Dark Chase (The Gunrunner Series) (7 page)

She’d held her while Sophia had relayed the entire story on her couch. She’d wrapped her in a quilt. Ivan had kissed her forehead, murmured something about canceling his finder’s fee, and then slipped out the door, leaving the two women alone.

It was then Sophia knew that Tatiana was not a fraud. She was not perfect and had no moral compass, but she was trustworthy and genuinely cared about her.

Sophia took a sip of the tea and nibbled on the
lymonnyk
, sweet little lemon cakes, Tatiana had made.

“What are you going to do?” Tatiana said. “I was afraid of this.”

“You were?” Sophia said. She was able to talk now without the incessant pounding in her head, but her insides were a shredded mess of hurt and anger and disappointment. Her chest hurt. Actually, physically hurt as if there was something wrong with her heart.

“I was. A bad man like that is always bad. Not just some of the time. If he is bad enough to be gunrunner, he may not be capable of love.” She smiled. “I would know.” She patted her leg. “So, what now?”

“I don’t know,” Sophia shook her head. “I can’t go back to the States. I’m not in trouble with the government or anything, and there are regulations that prevent the company from suing me, but—”

“But you lied for Dmitri, no? That would be bad if it ever came out.”

“Yes. It would be bad. And I accepted a pay raise in exchange for my silence before I reported them.” She shook her head. “My attorney warned that it might come back to haunt me someday.”

“Then you stay. You find job. Ivan can hire you and get you work visa,” Tatiana said in English. She refilled her own tea cup. “I need a roommate. And you need to get out of that hotel.”

Sophia chewed it over. “I can’t live off your charity.”

“You won’t,
suka.
You’ll pay rent.” Tatiana smiled. “Come on. It will be fun. You can build new life here. More friends, new family.” She tucked her hair behind her shoulder. “Eventually, new man.”

“No. I’m done with that,” Sophia said. She tried to smile, but it didn’t quite work.

Tatiana stood from the couch, pushing the quilt off. “Come on. Let’s go move out of your hotel.”

“I’m not sure if that’s—”

“You can’t stay there. Too many people know you are there.”

“You’re right,” Sophia said. The hotel had been a line to Dmitri, in a way. It was the hotel she’d told Pierre about. But Dmitri wasn’t going to be coming for her after all, and she wouldn’t chase him anymore.

It was over.

Chapter 9

DMITRI

Moscow, Russia 

Dmitri lingered in the cool, dark study in his apartment in Moscow. He was alone, and he valued his solitary time.

It was one of his many properties and was his favorite. It was situated on the Patryarshy Pond in the middle of the city. Bullet proof glass in the windows. Top notch security system to get in the door of the building, not to mention the apartments on either side that he had purchased for his guards to live. The whole world at his fingertips.

It was the city he grew up in, and although he didn’t live here year round, it was as close to home as he got.

He sat behind his desk in this room filled with laptops, burner phones, and books. His office was an extra room besides the other two bedrooms. A true luxury in Moscow.

He opened one of the laptops and pulled up a news website. He clicked on the link for the United States' site and Sophia’s face filled his screen.

Red Bluff was still making headlines. The beautiful and educated whistle blower that had brought down the big, bad corporation captured the world’s attention. Sophia had signed her immunity agreements, made her statements, and then disappeared. The media ate it all up, broadcasting the same stories over and over.

They theorized over where she was. Most thought she was in hiding in the United States. Some thought she was hiding out with her parents on exotic tropical vacations. Dmitri didn’t know where she was, and he never would.

He’d been tempted to send someone out to find her, but he respected her decision for distance, and if his men found out he was searching for her, it would mean trouble for him.

The sad, beautiful woman. The widow. The grieving stepmother.

There wasn’t any mention of him, and for that he was glad. No one that could tie him to Red Bluff was alive to speak about it, except for Gram and Sophia.

He leaned back in his chair. He dispatched his lieutenants to various parts of Russia to spread the word. He was giving out higher percentages. He was quietly offering a bounty for names of the betrayers in his organization. He was cleaning house and streamlining his operations.

