Russian Mobster's Stolen Wife (9 page)

Grigori snapped his fingers lightly. Ivan glanced over, and Grigori gestured that he should go around the north side of the house. They were trying to discover where Teller might be. Infiltrating the house to snatch him wasn’t a realistic plan. Grabbing him when he went out to perform some task for the DA was the better option. Grigori snapped a second time to send Igor around the south side of the house.

Grigori burrowed deeper into a copse of trees and adjusted the sight on his rifle. He’d only brought the weapon because his scope was his best hope of seeing detail inside the house.

The back door opened, and Flynn’s younger sister Cynthia came out. She looked pissed. Her shoulders were hunched and her countenance was sour. She flounced out and took a seat on the steps. There were no coverings on the windows on the backside of the house. By peering through his scope, Grigori could see the DA inside with an equally pissed off look on his face.

“Cynthia!” the DA called out.

Grigori could see Igor and Ivan in their positions on the sides of the house. He gestured to them to move deeper into the trees. Apparently they were going to get a front row seat for some more family drama.

The DA stomped out of the house, leaving the front door wide open behind him. “Cynthia, get inside. Now.”

“Why? Because you don’t want to cause a scene?” She made a face.

The DA glanced around as if he were indeed trying to see who might be watching. Too bad for him that he was completely unaware of the three men hiding practically in plain sight.

Cynthia leaped to her feet. “I can’t believe that Flynn just
left
. What aren’t you telling me? What did you do? Did you hurt her? Did you make her run away? You’re always so mean to her, Daddy!” The girl’s eyes filled with tears. “If you would have been nicer, she wouldn’t have left me!”

“She didn’t leave you.” The DA put his hands on his hips and made an impatient noise. “Why do you always have to make this about you?”

“Because I’m frickin’ thirteen! And because it’s always about you and I
hate
you for this!”

“That’s enough!” The DA lunged forward and moved to grab the girl. Then Teller walked out of the house, obviously with an eye toward interfering.

Grigori felt more than saw Igor and Ivan’s tension as they spotted their quarry standing in plain sight. Grigori put a hand out to calm his men. They were really champing at the bit on this one. Teller had made himself some pretty serious enemies in the last two days.

“Sir,” Teller said mildly. “It might be better if we take this altercation inside. There’s really no need to make a scene.”

“You think I don’t know that?” The DA turned on Teller quite suddenly, snarling the words and putting his finger in Teller’s face. “This is all your fault anyway!”

“I beg your pardon?” Teller raised an eyebrow.

The DA seemed to collect himself. He straightened his dress shirt and fiddled with his cuff. “I’m only saying that if you had done the job you were told to do, we would not be in this predicament.”

“What job?” Cynthia asked tearfully. “Flynn used to say you wanted her dead. Is that the job you’re talking about? Why do you hate her, Daddy? I don’t understand!”

“Teller,” the DA said, pointing to Cynthia. “Get her inside. Now.”

DA Callaghan turned and walked back inside, leaving Teller and Cynthia alone on the back steps of the house. The trees were closely planted back here in order to give the impression of privacy in a neighborhood where the houses were smashed up next to one another with barely enough space between for an alleyway.

Teller pointed to the door, but Cynthia remained stubbornly planted on the steps. She was facing Grigori’s position, with Teller facing her and the house. Taking a deep breath, Grigori took a chance he probably shouldn’t have.

Creeping out of the bushes, he let his rifle hang unobtrusively at his side. Cynthia saw him almost immediately. She took a breath, but Grigori put his finger to his lips, and she immediately pinched her lips closed.

Teller was so busy preaching at her that he didn’t notice any of this. “…you cannot behave in this manner, young lady. Your father is a very important man with responsibilities and an image that requires you to act in a manner befitting your position.”

“What if I don’t give a rat’s ass about my father’s job?” She said in a typical teenage tone of sarcasm. “He doesn’t care about me or my life. Why should I care about his?”

“That’s preposterous!” Teller was practically vibrating with anger.

The moment could not have been more perfect. Teller was absorbed in his anger with Cynthia. Grigori stepped up behind him and wrapped his right arm around Teller’s neck.

“If you move, I will snap your neck like a twig,” Grigori whispered roughly.

Cynthia put her hands to her face. “Who are you?”

