My Russian Nightmare (11 page)

“What is this place?”

“Not now!” Dimitri snaps, quickening our pace.

I slow down once we’re out in the open as the bright sunlight blinds me.

“We can’t slow down. We need to get out of here!”

I nod in understanding. It doesn’t pay to protest. The farther we get from here, the easier I’ll be able to breathe. I allow the adrenaline rushing through my bloodstream to propel me forward. A lone car sits in the corner of the employee parking lot.

“Get in,” he orders.

“What if it’s locked?”

“It’s not. Just get your ass in the car!”

I do as I’m told and buckle my seat belt. The tires screech in protest as we speed out of the lot and onto a main road. He steps so hard on the gas, the force of the speed pushes me back against the car seat. After about a minute, he turns onto the highway. There aren’t many cars on this road, and I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or if it makes us easier to spot.

“Take the wheel,” Dimitri orders as he pulls his phone from his pocket with his good hand. He presses a button and speaks in rapid-fire Russian. I try to keep my eyes on the road and not on him or his wounded shoulder.

After a few intense minutes, Dimitri hangs up. He takes control of the car once again, and with a painful wince, rests his right hand on top of mine. My heart flutters.

“It’s almost over, Kiera. Just a little bit longer.”

I’m not sure if he means the nightmare, or us. Or are we so connected and entangled in the nightmare that if one exists, the other does too? I don’t ask, because I’m not sure I want to know the answer. One thing I know for sure is I’m not ready to say goodbye to him. Not yet. Maybe not ever.

“Wh…where are we going?”

“Far away from here. Far away from all the bad memories you have.”

I should be scared, afraid of where we are going. Instead, those words wrap around me and offer the comfort of a big warm hug.

Dimitri turns off the highway and onto a busy street again. I recognize where we are. We’re in the vicinity of the hospital. To my surprise, Dimitri doesn’t turn towards the hospital. Instead, we’re headed in the opposite direction.

“I need you to listen to me,” he says. “In a minute, we’re going to park and get out of the car. We’re transferring vehicles. We need to do it as quickly as possible. That means no questions. No hesitation. No matter what happens, you need to go. Understand?”

“Yes,” I answer as we pull into an underground parking garage of a medical building. Dimitri heads into an empty spot in the far corner. It’s dark. All the lights in a twenty-foot radius are out.

“Come on,” he says, shutting the engine and getting out. 

Before I even close the car door, an ambulance pulls up and the back doors open.

“Let’s go,” Dimitri grabs my hand with his good arm and pulls me forward.

I climb in, followed close behind by Dimitri. The doors aren’t even closed before we start moving.

Worried about Dimitri and the blood still dripping from his open wound, I don’t bother to look around. He needs attention. In the last five minutes, his coloring has changed from normal to a pale, grayish tone.

“Kiera.” I’m surprised by the voice behind me. It’s soft and weak, but it’s his voice. My entire body reacts to the joy and excitement of hearing my brother. I spin around and rush to Sammy’s side. He’s not on the stretcher in the middle of the ambulance, he’s sitting upright in a seat against the wall.

“Sammy!” I say, throwing my arms around him. “Thank God! Are you okay?”

“Better now,” he answers, pushing me away gingerly. “I have some broken ribs,” he explains. “And some bruising, but other than that I’m fine.”

“”I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hug you so hard.”

“It’s fine,” he smiles. “I’ve never been happier to see you.” His face is still swollen and discolored, although much of the purple has lightened up and turned yellow and greenish. All in all, he looks much better than he did days ago when I last saw him. Maybe it’s just the fact that he’s upright wearing scrubs instead of a hospital gown, and he’s off that awful machine.

“Dimitri,” a female voice calls from the front. “Why aren’t you up here yet?”

A funny feeling churns in my stomach. Who is she? And why didn’t he mention her? I turn to see who’s calling him, but I’m not able to get a good look at her.

