Chapter 35
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
MIA
“DEMITRI!” I scream his name. I know he’s here. He has to hear me.
“Mia!” Aunt Linda grabs my shoulders, and I swear it looks like she might slap me. “Honey, pull yourself together. They are going to get him out.”
“He has to be okay,” I whisper, my eyes tearing up.
“You did your part. You thought ahead. You found a way for him to carry something that could track him and no one would think twice about it.”
“I just wanted to keep him safe. And I couldn’t.”
“This isn’t on you. None of this is on you. Oh, my sweet, darling girl.”
She pulls me into a hug, holding me like a mother holds a child, and I melt into her arms. I haven’t had a mother’s hug or love in so many years.
“Tell me he’s going to be okay,” I beg her. “Lie to me if you have to. Please.”
“He’s strong. Been through more shit than both of us can imagine. If anyone can survive, it’s him.”
“I said lie to me, Linda.”
She chuckles. “That’s Aunt Linda to you, young lady. And he’s going to be fine.”
Neither of us truly believe it, but the alternative? A world without Demitri? Unthinkable.
“I’m sorry, malenkyi . I didn’t know this was the plan,” Sasha quietly tells me, staring at the building we’ve all gathered in front of.
Aiden found me at the bar, passed out against the wall outside my office. The back door was standing wide open. I was groggy but not hurt.
“I really want to trust you, Sasha. I do. But you were the last one that came in that door, and then this happened?”
“Mia,” Aunt Linda admonishes me.
“No, moya lyubov , I deserve her judgement. She’s right. I was the last one in, and I’m the least trustworthy here. All I can do is hope she believes me when I tell her I didn’t do this.”
“Then save him,” I tell him. “Go in there and get him for me.”
“Not a chance in hell.” Mary, the DEA agent, appears at my side. “It’s time to let us do our jobs. Never thought in a million years this is what we’d finally get Andrey Novikov on.”
“Kill him if you have to. I’d be alright with that,” I tell her.
She grins but shakes her head. “Sorry. No can do. We follow the book on this one. We will only shoot to kill if necessary.”
“Can you shoot him in the shin at least? I mean, that would hurt really bad, right?”
“As someone who’s been shot, I don’t know that I’d even want that for my worst enemy.” Grady purses his lips. “Yeah, okay, maybe one in the shin would be alright.”
I know what they’re doing. Distracting me with their morbidly dark humor. Which I am trying to appreciate. But it’s too hard knowing that they have Demitri.
I watch the agents Mary brought with her surround the building, an old two-story building on the outskirts of town. I think it used to be some kind of factory but couldn’t honestly tell you. It’s been empty and falling down since I’ve been here.
Mary has kept our crowd far enough away so we can’t impede with her people doing their job. The Rock Hill and Briar Mountain police departments are both here, and there are a couple of ambulances, just in case. They tried to put me in one, but I refused. Everyone threw a fit until I promised to get checked out as soon as we have Demitri.
Aiden made the girls stay at the bar, which didn’t really go over well until James showed up and told them they were staying where they were. Daniel, Joker, Nate, and Grady are here. Aiden offered to stay back with my girls.
“Okay, people, we’re going in.” Mary’s quiet announcement is like a blanket over my world. Everything goes silent. My vision narrows to the entry door on the front of the building. I watch as they silently go in, one by one, throwing up hand signals I don’t understand.
Mary comes to my side with a tablet and shows it to me. It’s a live feed of what’s going on split into four sectors.
“These are the four leads. We have angles from everyone who just went into that building so we can switch if we need to.”
“Am I supposed to be watching this?”
“No. So, don’t look. I’m going to stand right here and do my job.”
“I don’t know if you’re a really good agent or not.”
“I’m an agent who doesn’t give a fuck anymore. I do what I want within the limits of the law, and fuck everything else.”
“Fuck, yeah.” Joker fist bumps her. “You are my favorite DEA agent.”
“Only because Davis wasn’t DEA,” she deadpans.
Joker grins. “You’re still salty he got your score, aren’t you?”
“I had to work in an office and deal with hormonal newly freed college kids, Joker. Davis got to be the cool bartender. You tell me.”
Mary flips him off and then touches her ear. “I hear you. Subjects located on second floor. Notify when places set.”
I look at the second-floor windows, saying prayers to any God that will listen to me. Please let him be okay. The windows are cracked. Some boarded up, like they gave up long ago. And still others so covered I’d be surprised if light filters through.
“On my mark. Go. Go. Go.” Mary starts tapping on the tablet, and I stare at it, holding my breath. With the press of a button, she makes the voices of those inside the building audible.
“Unit one, go. Unit two, follow.”
“I’ve found them. Unit one, upper quadrant.”
“DEA! Arms up!”
“Put the weapon down!”
“On the ground. Get on the ground!”
And then I see him. Demitri. His head is hanging to one side, and he looks like someone hit him with a two by four. His eyes are swollen, blood coming out of his nose, his jaw is at an odd angle. His arms are tied behind his back and his legs have been restrained, too. The pain etched on his face is evident. In his whole body. His shoulder is sticking at an odd angle, his foot looks wrong. He’s not well, that’s for fucking sure.
“Oh, God. Is he breathing?” I ask.
“Verify life,” Mary calls into her earpiece thing.
“Verified. Vic is breathing on his own. Some damage, but I’m pretty sure he’ll live.”
The voice coming through the tablet is my lifeline. Demitri’s breathing.
