follow the abductor. Would she?
With a quick glance at my phone, I realized Thomas had tried to call. No doubt to tell me somehow the woman he’d been assigned to follow had given him the slip. She was far too talented for her own good. I’d deal with him later.
Oh, fuck. I knew the answer. She was driving even more recklessly, certainly not equipped for these conditions. But I had to give her credit, she was able to keep up.
Damn it. I would need to control that woman. At some point, she would listen to me.
I sped up, realizing the best thing I could do was to cut them off. To avoid the majority of traffic, the driver had wisely chosen a few side streets that took them away from the more populated areas.
Yet in doing so, their change in plans allowed me a better chance of stopping them from getting on the onramp. I sped up, now pushing one hundred and twenty miles per hour. At least I was catching up to them.
Finally, the fucker was barely two car lengths ahead. Now, with no other vehicles in sight, I made another hard push. The last thing I wanted to do was to put Emily in harm’s way, so the only chance I had was to slow down the driver. I realized there were two people in the car.
A man and a woman. Classic kidnapping attempt. The driver and the female luring in the child with some convenient story.
The driver blasted through a stop sign. So did I, narrowly missing a truck who almost T-boned me. With a quick look in the rearview mirror, I took a deep breath. Halle had skidded to a stop.
“Fuck. Fuck!” I slammed my hand onto the steering wheel, suddenly catching sight of a black and white.
As soon as I raced by at an excessive speed, I could tell by looking in the side mirror the police officer was about to be in pursuit.
Time was running out. An interstate entrance was two miles down the road.
One thing I’d been blessed with in my life was a father who’d insisted that his sons and even his daughter were trained in skills both he and my uncle had learned on the streets of Moscow.
While many were illegal, including how to crack a safe, others were lifesaving from martial arts to defensive driving.
It didn’t hurt that I’d fallen in love with speed at an early age.
I fell into a zone as I always did in circumstances where a single mistake could cost me my life or that of people I cared about. There were no sounds, no other distractions as I concentrated on my task.
Finally, time seemed to stand still, the surrounding buildings and signs fading into a blur. There was only me and the car ahead.
Until I managed to pull in front, purposely slowing down. With my driving skills, even though the driver tried his best to weave from one side to the other to try to zoom past, they failed.
As soon as I’d jerked to a halt, I was out of the Porsche with my Glock in both hands, taking long strides toward the car.
Yes, I knew that using excessive force including killing both the man and woman wasn’t a good idea for several reasons.
I couldn’t care less about going to jail at this point, but I was fearful not only for Emily’s safety and her mother’s, but the trauma seeing me kill someone would do.
I managed to throw open the door, yanking out the man. Before he had a chance to even lift his weapon, I issued a brutal punch that knocked him out cold. With a quick snap of my hand, I grabbed his weapon, pocketing it. Then I jumped over the hood to the passenger door.
“Stay back!” the woman screamed.
Snapping my head in her direction, I noticed she was struggling to release the seatbelt she’d thankfully placed around Emily.
“Get away from her or I’ll blow your head off,” I said so only she could hear.
“You won’t do that, or I’ll hurt the child.”
I yanked her away, tossing her against the car. The gun was pointed at her, but Emily was unable to see.
“Hey, little princess. How are you doing back there?” I asked, leaning over and offering Emily the biggest smile in the world. While her little eyes were open wide and I sensed she was finally cluing into the danger surrounding her, she was still calm.
“Mister Boyfriend. I wanna go home.”
“I know you do, honey. Mommy is on her way. She just got caught up in something at work and I couldn’t get here fast enough.”
“How touching,” the woman said under her breath.
I offered a look that told her in no uncertain circumstances to shut the fuck up.
“Yay!” Emily clapped her hands, but she was searching, trying to figure out what was going on.
“Just hold on, baby girl, and we’ll get you out. Maybe some ice cream later. Okay?”
“They won’t stop,” the woman said.
“Yeah? Who are they?”
She laughed and I dragged her further away, slamming her back against the car. From this vantage point, I could tell if the asshole dared move from his comatose position. If so, I’d put a bullet in him.
“For me to know. They won’t want me telling you.”
“Papadakis?”
She didn’t even flinch.
Sirens sounded from all directions and another squeal of tires coming from behind pounded in my ears.
With another quick glance into the back seat, I was able to breathe a full sigh of relief.
While now there were tears in Emily’s eyes, her little arms reaching out to me, I couldn’t detect any sign of injury. She’d obviously heard the sirens since they were getting closer.
The woman laughed, acting as if this was all a game.
Halle was out of the car in seconds, racing toward us. When she saw me and what I was doing, her eyes opened wide. Then she noticed the woman I had locked in a hold.
“Emily! Emily!” The tone of Halle’s voice drove a knife straight into me. “I could kill you,” she gritted out toward the unknown assailant.
“Let go of me,” the woman snapped. “You can’t win this.”
“You make it sound like a war.”
“Perhaps it is.”
My anger was now off the charts and I wasn’t interested in toying with her any longer.
Yanking her around to face the sedan, I wrapped my arm around her neck.
Then I jerked her as far away from the car as possible.
The last thing I wanted was to traumatize the sweet little girl more than she’d been.
“What did you think you were doing?” I barked in her ear.
“What I was paid very well to do.”
“Then you’ll need to tell me by whom.” I patted her down, searching for any identification. As before, there was none.
“Oh, my baby. Oh, sweet girl.” Halle struggled but finally managed to free her daughter, gathering Emily into her arms. She almost tumbled backwards as she tried to get as far away from the vehicle as possible. Even turning away to protect her daughter even more.
But before she did, the beautiful fighter locked eyes with mine, hers filling with tears. As she mouthed a thank you, three black and whites rolled up to the scene.
“Now, you have about thirty seconds before the police arrive. After that, I can’t help you. Who the fuck hired you?” I growled into the woman’s ear. I had maybe a minute before all hell broke loose. I yanked her further away, trying to shield her from Emily’s view.
She coughed, fighting with me and given her strength and the fact she almost managed to break free from my hold, I’d say she’d had some training.
Yet I was far too strong for her.
“Talk to me or I will kill you.” I pressed the barrel of the weapon against her temple.
“No, you won’t,” she hissed. “Even you won’t be able to fight a murder charge. Plus, that’s not who you are any longer.” Her laugh pissed me off and while I’d never killed a woman before, even though I’d faced female enemies over the years, I couldn’t lie that it was tempting.
“Far too many people underestimate my influence.”
“Then go ahead and pull the trigger. I’m no one.”
“That’s right. You aren’t.”