RYDER: A Standalone Military Romance (Blake Security Book 1) (14 page)

The first one dropped his. “Kick it away.” He did as I told him. “Now get on your stomach and tell your buddy in about five seconds I’m going to shoot you if he’s not on his.” He grabbed his buddy’s arm as he dropped down to his knees. The other guy gave in and tossed his gun about six feet away before they both lay down on their bellies. I went over and picked up their weapons. Then before I got on the plane, I took the guns off of the two writhing on their backs on the pavement.

“You’re just going to leave us here?” One of them grunted out.

“I’ll call 9-1-1. You boys have a nice day…Oh! Welcome to the U.S. of A.” 

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

RYDER

              “You’re a pretty good flyer.” We were about ten thousand feet in the air. The plane we were riding in was an old parachute plane, so it had a hatch on the side that I’d left open. Abrahem was flying, and Abel was sitting across from me staring at me like I was an idiot even though he was the one with the gun pointed at his head.

              “Thanks, bro. This is my first solo.” I tried to keep a straight face as I watched Abel’s change slightly.

              “Really, man?”

              “Yeah, and I haven’t really even had any formal training. When I was a kid in Iraq, we used to go out to the airport on Saturday nights and hotwire the planes…”

              “Oh, will you two buffoons just shut up already!” I heard Abrahem snicker, as I glanced back at Abel.

              “You’re on a plane with an open door and a gun pointed at your head, you know that, right? I mean, if it were me I’d be nicer.”

              “You have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself into here.”

              “Oh, I think I do. Just because you’re a legend in your own mind doesn’t mean the rest of us feel the same. As a matter of fact, I think that pushing you out that door would be doing a public service to my fellow man. The only thing stopping me is that I need you to make sure those bulldogs that follow you around sniffing your butt have their orders to back off of Alicia.”

              He rolled his eyes and snorted. “Right, I’ll tell them to leave her alone as soon as she gives me what is mine.”

              “What is yours? You talk about your own child like she’s a piece of property.”

              “She told you she kidnapped our child?” He ran his eyes over me and said, “I guess you must be…”

              “Don’t say it, man. It’s already taking everything inside of me not to throw you out that door. But, if you say anything nasty about Alicia, I just might not be able to control myself any longer. To answer your question though, she told me that she removed her child from an environment that would very likely be detrimental to her. That just sounds like plain old good parenting to me.”

              “It sounds like…what is it called here, a felony?”

              I laughed. “Only if you’re around to testify. I have a feeling that you won’t be.”

              “You won’t kill me.”

              “What makes you so sure? I’m sitting here right now just itching to prop you up in front of that open door and put a bullet in you. Then I’d sit there on the edge of the plane and watch you fall until you’re out of sight. See, I’ve put a lot of thought into this.”

I started to move toward him and Abrahem called out over his shoulder, “Ryder! Blake said you can’t kill him yet—unless you have to.”

              “You wouldn’t lie and say I had to?”

              “Eh, maybe for a price. But won’t it be more fun to wait and kill him in front of Alicia?”

              “You have a point.”

That earned us another, “Shut up you buffoons!” Abrahem and I both laughed.

Our flight was just over half an hour. We landed at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi. Being ex-military afforded us a lot of advantages. I warned Abel that he was surrounded by military men, and if he tried anything stupid, he would be shot on site. I herded him out of the plane and into one of the training buildings closest to us. The base was used as a training facility, and Blake was told by his contact that these buildings would be mostly empty today. While I got Abel comfortable, Abrahem turned the borrowed plane back over to the Angel Flight team. When he showed up several minutes later, he had two sodas in one hand and a bag that smelled like bacon in the other.

“You brought lunch?”

“Angel flight guys had some breakfast burritos.” He opened one bag and stuck his nose inside. He wrinkled it and said, “Bacon. It’s yours.”

I took it happily. I hadn’t even realized I was starving until I smelled the pork.

“Ah, this one is mine. It’s beautifully vegan.” It was my turn to wrinkle my nose at him. I started to take a bite of mine when Abrahem said, “What about him?” He tossed his head in the direction of Abel, who was now restrained in a chair with a pair of plastic cuffs on his wrists and ankles.

“He’s fine. I’m sure he just ate before he left Russia twelve hours ago.”

“It was sixteen hours,” he said. “But yes, I did just eat a very nice meal on the plane.”

“So happy to hear it,” I told him sarcastically with my mouth full.

Abrahem sat down, and we ate silently while Abel glared at us both. Blake was supposedly on his way, but it was over an hour after we landed before he finally showed up. He had two men in suits in tow. They looked like FBI or CIA to me. “This is him?” he said, glancing at Abel.

“That’s him.”

“Typical small man that has to beat up women to make himself feel big.”

“Who the hell are you?”

