Undercover Lover (12 page)

Pam staggered down the hall until she saw the bathroom and gratefully closed the door behind her. Locking it as quietly as she could, she ran the cold water and washed her face, rinsing out her mouth. When she looked up at her reflection in the mirror, she instinctively reached up to smooth away hair that the breeze was pushing across her forehead.

Breeze?

Pam looked up at the open window and then at the closed, locked door. She could do this, but she had to hurry. Kicking off her shoes, she tossed them outside. Standing on the toilet lid, she balanced on the tank while she decided if it would be easier to go out on her front or back. Front first, she rolled over on her back to scoot out. The cover slipped as she pushed herself out the window. It crashed to the floor, and she heard Vadim thunder down the hall, cursing in Russian.

Wiggling the rest of her body out, Pam fell hard on her shoulder. Shots exploded against the door, and she stumbled to her feet, taking off running. She hadn’t time to pick up her shoes, but she didn’t care. The pain in her shoulder ripped through her, but she refused to feel it. More shots zinged by her as she ran down the street. Weaving into the yard across from Nikolai’s, she passed by a barking dog and rolled over a hedge.

She glanced up and saw that Vadim was coming after her. She got up and started screaming. It wasn’t as if he didn’t know where she was. Heading into traffic, she started waving her hands and looking wildly over her shoulder. A pickup truck stopped for her, and she climbed in.

“Get out of here,” she told the woman driving it. “There’s a man with a gun after me.”

“Hell with that, honey,” she said and pulled down a shotgun from a rack.

“No!” Pam said, trying to stop her from getting out of the truck, but the woman kept mostly hidden behind the door and fired. The noise was deafening.

“I thought so,” the woman said after a moment and got back into the car.

“What?” Pam asked, still cowering on the seat, well below the window.

“He changed his damn mind. Now we can get out of here.” The woman put the big truck into gear and took off at a good clip while sirens blared in the distance. “My name is Josie, by the way.”

“Pam,” she said, holding her hand out before realizing she looked ridiculous cowering under the dashboard. Not ridiculous enough to sit on the seat, however.

“Where can I take you?”

“I don’t even know,” she said. “I can’t go home. I can’t go to work. I can’t go to the police.”

“Why not?”

“I think one of them is working for the man who was shooting at me. Home and work are the two places Vadim will look for me.”

“Vadim being the cue ball chasing you?”

“He killed two people,” Pam said and started to cry.

“We have to call the police. I can tell them that you’re going to be safe with me. You’re welcome to come back to my farm and keep your head down.”

Pam shook her head. “I can’t get you involved in this any more than you already have. Can you take me to the airport?”

The woman paused. “Sure, if you think that’s the best place for you.”

“Once I get passed security, I’ll be good.”

“Who’s after you, Pam?”

“The Russian mob.”

Josie winced. “Can you disappear?”

“No, but I can run for a bit. Just until I figure things out.” Pam knew this trip would max out her credit cards, but it was the only thing she could do.

“They can trace any credit card transaction, you know.”

“I’m going to do a cash advance.”

“Interest charge is going to be hell.”

“That’s the least of my worries,” Pam said.

“You might want to stop at Wal-Mart and get some new clothes.”

Pam looked down at her vomit-speckled shirt and torn pants. Blood from her palms stained what wasn’t covered in grass stains and dirt. “Good point. You don’t mind, do you?”

“Nah, we’ll go to the next town over, just to be safe.”

When they pulled into the parking lot, Josie said. “I’ll wait right here.”

“Thanks,” Pam said, and when she got out of the car, she realized she didn’t have her purse on her. She couldn’t ask Josie to drive her back to her office where it was. But she was helpless without it. She had to clear her head.

“The cops aren’t going to think you killed your friends, will they?” Josie said.

Pam looked up. “No, of course not.” Drake put a lot of garbage out there, but he had to know she couldn’t kill Oksana and Stefan in cold blood. “I’ll be right back,” she said to Josie, still not sure what she was going to do. Limping in to Wal-Mart, she realized she didn’t have any shoes, either. The greeter at the door just stared at her.

Making her way to the bathroom, Pam breathed a sigh of relief when it was empty. She cleaned herself up the best she could. Unfortunately, she still looked like an escaped mental patient. Was it only last night that she and Drake had made love? Only this morning that he’d thrown Darren against her wall and arrested him? It must have been Mark on the phone this morning, filling Drake’s head with Oksana’s poison.

