Oceans of Fire (5 page)

ALEKSANDR ignored Jonas and carried Abigail off the pier. “I’m already wet. There’s no need for the both of us to be soaked. In any case I have to ask her a few questions when she’s feeling better.” He kept walking, not giving Jonas a chance to protest as he carried her to the sheriff’s vehicle and slid into the backseat with her in his arms. He needed answers and getting into the inner sanctum of the Drake home was the only way he was going to get them. He refused to notice Jonas’s glare and simply tightened his arms around Abigail.

Aleksandr rarely showed emotion on the outside. He was a master at hiding his feelings from others, but Abigail knew him. She knew he was enraged over his partner’s death, although he seemed to take it quite calmly. She also knew Jonas was suspicious because Aleksandr hadn’t given his partner’s body more than a cursory inspection. But Jonas hadn’t been there a few minutes earlier when Aleksandr had shoved the muzzle of his gun against her forehead and she had stared into death. He was hanging on to his control by his sheer discipline, but she felt his rage roiling just below the surface. She remained very still as he cradled her close to his chest.

“I notice you didn’t ask any questions about Abbey and why she can barely move,” Jonas said, slamming his door closed. “How much have you heard about the Drake sisters?”

Abigail winced. Aleksandr had firsthand knowledge of the strange gifts and talents she possessed. More than once he’d seen her use them and become drained of all energy. He knew her capabilities and weaknesses all too well. Tears burned and a small sound of despair slipped out.

Aleksandr nuzzled the top of Abigail’s head. It seemed a miracle to be holding her in his arms again. He wasn’t a man to believe in miracles, until he’d met her. Even with his partner lying dead on the pier, and rage and the need for vengeance consuming him, the moment he’d had a clear enough head to recognize her, some small measure of hope had entered his heart.

He was used to concealing his feelings. In Russia, everything was political and the wrong expression, the whisper of scandal, anything at all could be the end of his career, and now, with the stakes so high, he was grateful for that training. He and Danilov had stumbled onto something bigger than they had anticipated and it had gotten Danilov killed. The last thing he needed was the distraction of Abigail Drake, but if Jonas thought to be rid of Aleksandr, either in the investigation or with Abigail, he was wrong. Jonas might be dating Abbey now—he certainly acted proprietary around her—but Aleksandr had the prior claim. He wasn’t going to hand her over without a fight any more than he would back off of his investigation.

“Abigail is engaged to me.” He announced it without hesitation, staring down into her face, at the twin crescents of red-gold lashes, willing her to look at him.

Her eyes snapped open and she blinked up at him. Aleksandr could see the flames building in her eyes. Abigail had always reminded him of the sea, calm and peaceful and soothing, or turbulent and wild. She walked away from most arguments and simply disappeared rather than fight, but she had red hair for a reason. She was quite capable of rising up like a silent shark out of the depths and taking a big bite unexpectedly. At that moment he was eternally grateful for the Drake curse of weakness after using their powers.

“That’s impossible,” Jonas said.

Aleksandr held Abbey’s blazing stare with one of his own. He wasn’t about to back down, wanting her to know there was more than one reason for his being in Sea Haven and he wasn’t going to go away. “I assure you, it is not.”

Abigail shook her head and closed her eyes again, groaning softly.

Aleksandr looked down at her face. He remembered every curve, the feel of her skin, the laughter in her eyes. The love. He wasn’t going to let her get away from him a second time. He didn’t want to fight with, or frighten her, but he
was
angry with her. Angry that she hadn’t given him a second chance, angry that she’d nearly gotten herself killed. Angry that her American boyfriend would be sitting in the front seat telling him what he could or couldn’t do. That she would even have an American boyfriend.
Any
boyfriend at all. Her heart should have been locked up, devastated without him, the way his had been without her. He had the sudden urge to shake her and he knew that wasn’t a good sign. His control was slipping and that was a dangerous thing.

“How strange that she wouldn’t have said a word to me about an engagement,” Jonas said. “Or to any of her sisters.” He didn’t bother to keep the note of disbelief out of his voice.

