Lying and Kissing (33 page)

I writhed in disgust, trying to hide my nakedness from him, trying to turn over. He put his shoe on my bare shoulder and slammed me back down onto my back, then hunkered down over me. He stared into my eyes, but spoke to Luka.

“First,” he said, “I’m going to fuck her. Then my men will fuck her. Then we’re going to take her to one of our places—you know the sort, Luka. The ones that made you so angry. We’ll chain her up and let the suits play with her. They’ll like a nice American girl. We’ll get her some new dresses, so they can rip them off.
Again and again.
”

Luka thrashed and pulled at the men holding him, almost tearing his hair out by his roots. But they held him fast.

I stared up at Olaf. This wasn’t anything like the games I’d played with Luka. All I felt was sick, cold fear.

Olaf unfastened his belt. “Hold her down.”

The room suddenly burst into light and noise. It was as if dawn had broken in fast-forward, a slice of light sweeping across the floor until it filled the whole room. It was so bright, after the darkness, that I couldn’t see a thing. There was a rumbling like the end of the world and the roar of car engines. I twisted and tried to cover myself, screwing my eyes closed and pulling myself into a tight little ball on my side. For long seconds, all I could hear was gunfire. I prayed for death. That would be better than what they’d been going to do to me.

Running footsteps and shouting in Russian. Then a voice I recognized.

Yuri.

Something soft dropped over me. I opened my eyes.

The first thing I saw was a man I didn’t recognize—one of Olaf’s men, I presumed—lying on the floor just a few feet away. He’d been shot through the head.

I turned away from him, trying not to throw up.

Yuri was standing behind Luka, cutting him free. The last time I’d seen the head bodyguard had been in the car, after the crash. “I thought you were dead,” I croaked.

Yuri grimaced. “Death would have been less painful,” he said. He was bleeding from a cut on his head and I saw that he was using only one arm, the other hanging at an odd angle. Somehow, though, he’d managed to pull off his suit jacket to lay over me.

Free at last, Luka got to his feet and ran to me, sweeping me up into his arms. I looked around, blinking in the sudden light.

We were in a warehouse, as I’d suspected. But now the huge door at one end was open, letting in daylight. Two black SUVs were parked just inside. The whole place was swarming with men in black combat fatigues. Vasiliy had sent an army.

I looked back to Yuri. “How did you…?”

Yuri snorted. “Idiots think I’m dead in car and don’t put bullet in my head. I wake up and you and Luka are gone.” He nodded at Luka. “I track his cell phone and call Vasiliy for backup.”

I looked up at him in wonder. I’d always thought of Yuri as just a big, dumb lunk. I was just realizing he was a superb bodyguard, something he hid behind his dour manner. Probably deliberately.

Yuri caught my look. “Is not—how you say it?—is not my first rodeo.”

Luka looked down at me and tenderly stroked my cheek. He didn’t ask if I was okay—I think he could see that I wasn’t. He just stared into my eyes, his own full of guilt and pain.

One of Vasiliy’s men staggered up to us. “Olaf got out the back.”

Yuri swore and kicked one of the dead bodies. Then he nodded us towards the SUVs. “We go. Before police arrive.”

Luka carried me towards one of the SUVs. I looked around at the devastation as we went. Six dead, two of them Vasiliy’s men. I started to shake in Luka’s arms.

“It’s okay,” he whispered. “It’ll be okay.”

I knew it wouldn’t be. I saw now just how brutal his world could be. Tomorrow, I’d escape it forever...and lose Luka forever. And with Olaf gunning for him like this, I knew it was only a matter of time until this world killed him.

“
Those fucking fucking fucks!”
yelled Vasiliy in Russian. “
Who the fuck do they think they are?!”

The SUVs had taken us directly to his house—Vasiliy had insisted. There was an antique suit of armor at the top of the stairs and I watched as Vasiliy kicked it apart, sending metal clattering down the stairs. “
Fucking fat little jumped up son of a whore thinks he can threaten us?!”

He spun to face me, his chest heaving with rage. “You sure you’re okay?” he asked in English.

I nodded. I was wearing a spare set of combat fatigues which Yuri had found for me. They were enormous and looked ridiculous, but at least they covered me and that made me feel better.

“
No one
,” spat Vasiliy, “messes with my family.” He said it in English and he met my eyes as he said it. There was regret there, beneath the anger. An apology for not trusting me, before. I was one of them, now, and the thought send an unexpected flood of warmth through me.

I’d never really been conscious of how much I missed having a family until that moment. And then I remembered how I was about to betray them, and I wanted to be sick.