Oksana, who would never do that again.

Pam locked herself in the stall and did deep-breathing exercises until she felt more centered. What she wouldn’t give to be back in her treatment room. That was it. She would ask Josie to drop her off at the hospital. She could take it from there. Her overnight bag was still there. Her purse was there. It was simple. She’d let security escort her into her office to make sure Vadim wasn’t waiting for her. Then she’d take off, maybe go see her parents down in Florida. They’d collapse in shock. But no one would be able to trace her there. They had different last names. Pam and Darren had changed theirs when their father left them homeless.

Pam left the bathroom with more confidence, until she ran into Drake and Mark coming in the front door.

“Mark is sleeping with Oksana!” She pointed her finger. “Don’t listen to a word he says.”

Mark turned a deep shade of red. “Oksana is dead.”

“I know,” Pam said. “I saw Vadim shoot her and Stefan.”

“Jesus,” Drake said and reached for her, but she flinched back.

“Are you taking me in for accessory to murder, Detectives?”

“We want you to come with us. It’s safer,” Mark said.

“I want my damn lawyer,” she shouted. “I’m not going anywhere with you. You’re a dirty cop.” Pam pointed at Mark.

He reared back, as if she’d slapped him. Drake reached out for her again.

“Don’t touch me,” she yelled. “You don’t get to touch me, ever again.”

They were starting to draw a crowd, and Pam was grateful. “Am I under arrest or not, Detectives?”

“No, of course not,” Drake said.

“Then get out of my way.”

“Honey, you have no shoes.”

“I have a ride.”

“No, you don’t. The woman who dropped you off called us. She left.”

Pam sagged in defeat. She had no one. No money, and yes, no shoes. Then a thought hit her. “Where’s my brother?”

“He’s in custody,” Drake said.

“No, he’s not. He spoke to Vadim when I called you.”

This time, Pam didn’t have a chance to move when Drake grabbed her and started hauling her out of the store.

“Don’t say another word until we’re in the car. You’re putting lives at risk,” he said.

“I am not getting in the car with him,” she said, struggling against his iron grip.

“Yes, you damn well are. Otherwise, I’m going to handcuff you and book you.”

“For what?”

“Disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace, and resisting arrest.”

Any answers Pam could come up with would make her sound like Oksana. And look what had happened to her. She let Drake put her in the back seat of a beat-up sedan.

Mark claimed the passenger seat as Drake slid into the driver’s seat.

“I’m not a dirty cop,” Mark said, turning to look at her.

“You were passing false information from a murderess to your partner.”

“Oksana never killed anyone.”

“Stefan killed your godfather, Drake,” Pam said and felt a stab of remorse when he went white knuckled on the steering wheel. “Vadim told me, after he killed them. He said Stefan lost his temper and hit him too hard. Stefan and Oksana had to use the bats to cover it up.”

“Vadim was chatty,” Mark said. “How did you get away?”

“I threw up,” Pam said. “All the blood and gore. I just lost it. Vadim couldn’t take me being sick. He could kill two people in cold blood, but a little puke crippled him. He ordered me into the bathroom, and I climbed out the window and ran.”

“Smart girl,” Drake said.

She met his eyes in the rearview mirror and saw a sheen of tears in them. Not knowing how to handle that, she looked away.

“Please take me to the hospital. I have things to get.”

“Like your purse? Or the shattered nesting dolls? What was in them, anyway?” Mark asked.

“Oksana told me Nikolai was fencing stolen museum pieces. She smashed the dolls, looking for proof. She found five medallions, little metal squares with pictures of dead Russians on them. If Vadim didn’t take them from her, they’d still be on her body. Or Stefan’s,” Pam rubbed her head. “I can’t remember who had them.”

“Why did you run?” Mark said.

“Vadim was going to kill Darren and me.”

“You don’t know that,” Mark said.

“He’s a psychopath. He thinks Darren and I crossed him. We’re dead if he catches up to us.”

“Not going to happen,” Drake said.

Pam leaned back in her seat. “I hope you’re right.”

The detectives shared a look, but Pam was too worn out to try to figure it out. It wasn’t until a few minutes later that she realized they weren’t going anywhere near the hospital.

