THE CHAMELEON (14 page)

CHAPTER 28

Aisling wasn’t sure the exact moment she knew something was wrong, but it was somewhere between the halfway mark up the stairwell to the final landing. Her main concern was that no one challenged her entry. Knowing how Stephan worked, this wasn’t acceptable. There were many reasons why they wouldn’t have seen her yet on the security cameras; by the time she cracked the door open to the reception area, she concluded it was because someone had already hacked the system ahead of her. Concerned that Stephan or Alicia—or both—were in danger, she ran through the hallway to Stephan’s office. She stopped quickly when she saw the guard, obviously posted to watch over the occupants, sat at a strange angle. His throat had been slashed. She took in every detail. That was the moment Aisling felt panic rise inside her chest. Inching her way silently past the body, she peered into his office. Nothing seemed out of place, or disturbed. They were somewhere else.

Slipping back down the hallway, Aisling listened intently. There were no sounds except for the blood rushing through her head. She had memorized the layout of this section of the building and she knew every room. Darting quickly, running on her toes so she wouldn’t make a sound, she eased into a tiny alcove and peered around the corner into what was Sakis’s office. The room was enormous, and seemed untouched except for the two chairs placed in the center of the room. One was empty, with zip ties nearby on the floor; the other chair was tipped over, but still held a body. Her eyes recognized Stephan, but she held herself back from rushing in. It could be a trap.

Minutes ticked by as she listened with not only her ears but also her eyes. Finally, confident that whoever did this was gone, she inched her way into the room, turning so her back faced the window and not the open door; she stepped backward carefully, easing toward Stephanous. Bending slightly at the knees, she touched his neck, trying to ignore the blood that covered much of his head. Her eyes constantly swept the room, and she exhaled when she felt a pulse. It was weak, but it was there. Slipping out her knife, she cut the ties that bound him to the wood as her mind raced. There was no way that she would be able to lift him and get him to her car without being seen.

Chewing on her bottom lip, she contemplated her options. It was startling to realize that this was the first time she was in this position of being a helper. Her job required her, at times, to eliminate, and with that, she never worried about the cleanup. Stephan groaned. Shoving up his shirt, she grimaced as she took in the bruising and swelling around his rib cage. Whoever it was did a complete once-over. Aisling knew she really needed to get him to the hospital and quickly, unsure of the amount of internal injuries he might have. Grabbing her phone, she dialed the only person she knew who could help her, forming the story in her head.

“Derek here.”

“Derek! Hi, it’s Aisling. I need your help.”

CHAPTER 29

(Stephanous Petros: thirteen years old) “Boy, get in here!”

Stephan walked into the office slowly.

“Yes?”

Gregory nodded to a huge man who sat in the chair across the room. “This is Jon. He is going to teach you how to put muscles on those chicken arms of yours.”

“Chickens don’t have arms.” Stephan’s eyes cut to the man called Jon.

Shoving his wet cigar back in his mouth, Gregory laughed. “My point exactly, smartass.”

The alarm sounded through the building just as Aisling hung up from her call to Derek. He was only moments away, which still was not fast enough to her. The piercing siren cut through every cell in her body. Kneeling on the carpet, she ran her fingers through his thick hair along his scalp. He seemed to have only one wound on his head but whoever struck him used enough force to really take him down.

“Ma’am, step away from Mr. Petros.”

Aisling froze with her hands raised in the air.

“He needs help.”

“I am not going to tell you again. Step away from him.”

Tiny red dots pockmarked her black hoodie as if it had broken out in some alien disease. These guys meant business and one move from her would fill her with more lead and if she were still alive, then would be when they asked questions. She didn’t blame them. Their employer was lying on the ground, unmoving, with blood pooling around his head.

Aisling rose to her feet.

“Slowly.”

Hands still in the air, she turned and faced them, keeping her face impassive. A commotion in the hallway got louder as Derek made his way to Sakis’s office at full sprint. Completely ignoring Aisling, he knelt beside his friend.

“Stephan. Can you hear me?” Derek’s fingers tapped lightly on Stephan’s cheek.

