25 | The Hunt Mac
“Y ou good?” Shy asks next to me as we head toward this gentlemen’s club where Viktoriya and Peshkov are seen entering.
“I’d feel better if we had more intel,” Dallas chimes in behind us. He and Trey, another member, sit in the back of the SUV.
We left the bikes at the hospital. That way, anyone looking for Raydene will think we’re all there. Quick’s driving with Blink in the passenger seat.
Chain and Jammer followed Viktoriya back to this establishment when Peshkov showed they called us.
Steve and Maggie were planning on rushing to the hotel in hopes of finding Dexter, but when Luc contacted him regarding the stuff happening at Lenny’s auto body, they paused their raid.
When Shy told them about the Russians’ meeting, we all decided it was best to regroup. So, everyone met up at the clubhouse, and we formed a plan.
We’d decided to break up into groups and attack all three places at the same time: the hotel, the gentleman’s club, and the auto body.
Most of us went with the group to raid the gentlemen’s club where Peshkov would be. Steve and his guys are with us too. He wants Peshkov badly. Luc’s team and some FBI men went to rush the hotel, and Maggie and her FBI team went to bust the deal at the auto body shop.
We didn’t want any club member or Luc’s team busting the auto body shop because of our agreement with Frank.
While we were in our meeting, Jammer called and said Viktoriya had left right after a few other highly-ranked Russians arrived.
“Okay, Alina Vlasov owns the place. Everything about her seems to check out, but something’s up with having all these Russians meet simultaneously,” Dallas announces, typing away on his laptop.
When we pull up next to Steve’s swat-like SUV, we suit up to follow them around the building. Jammer, who’s been casing the place, joins us after talking to Steve.
Officially, we’re not supposed to be here, so we’re told to hold back and grab anyone who gets by them. When we hear go-go-go, everyone moves in, guns pointed. Within minutes, we hear gunfire followed by girls screaming. We listen to their coms as they clear the building.
Once the building is cleared and we get the go-ahead, we enter. Several men are bound on the ground. In one room, several women look like high-paid escorts.
As we move upstairs, there are several doors. Steve yells, and I follow his voice when we come to a room where Steve has several Russian men on their knees. That’s when I notice Peshkov. He’s bleeding from the side of the head.
Steve walks over, holding his rifle. “I want you to take him.”
I look at Peshkov and then at Shy. “I don’t think you want us to take him,” I say, amused.
Steve looks murderous. “You will when you see this.”
We follow Steve into another room where at least ten little girls are crying in a corner. All of them are in nothing but underwear.
“Motherfucker!” I growl.
“My God,” Shy gasps.
“Thank the gods you all called. If it weren’t for you, these girls would have been sold and gone. We hit a huge part of their ring today.”
I glance at Steve. “Why do you want us to take him? Don’t you have enough to send him away?”
Steve looks around as he moves closer so no one can hear him. “We did that route already. I want to do this off the books. If you can hold him for me, I’ll take him off your hands once I’m done here. That’s why we didn’t want you to come in here until we cleared the place and turned off all the surveillance…” He pauses, looking around. “I have to be here with my team for a while and deal with all of this. No one knows you’re here but Maggie and my men.”
“Maggie’s okay with this?” Shy asks, shocked.
Steve smiles. “It was her idea.”
I look at Shy and laugh. “Well, fuck me.”
He nods with a smirk.
We knew Maggie was a badass, but this bumped her up a few notches.
I know Shy will do anything for Maggie since she is ultimately the one who found Snow when Ronny took her.
“All right. Load the piece of shit into our car,” Shy tells Steve. “We’ll hold him.”
“Any word from the others?” I ask Steve before he walks away.
Steve answers, “Viktoriya was seen going into the auto body shop, but she wasn’t anywhere to be found when they raided it. And so far, nothing from the hotel.”
We follow Steve back to the room where they’re getting Peshkov off the ground.
When he sees Steve, he laughs. “How’s Raydene doing? I heard she’s going to be seeing her sister real soon.”
I stop in my tracks, hearing him speak of Sin and Ray. But his attention is on Steve, who ignores him and continues to the other room.
Peshkov keeps poking. “How is your nephew, by the way? I wonder if he’ll see his sister as well.”
That gets Steve’s attention, but I raise my hand, stopping him.
“We’ll deal with him later. Right now, you need to take care of those girls,” I say, getting him to refocus.
There’s no need to give in to his taunting right now. Once we get the piece of shit in an unknown location, we can engage then.
The men dropped Dallas and me back off at the hospital before they took Peshkov to our warehouse. I wanted to get back to Sin as soon as I could. I know they won’t be doing anything with Peshkov for a while. I don’t need to be there for them to secure him.
It’s after visiting hours, and I know most of our crew went home except Izzy, Redman, Chiv, and Violet.
When the elevator opens, we’re greeted by everyone hanging out in the waiting room. Izzy sees us first and springs up.
“Oh good. You’re back,” Izzy says, sounding relieved.
I smile. “Of course, we came back. Where’s Sin?”
Dallas looks around. “Where’s Doc?”
Everyone’s up, welcoming us with hugs.
Violet answers Dallas, “Lee’s with Greg looking over stuff. Sin’s in with Raydene.”
I interject, “How’s Ray?”
Violet’s face is grim. “Not good. She was awake for a brief moment, but they had to sedate her.”
“They didn’t find Dexter at the hotel,” Dallas announces.
I turned to him in surprise because he hadn’t informed any of us about this.
“When did you find this out?” I ask.
