Leverage (22 page)

Sidorov spent the next fifteen minutes on the phone while Ezra tried to calm me down, not that there was anything he could say or do that would make me feel any better. Images of Hannah being held against her will continued to flash through my mind. My God, she was almost full-term. I feared not only for Hannah, but for our child, as well. These people had just beheaded a man. They had no sense of human decency. They knew no boundaries.

My only hope was that they planned on using her to negotiate some kind of deal, which meant they would need her alive. But that didn’t mean they wouldn’t hurt her, or the baby, to influence my cooperation. My gut twisted at the thought of how far they might be willing to go to expedite that end. With my head in my hands, I groaned aloud.

Maks crossed the room and patted my shoulder. “Come on, Ty, it’s time to go. Conner’s been released. He’s in custody downstairs.”

With my elbows still on my knees, I glanced up. “What about Hannah?”

He waved me up. “We’re working on it, but for now, we’ve got to get you out of here.”

I stood and faced him. “I’m not going anywhere until I know what the FBI plans on doing to find my wife.”

“I’m trying to figure that out, but I can’t until I know you and Conner are under guard somewhere else, away from the public.”

“Where then?” I asked.

“We have a safe house in West Seattle just off Alki. You’ll have two agents on you at all times. Just until we locate Hannah, then we’ll move you again. All right?”

He stared while I wrestled with the part of myself that told me to run straight back to Rush Hour. But, with Aaron’s murder and a bullseye now on his back, I couldn’t imagine Greg still being there. So I gave up what little control I thought I might have and nodded.

With a heavy sigh, I followed Maks to the door. Ezra brought up the rear, his hand a comforting touch at by back. Maks knocked and a single door cracked open, allowing him and the gorilla guarding it to exchange a quick nod. King Kong mumbled into his cuff and signaled with a wave. Two seconds later, another lineman appeared at his side. They pushed the double doors wide, and Maks passed between them. He glanced over his shoulder and waved me to follow. His apes closed in on my left and right, each with a hand above my elbow as they bulldozed me through the chattering hallway crowd.

With all four men surrounding me, I could barely see where we were going. I was swept down the switchback of the emergency stairwell and into the entry lobby. Conner stood stuffed in a corner near the front doors with yet a third colossal suit guarding him. Even at six-one, Conner had to teeter on his tiptoes and wave back and forth just to peer around his sizeable escort who stood in front of him with his legs spread, his arms slightly raised, and his hands stretched wide to keep Conner in place. The boy’s battered face turned from curious to angry when he spied me marching toward him with my own wall of well-dressed protectors surrounding me. Maks tapped Conner’s guard over and stepped to the side so I could face my stepson head-on.

“What the fuck is going on?” he hissed, the look from his guardian warning him to speak quietly.

“Just precautions, for our safety,” I answered, knowing I had a lot of explaining to do.

“From what?” Conner insisted.

Maks waved a low hand between us as he glanced around the lobby. “Not now,” he said. “We have to move.” Then he glanced up at his men. “You ready?” he asked, and they each nodded without a single word. “Let’s roll,” Maks finished and swept on ahead.

Careful of the boy’s casted arm, Conner’s man pulled him from the corner and pushed him in line behind Maks, with me and my defenders hot on his heels, and Ezra still at my back. The heads and eyes of all four agents swept back and forth as they rushed us through the front entry and into a long, black SUV idling curbside, its windows glazed with an ebony shield.

With Maks in the front passenger seat and Conner stuffed into the third row with his sentry, I was left sandwiched between my two hulks in the center row, leaving Ezra standing alone out on the sidewalk as both doors closed in his face. Maks slid his sunglasses onto the thin bridge of his nose and rolled his window down halfway.

“Thank you for your assistance today, Mr. Toller,” he said. “I’m sorry about Moody. I know you were friends.”

Ezra pressed his lips together. “Yes, we were,” he replied. “You take care of this family, Agent Sidorov. They meant a lot to Aaron.” With a solemn tap to the side of the vehicle, Ezra stepped away.

Maks nodded then signaled the driver to proceed. He rolled up his window, sealing us into the dead-quiet of the armored SUV. Then we were off.

“Would someone please tell me what the hell is going on?” Conner demanded.