“Let’s take care of business so we can get him the help he needs. Wrap it up quick.”
Mary taps the screen, probably turning off the volume, and smiles at me. “We’ll get him out as soon as we can.”
“Thank you,” I mouth, unable to talk. My eyes overflow with the tears I’ve barely kept at bay so I could watch the screen.
I pull out my phone, and through blurry eyes I text Grace to let everyone know we found him and he is going to be okay.
Aunt Linda pulls me in for another hug, and I completely break down. She doesn’t stop me, which I’m surprised by since this woman isn’t usually one to let us get away with things like having breakdowns.
And it only lasts a couple of minutes.
“Time to buck up, girl. Those assholes are being led out.”
Well, I guess if there’s ever a time to stop crying, it’s watching the people who kidnapped the love of your life get dragged away, right?
I turn and watch as four large men in black tactical gear lead Katya and Andrey out, their arms held behind their backs by the much larger men. I know I’m too far away for her to make out anyone clearly, but I swear, she’s staring at me— into me. It makes a shiver go down my spine. Andrey looks nothing like what I imagined. He’s short, balding, with a very well-fed midsection. But he’s a barrel. His arms are huge, he has no neck, and his chest almost matches his gut. I wish I could see his face up close, but I can’t. And maybe that’s a good thing.
As they get to the SUVs waiting to take them away, Andrey turns and, in a move straight from a horror movie, kicks the man holding him and charges toward us. Everyone freezes, not knowing what to do, until he’s about fifty yards away. Sasha steps forward, calmly and a little scarily, raises his arm and shoots. The men holding Andrey let him go as he goes down, immediately holding his leg, screaming what can only be obscenities in Russian.
Sasha, still cool as a cucumber, turns to me, handing his firearm to Mary, and smiles. “You asked for him to be shot in the shin, da, malenkyi ?”
“You’re doing the paperwork for this,” Mary deadpans while I nod and smile at him. She puts the earpiece back in. “We’re going to need that backup bus.”
“Thank you,” I mouth to Sasha, who bows his head.
Two EMTs, paying the man writhing on the ground no attention, run into the building with a stretcher. I look at Mary, who nods her head.
“Second floor. To the back.”
She really doesn’t give a shit, does she?
I take off running, not giving anyone the chance to hold me back or stop me.
“Demitri!” I yell, running up the stairs. “Dem!”
I find them in the back room, two of Mary’s guys still with him, his arms now unbound from the chair and the rope that had been around his legs gone. They’re moving him onto the stretcher, and I freeze. He looks like everything hurts. He’s holding his body wrong, and his face. Well, his face has seen better days.
As soon as they have him on the stretcher, I find my feet again and rush to his side. His arm is sticking out weirdly, and the EMT stops me before I can get too close.
“Ma’am, might want to go to the other side.”
They don’t even question if I should be there, and it’s a good thing. They don’t deserve all these big emotions I have coursing through my body. I quickly move to his other side and take his hand.
“I’m here, Dem. I’m here.”
His eyes try to open, but they are so swollen he can’t. Instead, he squeezes my hand, pulling me closer. I lean over him, and he mumbles something, but I can’t understand what it is. He tries again, his face contorting in pain.
“Wuv vu.”
“Oh, you idiot.” I cry-laugh. “Don’t talk. I love you, too.”
He nods, and it’s almost as if he needed to hear that before he could pass out for a little while. I worriedly look at the EMT, who smiles.
“He’ll be fine. Just needs a nap, and that shot of good stuff we gave him knocked his ass out.”
I nod and walk with them out of the room, following them down the stairs and to the back of the ambulance.
“We’ll follow you,” Daniel tells me before they close the back doors. “And you’re getting checked out as soon as we get there.”
I roll my eyes. “I’m fine.”
“Don’t care.”
“Okay, Dad.”
He shakes his head and chuckles. I watch him join the others and start to load up as they close the doors after doing some checks. I don’t let go of Demitri’s hand until I’m forced to when we arrive at the hospital.
“Hey, honey. Gotta let me check you out,” the nurse tells me, and it takes me a minute to realize I know her.
“Lizzy?”
“Yeah, babe. I’m in disguise as the mean ER nurse tonight. Let’s go get you looked over.”
I watch them wheel Demitri through the doors and away from me.
“He’ll be okay,” she tells me. “They wouldn’t let you in that far, anyway.”
I nod and let her lead me to a bed in the ER where they take my blood and give me a once over. Joker comes to tell me the news as the doctor is writing up my clearance papers.
“He’s in surgery. It’s gonna to be awhile.”
“What’s wrong with him?”
“Broken ankle, shattered elbow, a couple broken fingers, and nose and jaw.”
“Five minutes. I want five minutes with that cunt. Can you arrange that?” I look at him, meaning every word I just said.
Lizzy laughs, shaking her head. “I think we’ve all been there, haven’t we?”
“Yeah, I guess we have.”
“Well, come on. I’ll walk up with you to see my brother-in-law and the gang.”
“Does Daniel ever drive you crazy with his ‘I’m in charge and you will do what I say’ attitude?” I ask her as we get in the elevator, Joker snorting behind us.
“All the time. That man is crazy protective of Vic, and by extension all of us. He’s a pretty good brother to have on your side, though.”
She leaves me with a hug in the waiting room. Everyone is there with us. Daniel and his entire crew, the girls, James, Aunt Linda and Sasha, Mary. We all settle in for the wait. Knowing they’re all here for Demitri warms my heart. Now, we just need him to wake up and recover.