Chapter 27
27
“Fuck!” Mateo exploded, as he tossed the parabolic listening device back to Brax sitting in the passenger seat, who immediately pointed it back at Lainey’s window.
They all looked at one another. Yeah, Lainey had bought herself some time, but she’d lied through her teeth. There was no way that she’d be able to reverse that transaction.
Thank God his truck was a crew cab. Eventually someone was going to notice they’d parked in the back alley that Lainey had parked in the first night they’d met.
“Did you hear that bitch slapping her?” Mateo asked nobody in particular. “And how long have they been denying her water?”
“Yeah, but there was good news too,” Kostya said in a calm voice. “They have to take care of her if they want her to go to the bank tomorrow and call the Cayman Islands.”
Mateo turned around to look in the backseat. “Gideon, when was that email conversation between Ivan and Amanda?”
“Thursday.”
“And they mentioned Lainey by name?”
Gideon shook his head. “They were like us. They were calling her MacLaine. My guess is they were looking for a man.”
“So, like us, they were calling the bank, asking for a Mr. Simpson,” Mateo muttered.
Gideon nodded.
“So, let’s say they figured things out as fast as Thursday, and the worst-case scenario, they found out where Lainey lived, and got to her on Thursday. They’ve had her since then. It’s possible she’s been without water since then.”
The very thought tore him apart.
“Wait, that’s not possible!” Mateo practically shouted. “I talked to Mrs. Morrison. She saw Lainey taking Xena out for a walk Friday morning.”
“Okay. Okay. So, it’s fifteen-hundred hours on Sunday. Worst case is what? Eight-hundred hours Friday?” Kostya asked.
Mateo nodded. “So, fifty-six hours. My woman’s strong. She can do this. She’s already coming up with bullshit for them about how she can get them their money. She’s figured out a way to get out of her condo. She’s smart.”
“That’s right,” Kostya said calmly. “We just have to wait until tomorrow morning. Everything’s going to be fine. We’ll take shifts watching her window.”
“I’ll take the first shift,” Mateo said.
“I’m going back to my Mustang and put the seat back. I saw a Teeter’s grocery store parking lot not so far from here.”
Brax got out of the passenger side door so Jase could get out of the backseat.
“Brax, go with Jase,” Kostya ordered as he followed Jase out of the backseat. “I’m going to take this shift with Mateo.” He took Brax’s place in the front seat.
“It’s like you said, boss, nothing’s going to happen,” Mateo protested. “You don’t need to stay.”
“If I get too bored, I’ll crash in the backseat,” Kostya said. Mateo knew he wouldn’t.
Fuck, am I going to get some speech about getting involved with a suspect?
As soon as Jase and Brax walked away, Kostya jerry-rigged the listening device so that it was still pointed toward Lainey’s big living room window, but all had gone quiet. Then he turned to Mateo.
“You got something to say?” Mateo asked Kostya. He really didn’t want to drag this out.
“I’ve always listened to your instincts when we’ve been out in the field. If you’ve had something to say, I knew I had to give it weight. You never talked a lot, but when you did, it was important. Your gut was normally right, and I should have known it was in this case, too. I’m sorry I doubted you.”
“You just thought I was thinking with my little head, not my big head.”
Kostya nodded. “It was a shitty thing to do, when all of us who have fallen for our women have been right on the money. All I can say is that this thing with the Kraken has me all twisted up. Being on a mission, risking my life, that’s fine. Yeah, leading a team, it’s killed me when men under my command have died, but we have all signed up for the same thing. But our children? Our families? Mateo, this has ripped out my soul.”
Kostya looked away for a minute, then turned back to Mateo. “Apparently, it’s ripped out part of my brain too.” He chuckled. “I should have listened to you sooner.”
“Hell, Kostya, if you did, you might have taken me off this assignment. That would have been the worst thing in the world.”
“I’ll try to find solace in that,” Kostya whispered.
They sat there in silence, waiting for some kind of noise to come over the amplifier, but nothing did.
“You got any pictures of Romy?” Mateo asked.
Kostya grinned. “Sure do.”
At Romy’s christening, she had been christened Romana Beatrice Barona. Lark explained that Romy was named after Kostya’s brother Roman who had died as a child. Beatrice was the name of Lark’s mother. He had heard Lark call Romy, Romy Bea.
“Here she is.” Kostya handed Mateo his phone. “Beatrice has her playing in the shallow water. The kid started out a water baby.”
She looked adorable with her red polka dot sun hat and matching swimsuit. He laughed out loud when he saw Beatrice Allen wore the same hat. “Your mother-in-law is a kick.”
“Tell me about it.” Kostya laughed. “Damn lucky to have her at times like these.”
They stopped talking when they heard the doorbell ring in Lainey’s apartment.
“Are you expecting anyone?” the woman asked.
“No.” Lainey’s voice was raspy.
“Ivan, go see who it is.”
There was a pause.
“It’s some skank with red hair.”
The doorbell rang again.
Mateo heard Xena bark.
“Make your dog shut up before I slit its throat,” the man said.
“Get rid of the bitch at the door,” the woman said. Mateo assumed that was Amanda.
“If you hurt my dog, I won’t go to the office tomorrow and get your money.”
“Lainey! I can hear you talking in there,” A woman yelled through Lainey’s door.
“It’s Janice,” Lainey said. “She won’t go away until I talk to her.”
“Don’t do anything funny, or I will let Ivan kill your dog,” Amanda said. “And don’t open it up all the way, keep the security chain on.”