“I’m going to lay down for a few minutes,” he calls back, adjusting himself on the stretcher. I move away from Sammy, closer to Dimitri. I run my hand over his forehead, evaluating his condition. His skin is damp, clammy.

“I need to close my eyes for a minute,” he says, trying but failing to calm my nerves.

“He needs help,” I call up to whoever is driving the vehicle. “Are we stocked with medical supplies?”

“Of course. What’s wrong? What happened?”

“He was shot in the shoulder.”

“Dimitri!” she calls back, panic tingeing her voice.

“I’m fine,” he says, trying to calm the woman’s nerves, then repeats it in a softer tone for me. “I’m fine, Kiera. Just let me rest.” He winces in pain, and I know he’s lying.

Dimitri’s eyes close.

“Please. Come take a look at him. He had to fight them off and he’s lost blood,” I call to our driver, hoping she has some medical skills.

“Don’t die, Dante,” I whisper, half-panicked.

“Dante?” His lips turn up a bit at the corners. “You called me Dante.”

“Whatever.” My eyes well up with tears as I grip his hand tight and squeeze. “I just got you back. Don’t you dare think of leaving me.”

It doesn’t matter how angry I might be with him or how much who he’s turned into frightens me, I love him. I need to separate him from his family. And whatever he did back at the warehouse, he did out of necessity. He did it to save me. It’s a deed I can never repay.

“I’m not going to die, slatkaya. I’m just in pain.”

We come to a stop, and the woman driving the ambulance makes her way back to us.

“One to ten, how bad is the pain?” she asks in a no-nonsense tone.

“Seven, maybe eight.”

She nods and starts pulling materials from the compartments up above and along the sides and places them next to Dimitri.

“Do what I tell you,” she says, pinning her blue eyes on me while preparing an injection of something. “Wipe the area clean.” She tilts her head toward the supplies she gathered and placed on the stretcher.

I find the alcohol swab and do as I’m told, making sure I don’t look at his face. I need to remain calm and detached. If I see I’m hurting him, I might not be able to do what needs to be done.

“Lidocaine,” she explains to Dimitri. “To numb the area.” She injects him, pulls the needle out, and moves it to several other spots around the wound. Next, she reaches for a white folded paper. It reminds me of the bib the dentist uses, only it has a hole in the middle. She places the hole over the wound.

“Couldn’t get out of this one without getting yourself shot?” she teases as she continues to bark out orders at me.

“I had nothing better to do.”

She starts speaking in Russian as she digs into his arm with a tool that looks like a scissor on top and tweezers on the bottom.

“In English,” he says, his eyes darting to me. “No more secrets.”

“Yuri?” she asks.

“I’m not sure, but I think he’s dead,” Dimitri answers.

“Good,” she deadpans, pulling the bloodied round out of his shoulder. “He can rot in hell right along with his father.”

“Ana.”

“What? I hate them.”

“At least allow yourself the opportunity to mourn. They are your family. And the plan was never to kill them, just put them out of commission long enough for us to escape.”

“Their deaths are a blessing for us both. Did Yuri do this to you?” She stops what she’s doing and looks at Dimitri, waiting for an answer.

“Yes.”

“He would’ve killed you, you know. That’s all he knew,” she says, no longer looking at Dimitri, but back to work stitching up his wound. “I’ve been trained to heal people, he’s been trained to kill them. Now there are two less killers in the world.”

Four less if you count the other two Dimitri finished off,
I think to myself. Maybe what he did was make the world a better and safer place. Maybe he isn’t just my hero. Maybe he’s a hero to dozens of other people that will never know how lucky they are.

“We’ve been still too long,” Dimitri changes the subject. “We need to get moving again.”

“Don’t worry. We’re at a rest stop at the state border. I’ll change the plates again and we’ll be out of New Jersey and in Pennsylvania before you know it.”

I hand her the gauze and tape before she has a chance to ask for it.