“Where are you taking me?”

“A safe house until Vadim is caught.”

“Absolutely not.”

“What’s the alternative, Pam? He knows where you work. Where you live,” Drake said.

“I was going to hop a plane.”

“To where? He will find you. Him or another one of his degenerate friends.”

“I don’t want this,” Pam said, clenching her fists.

“You think I do?” Drake roared.

“I don’t know what you want,” she snapped back.

“Oh, great,” Mark said. “I’ve always wanted to be in the middle of a lover’s spat.”

“Shut up,” Drake said. “You’re in enough trouble.”

“Where’s my brother?”

“I don’t know.”

“Why did he have your phone?”

“I gave it to him,” Drake said.

“Why would you do that?”

The detectives looked at each other again, but this time, Pam was ready for the argument, spoiling for it.

“Darren loves you very much,” Drake said.

Pam snorted. “We just met again after many years.”

“He went to jail for you. He worked on the inside, gave up his childhood and most of his adult life, all to keep you safe.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Pam, your brother is a mole in the FBI. He was recruited just out of high school to be planted into the
vor
to help stop them from gaining a bigger foothold on the East Coast.”

“What?” she said.

“He’s a cop,” Drake said.

“You arrested him,” Pam said.

“Yeah, well, he’s a good undercover agent, and his cover is pretty much blown now.”

“Why?”

The detectives exchanged a look again.

“Will you two stop that?”

“Pam, when you ran, Vadim got away,” Mark said gently. “Darren was coming to arrest him and save you. If you had just waited—”

“Stop,” Drake said. “She’s not to blame. This whole thing is a clusterf—”

Their radio crackled. “Logan, you there?”

“Yeah, go ahead.”

“We spotted Vadim by her apartment.”

“Get him,” Drake said, then turned to Pam. “You’re the only witness to a double homicide. The only witness who he told what happened to Nikolai.” Drake turned to Mark. “And that’s why she was right to run. He would have killed her before letting Darren take him.” He looked back at her. “You’re going to the safe house, and you’re staying there.
Vy ponimayete menya?”

“I understand,” she said. She understood that her life was never going to be the same.

Chapter Fifteen

M
ark left them alone at the safe house and said he’d call if he heard anything new.

“Hey, at least we’ve got cable,” Drake said, trying for a lame joke, but Pam had her arms crossed and she was pacing the floor. “Look, why don’t you go take a bath? The bedroom already has some clothes and stuff for you.”

“How?” Pam turned to look at him.

“When I couldn’t get you on your cell phone, and your receptionist said you went to lunch with your uncle and Oksana, we thought the worst.”

“That I was taking off with my partners in crime? I don’t see how that warrants my bags being packed by the Harding Police Department.”

“We thought you were dead,” Drake said, and the anguish in his voice took the wind out of her sails. “Dmitry went ballistic.”

“Is that where you got the fat lip?”

“Yeah.”

“You deserved it.”

Drake nodded. “I did deserve that and more. The reason Dmitry was in your office this morning is he was going to try to get Oksana to incriminate herself and give him information about Nikolai’s death.”

“It was Stefan,” Pam said. “I still can’t believe it.”

“I can. Stefan had been walking a fine line for years. From what your brother told us, Stefan was chafing at being under his mother’s thumb. His father had been
vor,
and he wanted his birthright, but his mother wouldn’t let him. Although, she allowed him to associate with Vadim. Dmitry actually was introduced to Vadim by Stefan.”

“They never suspected him?”

Drake shook his head. “His cover was too good, too deep. Because he was bilingual, your brother got the attention of a local FBI recruiter while Dmitry was still in high school. He’s been theirs ever since.”

“He never told me. Never tried to contact me before now.”

“He did it to protect you. He saw you getting involved with Stefan and Oksana, and he didn’t want to see you get involved with them—like your father had been.”

“How was getting tossed in jail supposed to help me?”

“He was able to start in on the ground level and erode their power base. If it wasn’t for your brother and men like him, the
vor
would have a stronger presence in America. And it made your parents wake up, didn’t it?”

Pam considered it. “Yeah, better late than never.”

“What happened after he got arrested?”

