Tansy Taylor (26 page)

“You will see her soon enough.” He took a puff on his cigar and blew the smoke my direction.

I turned my head and I felt my eyes prick and a single tear escaped down my cheek. Great, just what I wanted to do, show him I was afraid. But, I was afraid. I was in an abandoned building; a lone female with three testosterone laden men. My recently widowed friend was somewhere, probably just as scared, if not more, and I could do nothing to help her. It was not an ideal situation for any girl, especially one strapped to a chair.

“So, you aren’t as fierce as you appear, eh?” He chuckled and threw a wicked sneer my way. “Well, I suppose that anyone tied to a chair would be a little uneasy. Why don’t we do something to remedy that?” He pulled a switchblade out from his breast pocket and held it up next to my face and then flicked it open. I gasped. If I had needed to use the restroom I most likely would have wet myself right then and there.

He grinned and I could see that his mouth was filled with gold teeth, similar to Boris, but his teeth were all present and accounted for. He reached around and cut off the duct tape on my wrists. I let out the breath out I’d been holding in.

He winked at me. “Don’t worry; I’m not ready to throw you to the fishes-yet.” He bent down and slit through the tape on my feet too. I instantly brought my knees to my chest and wrapped my arms around me. I wasn’t sure what to expect next.

“I would suggest however, that you remain in the chair for the time being. We do all carry automatic weapons, and are all excellent marksmen.” I followed his hand as he pointed out the very large guns they all were carrying.

I nodded and stayed put in the chair. Without knowing where I was or the quickest means of escape, it would be foolish to try and run now. I’d be better off waiting until it was daylight and the chances of someone seeing me running for my life would improve. Besides, Sam would be looking for me, if he was still alive. My stomach rolled as my mind suggested again that Boris had done something to him, and I was alone, with no one.

A chill raced through my body and I was suddenly very cold. The air in the warehouse had visibly gotten cool. I wasn’t sure, but I had a sneaking suspicion that it was due to all of the ill will and downright evil that was sharing the space with me. Four more goons had joined the pack of Armani’s near the large bay door. They had a laptop up and were all speaking very animatedly in Russian. I couldn’t understand a word. I started shivering and looked around, hoping that when Boris had snatched me he had thought to bring along my cashmere wrap. He had not.

Suddenly, the door opened and Sam walked in, the little fluff ball came in right behind him. The dog sniffed the air and then headed straight for me.

“Fluff ball! What are you doing here?” I tried to hold the dog still and keep it quiet, but it was hopeless. I looked up at Sam. Sam was walking toward the group of men, who had all turned to watch him cross the space. “What is he doing?” I asked the dog. He had a cocky walk, and looked a tad out of place wearing his jeans and a sweater in a sea of linen. What in the world was he doing? I could only watch and pray.

He got to the group and went straight for Ivan. I watched in shock, everything happening in slow motion. Ivan reaching out for Sam, Sam reaching for Ivan, and then they hugged and slapped each other on the back. My jaw dropped, and I let out a strangled cry of confusion.

What was this? Some sort of twilight zone episode? Or maybe I should be looking around for Ashton Kutcher to spring forth and announce that I’d been punk’d; except that this was not television, and I was not some celebrity figure having a ridiculous practical joke played on them. This was real, and the man I thought I was falling in love with was over playing friends with the enemy.

I watched in horror as Sam took off his sweater and revealed his shoulder holster and a large weapon strapped to his chest. Who was this man? I couldn’t have been wrong about him, this time I’d been sure! But my eyes weren’t playing tricks on me; he was over there, consorting with the Russian mob dudes and talking about whatever evil plan they were hatching. I continued to stare, glued to my flimsy beach chair getting tugged on and barked at by the naive little puppy who wanted me to play.

“Stop, puppy. I can’t play with you right now. I just discovered that the guy I’m head over heels for is actually a criminal. What am I going to do?” I’d been pinning all of my hopes on Sam showing up to rescue me, not be the one who was keeping me hostage.