Chapter 12

The ambulance rocks back and forth, hitting a bump every now and then. Otherwise, the ride is smooth, steady, hypnotic. After resting for a few hours, Dimitri moved up to the front of the ambulance. He’s driving now so Ana can sleep. We still stop every now and then in deserted spots off the highway to change license plates.

At every stop, Ana checks Sammy’s vital signs. We’ve been driving for almost two hours straight since our last bathroom break, so I know we’ll be stopping soon. My lids are heavy. All I want to do is sleep. Sammy is off the stretcher again, sitting with his head back, mouth open. His snoring is so loud he keeps waking himself up.

“Go lay down,” I nudge him. “You need rest.”

“I’m fine,” he lies. “You go sleep there for a bit.”

“Maybe just for a few minutes, if you’re sure.”

“I’m sure.” He smiles at me and squeezes my hand. Sammy doesn’t let go as I stand. He turns my hand so it’s palm-side up. His brows furrow together as he traces the red cuts and burn marks on my wrist from the rope. “Motherfucker.”

I try to pull my hand from his grip, but it’s no use. Even in his weakened state, he’s able to keep his hold on me.

“That lying sack of shit. He tied you up?” Sammy’s voice is low and conspiratorial.

I glance to the front at Dimitri. “You don’t understand.”

“Yes, I do. He promised he wouldn’t hurt you, and I trusted him.”

“He didn’t. He did the best he could, but Sammy, when he told me what was going on and why, I freaked out. He was afraid I’d do something stupid that would end up hurting us both.”

“He told you?”

I nod. “I still have so many questions. Like where they hell are we going? And what happens now?”

“I don’t know,” Sammy brushes my hair back. “I don’t know what we’re going to do. Dimitri promised we could start over. New names. New lives. He convinced me if this went well, no one would bother either of us again. Even as I agreed, I wasn’t sure if I could trust him.” He takes my other hand and examines my wrist.

“Why didn’t you tell me? I never would’ve let you risk your life.”

“That’s exactly why I didn’t tell you. I wanted to protect you, Kiera. But then we just kept losing more and more money. And they were using the diner for all sorts of illegal shit, like dealing drugs and selling hot shit in the back alley. They knew they could do anything and I’d take the fall as long as they threatened me with you.”

“Maybe there was some way before it got so out of hand…”

He shrugs. “You were just a kid. I wanted you to be a kid for as long as possible. I thought if I kept paying them, I’d keep them happy and you didn’t have to be the wiser.”

“How long have you known?”

He lets out a long sigh. “Right after Mom and Dad died. They wanted the insurance money. When I said no, not only did they threaten to kill you, but the fire chief paid me a visit and told me he was going to write in his report that it looked like Mom and Dad started the fire themselves for the insurance money. We wouldn’t have gotten anything. The insurance wouldn’t cover it at that point. This way, the Russians ‘loaned’ us money for repairs and
only
charged us twenty percent interest,” he says sarcastically. “But at least I had some way to take care of you.”  

“Sammy, I wish you would’ve told me. This was too much of a burden for you to shoulder alone.”

“Listen to you,” he twirls a piece of my hair around his finger. “You sound like an old lady.”

“It’s because you’ve kept me behind locked doors with my nose in those books for so long.”

“I did the best I could, Kiera. I just want it to be over. And I want you to be able to lead a normal life.”

I shrug. “I have been leading a normal life. You haven’t. I didn’t know anything but what I’ve had. You know what they say, ignorance is bliss. I thought having an overbearing big brother is normal. You’re the one that’s been dealing with all the shit.”

“I’ll still do it if I have to. I’ll do it for the rest of my life if it means you’ll be safe.”

“No, Sammy. I’m not a kid anymore. And I want you to have all the things you should. I mean as far as I know, you haven’t even had a girlfriend since you were away at college.”

He chuckles. “Don’t worry about my dating life.”