He wasn’t sure how deep-seated the betrayers were, and it worried him. There were always at least a couple of people on the globe that would prefer him dead, but he had no idea how high the number was now.

He would run leaner, with a smaller group of trusted men and women. He would be better. He’d been running guns since he was a teenager, starting on small stockpiles left in a war-torn former Soviet Union and graduating to ownership of air and international shipping companies. He had contacts in many governments. He’d moved arms across the former Soviet Union, the Middle East, South Asia, and South America.

He was lost in thought, still staring at his screen, but his trained ears picked up a noise in the apartment.

He was supposed to be alone. He hadn’t authorized anyone else to be in his private sanctum.

He pulled his semi-automatic out of the holster tucked in his waistband and was on his feet in seconds, taking noiseless steps down the hallway. The voices were louder now, a man and a woman.

He paused outside the door to his bedroom, straining to hear the noises. He threw open the door.

Naomi was lying across his bed, her long torso arched into the air, her pink nipples on her small shapely breasts hard. Gram was between her long legs, working her core.

She moaned and moved her slim hips against him and bucked. “Gram!” she shouted. “Oh, yes!”

Dmitri quickly shut the door. They hadn’t seen him.

He heard Gram moan and didn’t have to guess what he was doing now.

He walked away from the door. As he receded down the hallway, he heard the telltale banging of his bed frame against the wall.

Then there was silence.

They were much further along in their relationship than he thought, sneaking around him to be together. It complicated things for Dmitri, and he did not like complications.

He sank into the chair, poured a glass of water, and picked up a local newspaper. He waited, knowing eventually they would come out, find him here, and know they were found out.

After the sun started to fall away to night and Dmitri was almost done with the world news section, Gram finally strode into the room, pants unzipped with his shirt haphazardly tucked; his hand was wrapped around a small glass of amber liquid. He started when he saw Dmitri waiting for him in the dark.

“I…I did not know you were here,” Gram said.

“Clearly,” Dmitri said. “Sit.”

Gram glanced behind him and then sat. “Naomi is here,” he murmured.

“I know,” Dmitri said. “I thought we agreed that it was over.”

Gram swirled his drink, making the ice cubes clink together. “We did not agree.”

“Gram,” Dmitri said. He paused, waiting for the right words to come. “You cannot continue this, and you know that.”

“Oh yeah?” Gram sneered. He slammed his glass down. “What about Sophia. You ‘could not’ and you did. Why can’t I?” He looked away into the shadows at the end of the room. “If you can, I can. I am just as capable as protecting her as you did Sophia.”

“I do not doubt that, brother. But look at what happened between me and Sophia.”

Gram launched himself off the couch. “But I am not you, and Naomi is not Sophia. I will not live in the shadow of your failure. We have agreed to protect her. What is the difference if she is with me or you? As long as she is with us, she is safe from the S-Triangle.”

Dmitri dropped his chin. “We have not agreed to protect her; we agreed to pretend she was mine.” He stood next to his brother, putting his arm around his shoulder. “There is a difference, especially to the man who paid us for this. I am the head of this organization, and you are—”

Gram pushed his hand off. “And I am nothing, brother? Fuck you.”

He stormed out of the room, back down the hallway.

Dmitri watched him leave. It was a total cluster-fuck now. Gram was not an emotional person. He didn’t act like this. Dmitri needed Gram’s coolness now. If he lost Gram or if he became a liability, he didn’t even want to think about what’d he have to do, or if he’d even do it.

Fuck.

His newest burner phone rang. The New Orleans area code flashed up again. Dmitri answered the call. “Not now, Pierre.”

“Don’t hang up! Don’t hang up!” Pierre shouted through the phone.

Dmitri’s hackles rose. “What is it?”

Pierre exhaled loudly. “I’ve been trying to reach you for weeks, but you didn’t answer. I kept trying and now I don’t know…”

“Tell me now,” Dmitri said.

“Sophia,” Pierre said. He breathed heavily, as if he’d been running. “It’s Sophia. She’s in Russia looking for you. She’s been there for over a month.”

Dmitri’s knees gave out. He caught himself before he hit the floor. “What?” He crouched against the wall like a small child. “Tell me,” he said. His voice was rough and he didn’t like how weak he sounded.

