Chapter 36 - Konstantin
I wasn’t sure if this attack on Dima’s properties was business as usual for the enemies he usually dealt with, or if the Yakuza was widening their net down to the San Diego area because they suspected I was there.
Either way, I was in the midst of a bloody battle that we were on the verge of losing.
Dima didn’t want to retreat, determined not to give up the warehouse completely.
We’d already been shoved out by the superior firepower and greater numbers of the men who’d broken in.
Two of my guys had been badly injured but were still throwing smoke grenades through broken windows, and one of Dima’s men lay dead inside, shot through the head.
“We’ve got to call it,” I said. “This is what insurance is for.”
Dima was pissed, and rightly so, but there was still a battle to be waged in another location that had a chance to be won.
I cared about my nephew’s lost property, but what I really wanted was to grab someone to interrogate.
If these men were working for the Yakuza, they might have some idea where their leader might be.
The decision was made for us when something went awry inside, and suddenly a ball of flame erupted from the warehouse. A rush of heat blew out the remaining windows, and half the roof rained down around us.
As we ran for cover, Dima laughed bitterly. “Some idiot must have shot too close to my stash of explosives.” A mangled hand landed near our shoes, and he kicked it out of the way. “Okay, now we can move on.”
As he rounded up our remaining men, I got a call from one of my guys who had stayed behind at the beach house. My chest constricted. They knew why I had left with half their team, so there was no way they’d call me unless there was an emergency.
“Is Tati okay?” I shouted into the phone as a greeting.
“Yes, she’s secure, but shit is hitting the fan here. Cops and fire are probably on the way.”
With a curse, I ended the call. Not what I needed right now, but I could breathe knowing Tati was all right.
Whatever disaster had emergency services heading toward Dima’s beach house had to be dealt with right away, and after a swift apology, wished him luck, trying to downplay whatever was going on so he could concentrate on matters at hand.
“Try not to let that place explode,” he said, waving me away. “Olivia just had the bathrooms redone.”
“I’ll do my best.”
While I certainly hoped his house was going to survive whatever was going on, my first priority was Tati. As soon as I was certain she was okay, the stupid fucking wall that went up between us was coming down. And then we’d have to move again, since the beach house was clearly compromised.
I pulled up, relieved to see the roof was still in one piece and there were no flames despite a fire truck blocking the road, along with several police cars. A crowd of neighbors had gathered to watch the show, and I groaned.
One of the police officers tried to keep me from breaking through the perimeter they set up, and it took a lot to keep from decking him.
If Riku had become aware of my presence in San Diego, it wouldn’t be wise to waste time getting bailed out of jail for assaulting a police officer, no matter how annoying he was being.
Spotting one of my guards dealing with the fire chief, I perused the damage while I waited for the officer to painstakingly look over my ID.
There were a few piles of sodden ash, still smoking a bit under the onslaught of the fire hoses, but the house looked unscathed.
That very fact gave me an uneasy feeling, though I wasn’t sure why.
“It’s my nephew’s house,” I said impatiently. “But I’m staying here. Now I’d like to make sure my wife is all right, since she’s probably terrified.”
The word wife rolled off my tongue without any thought, and I liked the way it sounded. The look on my face and the fact that my guard was waving at me in such a casual manner put my mind at ease enough that I could refrain from shoving my way past the barriers with force.
The officer began explaining that it was probably arson, and I kept my sarcastic reply in check. Several small fires had been lit at once on the beach by some kind of detonation system.
“Do you or your nephew have any enemies that would have access to this sort of…” The officer hesitated in calling them bombs.
Yeah, way too many. I shrugged innocently, finally elbowing past him when a firefighter came over. I could see the fires were out; I didn’t need a report. As I rushed past my guard, he reassured me that Tati had stayed in her room the entire time, just like he’d ordered her to.
Once again, that uneasy feeling crept in. That wasn’t exactly like the Tati I had grown to know over the past weeks. Do what she was told when bombs were detonating all around her, and the place was crawling with emergency workers outside?
He informed me he hadn’t let the police inside, but that they were going to be difficult to get rid of without doing some kind of sweep to make sure everything was safe.
Since I wasn’t supposed to be the kind of person who was used to being targeted by bombs, it seemed like the easiest thing to do would be to let them.
They’d find nothing that could incriminate Dima or me in their quick search.
But first I had to get my arms around Tati, who was probably scared out of her wits.
If she were in her room, which she wasn’t. The broken window kept me from looking in any other room and had me bellowing for a guard. The uneasy feeling made perfect sense now.
“A distraction to grab her,” I said, remaining calm in spite of the need to start tearing apart the city to find her. “Someone ratted us out.”
My fear and fury kept me from thinking about anything except destroying whoever had her, but my guard hurried past me toward the broken window, shaking his head. The look on his face when he turned back made my stomach sink like a stone.
“It’s broken from the inside,” he said, leaving it at that.
That could only mean one thing. My brain knew it, but my heart said fuck no. “Cameras,” I said, heading to the office so I could clearly see exactly what had happened. I swore aloud when I saw that the safe was open and Tati’s phone was gone.
Still, that could mean anything. She could have been under duress.
But who knew the code besides me? It hit me harder than the last time someone got me in the face with brass knuckles.
She was so damn clever, wasn’t she? Hanging out in the office.
And I’d been careless. Complacent. Trusting her when we were on completely opposite sides.
Dima was also too complacent in the camera coverage around a house he only used on occasional weekends, and there was no evidence that she had climbed out of the bedroom window of her own accord.
What there was evidence of, after a bit of searching forward from the time of the attack, was Tati hauling ass down the street, away from the house.
The guards were too busy putting out fires to notice one woman taking off when the neighbors were already gathering and causing more distractions.
I watched with clenched fists until Tati disappeared out of camera range.
She was gone.
Find her. Save her. My instincts went into overdrive, my blood boiling. Not with anger at her escape, but with the need to protect her, even if it was from herself.
But what if she didn’t need saving? No one was chasing her in that security footage. What if this was all meticulously planned out and she was biding her time for the perfect moment? What if she were exactly where she wanted to be, possibly celebrating a victory over me and my family?
Shaking my head, I crashed out of the house, past the milling police and the lingering neighbors. “Deal with them,” I told my guard. “And stay alert. I may need backup.”
I ran to my car that I’d been forced to park halfway down the street due to the blockade of fire engines and cop cars, heading to a place that wasn’t swarming with distractions so I could find Tati.
She wasn’t working against me, not my Tati. Because if she was, that would destroy me. Whatever made her leave didn’t matter. I’d deal with it when I found out. When I found her. She was mine, and I was getting her back.