Chapter 11 #3
Chloe sighed. “I’m just a volunteer. I don’t have any administrative responsibilities.
I’m not in any way the official face of the shelter and my name isn’t anywhere as a staff member.
I just give a hand three times a week. Lately, we’ve started a very mild form of group therapy.
Quite a few women come by occasionally, drop-ins from the street, we talk, and it seems to help them.
But the women living there, almost by definition, have taken a decision to leave their spouses.
I didn’t convince anyone to run away, if that’s what you’re thinking. ”
“And the Russian connection, if there is one?” He looked at Mike, then Sam and Harry. “Do you have any Russian connections? Any reason why Russians, or men who’d trained in Eastern Europe, might be after you? Have you protected any Russian women lately?”
Chloe opened her hands helplessly. “I have no idea why Russian men would attack me.”
She shuddered, something deep inside her icy cold and scared.
The attack had plunged her straight into nightmares she thought were behind her, straight into a hell beyond her conscious memories.
The world she’d trod so lightly on, afraid to leave any kind of imprint, had suddenly cracked beneath her feet.
An abyss had opened up, inside a yawning, cruel darkness.
Mike looked at her narrow-eyed, perceiving something.
It was reassuring and also frightening that he saw her so clearly.
Reassuring because she was no longer invisible.
Frightening because a curtain had been pulled back on a world in which she had no defenses at all.
She would never be a Mike, facing danger head on. She’d always be prey.
Something she’d forgotten these past six months.
Chloe shrugged helplessly. “Sorry I can’t be of more help.”
Bill looked down at his notebook, flipped it closed and heaved a huge sigh and rose.
He was almost as tall as Sam. Chloe had to crane her neck to meet his eyes.
“Okay then. Well, we’ll try to interrogate this guy as soon as he can talk some, or at least write down info.
” He shot Mike a hard-eyed look, which Mike shot right back.
“But I told you I’m not holding out hope.
If we’re talking Russian mafiya, he’ll be as hard as nails.
He’ll never talk because whatever we do to him will be less terrifying than what his bosses will do to him. In the meantime, keep an eye on Chloe.”
“On it.” Mike squeezed her shoulders again as Harry and Sam muttered, “Oh, yeah.”
“And Chloe, keep your eyes peeled and if you remember anything, anything at all, call me. We don’t know whether they wanted to intimidate you, kidnap you or, eventually, kill you. So…be careful. And be careful who you’re with.”
It occurred to Chloe for the first time that, though she wasn’t alone in facing the danger, she was dragging not only Harry and Sam into her problems, but Ellen and Nicole. And, worse, Gracie and Merry.
She loved those two little girls with all her heart. If anything happened to them because of her…
“We’ll see you out, Bill,” Ellen said, with a nod to Nicole. Nicole stood up a little awkwardly, with the help of her husband’s huge hand. They were walking Bill out, but they were also leaving the men to make their arrangements.
“She’s with me,” Mike said in a hard voice to his two brothers. “I hope I made that clear. And I’ll be on it 24/7.”
“You have to work, Mike,” Chloe said gently.
She was touched to her core by his willingness to put his life completely on the line.
Whatever those two men—Russian or not—were, whatever they wanted, they represented a nebulous threat that had no ending in sight.
“You can’t put your whole life on hold.”
“I can,” he said fiercely. “And I will. If you have to go out and I absolutely can’t be with you, I’m seconding Barney. He’s good. No one’s going to get past him.”
Whoever this Barney was, he had Harry and Sam’s approval. They both nodded. Then they got into a long, involved discussion of shifts and vehicle inspection rotations, carjacking deterrents…Chloe tuned out. She was exhausted. Her arm hurt and she had bruises all over.
Nothing to be hospitalized over, but the pain that had been like a background noise suddenly pinged to life.
Right in the middle of the discussions, Mike rose, went into Harry’s kitchen and came back out with a glass of water and two pills in his huge hand.
“Here, honey.” He continued where he’d left off with his brothers.
Chloe gratefully took the pills. Fifteen minutes later, the pain had eased off and she was in a mild haze that felt just great. The men’s deep voices were a far-off hum.
“Okay.” Mike clapped his hands and her eyes popped open. An hour had passed. “We’re clear. Harry’s going to brief Barney. Bill’s going to continue trying to trace the vehicle the two men left and will keep us in the loop. Chloe, honey? Time to go.”
Mike took her hand, stood and helped her up.
Chloe stood too and looked at her brother and at Sam. Sam kept his face expressionless. Harry looked at her with love and worry in his eyes. “Chloe? Sweetheart?”
Mike was steamrolling her, no doubt about that. His stance was aggressive as he faced his two brothers, arm around her shoulders, holding her tightly to him.
He was clearly perfectly prepared to fight to be the one who was her prime protector.
Harry and Sam were there, willing and able, but Mike was right.
They had other responsibilities, to their wives, to their children.
Sam’s wife was going to give birth any day now.
Her previous delivery had been hard and she’d bled a lot. He wouldn’t want to leave her side.
Quite right.
Chloe shook a little. However it had happened, she’d re-entered the dark world of male violence once again.
She had no doubt that she needed a protector. Pretending otherwise would be foolish beyond words. She had no tools and no weapons against men like those who had come after her.
Mike was right when he said he didn’t have divided loyalties. But there was something else. He’d defended her without hesitation, without any sense of danger to himself. He’d faced two deadly men head-on. He’d risked his life for her.
In the most primordial way possible, he’d fought for her and in the most primitive way possible, she was his. There was also one more factor in this, one she kept close to her heart.
She loved him.
Chloe reached up to squeeze Mike’s hand and looked at her brother, Harry, and at Sam. “I’m with Mike,” she said.