“They moved down South, and I finished high school there. Then I took out a ton of student loans and never looked back.” Pam blew out a large sigh. “And I was so mad at him. Mad at everyone. Where is he?”

“He’s hunting Vadim.”

“Is it safe?”

Drake’s eyes slid away. “It’s possible that his cover is blown, but he’s our best chance of getting close to Vadim. When you called me, we were all in the conference room trying to figure out what to do next. I put the call on speaker phone, just in case, and when Vadim came on, Dmitry took over.”

“Did I really blow it by running away?”

Drake shook his head. “You did the right thing. You’re safe.”

He held out his hands, as if he was going to hug her, but Pam stepped back. “I’m going to get changed. How did my suitcase get here?”

Drake dropped his hands and put them in his pockets. “We sent a car to the hospital and a car to your apartment. When he found your purse in your office, they brought that back to us. I had a female cop pack you a week’s worth of clothes.”

“Why a week?”

“Doesn’t matter,” he said, not telling her about his vacation plans to the Caribbean. She wouldn’t go to McDonald’s with him right now. “Go take your bath and try to relax. I’ll be here if you need me. You’re safe here. No one knows we’re here but me and Mark.”

“Do you trust him?”

Drake nodded. “Yeah. He just was not being smart about who he was sleeping with.”

“There’s a lot of that going around.”

Drake winced. “I deserved that too. I’m sorry for being an ass and accusing you of being involved in all this.”

Pam nodded. “Whatever.” She walked into the other room, leaving him running his hand through his hair.

There was a decent-size tub, and she filled it up with the hottest water she could stand. She put her clothes in the garbage can and sank into the water, hissing a little at the sting from the cuts and scrapes. She should be used to that by now. She had to remember to ask Drake to let her know the name of the officer that packed for her. She’d like to send her a thank you note. Just having her special bath gel made the tightness in her spine relax.

She heard Drake’s phone ring, and in the next instant, he was bounding into the bath tub.

“Get out of here!” she said, covering herself up.

“It’s the same number Vadim called on last time. It can’t go to my voice mail. You take it.”

Pam nearly dropped the phone in the tub, fumbling to get it open.

“Dmitry, your sister is a dead woman.”

“Actually, I’m fine. How are you?”

“Where’s Dmitry?”

“He’s collecting Nikolai’s paintings and artifacts from the storage area. Then we’re going to go away for a while,” Pam adlibbed. She looked at Drake, and he gave her a gesture that she took to mean keep him talking. He went into the other room, and she could hear him talking in hushed, frantic tones.

Luckily, Vadim was cursing at her in Russian. “You will be hunted all the days of your life,
shluha.
”

“If I’m a
shluha
then you’re a
petuh
for letting me get away. Isn’t that what your boss is going to think? Maybe Dmitry decided to skip the middle man—that would be you—and talk to your boss. Then he gets your job, and you’re hunted all the days of your life,
petuh
.” She spat the last word at him.

Drake rounded the corner, eyes wide. Normally, she wouldn’t call anyone a rooster—the worst male insult in their language—but Vadim was really working her last nerve. And she was tired of him calling her a whore.

She could hear Vadim breathing heavy, as if to control his rage. “There is no need to go to Andrej with this.”

It was Pam’s turn to be stunned silent. But she forced herself to recover. “I was wondering. Does Andrej know Stefan killed his father?”

Drake cocked his head at her. She blinked tears away. This was going to destroy him.

“
Da
, he was the one who told me to kill him and Oksana once they were no longer of use. You, he wanted alive. He thought Drago would be too sad at your death.”

“What’s in it for me, if I can convince Dmitry not to go to Andrej directly and keep using you as a middle man?” she asked Vadim, but she was looking at Drake to make sure he understood what she was saying.

Drake’s eyes were shocked, unbelieving, and when he left the room, she wondered if he was going to blame her for this piece of news.

“I let you live,” Vadim said.

“I’m still alive, Vadim. And if I’m on Andrej’s side, you won’t be able to hurt me.”

“I give you money.”

“How much money?”

“Ten thousand dollars in small bills.”

“Ten grand and your vow that you will not harm my brother or me?”

“You have my word as a
vor
.”

“Give me a half hour to flag Dmitry down. What’s your number?” Pam scrambled out of the tub to go searching for a pen.

“I’ll call you back on this number. And Pavla?”

“Yes?”