“No, seriously, Sammy. You should be out with a hot piece of ass every other night.”

“A hot piece of ass, huh?” he asks in a teasing tone. “You know the harder you try to sound cool, the dorkier it comes out.”

“I love you, you big jerk.”

“Come here,” he opens his arms. I bend down and let my brother embrace me, careful not to wrap my arms around him too tight. “I love you, Kiera. And I’m sorry I was so mean the last time I saw you.”

“I’m just glad you’re alright. Besides, Dante explained it all.”

“Dante.” He looks away and shakes his head, scolding. “He’s not Dante, Kiera. He never was Dante. It was all a lie. He’s a lie.”

I pull out of my brother’s embrace. Even though his voice is low, it’s angry and I don’t miss the resentment in Sammy’s voice. I’m not sure why it’s there. I can understand him being angry, but not at Dante.

“Fine. Dimitri told me. Happy?”

“No.” He’s taken on a harsh tone. “Nothing’s changed since we were kids. The second he comes along and puts something in your head, you believe it.”

I’m confused. I thought they were friends. I thought we were all on the same page.

“He saved us, Sammy.”

“Did he? I’m reserving judgement on that one. Yes, he brought us out of one hell. Let’s see if it’s not to drop us into another one.”

“You don’t trust him? Even after he put his life on the line for us? He got shot because of me.”

“I’ll be forever grateful to him for that, but it didn’t happen because of you. It happened because he’s one of them, Kiera.”

“Why am I getting the lecture when you were the one that conspired with him? I don’t know which one of you came up with this cockamamie plan, but you both agreed to it, and now you’re acting like I’m crazy for trusting him.”

Sammy looks away. “Look, I don’t want you to let your feelings for him blind you.”

“My feelings for him?” I asked indignantly. “You have no idea how I feel about him.”

“I know you love him. You’ve always loved him. And he might even love you too.”

My brother is right. I do love him. I’ve always loved him. Loving him is as natural as breathing, as easy and vital as blinking my eyes.

“I just want you going into this with your eyes open. I want you to see him for who he really is.”

“I know who he is and what he’s capable of. I know he’s no choir boy.”

“Yeah, but I doubt he told you everything. I’m sure he left a few things out. If he didn’t, I doubt you’d be sitting here singing his praises to me.”

“I can’t do this now, Sammy. It’s been a hell of a day. Right now my head is pounding, and I’m just glad we’re all alive.”

He shakes his head. “Fine. But we’re not done discussing this.”

“Fine,” I answer, settling myself on the stretcher and closing my eyes.

*

My eyelids flutter open to find Dimitri staring at me. His dark eyes glisten with love and warmth. They’re full of emotion. He’s looking at me, like I’m the only thing in the world that exists, and it makes my belly swirl with excitement. I feel the smile on my face before I have time to think about it.

“Hungry? I got us some bagels and coffee.”

“Great. Did you get cream and sugar?”

“Of course.” His lips turn up at the corners. “I’d never forget your sweet tooth.”

After the cherry dumplings, I should’ve known he’d remember. I get off the stretcher and take a seat next to him. We’re stopped somewhere. It’s quiet. There are no voices. I look around the cabin of the ambulance. It’s just Dimitri and me. No Sammy. No Ana.

“Where are they?” I ask.

“Bathroom. Stretching their legs and changing out of the scrubs into normal clothes. I have some clothes for you in a bag on the front seat.” I notice Dimitri had already changed into jeans and a close-fitting, long sleeve v-neck.

I couldn’t wait to get the bloodstained clothes off and into the clean scrubs Sammy and Ana had waiting for me. Now, changing back into regular clothes makes me realize we’ll be getting back to the real world very soon. Being on the run with Dimitri has been scary, but there had also been a fun and exciting element to it. Right now, thoughts of the real world scare me to death.