“He needs to get to the hospital. He lost a lot of blood and I think he was beaten. His rib cage is covered in bruises.”

Derek rose angrily to his feet and stormed toward Aisling. “Who did this?”

Shaking her head, she refused to break eye contact. “Derek, I have no idea. When I arrived, he was like this.”

She could tell that Derek didn’t quite believe her. “What are you doing here?”

Both turned as Stephan moaned. Aisling took a step forward. The sharp click of several guns stopped her dead in her tracks. “Don’t you fucking make a move or I will order them to shoot.”

Stephan coughed. The raw noise sounded harsh in the room that was now filled with guards. “Derek!” he cried out weakly.

Derek rushed back and eased Stephan up slowly.

“Dude, what happened?”

Stephan didn’t answer as his eyes scanned the room. His blood ran cold at the zip ties on the ground near the chair that Alicia had sat in.

“Where is she?!” Grabbing the front of Derek’s jacket, Stephan tried to use it to stand.

“Buddy, I need to get you to—”

“Where the fuck is Alicia?”

Confused, Derek looked toward Aisling but she seemed just as confused as he was.

“Stephan, I don’t know.” Derek’s hands clutched Stephan tightly when he seemed as if he were going to topple over.

“Stand down!” Simultaneously all the guns were lowered slightly, but Aisling found it disconcerting that they were still directed at her.

“Stephan?”

Ignoring her, he pointed to the desk. Derek helped him walk the few steps it took to reach it. Gripping the edge with one of his hands for support, his other arm pressed against his ribs.

“Derek, check Aisling for weapons,” he ordered.

Derek did a double take, but seeing the vein pulsating in Stephan’s jaw, he knew better than to cross him. Besides, he knew that he would never convince him to go to the hospital while he was angry.

Aisling kept her hands high in the air and stared down Stephan as Derek started a cursory check for weapons. She sensed the shift in the ATF lieutenant the moment he found the second weapon. Then her pat-down became more personal for Derek, which became more intense for her. There was not one inch of her body that was not touched by his fingers. She was steaming by the time he finished and her small pile of weapons lay at her feet.

“Where is Alicia, Aisling?!” Stephan’s words cracked like a whip. Everybody stood straighter to attention.

“I don’t know, Stephan. She wasn’t in here when I arrived—just you. The chair and the ties, all in the same place.” She begged him with her eyes to believe her, but she knew right now he couldn’t or wouldn’t trust anyone. With a wave of his hand, everyone but two of his guards left the room.

“Derek, we need to find Alicia. That psychopath has her and is trying to make a statement.” Stephan wavered as black dots danced in front of him. His head felt as if had been split in two.

“You are in no condition to be looking for anyone. Let me call this in, Stephan,” Derek implored his friend. But he already knew what the answer was going to be. This was personal. Personal never got called in. Then it dawned on him, and he lowered his voice to a whisper. “You think she is already dead, don’t you?”

Seeing the pained expression wash over Stephan was enough of an answer. “Fine, let’s go find Alicia.” He nodded his head toward Aisling. “What do you want to do about her?”

Cold eyes raked over Aisling from her head to her feet. Gooseflesh rose over her skin at his words. “She comes with us and cannot leave our sight for a second.”

CHAPTER 30

Aisling could tell the stress was not only affecting her, but the two men in the front seat. Derek literally had been driving for hours around Boston, and there was still no sign of Alicia. They searched her apartment, her route home, and every other place that he could think of as to where she would be. The problem was, she wouldn’t be at those places. In fact, that would be the last place that she would be taken.

Every once in a while, Stephan would lean his head back on the headrest and whenever he did, Derek would shoot glances at him with deep concern on his face. They couldn’t keep driving around aimlessly. If Stephan was in his right mind, he would have thought logically about the beating inflicted on him and Alicia’s abduction. She knew better than to interject her opinion, but she was reaching her breaking point. That point where she didn’t give a shit anymore. He hadn’t looked at her once, and she started to wonder whether he had completely forgotten about her, which was too bad because her bladder felt as if it were going to explode.