“Very strange,” Aleksandr agreed. Abigail tensed in his arms, but the effort to fight him was apparently too exhausting and she relaxed again, her expression stubborn. If she kept that look on her face he might be tempted to take advantage of her weakness and kiss her right in front of her new lover. He shoved the thought away, feeling murderous. It was enough to have lost Danilov without discovering that another man had taken his woman from him.

“What happened tonight, Volstov?” Jonas made a point of staring at him in the rearview mirror. “Is Abbey a part of this?”

“No.” Aleksandr was grateful for the interruption of his thoughts. “I was as shocked to find Abbey on the scene as you were.” He bent over her, rubbing at what he hoped was a smudge and not a bruise forming between her eyes.

She managed to bring up her hand to slap at his arm. He waited until she settled down and went right back to rubbing with the pad of his finger. Small, round caresses. Gentle. Stroking. Telling her with his touch that he wasn’t going anywhere. The faint mark wouldn’t go away. She had pale, almost alabaster skin and he remembered she bruised easily. It was a hell of a way to announce his return, but like the mark, he was back in her life to stay and she was going to have to deal with their past whether she liked it or not.

“So what are you and your partner doing in my county?” Jonas asked. “You introduced yourself to me, but you neglected to say you were going to leave dead bodies in our harbor.”

“We’ve been working this case for some time and we’ve traced three shipments in the past two and a half years to this coast. There’s been a steady stream of stolen antiquities, including an impressive collection of jewelry, going out of Russia. My partner, Andre Danilov, managed to get a job on a fishing boat out of the harbor and was keeping an eye out for any suspicious activity. We’ve known for some time that artifacts have been smuggled through a route here, but this was the first time we knew the actual freighter and when it would arrive.”

Jonas was silent for a moment and then he sighed. “Gene Dockins came to me a few months ago and said he was concerned something was happening out at sea with one of the boats—the
Treasure Chest
. The captain is a man named John Fergus and I’ve known him several years. He’s never given us any trouble. Several local businessmen own the boat and all of them have lived in the area most of their lives. Most own other businesses. I did a little discreet inquiry down around the harbor and turned the matter over to the coast guard, but, to my knowledge, they didn’t turn up anything unusual. Gene didn’t say anything further to me and I presumed the matter was taken care of. Obviously, I was wrong.“

“Gene Dockins actually contacted Interpol, saying he thought there was smuggling going on. He thought drugs, or with the terrorist scare he was afraid a bomb might be smuggled into the United States via this coastline. He and his son Jeremy had been doing a little undercover work and managed to take pictures of something being offloaded onto the
Treasure Chest
. As we knew this area was hot, we followed up on his inquiries and took him up on his offer to continue helping.”

Jonas swore aloud. “Why the hell didn’t they come to me? For that matter,
you
should have come to me instead of using a local for your undercover work. Jeremy’s only a kid. Damn it!” He slammed his open palm against the steering wheel. “I should have been more on top of it. I knew Gene was concerned, but I thought once I’d turned it over for investigation he’d dropped it.” He sighed. “I sent Jackson to their home to break the news to Gene’s wife but I’d better warn him to keep on eye on Jeremy. That boy doesn’t have the sense to be afraid and I’ll be damned if I’ll let anything happen to him. If he comes around wanting to help by taking his father’s place, you tell him no.”

Aleksandr waited before responding until Jonas finished his call outlining the dangers to Jeremy Dockins to his deputy. “Your report to the coast guard filtered through Interpol just about the same time Gene Dockins sent us the photographs and his concerns. We contacted Mr. Dockins and he agreed to help us by placing an undercover agent in his boat and on the docks working with him. It was the perfect cover for Danilov.” Aleksandr was damned if he was going to give Jonas the satisfaction of feeling his regret. Of course he was upset his partner was dead and the civilian fisherman was near death, but Aleksandr was doing his job and in his high-risk position danger went with the territory. Losing Danilov was a tremendous blow, both professionally and personally. He had been Danilov’s backup and he had arrived too late to protect him. It mattered little that Danilov hadn’t told him he was going out with Dockins that night; Aleksandr felt responsible.

“I did a little research on you, Volstov, after you introduced yourself. There were a lot of gaps in your earlier years. Big ones. But I did find that you’ve spent several years working to bring down the Russian mafia. They’re a particularly violent organization. Are you trailing them? I’d like to know if they have a foothold in my jurisdiction.”