Sam and Ivan started walking toward me. I stood up, legs like jell-o, preparing for the worst. The puppy continued to jump at my leg and bite the hem of my jeans.

“So, I can see you’re a bit confused.” Sam said, stating the obvious. His voice was arrogant and rude. “I do feel a bit bad I had to trick you and have you kidnapped. However, your snooping was getting a tad close for comfort. I tried to warn you, but you just didn’t want to listen, did you?” He gave me a sad face and then grinned. I was so confused. His aura was still shining brightly, not the dark swirling black that the others had. Was I cracked or what?

He reached out and pulled me in close, pressing my body against his. He tilted my head back yanking my ponytail.

“Ouch!” I squeaked. He smashed his lips down on mine and then bit down on my bottom lip, drawing a tiny bit of blood and causing me to tear up. My heart reeled at the thought that this man could be this callous and cruel.

“Aw, what’s this, a tear? For me?” He snickered and lifted his lip into a sinister grimace and then shoved me back down to the chair. I landed with an unceremonious thud and managed to bite my tongue too, which caused me to blurt out another little cry and produced more tears.

“See, what I told you Ivan, isn’t she something? At least she was useful for finding the files. I thought your guys had covered the truck.” He pulled the flash drive out of his pocket and handed it over to Ivan. I watched in stunned silence, my world completely askew.

Sam and Ivan turned to head back over to the rest of their little group.

“But, Sam…” I started, not sure what to say. I felt like I was six and my best friend just told me I was gross and had cooties-I was heartbroken. He paused and turned back to face me.

“Oh, that’s right, I suppose I should tell you-my name’s not Sam, it’s Dmitri - Korokov. You see, I wasn’t investigating that moron Big for tax evasion; that was just my cover to run my deal. Ronnie screwed it all up when he told Eugene Buster was going to go to the police. I didn’t find out until later that Eugene had killed Buster and there were copies of our files out there. I’m sure you could see why we had to take care of Eugene-he was the link between Buster’s disappearance and our little group. It wasn’t until you told me you knew everything that was going on that I realized you were such a liability. Such a shame too, Sam was really looking forward to getting to know you better.” He shook his head and shrugged. “I guess now Dmitri will get to have that pleasure, right? But I’m guessing you won’t be as willing as you were when I was Sam.” He grinned, but it wasn’t Sam’s cute smile, it was a monster’s gruesome leer.

I buried my head in my knees and he let out a menacing chuckle that made my blood run cold. I still couldn’t believe this was Sam, the man I’d been making out with just a few hours ago. The man I was completely falling for.

“Well, you and that fluff-ball better stay put. Try to keep him quiet. We have to get ready for our big deal. You were right about that too; We’re going to have a big payoff tonight. It’s amazing what we can smuggle in old cars.” My mind reeled at what he was telling me. That must be the money in the ledger. But where did these cars come from? If the cars were hot they were running them back through the system at Big’s, how could they do it without the VINs coming up as stolen? I was still confused, and obviously missing some vital component.

It was hard just sitting there doing nothing. They had killed Buster and were running a huge illegal business. Obviously, I judged, by the sheer number of Armani suits, they were doing quite well at this business too. They weren’t going to just let me go in the end either. So, I had two choices; I could take my chances and try to escape, or wait and most likely end up with Buster, wherever he was. The second choice was really not an option since I was seriously not ready to be part of the other side. First I needed to find Callie.