Dallas, who looks exhausted, shrugs. “After Doc called, I reached out to Luc and gave him the information. He texted me back and said no sight of Dexter.”
Irritated, I ask, “Doc called you? When?”
Violet decides to step in and answers, “Sin was in the room with Ray, and Ray woke up saying ‘D’ and dead. Hide. At first, she thought Ray was talking about her being dead, but then she said hide. She thinks Ray was trying to tell her Dexter is dead and to hide.”
I look from Violet to Dallas. “And you didn’t think that was important to tell all of us?”
Dallas sits down, taking off his baseball hat that he always wears, running his hands through his hair. “Brother, I’m dealing with so much shit on the side I can’t remember to tell you everything. We were in the middle of raiding the building, and I forgot. Plus, you hate the fucker anyway.”
I see how tired he is. I know everyone is asking a lot of him since he’s our IT guy. I mean, honestly, he’s our everything guy. There isn’t anything that doesn’t go through him first.
He’s right. Fuck Dexter . My girls wouldn’t be in this mess if he hadn’t gotten himself back in with the Russians.
Everyone sits back down.
Feeling bad, I say, “I’m sorry. I know you’ve got a lot on your plate.”
But before I can finish, Doc exits the ICU doors. Dallas flies up and greets his woman. All exhaustion gone from his face. Giving his girl all he’s got.
I give them a minute before I ask, “Can I see my girls?” I pause. “I need to see them. Please.”
Doc raises her head from Dallas’s chest and smiles. “Yeah, let me take you to them. You’re not supposed to be back there, but no one is here, and Cheryl will be on duty for another thirty minutes. So you’ll have to make it fast.”
I nod. “Thank you.”
Dallas lets Doc go so she can take me back to see my girls.
Christ, my girls.
No one even batted an eye when I said it, but fuck if I don’t have feelings for both of them. Each in different ways, but I can’t let them go. They’re my girls.
The door to Ray’s room is open. When we approach, I hear Sin talking to Ray. I look at Doc, and she whispers, “We’ve been trying to get her to wake up again. Greg did another blood panel on her. We’re trying to figure out what’s causing her pain.”
I nod.
Doc pats my shoulder, turning to speak with Cheryl. As I walk into the room, I see Sin sitting beside Ray’s bed, resting her head on her sister’s chest. She doesn’t notice me enter the room since she’s facing Ray as she continues talking.
“Dean, you need to get better. Everything is going to be okay. I’m not leaving you again. It’s going to be you and me, the DD sisters again. I promise. I won’t leave you again.”
Hearing Sin call Ray by Dean reminded me of when I called her DamnDean, which made her sad. She must have been thinking of her sister.
“So, you used to call her Dean?” I whisper.
Sin jumps up, startled.
I’m about to say sorry when she launches herself at me. I catch her, lifting her up and giving her all I got.
Just like Dallas did Doc. We need to be here for our women.
I squeeze her tighter as she lets go of everything she’s feeling. Sin’s arms are like vises around my neck.
“Shhh, I got you, beautiful. I’m here. Everything’s going to be okay,” I say, soothing her.
After a few moments, she pulls back to face me, and I smile.
“Hi, beautiful,” I say softly, caressing her face and moving her hair back.
Sin smiles back. “Hi.”
When we hear a machine beep, we look over and see Ray move.
She’s awake.
Sin rushes over to Raydene’s bedside, grabbing her hand as I approach the other side of the bed.
“Sis, you’re awake,” Sin says in a low, warming voice.
Raydene’s eyes move around the room, unfocused. She moves her head from side to side, looking around.
“Dean. It’s me. Dee. I’m here,” Sin says in a more worried voice.
I grab Ray’s other hand, and her head snaps in my direction. I smile.
“Hey, good looking. It’s me. Mac,” I say teasingly.
Ray grips both our hands as tears swell before falling.
I reach up with my free hand, wiping the tears away.
“Ray, don’t cry. You’re safe. Sin’s safe. I gotchu girls. I won’t let anything happen to either one of you,” I say exactly how I feel. I won’t let anything happen to them.
Ray’s eyes keep moving but in my direction. When Sin squeezes her hand and tells her she’s there with her, Ray’s eyes close, and she takes in a deep breath.
Ray rolls her head to Sin, opens her eyes, and tries to speak, but only a squeak comes out. Sin tells her not to talk to rest, but Ray’s face tightens as she gets upset.
“Hide,” Ray slurs, gripping both our hands.
Sin starts to cry.
“No one needs to hide. Peshkov isn’t going to hurt anyone anymore.”
The word Peshkov gets Ray even more upset.
“Protect!” she shouts, this time looking at me.
Pain etched all over her face. Beeping starts to increase from the machines next to me.
“Hide. Vi—” Raydene slurs unable to finish before her body starts to seize
Cheryl rushes in, and when she sees Raydene awake, she yells at someone in the hall to call the doctor.
“What’s going on? What’s wrong with her?” I demand, feeling helpless.
Cheryl waves her hand for me to move. “You both need to wait in the hallway.”
Sin’s crying and rambling to her sister to hold on and not leave her.
Dr. Greg Wilson orders, “Talk to me.”
I move over to Sin, grabbing her around the waist and holding her up.
Cheryl starts calling off her stats.
When Doc comes running in, she assesses the room and ushers us out. “Wait in the waiting room. I’ll come get you.”
I embrace Sin, who is a complete wreck, guiding her out.
“She’s going to be okay,” I say, trying to encourage her, but my own heart aches. Will she be okay?