What in the hell is Janice doing at Lainey’s door? They hate one another.
“Janice, you know I’m sick. You shouldn’t be here.”
“Yeah, sure. That’s why you have company, too.”
“It’s a doctor. She’s making a house call.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Mateo saw Kostya shaking his head at Lainey’s pathetic lie.
“Oh really? And who’s the man that I heard? Is he helping her give you the collagen lip injection? I have to tell you; they’re doing a shit job of it.”
What the fuck is she talking about?
“Janice, why are you here?”
“I’ve been talking to Arnie since you’ve been sick. I showed him all the mistakes you’ve made.”
“What? What mistakes?”
“Oh, you poor thing. Someone had to go into your user account while you were out sick to make sure everything was handled. So I took care of that.”
“How did you get into my account?”
“I told you, Arnie likes cleavage.”
“What did you do?”
“I changed a lot of the past transactions you processed. It turns out you broke seven different laws because of the way you processed those accounts. Arnie was furious.”
“You can check your email. Arnie’s probably also left a message. You’re fired. And do you want to hear the best news? I’m the new bank management trainee.”
“Kostya, we’ve got to move. They’re going to kill her now!”
“Why don’t you come inside now that Miss Simpson is worthless to us?” Mateo heard the man ask as he and Kostya bolted out of his truck.
Then they were across the street, through the lobby, and pushing through the door for the stairs.
Before Mateo could start up the stairs, Kostya grabbed his arm.
“Wait.” Kostya had his phone to his ear. “Get to her condo, now! They’re going to kill her.”
Kostya paused as he listened.
“Yes, we’re going in.”
Kostya let go of Mateo’s arm and pulled out his pistol. Mateo pulled out his.
“Kostya, we’ve got Lainey and Janice in there. They might kill Lainey if they think Janice can do what they need, but my bet is that Lainey will convince them that only she can do what needs to be done.”
“That’s a hell of a bet.” Kostya looked at Mateo.
“You gotta listen to my gut, boss.”
Kostya nodded.
“What is going on?” Janice screeched.
“Shut up, bitch,” Amanda said as she pulled out her gun and put it to Janice’s temple.
“I won’t shut up,” she yelled back at Amanda. “I demand to know what is going on.”
“Let me have her,” Ivan said.
“My pleasure,” Amanda said.
Lainey watched in horror as Ivan grabbed Janice’s arm and cut her from her sternum down to her stomach. It was a very shallow cut, but it started to bleed, and Janice started to cry.
“Why did you do that? Why did you do that?”
Amanda changed places with Ivan. “He did that to get your attention. Do we have your attention now?”
“It hurts.” Janice was now sobbing.
Her cut was bleeding, but very little. She needed to pull herself together before they got that bag of oranges. Lainey still couldn’t stand upright.
“God, is she always this whiny?” she asked Lainey.
“Yes. Stupid too. If you’re planning on her calling the bank at the Cayman Islands, it won’t work. She won’t even know which deposit you’re talking about. You’re stuck with me.”
“Bitch, she was smart enough to get you fired,” Ivan said.
Lainey flinched. That was true.
“You’re right, but she still won’t know which file it was, or who it was I talked to down at the Cayman Bank. So, you’re going to need me alive.”
Ivan and Amanda looked at one another.
She had them.
“She’s lying,” Janice said. “I got her fired. I can do anything she can do, only better. You need me. Kill her.”
God, Janice had the self-preservation instincts of a cat. Scratch that, she had the self-preservation instincts of a rat and a cockroach put together.
Lainey turned to Amanda. “I’m telling you; she won’t know my contact down at the Cayman Bank.”
“Sure, I do. It’s Bertrum.”
“That’s a lie.” Lainey sighed.
Janice turned to Lainey. “Then who is it?”
“I’m not telling you, so you can use it after they kill me. But good try, you skank.” God, it felt good to call her that. Lainey turned back to Amanda. “You see how she wanted me to tell her? That’s because she doesn’t know. You need me alive.”
Mateo had been ready to break down the door, but one thing he’d learned on his job, always try the easiest route first.
It worked.
After bringing Janice in, they’d forgotten to lock the door. Thank God for confusion and stupid terrorists.
Mateo and Kostya had listened as Janice tried to convince Amanda and Ivan to kill Lainey. His woman had been right all along. Her co-worker was a bitch of epic proportions.
Mateo crouched low. Kostya was high. Amanda no longer had her gun pointed at anyone. Lainey’s arms and legs were free, but the duct tape that had been used to secure her was all over her pajamas. There was some in her now-short hair. Ivan was still holding his knife outward, pointed between Lainey and Janice. In one quick move, he could stab either of them.
Mateo pressed the door open a little more to see if the security chain was on. It wasn’t.
“I want them alive,” Kostya ground out. Mateo knew he meant Amanda and Ivan. He didn’t blame him.
“Agreed,” Mateo said in an almost silent whisper. “I’ve got Amanda.”
“Right, I’ve got Ivan,” Kostya said.
Mateo nodded.
“Count of three?” Kostya asked.
Mateo nodded again.
“One.”
“Two.”
“Three.”
Kostya pushed forward through the door. Mateo lunged up from his crouch. They burst through the doorway. Amanda yanked her gun up and aimed toward Lainey. Mateo took his shot. It was a head shot. He didn’t care about taking her alive. All he cared about was that Lainey lived.