“If you’re playing me, I will kill you slow.”

“If you don’t have the money, I’ll ask Andrej to feed your
khuy
to his dogs.”

“Too bad you’re a woman. I think you’d make a good
vor
.” And he hung up on her.

“I can’t believe what I just heard,” Drake said. He was sitting on the bed, but politely turned his back so she could dry off and get dressed.

“I’m assuming you’re talking about Andrej and not my potty mouth?”

“Could he have meant another Andrej? It’s a common name.” Drake’s head was hung low, and his body language drooped with despair.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “Vadim said that Andrej specifically didn’t want me killed because it would make you sad.”

“Please tell me that, at least, he didn’t order a hit on his father?”

“No,” she said, pulling on jeans and a sweater. She sat down on the bed next to him and laid her cheek on his shoulder. “He ordered Vadim to kill Stefan and Oksana.”

Drake turned around, gathering her in his arms he buried his face in her hair while she told him the rest of the conversation she’d had with Vadim.

“I’m so sorry for doubting you,” he said, easing them back so they were lying on the bed in each other’s arms.

“I’m trying to forgive you. It would help if I knew why it was so easy to blame me?”

Drake raised his head, and she lost herself in his expressive green eyes. He ran his thumb over her mouth. “It was easier to believe you were playing me for a fool than that I fell in love with you the same day I met you.”

“Drake,” she said, kissing his thumb.

“When I thought I lost you…when I thought what my last words were to you…” He shook his head. “I’m so glad I had an opportunity to tell you what was in my heart. I understand if you never want to see me again, but now you know. You are beautiful and smart, and I am such an ass for ever doubting what I felt for you.”

“You forgot one thing,” she said.

“What?”

“I’m also yours.” She kissed him, and it was better than relaxing in the bath, better than eating dark chocolate—heck, even better than that two hundred dollar bottle of vodka they’d shared.

“I don’t deserve you,” he said when she let him catch her breath.

“You really don’t.”

The phone rang.

“Oh no,” she said. “That’s Vadim.”

Drake looked at the phone and shook his head. “Not yet. It’s Mark. I’ve got to take this. Yeah?” He flipped up her sweater to press a quick kiss on her stomach and smiled when she swatted him.

Hurrying to put on her socks and sneakers, she wiggled her toes, grateful not to be barefoot again. Feeling needy, she burrowed into Drake’s arms and held him while he talked to his partner. Drake filled him in on Andrej being the
vor
boss, and she heard him working out a plan to capture Vadim.

“He’s letting Dmitry and the FBI handle Andrej. Dmitry is going in wearing a wire. With Vadim eager to make a deal to keep Andrej from finding out that he doesn’t have the artifacts yet, it’s a good chance that Andrej doesn’t know Dmitry is really just Darren’s cover ID—and always has been.”

“Do you think they’ll be all right?”

“He’s a tough guy, your brother. Packs a mean punch.”

“What are we going to do about Vadim?”

“He’s the dangerous one.
We’re
not going to do anything.”

“I am not sitting in this safe house while you go head to head with that psychopath.”

“I’m trained for this. You’re trained for whiffie smellie therapy and classical music.”

“I will break up with you again if you don’t stop picking on my profession.”

“So we’re going out?”

“You just said you loved me,” Pam said.

“Yeah, but I didn’t hear it back.” Drake grinned, but there was something vulnerable in his expression.

She told him what was in her heart, had been there since they made love. “I love you.”

He kissed her again, but cut it short. “When he calls again, you tell him that Dmitry wants to unload the stolen artifacts at Prix Fixe storage units, down on Westchester Boulevard. Tell him to meet you at Unit 355. We’ll take it from there.”

“And then what happens?”

“He goes. We arrest him. You and I go away to the Caribbean for a few weeks while everyone is processed. You testify at both Andrej’s and Vadim’s trials.”

“What about repercussions?”

“I’ll have to stay close for a few years, just to make sure. But Darren is making sure that your involvement ends with Vadim and that Vadim is so discredited that no one would help him or believe him. The
vor
can be very unforgiving, once you’re labeled a
petuh
. And once it’s made known that he killed Stefan and Oksana, their friends will be taking an interest in him as well. I’d bet he won’t live to see trial.”

“Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy,” she said and kissed him until his phone rang.