“She came to see me. She said she was going to find you. She’s been waiting for you at Palace Square every day at ten in the morning.”

“What?” Dmitri shouted. “Is there more?”

Pierre exhaled. “She said…she said to tell you she loves you.”

Dmitri almost retched. He snapped inside and his feelings came out. He’d put them behind a wall of smooth glass in his chest, but they had been there. The ache for her. His feelings for her. The love. The constant state of arousal. All for her.

He tightened his hand into a fist, shoving it in his mouth to stop the sobs. He gained control a few seconds later. “Where is she staying?”

He jotted down the name of the hotel, though he didn’t need to. It was a landmark.

He hung up with Pierre then called the hotel. He called her room first; it rang and rang and rang. He hung up and called again. Same thing.

He hung up and called the front desk.

“Sophia Latrude. Room 3025,” he said.

“Hold, please,” the clerk said.

Dmitri waited, leaning against the wall for support.

Another click on the line. “Sir, she checked out two days ago.”

He threw the phone on the ground and ran to his room. He glanced at the clock. It was already after dinner hours. He pushed open the bedroom door where Gram and Naomi were now fully clothed and seated on the bed speaking in low voices. He ignored them, grabbing his wallet, keys, and briefcase from the top drawer of his dresser. He was frantic, panicked.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Gram ran to him. “What is going on?”

“St. Petersburg. I am leaving now.”

“What for?” Gram barked.

Dmitri whirled to face him. “She is there. She has been looking for me for weeks.”

Gram leaned back like he’d been slapped. Naomi was wide eyed on the bed, unmoving. “She is going to get herself killed, if she has not already,” Gram said.

“I know that!” Dmitri shouted.

“I will go with you, brother,” Gram said, and there was no anger in his voice.

Chapter 10

SOPHIA

Sophia clutched the plane tickets she’d just grabbed off Tatiana’s printer. She double checked the flight time. She had plenty of time to finish packing and get to the airport.

Tatiana leaned against the door frame. She’d just woken up and was a tangle of platinum hair, smeared eye makeup, baggy sweats, and a crop top she somehow made cute. “I do not think this is wise,” she said in Russian.

“I’ve always wanted to go.” She tossed the brochure to Dubrovnik to Tatiana. She watched her flip through the pages filled with shots of the beautiful walled city on the crystal blue sea. “It’s called the Pearl of the Adriatic.”

Tatiana tossed it back. “It’s beautiful, yes, but you do not need to go to Croatia right now.” She strolled into the room, handing Sophia a cup of coffee. “You are running away from something that you cannot outrun.”

Sophia crossed her legs underneath her, breathing deeply to keep the pain from bubbling up. She was tired of crying. “I need to get away from here.”

Tatiana frowned and then sat next to her so their knees were touching. “You should not be alone. You have met too many dangerous people to travel alone.”

Sophia sniffed the coffee before taking a sip. “I’ll be just another blond. No one will notice me.”

“This is stupid. Stay here. You can heal here, with friends. In your new life,” Tatiana said.

Sophia turned it over in her head. She’d never had Dmitri here, but his memory was somehow ingrained in the city that thrummed below her feet and the accents of the people that filled its streets.

This is where she’d lost him.

“I can’t, not yet,” she said.

She wasn’t sure what she was going to do yet. Her days had been strings of pain and heartache. Of loss. Of sorrow. She was tired of living it every day.

Maybe she would come back to Russia and move in with Tatiana and work in one of Ivan’s clubs. Maybe she’d try to sneak back into the United States, undetected by the media. Maybe go somewhere new. She was adrift in a life raft, getting ready to leave the safety of the lagoon and head out to the ocean.

“I better go,” she said.

Tatiana helped her pack her things into her small suitcase then walked her outside to hail a cab.

By some small miracle, she hailed a legit cab. More expensive, but in her opinion, safer than the “unofficial” drivers that cruised the city.

He popped out to help her with her suitcase. Tatiana hugged her then stepped back and sniffed. “Please come back. You always have home here.”

Sophia smiled. “Thank you, for everything.”

She stepped into the cab. He shut the door for her then got in and pulled away from the curb.