Broken Wings (The Broken Series Book 3) (45 page)

Adrenaline
surged through me as I began to panic. I grabbed Shae’s arm. “We have to run,
now!
”

Shae’s
mouth fell open. “But they have our phones! Besides, where would we go? I don’t
have the keys to the car, do you?”

I
looked around frantically. “Where are the other tourists? Where are Konstantin,
Brady, and Ethan? Everyone just disappeared.”

Shae
grabbed my shoulders. She took a deep breath and blew it out. “Calm down. We
can do this. We’ll just answer whatever questions they have. They’ll see we
have nothing to hide, and they’ll let us go.”

I
shook my head. “Something’s not right about this. Our security detail is
missing, Shae. Something is bad wrong.”

“Just
stay cool,” she breathed. “If we run, they’ll assume we’re guilty of
something.”

The
four men turned to stare at us. One of the men hung back to make a call on his cell
phone while the other three stalked toward us.

“
Vy
govorite po-angliyski
?” I repeated. “Do any of you speak English?”

One
of the men nodded. “Yes. I speak English.” His accent was thick, almost
sluggish, and nothing like Maxim’s.

I
breathed a sigh of relief. “Can you please explain what’s wrong? Why did you
take our phones? We don’t understand what we did wrong.”

He
narrowed his eyes at me. “It is illegal to take picture of Russian naval fleet.”

Shae
and I exchanged glances. She shook her head. “I had no idea that it was illegal
to take pictures of the ships. You can delete the pictures. You can keep my
phone if you want.”

All
four men were now glaring at me.

I
shook my head. “I didn’t take any pictures.” I waved toward my phone. “You can
see for yourself. I didn’t take any pictures of the ships.”

The
man holding my phone shoved it in my face. “Do you work for the American
government? Are you military?”

I
looked at the picture on the phone. It was the picture of me with Kadyn and the
rest of my Air Force friends at Mason’s pinning on ceremony. I shook my head.
“No. Those are my friends…
moi druz'ya
. I do not work for the government
or the military.”

The
four men immediately began conferring again. They appeared to be arguing about
something. Two of the men suddenly grabbed Shae and me by the arm.

I
jerked my arm out of his hand. “Don’t touch me! I have no idea who you are. You
haven’t identified yourself. You haven’t shown us any kind of badge. You take
our phones, start yelling at us, then grab us? I want to know who you are. I
want to see some ID!”

The
man pulled a black handgun from inside his coat. He shoved the gun against my
forehead. “This is my ID.”

I
put my hands up as I took a couple of steps back. I glanced nervously at the
cliff behind me. “This is all just a big misunderstanding. If you want the
phones, take the phones. We won’t take any more pictures. We’re not here to cause
any trouble. We’re teachers…
uchitelya
. We’re working at the National
Technical University.”

One
of the other men took a step toward me. “How long have you been teaching at the
university?”

I
shook my head. “We’re supposed to begin on Monday. We just arrived from
Simferopol. We were teaching at the Taurida National Vernadsky University. Ask
Dean Bykov. He’ll explain who we are.”

Shae
tried to pull away from the guy who held her by the arm. She looked around
frantically. “Konstantin!” she screamed as a single tear stole down her face.

The
man standing in front of me slapped her across the face. Hard.

I
shoved him in the chest. “Don’t you dare hit her!” I tugged at the other man’s
arm. “Get your hands off of her!”

Someone
grabbed me by both arms. He yanked them forcefully behind my back. I bent my
knees and threw myself back as hard as I could. He pulled me with him as he
fell backwards. I scrambled out of his grasp as his head hit the ground. I
glanced over my shoulder at Shae. “Kick him in the knee and run!”

Stars
bit at my eyes as I was yanked by my hair. I kicked my foot back against his
shin as the man reached for my arm. “
Let me go!
”

“You
are under arrest,” he spit into my ear.

My
heart slammed into my chest. “Under arrest? For what?”

