Chapter 4 #2
She was hauled across the floor toward what looked like an office.
The longer she was in the company of the two goons and the mastermind behind…whatever this was, the lower her chances of escape. Igor hadn’t joined them inside, had probably already driven off to dupe some other poor unsuspecting tourist.
The office door slammed behind her, and Alaska was shoved toward a small couch.
She managed to catch herself so she didn’t smack her face against the nasty-looking cushions.
Immediately turning, she stared at the three men.
Were they going to rape her now? Beat her up? She began to shake with fright.
The man in charge sat in a chair behind a desk and began to type on a computer.
Several minutes went by with no one saying a word.
She might as well have been a piece of furniture for all they cared.
But Alaska much preferred that to the alternative.
Her heartbeat hadn’t slowed since waking in the van and she felt sick with the amount of adrenaline coursing through her veins.
She had to do something. If she sat there like a scared little girl, she was going to be sent to China to be some man’s sex toy.
“I’m married,” she blurted suddenly, her voice sounding very loud in the too-quiet room.
The whirring of machinery could be heard from out on the floor, but Alaska had a feeling even if she screamed her head off, no one would come to investigate what was happening.
She was on her own, and it was a very scary feeling.
The man behind the desk smirked and leaned back in his chair. “No, you aren’t,” he said after a moment.
“I am,” Alaska insisted.
“Then where’s this husband of yours? Why would he let his wife wander around Russia on her own? Doesn’t seem likely. You aren’t wearing a wedding ring either. If I had a wife, she’d be at home where she belonged. How do you Americans say it…? Barefoot and pregnant?”
Alaska hated this man with every fiber of her being. But she knew turning into a shrew wouldn’t help her right now. Especially given how he obviously viewed women.
“I didn’t bring my jewelry to Russia because I didn’t want it to draw anyone’s attention or be stolen.
And Drake’s back in the States. He has a business there.
I’m supposed to join him after I finish a job in Switzerland, where I work.
I’d never been to Russia and had always heard such great things.
So I decided to take one last trip before going home to him. ”
“I don’t believe you,” the man said, eying her intensely.
“I can call him. He’ll pay double what the guy in China is to get me back.”
That got the man’s attention. “He’ll pay two million American dollars for you?” he asked.
Holy shit. She was so screwed. Alaska’s heart fell, but she nodded anyway.
“And what’s this husband’s name?”
“Drake. Drake Vandine. He owns a resort in New Mexico that makes a lot of money. He’ll pay to free me. I guarantee it.”
She had no idea what kind of money Drake made. She knew better than most that a business could look successful from the outside, while in reality, be barely scraping by. But Drake had told her if she ever needed him, all she had to do was ask.
Two million dollars was a hell of a lot to ask—but she was willing to take the chance.
The man in charge steepled his fingers under his chin and stared at her for a long moment. It was all Alaska could do not to squirm under his gaze.
“Why? You are not pretty. You’re forgettable. Why would this man pay for you?”
The first thing that popped into Alaska’s head was…I have no earthly idea. But she couldn’t say that.
“He loves me,” she blurted.
To her surprise, the man threw back his head and laughed.
Hard. When he had himself under control, his gaze bore into hers.
“Love doesn’t exist,” he said flatly. “It’s a pathetic emotion men have used to control women for centuries.
All we need is a hole to stick our dicks in and we’re happy.
And you have three perfectly good holes my client is eager to fill as often and in any way that he wants.
You think this Drake will pay to get you back? Prove it.”
Alaska’s heart was pounding so hard, she was sure she was two seconds away from a heart attack, but she nodded anyway. “How?” she asked.
“Bring her here,” the man ordered his henchmen.
Before Alaska insisted she could walk on her own, her arms were once more grabbed and she was hauled upright and brought over to the desk.
“What’s his number?” the man asked. “This Drake who will pay two million dollars for pussy?”
“I…I don’t know it. I mean, it’s programmed into my phone in my purse, which I assume is still in the van.” The skeptical look on the evil man’s face nearly brought Alaska to her knees. She had to think fast. “But his resort in New Mexico is called The Refuge. There’s a number. I can call that.”
The man leaned forward and clicked buttons on the keyboard, obviously looking up The Refuge.