Maks peered at me over the top of his sunglasses then started chatting quietly into his mobile phone as his eyes moved forward again. Our chaperones sat mute beside us. Conner pulled the back of my seat as he sat forward, his face inches from my ear.

“You better start talking,” he warned. “No more secrets.”

With a sigh and my eyes straight forward, I started telling Conner a limited version of my involvement with the Russian Mafia, sharing only what was pertinent and explaining that I thought his boss, Greg, and friend, Nova, were somehow involved, along with our neighbor, Roman, and God only knew who else.

“What about Mom?” he asked. “And Katy. Are they gonna meet us?”

I turned and stared Conner in the eye, shook my head, my lips pressed tight. “No, son. They’re not,” I admitted. “My friend, Aaron, the FBI agent? We spoke just before your hearing. He arranged for Mr. Toller and was sending a team to pick up your mum and Katy. But…” I dropped my head for a moment. “They weren’t there when Aaron’s team showed up.”

Conner snorted. “Well…where the fuck are they? You told them to wait, right? Mom knew what was going on?”

I nodded. “Yes, but…something must have happened. Your mum’s car and purse were still there, but there was no sign of either of them. And the house was…torn up. There was some…blood and—”

“What?” he cried, his hand atop his head. “Where is she? What did your friend say?”

I scrubbed both hands down my face. “Aaron is, um…he’s…he’s been…um…” I shook my head as tears gathered. I took a deep breath, and turned back to Conner. “Agent Moody is dead. He was murdered just after we last spoke.”

Conner’s brow pulled down tight above his eyes, and his lips moved without any words coming out. He rocked his head from side to side as he looked from me to each of the agents then back again. He pressed his fingers to his forehead.

I reached over the seatback and gently grabbed his wrist. “We’ll find them, Conner, your mum and Katy. Agent Sidorov is working on it now and—”

“You don’t know that!” he wailed and pulled free. “You don’t know anything. None of these guys do. You don’t know if they’re dead or alive or—”

“Yes, I do, son. They want
me
, and they need Hannah to get to me. They’re not going to throw away the one piece of leverage they have.”

“Leverage?” he asked in disbelief. “Is that what we are—
all
we are—leverage?”

“I’m sorry, but…to them…yes.”

“You’re sorry?” he repeated. “You’re fucking unbelievable. That’s what you are.” He turned his head and stared out the side window. “I always knew there was something fucked up about you.” He snorted and shook his head one more time. “Now I know.”

“Conner—”

“Not now,” Maks ordered. “We’re getting ready to move inside.”

I twisted in my seat and looked around. The SUV idled in a long driveway at a house at the end of a cul-de-sac. The garage door opened and the truck pulled inside, the door closing once again behind us. The engine cut and Sidorov popped his door open, as did the agents on either side of me. I was pulled from the seat and ushered into the house behind Maks. There were two more suits inside the home, both normal-sized like Maks. Sidorov approached them in a low whisper, and nods were exchanged between all six agents.

The three linemen shuttled back out to the SUV. The garage door opened again and the vehicle reversed into the driveway as the door retreated into its closed position. I turned back into the room, my eyes scanning each of the remaining three agents.

Maks raised an arm toward his colleagues. “Tyler, Conner, this is Agent Rick O’Day,” he said, indicating the older of the two gentlemen, a fortyish man with intense blue eyes and close-cropped hair. In stone-faced silence, Agent O’Day reached his hand out to me first, then Conner, who simply raised his casted right arm in explanation. O’Day let his hand drop back to his side.

“And his partner, Agent William Ford,” Maks continued, presenting a fresh-faced young man, undoubtedly still in his twenties, with hair and eyes the exact same shade of brown and dressed impressively in a well-tailored black suit.

“Call me Liam, please,” Agent Ford replied with a genuine grin and a warm handshake.

I nodded. “I’m Ty, and this is my stepson, Conner.”

Maks clapped his hands then rubbed them together. “All right, listen closely,” he said to me and Conner. “You two are not to leave this house until you hear from me. Agents O’Day and Ford will take the first shift with one inside and the other outside the house at all times. They’ll take care of all your needs. I hope to have your family reunited within a day or two. At that point, we’ll move you all to another location and work on a permanent solution. For now, though, just hang tight while I work on finding Hannah and Ms. Holender. No sending or receiving phone calls. In fact, both of you, give me your phones,” he ordered with his hand out.