“Next to this guy here,” Blake cocked his head at me, “I’m your worst nightmare. My name’s Blake Donovan, and these gentlemen here are Special Agents Hanson and Bright. They have a few things they’d like to discuss with you, starting with an explosion that happened over in New Orleans last week.”

“Kiss my ass.”

“Wrong answer,” Blake said. “Ryder would you mind showing our guests in?”

“Not at all.” I went over and opened the door for Alicia and Aleks. Abel was trying to keep a straight face, but it wasn’t working for him.

“That’s the one you need to be arresting right there,” he said. “She kidnapped my daughter, and I’m sure he helped her. Where is she?”

Alicia looked him in the eye and said, “You’ll never see her again. Me, on the other hand…you’ll be seeing a lot of me as I testify against you in court.”

He snorted. “Right.”

“She’s serious,” Aleks said, “and so am I.”

Abel narrowed his eyes at Aleks and then turned to one of the FBI agents. “Exactly what is it you think you have on me? I haven’t committed any crimes in the United States.”

“Well, like Mr. Donovan said, there are the arson charges and Charles Bonaparte’s murder.” He looked at his watch and back at Abel. “Our witness is in route now from Moscow. I can’t promise anything, but I’d be willing to bet that once he gets here he’ll remember a lot of other things. I’m sure he wouldn’t want you getting out of jail any time soon.”

“I’m a Russian citizen.”

“True. We’ll see how many charges we can manage, and then a judge will decide whether or not to hold you over for trial or deport you.” Abel looked like he was about to smile, and the agent went on, “When you return to Russia, you’ll be charged in the murders of Karissa Melua and Bennie Gorev.”

“Who the hell is Bennie Gorev?”

“He’s one of the men who beat up your wife at your behest and then paid for it with his life. Personally, I don’t believe he deserves justice, but if getting you for his murder gets you off the streets, well, then it was all worth it.” Bennie and Karissa’s bodies had both been found thanks to information Aleks gave. Blake relayed that info to Vlad, who took the authorities to the location. Aleks agreed to go back to Russia and testify. He and his sister had both had enough.

“None of it will hold up.”

“We’ll see,” Blake said. “In the meantime, it could take years of shuffling you back and forth between Moscow and the States while it all gets sorted out.”

Abel turned on Alicia then. “You bitch! This was all you. If you had just done as you were told, none of this would have happened. Where is my daughter?”

Spit flew out of his mouth as he screamed at her. I was clenching my fists but still willing to let it pass until he took a step toward her and said, “You’re trash just like your mother.”

I wouldn’t normally hit a guy with his hands cuffed behind his back, but this guy was begging for it. When my fist connected with his face, it actually felt good. Maybe I should be ashamed of that, but I wasn’t. I looked down on him—and even as blood poured out of his nose, the arrogant S.O.B. started to open his mouth again. He was at least smart enough to reconsider. The F.B.I. agents pulled him to his feet, put him in real cuffs, and took him away before somebody else lost it on him again…maybe me.

RYDER

“I’m so nervous.” Almost a month later Alicia and I stood outside of the senator's home. When Blake told me the man who was willing to take Natalia and pretend like she was one of his granddaughters was Senator Dante Slade, I hadn’t believed it at first. This guy was a former D.A. in New Orleans, and one of the toughest on crime we’d ever had. I guess—in a sense—that proved what she’d done hadn’t been a crime at all. It did require a lot of favors on our end to get the F.B.I. to pretend they knew nothing about the child and a lot of back and forth with our new friend Vlad in Russia to get all of the legal documents sent over. Now, as far as anyone needed to be concerned, the baby had been in Russia with Alicia’s mom this whole time. Other than the ranting’s of the mad man Abel in jail that was the story everyone was sticking to. Aleks had spoken to their mother, and whatever he’d said to her had worked. She not only agreed to the story, she also agreed to talk to the authorities about Abel. She hadn’t given in and said she’d testify yet, but it was a start.

“She’s going to be so excited to see you,” I said. I didn’t know that. I didn’t know anything about it. I just so desperately wanted her to be happy.

She smiled and squeezed my hand. “That’s sweet, but she was so little when I sent her away. She won’t even remember me. She’s going to feel like I’m taking her away from her parents…her family.” A slow tear rolled out of her eye and down her cheek. I reached up with my free hand and wiped it away.

“The hardest part is over, beautiful. You can do this, and I’ll be right here by your side while you work it out.”

She nodded and sucked in a deep breath before we started toward the door. Before we got to the door, it was pulled open by a tall man with silver hair and a kind face. The senator was dressed in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, but I recognized him from his pictures and television. It’s funny how a man that struck fear into the hearts of so many in court for so long now simply looked like a kindly grandfather. He took one look at Alicia and opened his arms to her. I let go of her hand and she folded into them. He just held onto her for a few minutes and then gently nudged her back and looked at her face. “Why are you crying? This is a happy day!”

