Chapter 40 - Mikhail
Georgiye met me as soon as I got home, apologizing profusely and pissed off at himself for letting Laurel give him the slip.
“Cookies, my ass,” he muttered, apologizing some more.
It was more my fault than his, and all my anger was directed inward.
I never should have told them to act like everything was normal when in fact, everything was wrong.
Now she could have been anywhere. Through some bribes to some of my family’s contacts, I was sent some of the security camera footage outside the mall, and I spotted her getting on a bus.
After that, there was nothing, because she had her phone off. CJ was busy hacking into every camera on that particular bus route, but the damn things made so many stops and there were so many of them throughout the city, it was going to take hours if not days to get another sighting of her again.
CJ also suggested tracking her bank card, and we got a hit on it at an ATM about forty minutes away, in the middle of nowhere in particular.
It was clear she was just taking that opportunity to load up on cash in between bus rides.
She could be halfway to Mexico or on her way toward Nevada, or on a cheap flight to the Canadian border by now.
All because I waited too long to tell her the truth, and that she had nothing to feel guilty or responsible for.
I kept telling myself it was for her own good.
She was too upset, why make things worse.
Well, what was worse than this? She was out there on her own, with no idea she was actively being hunted, not just by her ex but by an entire platoon of criminal foot soldiers.
Because of who I was, but also because I was too afraid to lose her by telling her the truth. Luk showed up to help sift through camera footage at about the time I was ready to punch a hole in the wall.
“We’re going to get her back,” he said, pulling me into the kitchen. Deciding I didn’t need caffeine, he found the wine rack and pulled out a random bottle.
I shook my head, my heart twisting. Just the sight of a wine bottle reminded me of all the little arguments Laurel and I had, and the times I kept them going just because it was fun. If I got her back, that would never happen again. She’d get everything she wanted without a word.
“Vodka’s in the other room,” I said, but stopped him from going to get it. “I don’t want any. I need to have my wits about me when we find her.”
If that asshole found her first…
I checked my phone. No new messages, and the time was still passing, faster than it should.
If only we could find Rand, but the weasel was still underground.
Luk settled in with a laptop showing endless hours of camera footage from all over the city, and I tried to concentrate on anything around the area where we knew she’d used the ATM.
It was like she disappeared into thin air. What was the use of living in a world with so many cameras if people could still end up lost?
Every minute that ticked by, she might have been another mile further away, or if Rand’s people—my own enemies—had found her, she might have been undergoing more torture.
When my phone rang, it sounded shrill and made me jolt out of the almost hypnotized stare I was giving my computer screen. So many people and none of them Laurel.
“Fuck, that’s loud,” Luk said.
I had turned my phone up to maximum volume so I wouldn’t miss a call. It wasn’t Laurel, but CJ, and I answered with almost as much hope as if it was my wife asking me to come save her.
“Her phone just turned back on,” she said triumphantly. “I’ve got an address for you in Santa Barbara. It’s still on and holding steady in the same place.”
The next voice I heard was Mat’s. “If someone’s got her, they could be sick of waiting for you to find her,” he said. “This might be a trap. Be careful.”
I’d be careful, but what I wouldn’t do was wait around while my cousins assembled a team.
I took off with Luk following me with a few of my security guys.
If everyone else wanted to join the party, they could hurry to catch up, but I had an address now.
If Laurel needed me, that’s where I was going to be.
Thanks to one of Aleks’s guys who was tagging along in the other car, knowing every alternate route in the city, we avoided most of the traffic and made good time getting to the neighborhood where Laurel’s phone last pinged. It was still a hell of a long drive when my imagination was running wild.
CJ was able to get me an address, and before we went in with guns blazing, I called her once more to make sure she was still there.
“The phone is still there,” she said, having come around to Mat’s line of thinking. “Just please be careful. Even if Rand isn’t working with Drugov’s crew, he’s still dangerous.”
I promised to stay alive, and directed my men to circle the house. It was still broad daylight, so we moved fast, keeping our guns hidden. The last thing we needed was for the cops to think they were needed.
All the windows were locked, and the shades pulled down so that not even a sliver of any of the inside of the house could be seen. Ever since the moment I heard Georgiy tell me that Laurel was gone, it was like a clock was hanging over my head, ticking ominously.
Every second we spent outside, being careful, could have meant pain for Laurel. The fact that Rand had ordered for her to be turned over to him alive and unharmed meant nothing if he was already in there with her.
As soon as everyone was in place, I raised my hand to knock on the door. Then decided, fuck it, and wasted no more time, kicking it in. The deadbolts gave way in a shower of splinters as the wood cracked, and there was a thunderous bang as the door flew inward and bounced off the wall inside.
And then everything was eerily quiet. “Laurel,” I shouted, holding my position in the front hall.
The place wasn’t exactly lived in. There was furniture, but it was sparse and shabby. No pictures on the walls or homey clutter on any of the few surfaces. I knew a safe house when I saw it. A place to hide out while someone was after you, or to hide prisoners while figuring out their fate.