“Your sister’s husband,” Grigori
told the girl. “And you’re right. She didn’t leave you. As soon as it’s safe, she’ll contact you herself. I promise. Just keep quiet and be brave. Flynn will be just fine. She misses you.”

“Did she tell you that?” Two lines appeared between her brows. “She usually gets pretty annoyed with me.”

“And I bet you get annoyed with her,” Grigori guessed. “That doesn’t mean you don’t miss her, correct? And she misses you too.”

Cynthia bit her lower lip, and then she looked from Grigori to Teller. “I’ll cover for you,” she told Grigori. “Just go.”

He gave a sharp whistle, and Igor and Ivan instantly appeared by his side. The three of them lifted Teller off his feet and quickly trussed him up in zip ties. Then they disappeared from the DA’s property as though they’d never been there to begin with.

“ANSON, YOU HAVE to calm down,” Flynn urged. “You’re going to give yourself a heart attack.”

“Do you have any idea how much trouble I’m going to be in when Grigori gets ahold of me?” Anson gripped the steering wheel of the dark tinted SUV and steered carefully around her father’s neighborhood.

“Don’t be silly.” Flynn peered through the backseat window, trying to decide if she could see Grigori and his men hiding in the bushes surrounding her house, or if she was just seeing shadows. “It’s not like I’m in any danger with you looking after me. We’re mobile, right? And you’re armed. Nobody even knows we’re here. I just want to know what’s going on. And if Grigori needs backup, we’re right here.”

“If he needs
backup
?” Anson sounded in real danger of having a heart attack now. “He’ll
kill
us if we just show up like that!”

“Not if we help him out of a tight spot. How could he? That would make no sense.”

“How is your shoulder? Are you overdoing it?”

“No, I’m fine. I promise. I’m not bleeding at all anymore. And the pain is just a mild ache now.”

“Wait! I see them! Right there!”

Anson swerved toward the curb, making the SUV seem like a parked car. About two hundred yards up the street she could see three men bundling a fourth guy into a low slung sports car with black windows.

“They’ve got him!” Flynn said. “Let’s go! We can follow them to wherever they’re taking Teller. I want to know what happens.”

“We should go home now. I told you I would bring you here, but following Grigori is a bad idea. He’s liable to think we’re the enemy and start shooting.”

“Then maybe we can beat him to wherever they’re going.” Turning around, she leaned up between the front seats and gave Anson her best sad puppy look. “Surely you know where they’re going, right?”

She could tell he was hedging.

She batted her eyes, really turning on the charm. Then someone knocked on the back window on her right, and she gave a little yelp of surprise.

Anson pulled his gun, cocking the trigger as if he were ready to shoot. “Do you know that person?”

“Oh my God!” Flynn peered through the black haze of tinted glass and recognized her sister’s curious face. “Put the gun down, Anson. It’s my sister!”

“This is bad,” Anson moaned. “Now everyone will know we were here. Your father will be alerted, and they will come after you again!”

“No. It’s just Cynthia.” Flynn pushed the button and lowered the window halfway. Gazing at her sister, she wished that things weren’t so complicated. “Sweetie, what are you doing out here?”

“They just took Teller,” Cynthia informed Flynn. “It was hilarious. You should have seen the expression on that smug bastard’s face.”

“Okay, so you watched this happen?” Flynn was a little confused.

Cynthia bobbed her head. “I met your husband. He’s totally hot, by the way.” She fanned herself with one hand. “Whew! I didn’t even know you were dating anyone.”

“Yeah, it’s complicated.” There was no reason to even begin to unpack that statement. Not now anyway. “You should go back inside.”

“I miss you.” Cynthia reached for the door handle, but it was locked. “Can’t I come with you?”

“Not right now, sweetie.” Flynn felt awful shutting her sister out, but it had to be like this for now. “Dad has some seriously crazy shit going on.”

“Yeah, I know. That bit with the Russian mafia is whack.”

“Wait.
What
did you say?”

Cynthia smirked. “You didn’t know, did you?” The look of thirteen-year-old superiority was firmly in place. “That’s been going on for weeks now. He’s working with some dude named Yuri. There’s some major kickbacks involved, like major. And something about a contract being fulfilled that would be mutually beneficial. I don’t know. It all sounds ridiculous to me.”

“You’re sure Dad said the name Yuri?” Flynn demanded. “It’s really important, Cynthia.”