She smiled. “I’m just so nervous.”

“Listen,” he said, leading her away from the door slightly. “This won’t be easy for the kids to understand, any of them. It will also be quite an adjustment for my wife and I. We love her the same as we do the other girls. But she belongs with her mother—and somehow, we’ll work it all out. I know that you won’t keep her from us, so we’ll just be adding to our family, not taking away from it, right?” She nodded, and he hugged her again. Then he said, “Now dry up those tears. We don’t want to scare her.”

She wiped her face and pasted on a smile as he led us into the house. We had barely made it through the grand foyer when three little girls ran in screaming and giggling. The two older ones were toe heads with blue eyes the color of their grandfather’s. The youngest one was a petite little thing with jet-black hair, chocolate brown eyes, and tan skin. The girls stopped as soon as they saw us. The middle one looked up at me and said, “Grandpa, it’s a giant!”

We all laughed, and the senator introduced us. Alicia flinched slightly as he introduced Natalia as “Rebecca Rose,” but I almost saw her melt when the little girl looked up at her and smiled. She had a deep dimple on one side of her mouth like her mother. If I live to be a hundred years old, it will still amaze me that an evil man like Abel Rapava could have taken any part in making this perfect child. “Let’s go into the living room; Mrs. Slade is waiting there for us.” The girls took off running again. Alicia followed them with her eyes on Natalia the whole time. This was going to be a hard adjustment, but the look of awe in her eyes when she saw her child told me that somehow it would all be okay.

RYDER

              I sat in the back of the courtroom during Abel’s arraignment on arson and murder charges. Moscow wanted him badly, but our new D.A. had a meeting with our state senator, and suddenly he’d wanted him just as badly. Moscow would have to wait. I saw Matt and Julia Branson in the front row. I hadn’t seen either of them since the day Matt fired Alicia and me and announced they were leaving for Italy. Of course, Celia wasn’t with them in court, but it reminded me when I saw them of how much I’d missed her. Alicia talks about her all the time. After court is over, maybe I can talk them into just arranging a little visit.

              “Mr. Rapava, you’re being charged with one count of arson using an explosive device, one count of trespassing, and murder in the first degree, how do you plead?”

              “I plead insanity on this entire court, your Honor. This is completely insane! I wasn’t even in the country when that garage blew up or the driver died. What kind of backwoods justice system is this?”

              “Shall I take that as a not-guilty plea?” the judge asked, dryly.

              “Yes! I’m not guilty!”

              “Thank you. Since the defendant is not a U.S. citizen, he will be remanded to custody without bail until the trial begins.”

              “This place is barbaric!”

              “Bailiff, will you please remove the defendant, and counselor perhaps you can teach your client some manners before he appears in my court again.”

              “Yes, your Honor,” his embarrassed lawyer said.

              I watched happily as he was led away in shackles. Before I left, I managed to get a grumpy Matt Branson and an even grumpier Julia to agree to let Alicia have a visit with Celia. From there, I headed into the office to check in with Blake and see if we’d caught any new clients. As I was getting out of my car in front of the building, I saw a black sports car with windows tinted so dark that they were almost black too. That wasn’t what caught my attention though. There was something near or against the driver’s side window that was catching the sun, and the glare was almost blinding. My first thought was a gun. I passed the office door and walked around the building so that I could cross the street and come up to the other side of the car. I braced myself for gunshots, as I jogged across the street. I tried to stay low as I approached the car, but when you’re six foot six, low is not easy. I was almost to the window when I had to assume I was spotted. Before I could tap on it, whoever was behind the wheel jammed it into gear and left half of the rubber on their tires behind on the road. I had to jump back to keep from having them leave it on me. I was still watching the car when Blake came rushing out of the office.

              He watched the car go around the corner and then jogged over to where I stood. “Are you okay?”

              I nodded. “You think that was one of Abel’s men?”

              He shook his head a little too fast like he knew for sure it wasn’t. I think he realized it because he quickly said, “Vlad says not many of them are rallying for him. His second-in-command has already taken over the operation, so no one is too excited about him coming back.”

              “Oh, okay…so what case do we have going on that would make someone want to watch us?”

              He started walking back toward the office, and I followed him. “Maybe it didn’t have anything to do with us.”

              My suspicious friend not being suspicious was a dead giveaway that he knew something and he just didn’t want to tell me. “Maybe,” I said. “I got the license plate number. I’ll run it.”

              “I’ll do it.”

              “Nah, it’s okay. I’m a little bored today. Alicia went with the senator’s wife and the kids to the zoo so I have time to kill.”

Alicia moved into one of the open apartments in my building. She was only one floor away from me now. I planned on bringing her even closer than that soon, but she needed time to get reacquainted with her baby before I put any more pressure on her.