“For
spying on the Russian government.”

I
bit back a sob. “This is a terrible misunderstanding.”

The
man pinned me in place while another man snapped handcuffs onto my wrists. I
glanced at Shae, who was now sobbing. She, too, was in handcuffs.

The
four men held us by our arms as they forced us to walk through the ruins.

I
stumbled, then fell to my knees when I saw Ethan and Brady lying on the ground
just on the other side of the bell. Their legs were twisted at odd angles, and
they weren’t moving. I started vomiting.

“
Oh
my God. They’re dead,
” Shae rasped. She began sobbing even harder.

I
cried out as someone lifted me by the hair. I was shoved forward as the men
forced us to continue walking. I saw Konstantin the second we hit the parking
lot. He was sprawled face down next to the car. A small pool of blood saturated
the ground near his head.

A
horrifying sound escaped Shae’s chest. She fought to break away as she lunged
toward Konstantin. Her screams echoed off the side of the cathedral. She went
limp when the men wouldn’t release her, then burst into tears.

I
stared at Shae, numbly at first. My blood boiled, then scalded my veins. The
skin tore from my knuckles as I worked the handcuff off of my right hand. The
sky darkened, as did the ground. My muscles coiled as I breathed in every vile
word… every bit of pain… and every violent act that I had ever endured. Anger,
hate, and vengeance beckoned me like old friends. In a storm of fury and fear,
I turned toward the man who held me and raged.

Rafael
stood glowering at Michael. “I’m not discussing this here.”

Michael
huffed out a breath irritably. “Why? What could you possibly have against my
office?”

Rafael’s
eyes hardened. “Every time I walk into this room, I see Kristine on her knees
sobbing, begging you to let her stay. Right there, Michael… in the exact spot
where you are now standing!”

 Michael
looked down at the floor. His jaw clenched as his gaze returned to Rafael. He
stalked toward the door. “Fine.”

Rafael
followed Michael to the terrace overlooking the gardens. He groaned when he saw
the fountain where Kristine had nearly died… the same fountain that now
memorialized the child she and Michael had lost. He turned his back against the
fountain so he wouldn’t have to look at it.

Michael
crossed his arms over his chest. “Why are you here?”

Rafael’s
eyes narrowed. “I’m here because I’m in love with Kristine. Since you are my
brother and the two of you were previously engaged, I felt I should tell you
this in person. Michael, I intend to marry her.”

Michael’s
eyes filled with rage. “You couldn’t keep your hands off of her. You couldn’t respect
the fact that she belongs to me.”

Rafael’s
fists clenched. “She doesn’t
belong
to you, Michael. She’s not some
acquisition… some piece of property that you own.”

Michael
growled. “You know what I mean.” He unfurled his arms and stalked across the terrace.
He stopped and stared at the sculpture he had installed in the fountain when
Kristine lost the baby.

He
sighed as he turned toward his brother. “How do you see this all working out,
Rafael? You’re sleeping with the woman I love. Are you going to bring her to
family reunions… expect me to hold your children on my knee when they should
have been mine to begin with? You can’t expect me to stand by and watch you
kiss her… sleep with her… make love to her when you are in my home.”

Rafael
shook his head. “When have we ever had a family reunion? God, Michael, I barely
even know you. You grew up in that stupid boarding school. I only saw you when
you came back to Portugal for the holidays. You were away at university when our
parents were murdered. I had no one, Michael… no one to help me through that.
Sure, you came for the funeral, but then you left just like everyone else.”

Michael
opened his mouth to speak, then quickly snapped it shut.

Rafael
began pacing across the terrace. “You have always been so self-absorbed, so
oblivious to the needs of other people. Then you drag me into this obsession…
this thing you had with Kristine. You asked me to watch over her, to protect
her, while you were here getting this place in order. You led me to believe
that she loved you, that you simply had a falling out. Then you kidnapped her
and brought her here against her will. I didn’t even know you were planning to
kidnap her until the day you did it!
I thought you were going to talk
with her, work out your differences, then bring her here willingly. That was
the plan, Michael. That was the sane thing to do, and you screwed it all up.”