“Stephan, we all need a break. Let’s grab some coffee, head back to your place—you can get cleaned up.”

It was on the tip of Stephan’s tongue to scream
no!
He didn’t want to chance that they missed an opportunity to find her but Derek was right. They all needed a break.

“Fine.” He hit a preset number in his phone. He spoke so softly that Aisling couldn’t hear what he was saying in Greek to the person on the end of the line.

A short time later, they were in his apartment. Stephan pointed at Aisling. “I’m going to take a shower. The doctor will be arriving shortly to check me out and help with this headache. Do not let her move.”

Derek nodded, relieved that someone was finally going to look at his friend.

“I have to go to the bathroom.” Derek gave her a hard look before escorting her to the guest bathroom. Aisling started to close the door, but stopped abruptly when Derek slammed his hand against the wooden panel.

“Yeah. I think not.” Aisling watched the red rise to his face. He obviously was uncomfortable with the situation but not enough for him to bend.

“Derek! There are no windows in here. It’s not as if I am going to run away.” Aisling was horrified, thinking he wasn’t even going to let her go to the bathroom alone.

“You either go to the bathroom with the door open, or we go back to the living room where I can have a drink in relative peace.”

Aisling knew that there was no getting around it and her bladder screamed for release.

Staring him down, she hooked her fingers in her leggings and quickly slid them down. He at least had the decency to turn sideways. Several minutes later, they made their way back to the living room, both faces beet red.

Pushing her to the couch, he waited for her to settle, before he strode to the bar to fix a drink for himself and Stephan. The silence hung thick in the room.

“It wasn’t me, Derek.”

At first she didn’t think he heard her as he continued with what he was doing. When he stepped back to the couch opposite her, he took a deep sip before he set the drink down hard. Liquid sloshed over the side and spilled onto the coffee table.

“Well, why don’t you tell me who it is then so that we can end his misery now and find Sakis’s assistant?”

Her fingers ran through her long hair, a pained look on her face. “God, I wish I knew because I would kill him myself. But you have to believe me. I had nothing to do with this.” When Derek didn’t respond, she rose quickly to her feet and realized that it was a mistake as Derek pointed his gun at her.

“I highly recommend that you sit the fuck down there, Red, because right now, I am so tired, I am not seeing straight and this gun could actually go off.”

Aisling quickly sat down. “I get it. You guys are furious with me but there is more to this story. Think about it, Derek. Why the hell would I call you when I found Stephan? Why wouldn’t I just leave the building? You would never have known I was even there. But I didn’t. I found him, stayed with him until you arrived.”

For the first time, Derek seemed to waver, only for a millisecond before his face hardened again. “I am sure there is more to the story and you can believe that it will be told tonight.”

The ringing of the doorbell startled both of them. Rising to his feet, Derek quickly went to see who was there, but Stephan appeared out of nowhere and waved him away. “Thank you but it is the doctor.”

Aisling took in Stephan’s appearance. He still clutched his rib cage with his arm and his movements were almost mechanical, but the shower had done wonders to clear his head.

He briefly filled the doctor in on his injuries, and removed his shirt before he settled on the couch so that the doctor could check him over. Several times, Stephan winced as he was poked and prodded.

“The ribs don’t seem to be broken, which is astounding considering the level of extensive bruising that you have. Of course, I would be able to say this with more confidence if I could convince you to go back to my office for x-rays.”

Stephan shook his head. “Not tonight.”

The doctor sighed. “As expected. I just need to put some stitches in that thick head of yours and a shot of painkiller to dull the pain. I would recommend rest, but am sure that will fall on deaf ears also.”

Stephan smiled at the doctor. “I do hear you and appreciate your work.”

Grunting, the doctor finished up. He handed Stephan a bottle of pills and some final advice before he left. “Son, don’t take any chances at least for the next forty-eight hours. Your body won’t be able to move as quick as you might think it will once the pain medicine kicks in. Call me if you need anything.”

Stephan closed the door softly before he turned to face Aisling. “Now, time to deal with you.”