              “I have some paperwork you can do,” he told me as we walked into the office. “I’ll run the plates while you do that.”

              I stopped him in front of Lucy’s desk. She started to say hello, but I could tell by her face she realized that we were in the middle of something. “What is it you don’t want me to find?”

              “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

              “The hell you don’t. I’ve known you most of my life, Blake. Why do you insist on trying to B.S. me? What is going on in your life that you can’t tell me?”

              “You know, Ryder, the key words there are ‘my life.’ So do me a favor, do the paperwork I left on your desk and stay out of things you haven’t been invited into. Give me the plate number.”

“I didn’t really get it. I was testing you, and you failed, miserably.” For the first time in our lives I thought Blake wanted to hit me. He clenched his fists and his jaw and left me standing there shocked as he stormed into his office and slammed the door. I looked at Lucy and she shrugged. What the hell was going on with him?

I turned to go into my own office and Lucy whispered my name.

              “Why are you whispering?”

              She glanced toward Blake’s closed door and still whispering she said, “Someone broke into his house last night.”

              “What? Was he home?”

              She glanced at his door again. “No, he was out for a run. It happened sometime between midnight and three a.m.”

              “How do you know this?”

              “Brett responded to the call. He said Blake seemed pissed off that the neighbor called. I guess she was taking her dog out, and she saw someone running away from the house all dressed in black. By the time Blake got home, Brett and his partner were there.”

              “What did they take?”

              “I’m not sure. Brett said Blake looked around and he was really agitated, but he insisted nothing was taken.”

              “What the hell?”

She shrugged again.

“Thanks for telling me, Lucy.”

              “Sure, but don’t snitch on me.”

              I laughed and winked at her. “I would never. I am going to find out what’s going on. He’s not the only detective around here.”

As if on cue her intercom came to life and Blake’s irritated voice said, “Lucy! Where is the file on the Gomez case?”

She rolled her eyes and pushed the button. Sweetly, she said, “In the top drawer of the file cabinet, boss.” We both waited, and a few seconds later he grumbled a “Thank you” over the intercom. It was good to know he hadn't lost his manners completely.

Lucy looked back up at me and said, “He’s not the only detective, but he sure gets the prize for the grumpiest.”

              Laughing again I said, “I won’t dispute that one.”

              Once I was alone inside my office, I called our contact in the motor vehicle department. I gave him the license plate number that I did get. He was swamped and said it would take him a few hours to get to it. I did the paperwork that Blake left on my desk, said goodnight to Lucy, and went home. Alicia and the Slades were easing Natalia into the transition, so tonight was their night to keep her at their home. Alicia understood that it was the best way to deal with it, but the last time the baby had gone home with them, she’d been depressed for two days. Tonight, I had a surprise that I hoped would keep her mind off of it.

********

              “It’s a bike.” Alicia was looking at the beachcomber as if it was a spider that might bite her.

              “Yes, that’s what it is.”

              “Who is it for?” They’d had a great day at the zoo, and her mood had been almost manic when they got home. But as soon as it was time for the baby to leave, it had plummeted.

              “You.”

              “What do I want a bike for?”

              Even her grumpy moods amused me. I tried not to smile though as I said, “I thought we’d go for a bike ride, and maybe have a picnic down by the lake.”

              “Oh…”

              “Alicia, can you ride a bike?”

              She shook her head slowly, and I saw the color rise up into her cheeks. “Oh damn it! I’m sorry. I just assumed…I’m so sorry.” I felt like an idiot. She told me what her childhood was like. There was no reason for me to assume that she got to do regular things like riding a bike.

              She came out of her mood long enough to smile at me and say, “Don’t be sorry. I’m almost twenty-five years old. It’s a natural assumption. We never had a bike, at least not until my brother was old enough to steal one, and then he didn’t let me ride it.” She let out a dark little laugh. “What stories I’ll have to tell my daughter, huh?”

              “Hey, your daughter is going to be so proud of her mother when she’s old enough to understand what a fighter you are. You’re amazing, and Natalia is going to know it.”

              “Thanks. I’m sorry I ruined your picnic plans.”

              “Not ruined at all. We’ll take the other bike.” Her face lit up then.

              “The motorcycle?”

              I smiled, “Yes, you up for it?”

              “Absolutely! Let me go change.” She all but ran into the building and up the stairs. I put the bikes I’d rented in the garage, and after transferring the picnic basket over, I pulled out the Harley. It wasn’t long before she was back down in a pair of skinny jeans and a black t-shirt. She’d pulled her hair back into a ponytail and the sight of her long, smooth neck made my mouth water. I shook those thoughts off. This evening was about taking stress off of her, not adding more on.

              “You ready?”

              “I’m so ready!” Who would have thought the quiet little nanny would have turned out to be a biker babe?