Alaska hated that he’d now know where Drake worked, but it couldn’t be helped.
She mentally kicked herself for not memorizing his cell number.
Relying on technology was too easy. She hadn’t really had a reason to know his number by heart.
All she had to do was click on his name. Stupid. So stupid.
The man reached over and hit a series of buttons on a phone sitting on the desktop. Alaska could hear the ringing through the speaker.
“You have four minutes to convince this Drake to pay up,” the man told her.
Alaska nodded immediately. The vomit that had been sitting in the back of her throat threatened to come up once again and she ruthlessly swallowed it back. She didn’t think the man would appreciate her puking all over his cheap wooden desk.
As the phone rang, Alaska tried to figure out what to say that would get her out of this situation. Before she’d decided, a female voice came over the line.
“Thank you for calling The Refuge. How can I help you?”
“I need to speak to Drake. It’s an emergency.”
“Drake? Who’s Drake? Is he a guest?” the woman asked chirpily.
The smug look on the man’s face in front of her made Alaska flush, but she didn’t give him a chance to cut the connection.
“Brick. Drake is Brick. Please. Tell him it’s his wife calling and I really, really need to talk to him immediately.”
“Oh! Brick.” The woman chuckled. “Sorry, no one around here uses the guys’ real names. If you can hold, I’ll find him for you.”
“Thank you,” Alaska said. Then added, “I’m calling from overseas so the faster you can get him on the line, the better.”
“Will do, honey. Just hang on.”
Then a Muzak version of “Beat It” by Michael Jackson began to play over the line.
To her relief, her kidnapper seemed to be willing to see how this ended. He leaned back once again and put his hands behind his head as he grinned. “This is kind of fun,” he told her. “Now we wait to see how your beloved reacts to you asking for two million dollars.”
Alaska would’ve already fled if she’d been able to.
It didn’t matter that she was in the middle of who knows where in Russia, didn’t speak the language, and was surrounded by three of the scariest men she’d ever met.
She would’ve attempted escape if she wasn’t still in the grip of the two goons by her side.
She had nowhere to run. Nowhere to go. If Drake didn’t come through for her, she was as good as dead.
Brick was chatting amiably with his guests.
It was a good day with an equally good group.
They’d been eager to hear stories about the land around them and content to hike at a sedate pace, the excursion lasting about four hours.
More than long enough for Melba’s routine vet appointment to be completed.
He had arranged for a light snack for everyone at one of the stops along the trail.
The view was spectacular and everyone seemed to be in great spirits.
They were about five minutes from the lodge when his phone began to vibrate with the emergency tone all the owners had programmed into their phones.
He immediately tensed. The last time he’d received an emergency alert was when one of the guests had locked himself in his cabin because he was having a flashback and thought he was about to be overrun by armed terrorists.
Looking at the screen, he saw the SOS message was from Pipe.
He turned to the guests, apologized for having to run off, literally, and told them to take their time getting back as he set off at a jog toward the lodge. He clicked on Pipe’s name as he ran.
“Where are you?” Pipe asked when he answered.
“About three minutes away. What’s happening?”
“Your wife is on the phone and wants to talk to you,” Pipe said.
For a moment, Brick was confused. His wife? What the hell? He wasn’t married. But the very next thought in his brain made him stumble on the path.
The only person who would dare claim to be his wife was Alaska. Although their code word had been fiancé, it was basically the same thing.
“Where is she? What’s wrong?” he asked.
“You know who it is?”
“Yes,” Brick said shortly.
“Right. Becky got a call from someone claiming to be your wife and needing to talk to you. She said it was an emergency and that she was overseas, and if you could hurry it would be good.”
Adrenaline flooded Brick’s system.
“She asked for Drake, and Becky didn’t know who she was talking about until she clarified.”
“Did Becky say that I wasn’t married?” Brick asked.
“No.”
“Thank fuck!” he muttered.
“She said she thought it was weird, but since we’ve told her that the customer is always right—which you and I know is bullshit, but whatever—she just went with it.
Said she assumed it was someone trying to get to you any way possible.
People don’t usually call the commercial line asking to speak to any of us by name. ”
“It’s Alaska,” Brick told his friend. He could see the lodge now.
“How do you know without talking to her?”