“Yes. I’m sure.” She pursed her lips. “He talked to that Yuri guy last night and man was Dad
pissed
!”

“Yeah, I bet he was.” Flynn thought for a moment. “Do you think you could convince your mom that you desperately need a mini vacation to a mall somewhere or something?”

“I guess. Why?”

“Because it gets both of you out of harm’s way, that’s why.” Flynn had a very bad feeling in her gut. “Dad is involved in some bad stuff, Cynthia. I’m not kidding. Okay? You need to get Aubrey and go on a girls’ shopping getaway weekend or something. But make it seem normal. In fact, it would be better if Dad thinks it’s Aubrey’s idea.”

“But I want to help!” Cynthia moaned. “You always get to do the exciting stuff.”

Wow. Her sister sounded just like she did. Great. Was this how she seemed to Grigori? Nice thought.

Flynn inhaled deeply and prayed for patience. “This would be the best way to help us out. I swear. It’s way more important than you realize.”

Cynthia looked bummed, but Flynn could tell that her sister was getting ready to capitulate. “All right. I can do that. At least I’ll get a ton of stuff out of the deal.”

“Good trade off,” Flynn agreed. “And don’t worry. I’ll find you later and we’ll do something fun.”

“You better keep that bargain!” Cynthia said as she trotted back toward their house.

Anson turned and stared at Flynn. “Grigori needs to know what she just told you.”

“I know he does.” Flynn didn’t bother to hide her smile. “Which is why we’re going to go tell him.”

Chapter Twelve

Grigori didn’t take his eyes off Teller as Igor and Ivan secured the man to a chair with ropes and plastic zip ties. The tall, slim man had barely uttered one word since they’d abducted him. He had been calm, controlled, and cooperative. That alone had made Grigori jumpy as hell about the man’s intentions.

They were in an old garage on a piece of property halfway between the DC area and Richmond. Grigori kept the place as a sort of hideout. He had caches of weapons and money buried all over the area. And if he ever needed to perform an interrogation, this would be his preferred place to do it.

“He’s good, boss,” Igor said in Russian.

They had been speaking nothing but Russian since they’d picked up Teller, but Grigori couldn’t be sure that the man didn’t speak or understand both languages. Especially since Flynn had some Russian. Obviously the DA valued multi-lingual people.

“All right, Teller.” Grigori paced slowly back and forth in front of Teller. In one hand Grigori held a knife. He flipped it idly, catching the weapon by the hilt over and over again. Teller’s eyes were following every movement of the knife. It was a good beginning.

“You can ask me whatever you want, but I’m not inclined to tell you anything of use.” Teller’s cultured voice suggested he was absolutely serious.

“I’m sure that’s true.” Grigori nodded. “You seem very loyal to the DA’s family.”

“He’s an impeccable man.”

“And yet you seemed rather annoyed with him when he considered striking his daughter out in the open where anyone could see,” Grigori pointed out.

“Obviously he wasn’t going to strike her.” Teller’s jaw jumped a little, a sure sign of tension. “He doesn’t hit his children.”

“You’re lying.”

“So is Flynn.”

Grigori squatted down and gazed right at Teller. “Flynn didn’t tell me that. You did.”

“I beg your pardon?” Now Teller looked alarmed.

“People have little expressions they use when they lie. Everyone does it. Some of us are very good liars, but it’s impossible not to betray yourself just a little.” Grigori gestured to Teller’s face with the knife. “The muscles around your mouth tightened. And around your eyes. And your nostrils flared, but your pupils contracted. Those are all signs of a liar.”

“That’s bullshit!” Teller snorted.

“No. You’re just angry that you’re giving away information on the good DA, whom we all know is not that good a man. In fact, he’s rather a monster.” Grigori gestured to Ivan. “He is such a monster that he arranged for his daughter to be murdered so that he could reap the benefits of a public spectacle, drum up some support from people’s pity, and inherit his daughter’s fortune.” Grigori placed the tip of the knife against the end of Teller’s nose. “In my book, that is a very bad father indeed.”

“Perhaps he did it, boss,” Igor said with a grunt. “Maybe he’s the one that put a contract on Flynn.”

“I don’t give a shit about Flynn.” Teller laughed. “You idiots are barking up the wrong tree.”