“They’re in San Francisco,” Aleksandr admitted. “But you probably know that. We were hoping they weren’t involved in this, but little happens in Russia along the smugglers’ routes without the mafia being involved.”

“Is your name on a hit list?” Jonas asked bluntly.

Aleksandr felt Abigail tense in his arms. Her eyes opened and he held her gaze as he admitted in a low voice, “Yes. Very near the top.”

Abigail blinked and turned her head away from him.

Jonas turned the car onto the long, winding drive that led to a sprawling house on the cliffs. The house was an imposing sight, three stories high with a tower, balconies off of nearly every room, and a captain’s walk out over the sea. Wind-swept cypresses and groves of evergreen and redwood trees clung to the hillside and color exploded among the brilliant green plants as wildflowers fought for space among the brush. A heavy iron gate wrought with symbols of the earth and stars swung open as the vehicle approached.

“What happened tonight, Volstov?” Jonas asked.

Aleksandr studied the grounds carefully, noting every path and every locked gate. “I received a call tonight from Danilov saying he had some evidence that a shipment of stolen artifacts we were tracking had been spilled into the sea as it was being transferred from a freighter to a fishing boat. He’d taken pictures and had a witness. He must have gone out with Dockins on his boat without informing me before he went.” His gaze swept over the house and he mentally recorded the position of all the windows and doors that he could see. Exits. Escape routes. His way of life.

Jonas parked the car and turned to study the Interpol agent. Aleksandr Volstov looked calm, almost expressionless, mild even, until you looked into his eyes. Jonas had met men like Volstov before, had fought alongside of them. They made relentless, bitter, merciless enemies and the most loyal of friends. They were the type of men you wanted in your corner when push came to shove because they would never desert you and would go into the fire to pull you out. Volstov wasn’t calm about losing his partner and he wasn’t going to stop until he found every last man involved in Danilov’s death. And that could mean a bloodbath in Sea Haven and the surrounding towns if the Russian mafia was involved.

“This isn’t Russia,” Jonas felt compelled to point out.

Aleksandr merely looked at him with Siberian-cold eyes, then slid out of the car still cradling Abigail in his arms. “So this is the Drake house.”

“You’re obviously aware they become weak after using their gifts. All of Abbey’s sisters are going to be in the same state. They won’t like feeling vulnerable in front of you,” Jonas warned.

“You’ve obviously witnessed this aftereffect on more than one occasion,” Aleksandr pointed out as Jonas led the way along a winding path to the front door.

“I’m family,” Jonas said.

“Seeing as how Abbey is engaged to be married to me, I would have to claim the same thing,” Aleksandr replied quietly. Abigail stirred in his arms, opening her eyes with another stormy glare, which he ignored.

The door was opened by an attractive middle-aged woman, with shrewd, assessing blue eyes and a wealth of gray-blonde hair clipped at the nape of her neck.

“Aunt Carol!” Jonas enveloped her in his arms and kissed her cheek. “I had no idea you’d be here.” He stepped aside, holding the door to allow Aleksandr to bring Abbey inside.

“The girls didn’t know,“ Carol assured him. ”I arrived a few hours ago, thinking I’d help plan the weddings, and found them all in such a state. Here,“ she directed Aleksandr, ”put her on the couch.“ She trailed after him. ”I’ve made tea, Abbey. You’ll be fine in half an hour.“

“She’s soaking wet from the sea,” Aleksandr protested. “Is there somewhere I can get her out of her wet clothes?” He felt Abbey’s body stir again in protest and tightened his arms to prevent anyone from seeing her shaking head.

“Where are the others?” Jonas asked, stepping around Libby, who was sprawled out on the floor, a pillow under her head. Elle lay slumped in a chair. Both had a cup of tea beside them. Keeping Gene Dockins alive had obviously cost them all a great deal. Jonas had seen the Drake sisters very vulnerable after the use of their powers, but never to such an extent. Gene must have been close to death to drain them this deeply. He cast a concerned glance up the stairs. “Aunt Carol, are they all right?”

“Yes, dear. I couldn’t very well carry them down the stairs. They’re stuck out on the captain’s walk.”