Keeping Thyme (Thyme Trilogy) (19 page)

“Okay. We had better get up. Dima will be coming by soon.”

That’s right. Dima is coming to take me and kill me. I watch Tench as he gets out of the bed and walks towards the shower, and I sigh to myself. I need to get out soon before I fall in too deep. Or am I already above my head?

Tench and his
faithful Toni both wait with me at the front of the hotel for Dima to arrive. My heart beat thuds in my ears. I fold my legs together and feel the firearm hidden down in my knee-high boot. My mind runs over the sequence of orders that were sent through from the boss.
Simon should be driving the vehicle. I get in the vehicle and sit with my back to the driver and shoot Dima …
I’m actually going to kill someone.

Tench looks down at his watch. Is he late?

“What’s the time?” I ask as nonchalantly as possible.

“Almost twenty past eleven.” Tench frowns.

I wonder what’s happened? Has something gone wrong with Simon? I hope he’s okay. I know he’s been in the job longer than me, but all of a sudden this feels unfamiliarly dangerous.

“Maybe he’s stuck in traffic?” I try and rationalise for Tench.

He shakes his head. “No, he’s never late.” He pulls his phone from his pocket and starts calling someone.

I press my finger to my right ear and feel the little dot at the back of my helix. I can’t hear Simon or Liz, and I can’t say anything to them with Tench so close
, either. I watch Tench. He doesn’t say a word back to the person down the phone. The conversation ends within seconds and he nods to Toni. They both grab onto one of my arm’s each and rip me back inside the hotel.

“What’s going on?” I ask Tench as soon as we’re inside the hotel.

“Ssssssh. Don’t talk so loud.” He frowns at me, “Let’s go to the suite where I can talk to you
alone
.”

The colour drains from my face. This is it. I am about to meet my fate. Tench wraps his arm around me and ushers me briskly across the foyer. Toni follows behind us. I struggle to keep up as we take the grand staircase to the elevators. My heart is pounding in my ears and I can’t hear a single sound around me. I focus on grabbing my firearm and commanding it to shoot. If Tench knows about me now, I am going to have to kill him and Toni before they kill me.

The moment the doors close on the elevator I prepare to reach down. At the same time, Tench leans down and grabs me. He holds me tight and grips onto me.

“Are you okay
, gorgeous? I’m sorry I scared you like that. You’re okay with me now. Let’s get you upstairs,” Tench whispers into my ear as he holds onto the back of my head.

Did Tench find out about Dima’s intentions for me? What’s going to happen now?

“Joe, you’re scaring me,” I whisper.

“There’s nothing to be scared about now Miss Miranda. We’ve got you covered. You’re safe with me and Joe.”
Toni assures me.

Tench holds me out in front of him and palms the side of my face
.

His lips rest against my forehead and the doors of the elevator open. Toni races through first. Tench grips onto me and I follow him into the suite. Toni meets us at the door and nods to Tench
, and smiles at me. Tench sits on the couch in the living room and jerks me down next to him.

His stony face stairs straight into me
. “Miranda. You know how some of my work is more
family
based than
business
based?” He pauses.

I nod, waiting for what he’s about to tell me.

“Well sometimes in the
family
world, there are other families who want what you’ve got. They do business the hard way. Today, someone was going to kidnap you and Dima and they were going to assassinate Dima and use you for ransom against me.”

I stare at him and try to act surprised, but I knew this.
Hang on.
Only the agency knew this. My mind races for a moment. I stare at the ground and try to piece together the only rational explanation for this.

“I knew this trip was bad idea
, boss.” Toni shakes his head as he makes his way over to the couch.

“How do you know this?” I ask Tench.

“One of Dima’s guys warned him. That was Dima who called. He has been taken to a safe house now until we know more.” Tench stares at me. “I’m sorry you’ve been brought in to all of this. I shouldn’t have let you and Tatiana go out by yourselves yesterday. This is all my fault.” I see the frustration build up within him and he slams his fists down hard on the coffee table in front of him.

The rosewood piece cracks underneath his carnal strength and I jump. Tench gets up abruptly and flips the table halfway across the room. I cower for a moment and quickly compose myself enough to watch him storm out of
there. Toni smiles as apologetically as possible.

“It’s all good
, Toni.” I shrug my coat off. “I can deal with Joe.” I pick up my handbag and make my way to the bathroom.

I find Tench pacing around the bedroom. I drop my handbag and coat down
on the bed and grab onto Tench on his return pace.

“I’m okay. See
?” I hold his face between my hands so that he has to look at me. “You found out before anything happened, so your guys are doing their job.” I try to calm him. “I can do this, Joe. I know what life you live. We’ve known each other for a long time now.”

“Ten years
,” he answers and grips onto me. “I never want you out of my sight.”

“I don’t want to leave you for the remainder of the trip.” I test his statement.

“Well, I still have some work to do, but you will always be with one of my cousins,” he assures me.

“Good idea.” I nod.

Little does Tench realise that I want to stay close to his cousins, too, especially Dima. I need to know every move he has planned for me, and Dima won’t realise his conversations in Russian are being recorded.

The thought of Liz makes me wonder if my brother is okay. I need to get in contact with
her, but I still can’t say anything out loud, and it’s not like she can read my thoughts with this earpiece. I sigh. Tench looks down at me and I look up when I feel his body move around me.

“Are you okay in here by yourself for a moment
, gorgeous? I need to go and speak with Toni.”

I nod
. “Of course. Go. I’ll freshen up.” I encourage him that I’m fine.