I shouted her name again, advancing rapidly now. Every door in the place was closed, and I systematically began kicking them open. They were all empty. Before I could raise my foot to bust down the last one, it flew open, and a skinny man with long hair held back by a bandana tossed a knife at me.
The scream I heard came from behind him, distracting me enough that I didn’t duck, and the blade whistled past my ear, so close I could feel a breeze.
Another knife flew at me just as fast, and I bent low to take the annoying little shit out at the waist and put him flat on his back where I could stomp him.
Another scream, and as soon as I was in the room, I spotted Laurel in a chair, her hands behind her back and her hair falling forward. Unharmed. This man wasn’t Rand, but must work for him and be aware that there’d be no payment if she was hurt.
It didn’t make me any more sympathetic to the guy, especially when he leaped out of my way and grabbed her, whipping her in front of him, another knife out and held taut against her throat.
She gasped, blinking rapidly, staring at me, but with unfocused eyes. For once I was glad if she was disassociating, because now was not the time to try something foolishly heroic.
Pulling my gun, I aimed it at the man, hoping he wouldn’t call my bluff and think I’d fire even with him using Laurel as a human shield.
“Don’t be an idiot,” I said, nodding toward his knife hand. “I know your boss’s terms as well as you do. You can’t hurt her.”
He snickered at the same time Laurel groaned. “But you don’t know who my boss is,” he taunted. “He’s going to give me a lot more for you than the wine guy’s offering for her.”
Fuck. This wasn’t some nobody plucked off the street by Rand, but one of the rogue Collective’s guys. He kept laughing, pressing the blade harder against her neck, drawing a tiny line of blood against her pale skin.
“You can still make it out of here alive,” I said, raising the gun to take aim at his head.
Laurel began to shake. “No…” she said until the guy jerked her a step back.
We were in a standoff for about three seconds before both windows in the room shattered inward.
The blinds rolled up with a clatter as glass went flying everywhere.
I had been waiting for something like that, and it was about damn time my brother and the others made a move.
But the guy with the knife jolted, his attention taken from me long enough so I could lunge forward and crack him on the side of the head with the butt of my gun.
He staggered, and as his grip on Laurel loosened, I knocked the knife out of his hand. As soon as he hit the floor, I had my gun turned back around, cocked, and ready to blow a hole in him.
“No,” Laurel screamed, grabbing my arm. She recoiled in fear as my men climbed in through the windows, masked up, and inadvertently brought back memories of the restaurant shootout to her.
“They’re with me,” I said, returning my aim to the man who’d been threatening to slice her throat open. Why she wanted him to remain alive wasn’t important to me.
Until she pleaded with me once more to stop. “He told me that my friend is being held hostage. You have to find out and help her.”
I kicked the guy as he rolled over, trying to get to his feet as if he had any chance at all against us. Luk and the others were securing the house, and Laurel looked a bit sturdier now that they weren’t crowding in on her in the small room.
“Please,” she said, sinking back into her chair, leaning over until her face rested on her knees.
“Where’s this other woman at?” I barked at the guy. “Take my men there, and if I get a good report, you might get to live.”
He wasn’t a complete idiot and eagerly agreed, probably thinking Drugov gave enough of a shit about him to stage a rescue operation. He’d be lucky if his boss paid a ransom if one of us didn’t still put a bullet in him before this was all over.
Once he was herded out of the room and on his way to lead some of my crew to get Laurel’s friend, I crouched down beside her chair.
Seeing that her hands were zip-tied, I reached for one of the knives that had been tossed at me.
She flinched when I held it out, only relaxing somewhat when I tucked the blade between the plastic bands and freed her arms.
The sight of the red welts rising on her wrists made me rethink the guy’s chances of living through this, but then I noticed that Laurel was looking at me in silence, utter contempt written all over her face.
Fuck.
“What else did that guy tell you?” I asked.
“Rand’s on his way,” she said, turning away from me. She was starting to check out, but I suspected it was more out of anger than fear. She must have learned a whole lot while that guy waited to collect his payday.
Luk stuck his head in, asking when we were getting out of there.
“We’re not,” I said. “We’re waiting for Rand. I’m dealing with him once and for all.”
Laurel sat up with a gasp. “No, you can’t,” she said. “He’ll kill you.”
“Not if I kill him first.”
Acting like she was uncertain how I would react, she reached for my arm. “Get out of here while you can.”
I laughed bitterly. “Not without you.”
There was no immediate plea to take her with me. She dropped my arm and pressed her hands against her cheeks. “Then take me somewhere safe and leave me there.”
“Not in a million fucking years, Laurel,” I said, starting to get pissed off. Luk retreated in a hurry.
“You don’t know how dangerous he is,” she said, her voice cracking.
She shrank away when I stood, looming over her and shaking my head. “But don’t you know by now that I’m dangerous, too?”