I stand and turn to go grab the clothes he has waiting for me, but Dimitri stops me. He runs his fingers over mine before interlocking them. Warmth spreads through me. I wish I could start every morning this way for the rest of my life. Just me and him with loving stares and seductive touches.

Dimitri pulls me onto his lap and nuzzles my neck.

“How’s your shoulder feeling?”

He shrugs. “I don’t want to think about that right now. These are our last few minutes alone for a while. We’re going to be changing vehicles soon. We’ll abandon the ambulance and rent a car. When we drop the rental off, a car and driver will be waiting to take us on the final leg of our journey.”

“Sounds exciting. Is this what it’s like to be a spy, constantly changing modes of transportation to throw the enemy off?”

“I don’t know.” He stares at me, and I wish I knew what he was thinking. He looks so serious.

“You heard Sammy and me, didn’t you?”

He nods. “I wasn’t trying to listen,” he says ever so lightly, pulling his thumb across my bruised cheek. “But these are cramped quarters.” The side of his mouth turns up in a smirk.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know what got into him.”

“Don’t be sorry. He’s looking out for you. I respect that.”

“There’s more, isn’t there?”

“Unfortunately.”

I run my hands over the shadow of stubble covering his face, not sure I want to hear what he’s going to say. “I like this look on you. It’s sexy. And it gives you that bad boy aura.”

“You’re
into
bad boys?” he asks with a raised brow.

“I’m into you. I don’t think kidnapping me qualifies for the pure, wholesome type.”

“Don’t distract me with facts,” he teases, showing off his dimples.

“If I wanted to distract you, I might do something more along the lines of this.” I reach my hand down between his legs.

A soft moan passes his lips before he takes my hand and places it back on his cheek. “I can’t believe you just did that,” he says, grinning from ear to ear.

“If you’d let me, there’s plenty more I’d like to do. I’m all for making up for lost time.”

“Patience, Kukla.”

He cups my face between his hands and leans in. The closer his lips come, the faster my heart beats. My chest is heaving from the anticipation of getting lost in one of his passionate kisses. My whole body wakes and tingles as his soft, warm lips meld against mine.

I scoot closer, hook my leg over his, and press against him as my mouth opens and invites him in. One of his hands slides up my inner thigh while the fingers on his other hand thread through my hair and make my toes curl. This kiss possesses me. It’s binding. It tells me unequivocally that I’m his and he’s mine. I don’t think I can ever get enough of this. Or him.

“I needed one more kiss to hold me over.”

“Just one?” I tease.

“I’ll take as many as you’re willing to give.”

“Then you don’t ever have to worry about one more kiss. I have an endless supply just for you.”

Dimitri’s eyes pierce me. They’re serious and intense. Nervous. Scared.

He brushes my hair back behind my ear, then wraps his arms around my waist and holds me tight. He opens his mouth but nothing comes out. Instead, he clears his throat and takes a long breath.

“I came back to the States for you. I wanted to see you, to know you were okay, and I couldn’t ask anyone because my mother warned me to never so much as whisper your name except to her.”

“She didn’t like me?” The thought of his mother’s disapproval is like a bucket of ice water over my head.

His face softens. “She loves you. But she knows firsthand how bad things could get for a beautiful young woman. Even when she was older, she had no control of her life. Once Ivan brought us back to Russia, we were separated and only saw each other occasionally.”

“That’s awful.” I say stroking the side of his face with my hand.

“It could’ve been worse,” he says, turning and kissing my palm before holding my hand in his. “Much worse. I was sent to live with my father and his wife. Although Oxanna never treated me like her own, it was okay. My mother worked as a maid for Vladimir, so he could keep an eye on her and make sure she stayed in line. He worried if he had her killed, my father would retaliate. Although Dad kept us a secret for years, his wife loved him. She forgave him and begged her father to show mercy. Besides, as long as my father stayed in the county, he was as untouchable as anyone could be at the time.”

I shiver. Dimitri’s hands rub up and down my arms, offering me warmth.