“No way, Maks. What if Hannah calls or whoever has her? I want to be able to negotiate directly,” I insisted.

He shook his head. “Absolutely not. That’s our job. The agents here will hold your phones and determine if you can use them should the occasion arise. But we don’t want them turned on. That could give anyone the ability to triangulate your position. So hand them over,” he repeated with both hands out and his fingers curling in urgency.

Conner handed his iPhone over. “It’s off,” he said, explaining he hadn’t had time to power it up after he was released then summarily picked back up by the FBI.

I pulled my mobile out and checked it for messages. Finding nothing new, I turned it off and placed it in Sidorov’s hand. He handed both devices to Agent O’Day who deposited them into a locked briefcase. Maks motioned toward the family room.

“Make yourselves comfortable,” he urged. “This could take a while, but I’m confident we’ll get it sorted out and your women back where they belong. I’ll check in often with updates and to see how you’re doing. But if you need me, don’t hesitate to have my men call.”

Conner huffed in disgust and plopped down onto the old sofa, his arms slung over his middle and his legs bouncing at warp speed. Maks and Agent O’Day spoke a quick word with Agent Liam then left together through the front door. I watched them between the blinds at the front window. Maks jumped into the black SUV and took off, while O’Day slid behind the wheel of a non-descript car parked in the street out front of the house.

I peered up the narrow lane, lighted only by one dim streetlamp. I couldn’t see any other vehicles or even other homes or driveways. We seemed to be pretty isolated with the house set back into the trees and no visible neighbors or cars.

I released the blinds back into place and started pacing around the family room. Liam had settled into a worn recliner and was channel surfing with the TV remote. Conner continued to simmer and twitch from his spot on the sofa, but grew impatient when our guard settled on an old rerun of Law and Order. He stood up and wandered into the kitchen, where he opened cabinet doors, stared into their empty abyss then slammed them shut again. The maneuver was repeated with the refrigerator and pantry.

Finally, Conner leaned over the edge of the breakfast bar and watched me pace back and forth. Anger and resentment radiated from his burning eyes. I wanted to explain fully, to ease his fears and dampen his rage, but my head was too consumed with Hannah and what she might be going through. It was all I could do to remain closed up in the FBI’s house while I knew Hannah was anything but safe. I chewed my nails until the cuticles bled, and sighed when it proved no relief. Conner started tapping his fingers against the chipped ceramic tile, his eyes sweeping back and forth, following me.

“So…what do these people want anyway?” he asked quietly, his eye momentarily drawn to Liam, probably to make sure he couldn’t hear us.

I glanced up at him briefly as I passed, but kept pacing. “I don’t know.”

“Well, why use
us
to get to
you
? Why not just go to you directly?”

I stopped and captured his intense gaze. “Like I said, leverage. If they’re anything like the people I dealt with back in San Francisco, then they think nothing of using family to get their enemies to do what they want.”

“But what is that exactly?”

“I. Don’t. Know,” I stressed more clearly. “I don’t really know who these people are or how they’re connected to the
Bratva
,
if
they’re even connected at all.”

“If? Like it could possibly be anyone else.” He rounded the end of the bar and leaned back against it. “Who the fuck are you anyway? I mean, who the hell gets mixed up with Russian mobsters?”

I told him about my father and how his testimony had set off this entire ordeal years ago. I shared some of Nick’s history and my attempts to free him from the Russians’ grip, which only culled their wrath against me. Conner nodded with each detail and seemed to simmer down, his rage waning by the slightest degree.

“Fine, I get all that, but…you still haven’t explained how my mother got involved.”

“I’m sorry. That’s something only your mum has the right to share.”

He snickered. “What does
that
mean?”

“Means it’s highly personal and involves your father. It’s not my place to explain.”

I knew it was a total cop-out to fall back on that for an excuse, but it wouldn’t help either of us for him to know the full story, and I knew Hannah wouldn’t want him to know anyway. It would only serve to tear our haphazard little family further apart.