I didn’t have much to work with. I had no weapons. I was not a martial arts expert. I was not MacGyver, besides I didn’t have any duct tape or paper clips, so even if I was, I would be screwed. So, what did I have? I had my psychic abilities; not much help there, I obviously was losing my touch. I had my fuzzy slippers, the hair scrunchy holding my curls off my face. I had the weird beach chair, and I had the puppy. Hmmm. It wasn’t looking so good. I sighed, and took a look around. There was the large exterior door, which was right behind where the mob was having their little meeting. They were about twenty five feet away. Far enough that I couldn’t understand what they were talking about, even when it wasn’t in Russian, but close enough that they could easily pick me off if I tried to make a run for it. There was a regular door, the one everyone had come in through and must lead out to a parking area or street. Behind me there were stairs leading up to some sort of office. Below the stairs was a door with some sort of warning posted on it, possibly leading to some sort of electrical room or some other mechanically necessary space. There were crates stacked up against the far wall. They didn’t appear to be too useful; they were wood, and I had no idea what they contained. Aside from that, there were only the ten of us-six goons, Ivan and Dmitri, the puppy and me. Only two of us wanted to escape. The odds were definitely not in my favor. The puppy started to dance around. I’d seen this dance last night, when he wanted to go outside to do his business. Aha! Just what I needed, a diversion.

“Um, excuse me-Sam, er, Dmitri? Ivan? The puppy seems to need to go outside.” I called out to the group. They all turned and stared at me. Ivan looked like he was going to go ballistic.

“Why the fuck you need to bring that puppy here Dmitri? Eugene was bad enough with the little shit.” I guessed Ivan was not much of a dog person.

“She likes the dog, so I brought it; I couldn’t just leave it out there to fend for itself. It hasn’t done anything wrong. Besides, it’s a good distraction for her.” Well, what was this? He was being considerate? What a screw up!

“So, can I take him out to go or what?” The dog’s dance was getting more frantic and I was worried he was going to go and this would be a moot argument and ruin my plan.

Sam/Dmitri looked conflicted. “Fine. Take him out, but Boris is going with you. I don’t trust you aren’t up to something.” I had to give him credit, he wasn’t stupid. He waved Boris off toward me. Boris looked disappointed that he had to be the babysitter.

“Great! Hurry up Boris, or you get to clean up the accident.” I called out as I started walking toward the door and Boris jogged across the room to meet up with me before I made it out the door. Once outside, I spotted a small patch of grass down by the river. We were definitely at the port, the question was, where at the port? It was huge. I had no way to contact anyone. Bottles and shards of glass littered the far side of the parking lot. Cigarette butts were everywhere. Wherever we were must be a party spot for teens out to do a little underage drinking. I scooped up the puppy and gingerly crossed the glass until I had made it to the grassy spot. Boris was right behind me.

“Don’t worry Boris. I just want him to be able to do his business in a nice grassy area. Man, I think I had a piece of glass go through my slipper.” I reached down, tossed the little piece that was stuck on my slipper to the ground, and plucked a large piece of glass from the ground, hiding it in my palm. “Ah, much better. I think I’ll go sit over here on the bench for a minute while the puppy gets out some of his energy.” I motioned toward the dog - he was viciously attacking a piece of wood and chasing any bugs that flew into his personal space.

Boris looked a bit uneasy. “I don’t think we should. Ivan and Dmitri might get mad.” He glanced back toward the warehouse.

I patted the seat next to me. “Don’t worry. I’m sure they have bigger things to worry about. In fact, I bet they appreciate the silence and the fact that the yippy dog is out here. He can get a bit annoying, don’t you think.” I watched the puppy attack a moth and then try to figure out what to do with it.

Boris moved in and sat down. “Da, I suppose you have point. But only few minutes, then we go back inside.” He crossed his bulky arms to once again make his point.

“Okay, sounds good. We can sit here and get some morning sun too.” I took the piece of glass that I’d picked up, held it against my pant leg that was not facing Boris, and started trying to catch the sun on it. I was hoping I could make someone take notice of the flashing light I was, hopefully, producing. I silently cursed myself for not learning Morse code. I decided I should simply flash the light in a rhythmic pattern, so anyone who might happen to see it might realize it was not an arbitrary or accidental light, but someone trying to signal for help. I knew it was a stretch, but well, I didn’t have a lot of options.

The puppy stopped eating the log and chasing bugs and found a place to poop.

Boris stood up. “Okay, we go in now. Dog’s business is done.” He pointed to the puppy who was vigorously scratching the grass with his hind legs to cover his mess.

“Are you sure you don’t want to sit out here and enjoy the morning some more?” I was pushing it, I knew.