I race into the bathroom and press my finger against the helix of my ear and whisper into the mic under my watch, “Liz. Simon. Are you there? We’ve got a rat amongst the ranks. The job is off.” I stand in the doorway of the bathroom to anticipate Tench coming back into the room.

“Secondly, get someone onto Tench’s conversation immediately. I need to know whether they’re onto me or not. I still have a job to do,” I yell-whisper.

“Miranda. It’s Mei-Mei … Simon and Liz are still out. I thought they’d be with you?” Her voice sounds puffed.

“You’re breathing heavy. Where have you been?”

I hear her chuckle once
. “I just ran to the communications room as soon as I heard your voice.”

That makes sense.

“Is someone monitoring the conversation in the room next door to me at the hotel suite?” I quickly ask Mei-Mei.

“Yes we
have agents monitoring it now, why?”

“Does Tench suspect anything?” I whisper.

“We will get back to you. I have to cut the signal now before it gets intercepted. I will get Liz to make contact as soon as she gets in, Miranda.”

The call cuts short and there’s something telling me that there’s something not right about that whole conversation with Mei-Mei.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Tench comes back
into the bedroom just as I come out of the bathroom.

“I’ve got to go for a few hours, but Luka is bringing Tatiana past to get you and take you to the safe
house where Dima is. That way I know you’ll be safe.”

I force a smile out
, but little does he know that the safe house with Dima is probably the least safe place for me to be. I flex my calf muscle and feel my firearm against it inside the boot. I need to be prepared to act quickly if I notice a threat presenting itself. Within minutes Toni comes into the room,

“They’re here
, boss.” Toni tilts his head to ask again if I’m okay. I nod my reply that I am, and he smiles. “Come on, let’s get you down into the car, Miss Miranda.”

“But what if they come after you?” I ask Tench, knowing that there is no threat
to him at all—apart from me.

“Don’t worry about me.” He shakes his head and puts his arm around me once I’ve collected my bag and coat
. “I’ve got Toni and the other guys.” He squeezes me into his hard body.

Tatiana beams her
iridescent smile the moment I step into the back of the Mercedes van. I wonder how much she knows. I scan across to Luka sitting next to her and try to read his face, but get nothing. I hug Tatiana and sit down on the seat in front of them.

“Are you okay
, Miranda?” she asks.

My eyes flick to Luka again.

Luka smiles and speaks. “This is Russia.” He shrugs. “Kidnappings are a little too common. It’s such a shame you had to see this side of our beautiful country.”

“I’ve had a few abduction attempts on me too, but these guys have always taken care of it.” Tatiana smiles.

Her lips are perfectly coated with a bright red lipstick that matches her porcelain skin perfectly. I want to tell her everything the moment I get an opportunity. But what if she’s the rat? What if Tatiana is the one feeding information back to Luka and the rest of the
Bratva
gang? My head swamps itself with theory after theory about who the traitor is. Whoever it is, they are close to my brother, Liz and I, and also the gang. Mei-Mei and Tatiana have both been around us, but only Tatiana has that kind of access to the
Bratva
. There’s no stronger explanation than that.

We arrive at
another old building that’s covered in scaffolding, the scaffolding wrapped in a fibrous cloth to hide the renovations happening within. Luka steps out of the van first and checks the street before reaching in for me to take his hand. Tatiana takes his hand after me and steps up beside me.

We all walk together into a hollowed out building. There is rubble and building materials everywhere. Guards dressed in black carry fully automatic machine guns and wander between the empty rooms of the building.

We take the workers elevator all the way up to the tenth floor and Luka takes us past another set of dilapidated rooms. Finally he slows his pace when we get to a thick reinforced door at the end of a long hallway. The huge Russian Boris stands beside a door there. He opens the door and steps aside while we all enter the room.

Dima watches out the huge floor
-to-ceiling window on the far side and turns to us the moment we step in. He holds his arms out to greet us.

Luka hugs him and pats him on the back
. “Dima how many times have we told you to stay away from the window?”

Dima smiles and shakes his head at Luka before he turns his attention to me.

“Miranda. How can I begin to apologise for this terrible situation we’ve put you in?”

I want to punch him in his grubby face, but instead I smile. Tatiana doesn’t give him the same courtesy. She ignores him completely and carefully sits on the old couch in the corner of the room. I feel far from safe right now
, and my eyes bounce between Dima, the man who wants me dead, and Tatiana, my friend and potential infiltrator. I focus on feeling my pistol in my boot, just to reassure me. Dima and Luka speak to one another in Russian. I regulate my breathing to try and steady my nerves. From the corner of my eye I see Tatiana trying to get my attention so I go and sit next to her on the old couch. Three other men come into the room just as I take a seat. They look down at Tatiana and I and start talking to one another.

“Do you have your gun on you?” Tatiana whispers.

I consider my answer for a moment. What are her motives for wanting to know that? She looks over at me.

“Please don’t tell me you didn’t bring it?” Her furrowing brow quivers.

She looks down at her hands and I see her bottom lip trembling.

“What’s going on?” I whisper back to her.

“There’s something not right about Dima, and he wants Luka and the others out of here. Luka keeps trying to convince him that he needs to stay, but Dima won’t have it. I think he’s going to kill both of us.” She shoots me a glance.

Her tear
-soaked eyes are full of fear. The men stop talking to one another. Tatiana starts shuddering. I put my arm around her.

“I won’t let anything happen to you
. Don’t worry.”