Michael
shook his head. “Kristine did love me. She agreed to marry me, and she chose to
stay here.”

Rafael
stopped pacing as he folded his arms across his chest. “You didn’t give her any
other choice. You took her away from everything she knew and loved. You
controlled everything she was exposed to, and you manipulated her until she
relented.” Rafael paused as he reached inside his jacket. His phone was
vibrating against the inside pocket. He glanced at the Caller ID before
accepting the call. “Ethan, this isn’t a good time.”

“You
need to get over here,
now
.”

Rafael’s
blood turned to ice. He clenched the phone. “What’s going on?”

“Kristine’s
gone. Someone has taken her and her friend, Shae. Brady and I are both stuck in
the hospital. Four men approached us at the ruins in Sevastopol. That’s the
last thing I remember. They hit us with tranquilizers. Then they broke both of
our legs. We were out for hours, Rafael. She’s been missing for hours, and we
have no friggin’ clue where she’s at.” Ethan paused as he tried to calm down.
Then he lost it. “For Christ’s sake, Rafael. Get your ass over here!”

Rafael’s
eyes locked on Michael, who was now watching him intently. “Do you have Maxim’s
phone number or the number to any of his men?”

Ethan
sighed in frustration. “No. They were constantly around. We never had a reason
to exchange phone numbers.”

Rafael
froze. “Where are they now?”

Ethan
groaned. “I have no clue. Maxim had some foreign policy meeting in Simferopol
that he couldn’t get out of, so he sent Konstantin with us. There were some
jurisdictional issues, so they couldn’t use the same security detail they had
in Simferopol. They had to involve the mafia in Sevastopol. The new security
detail was supposed to meet us at the ruins, but this went down before anyone
showed up. Konstantin was with us at the ruins, but I have no idea where he is
now. He could be the one who has them, he could be here in the hospital, or he
could be dead for all I know.”

Rafael’s
jaw clenched. “Do what you can from the hospital. Try to track down Maxim. Ask
the hospital staff if they can put you in touch with someone from the mafia.
Get Brady on it too. Call me as soon as you get a number.” Rafael disconnected
the call. He glowered at Michael. “I want the jet fueled and a flight plan
cleared for Sevastopol, Ukraine. Now.”

He
turned his back on Michael as he began dialing his phone. “Kadyn. Rafael. I’m on
my way to Ukraine. Kristine’s missing. I had security on her, but they’ve been
disabled. I think she’s been kidnapped. Can you meet me in Sevastopol?”

The
line was silent.

“Kadyn!”

“I
heard you. Give me two seconds to process what you said. I need to think this
through!”

“What
the hell do you need to think through? Kristine’s missing. In Ukraine! The
mafia has been all over her since she arrived, her room was bugged, and the
government has been monitoring her. Do you have any idea what they could be
doing to her?”

“I
need to clear my schedule with my superiors. I’m military. I have a chain of
command to answer to. I can’t just drop everything and go. I’ll get it done. I
just need a few minutes to do it. I’ll call you as soon as I lock in a flight
to Ukraine.” Kadyn didn’t wait for a response. He simply disconnected the call.

Michael
stood slack-jawed in front of Rafael. His face was void of all color. “The
Russian mafia has Kristine?”

Rafael
glared at Michael. “I need that plane,
now!
”

Michael
pulled the phone from his pocket. He scrolled through his list of contacts and
hit send. “Have the jet fueled and a flight plan cleared for Sevastopol,
Ukraine immediately. I want the plane ready to depart in twenty minutes.”

Rafael
followed Michael back through the house. He started toward the front door, then
turned in confusion when Michael disappeared inside his office. Rafael followed
him into the office. His eyes narrowed when he saw Michael shoving his passport
and laptop into a briefcase. “What are you doing?”