29. Chapter 29
twenty-nine
wrong way - Dead Lakes
Dimitri paced his office, trying to keep his lunch down.
Talia was being safely tended to in Jackie’s office by Kendra and one of the field-trained medics employed by the agency.
He’d almost thrown up when the woman asked if Talia would consent to having a rape kit done.
Another reminder of how he’d failed her and Jackie.
He had to go back. No matter how angry Jackie would be if he got hurt or killed, he had to go back for her. He turned on his heel, heading for the door.
He made it to the top of the stairs when Drew stopped him.
“The twins arrived just after they loaded Jackie into a car. It hasn’t moved since. They should be back with her soon,” Drew said, sounding casual but relieved.
“What do you mean the twins arrived?” Dimitri asked.
Drew’s eyes grew wide as he stammered at Dimitri. “I thought you’d sent them in as backup in case anything went south. They went running in like five minutes after you left with Talia.”
Dimitri’s mind raced. He hadn’t sent the twins. Given how little they got along with Jackie, he doubted she’d sent them. The list of others was short, but he thought he might know.
Drew’s face gave away his growing panic, as he, too, wondered why two men, who seemingly did not like Jackie, would go up against a small horde of Russian mafia to save her.
“They’re there now?” Dimitri asked. He was so conflicted. The twins could have gone in on their own to put an end to Jackie in revenge for her killing Theo. But more likely, they were in there on behalf of someone else.
“Yeah, I can set up the drone feed on your office computer so you can watch to know when they’re headed back if you want.”
Dimitri nodded and turned on his heel again, leading the way back to his office to watch.
His stomach rolled as he watched the feed.
He wished Drew had been able to fix Jackie’s contact lenses in time.
She had insisted Dimitri wear his, and she would just go without.
Now he wondered if that was because she didn’t want him to watch whatever Nikita might do to her after he was gone.
She had known going to the club that she was going to hand herself over to Nikita.
Dimitri’s gut turned to lead as he realized she probably wouldn’t have worn the lenses even if they were fixed.
Instead, now he had to watch the black SUV Jackie had been shoved into shake and not knowing if there was a fight or something far worse going on. It was not helping the nausea.
He watched the twins emerge from the club and pause outside the door, surveying the lineup of cars.
They discussed something between themselves before their heads whipped around toward the SUV Jackie was in.
They bolted toward it and yanked the door open.
Dimitri couldn’t breathe as he watched them stare into the vehicle.
Their weapons had been drawn, but lowered when they opened the door.
Dimitri had no idea what that could mean, but he hoped it meant Jackie was alive in the back seat.
Finally, one of them held out a hand. The person he’d offered it to didn’t take it before they stepped out. Dimitri thought he’d pass out when he saw Jackie’s high ponytail braid that she’d put in her hair before they’d left that afternoon.
His phone rang, and he checked the caller ID to see if it was Jackie before tossing it across the desk. His face fell into his hands, and he tried to steady his breathing.
“Dimitri?” he heard Kendra ask gently. He hadn’t heard her come in. “I assumed you must have gone back for Jackie, but then it sounded like you were running a marathon in here when I walked by.”
“She’s alive,” he breathed. He didn’t have the energy to muster anymore noise.
“Good,” Kendra said as she rounded the desk to stop in front of him. “Did she call you?”
Dimitri shook his head and pointed at the screen, where the twins were leading Jackie back toward the club. She followed them in, and Dimitri’s stomach dropped again.
“I didn’t realize those two were involved in this, too,” Kendra mused.
“Neither did I.”
Kendra turned back to him, not hiding her surprise or concern. She hesitated for a moment, glancing at the screen again while deciding what she wanted to do or say.
“Okay, well… when she gets back, let her know that my afternoon is available to her and Talia.”
Dimitri nodded and turned back to the screen, his chest feeling tighter with every second Jackie and the twins were inside the club.
Kendra hesitated again before speaking. “You know the breathing method, Dimitri,” she reminded him. “Four seconds in through your nose, hold for seven, then out for five through your mouth.”
He did as he was told, letting Kendra place a grounding hand on his shoulder while he tried to calm down. When she decided he’d calmed down enough, she patted him gently and left.
Again, he was left alone with his thoughts and churning stomach.
He stared intently at the screen, willing Jackie to come out.
She’d been limping when she followed the twins in there.
He’d watched the Bratva strip her of her knives, and she’d only carried the one bullet Nikita had given him.
She was totally unarmed with two very large men who did not like her.
He was actually going to throw up.
His phone rang again from across the desk, and he reached out to grab it, hoping it was Jackie telling him to come get her. He stared down at the caller ID again. His face twisted with disgust as he stared down at the number before he slammed it face down on the desk.
When he looked back up at the screen, Jackie was climbing into the back of an old sedan, one of the twins helping her as she did.
He waited until she was in before nodding to his brother, then he walked back into the club with his phone pressed to his ear.
The sedan pulled away slowly and turned down the block.
The feed remained fixed on the black SUV in the back, only meant to move when that car moved.
It was then that Dimitri finally stood again and began pacing back and forth the length of his desk. Headquarters wasn’t that far from the port, but they’d still be at least ten minutes to arrive.
After a few paces, he stopped at his mini fridge. The energy drink he grabbed was not going to improve how jittery and anxious he was already feeling, but he needed something to distract him.
He should check on Talia, but she’d not so much as looked at him since they pulled away from the club without Jackie. She would want to know Jackie was okay, though.
He turned just as his office door slammed closed. He nearly fell to his knees with relief at the sight of Jackie standing there. She fumed at him, looking like a storm cloud as she limped toward him.
“You sent the fucking twins after me?” she seethed.
Dimitri’s mind was too clouded with relief to register what she’d said immediately. It took him a moment to even register that her anger was directed at him.
“What?” he asked. He shook his head, trying to clear it enough to speak with her, but he was too relieved to see her.
He reached out to cup her face in his hands, but she batted him away.
Her mouth held firm in a tight line. It was then that he remembered what she’d said.
“I didn’t send them after you. I thought you must have sent them in to clean house. ”
“Oh, they cleaned house, alright. That club was a blood bath when they were finished. It’ll have to be condemned,” she scoffed. Her eyes remained cold and angry.
Dimitri’s eyes roamed her face. Somehow, she was even more bruised and swollen. There was blood and chunks of something splattered across her face and in her hair.
But she was alive.
Jackie was alive, and she was well enough to be pissed at him. He would take it.
“What happened?” he asked, not caring how his voice shook.
His phone vibrated, and they both turned to it a moment before facing each other again.
Jackie’s face softened only for a moment before the scowl returned, somehow even harder this time.
“He had questions I didn’t have answers to. When he got too close, I kneed him in the balls, and he fought back. I returned the bullet to him, and the next thing I know, the twins are opening the door and offering to help me out.”
“What questions?”
Jackie stared at him hard, and he could see her fighting words back. His head tilted, his mind racing at what Nikita might have told her about Patterson, and Jackie now seemed to be hiding from him.
His phone vibrated on his desk again, and he turned back to stare at it.
Nikita had wanted to know why Jackie was so important. He wanted to know who had been paying for her safety through Theo.
He had questions I didn’t have the answers to.
When he turned back, Jackie had focused her scowl on his phone.
Jackie was lying. She had answers.
Or at least she thought she did.
Jackie turned back to him, a look of betrayal on her face.
“I’m going to go check on Talia,” she said, entirely too quietly and turned to the door. Dimitri’s stomach lurched back up his throat.
She was gone before he could even think of trying to defend himself.