“He won’t stop,” said Luka. “Not unless we abandon the gun deal.” His voice didn’t leave any shred of a possibility that that was going to happen. He was as stubborn and as proud as his dad.

Vasiliy started to curse again, talking about payback. Then he remembered me and sighed, shaking his head. “My apologies, Arianna. You do not need to hear this. The maids have prepared a room for you and Luka. Please.”

Being able to take a hot bath to wash Olaf’s touch off me sounded like the best thing in the world. But first, I gave Luka a long hug. “You’ll stay right here?” I asked. “You won’t go off on some stupid revenge attack?”

He touched his forehead to mine and let out a long sigh. “There will have to be retribution. But not tonight,
myshka
. I’ll be here.” He hugged me close and then took my face between his hands. “I never meant to let my life hurt you, Arianna. I’m sorry.”

I felt hot tears welling up in my eyes.
He
was sorry, and I was about to destroy him. I nodded quickly and turned away, trudging up the stairs to the next floor.

I knew that the next morning, just as I ran out on him, he’d be ready to go and attack Olaf and his gang, turning this into a full-on war between the families. Maybe,
maybe
he’d survive the next few days...just long enough for the authorities to arrest him. I actually started to wish that I could betray him sooner. At least in prison, he’d be safe.

Or would he? I knew that the gangs controlled the prisons. Did the Malakovs have the right influence in the right places? Was it better that Luka was shot in a gang war or stabbed to death in a prison yard?

I sighed and shut myself in the bedroom. Like the rest of the house, it was luxuriously appointed. There was a bathroom with a huge corner tub and I immediately ran a deep, hot bath. I stripped off my clothes and climbed in, letting the heat soak into me. It made me feel cleaner on the outside...but it didn’t do anything to lift the deep, dark stain that was spreading through my insides.

I was lying almost completely submerged when a noise from the bedroom startled me. My cell phone ringing. It was in my purse, which had been with me in the car when Olaf had attacked us. Now the purse was on the bed—Yuri must have salvaged it from the wreckage.

I jumped out of the tub, naked and dripping. For Adam to be calling, something must be wrong. Maybe he couldn’t extract me tomorrow. I grabbed the phone and was holding it in my hand, about to answer, when a thought echoed in my head. Something that had been swimming around and around ever since the warehouse.
How did Olaf know where to ambush us?

My phone had been with me in the car. And Adam had told me to make sure I kept it switched on.

He’d tracked me and guided Olaf right to us.

I fell to my knees in defeat as I answered the call.

“Hello, Arianna,” said Adam.

“You’re working with Olaf Ralavich,” I whispered.

I sat there naked, the water drying on my body, as the pieces dropped into place. Vasiliy and his dad had both talked about the “corrupt CIA” who controlled the guns and drugs. It had never occurred to me that it might actually be true.

Adam knew Russia. He’d worked in Moscow for years. When he moved up to head of the Special Activities Division at Langley, he was in the perfect position to help his Russian friends get their guns into the US. Hell, he might have even sought the position for that exact reason. He’d probably been squirreling millions away in Swiss accounts, a cut of every gun deal the Ralavichs had done.

Until he’d heard that the Malakovs were trying to muscle in, of course. Then he’d panicked. He’d needed someone to get information on the deal. Someone utterly disposable, someone too naive and eager to please to question why Malakov was such a high priority.

I’d been a pawn, right from the start. Roberta, Nancy...they’d tried to warn me something was wrong and I’d ignored them.

“You don’t want Luka arrested,” I said. “You never did. You want him dead.”

Adam made a scoffing noise. “I don’t give a shit about Luka. Vasiliy still controls the deals. Without his face and name, the buyers will come running back to Olaf.” He sighed. “Fucking Olaf. I told him trying to scare Vasiliy off wouldn’t work. So we’ll just have to move to plan B.”

“You’re going to kill him,” I whispered in disbelief. “You’re going to kill Vasiliy.”

“No,” said Adam. “You are.”

“After this call,” said Adam, “you’ll take the back off the cell phone and remove the battery. There’s a capsule filled with liquid. You’re going to dump that into Vasiliy’s drink.”

“Poison.”

“A drug. He’ll have a heart attack a few hours later.”

“Never. Jesus, you must know that. You know I won’t do it.”

“Oh, but you haven’t heard the best part,” said Adam. I could hear the victorious smile in his voice. “You haven’t heard what I’ll give you in return.”

“I don’t want it!” I almost shouted it. “Whatever it is, I don’t want it!”

He paused for effect. “You get Luka.”

There was silence for a moment.