Dangerous Allies (The Ruby Danger Series Book 1) (19 page)

W
hen Ruby’s
taxi pulled up in front of Carmen’s that evening, Hari stood outside with his trench coat collar turned up against the swirling mist. His smile faded when he saw her face.

“I can explain everything, Ruby. Come inside.”

He held the restaurant door open and she walked through. Inside, he exchanged nods with the maître d’, who led them past a circular stage in the middle of the room to a curved booth near the back. The maître d’ handed them menus, winked at Hari and walked away. Pushing her coat to one side of the booth, Ruby opened the menu.

“Why did he wink at you?” she asked, turning a page and reading as casually as possible.

“He knows me. I’ve been here before. The cacciatore is good, by the way.”

Ruby put down the menu and glared at him.

“I was in that police station almost two hours. I was scared to death.”

“I know and I’m sorry. But I had nothing to do with that, Ruby.” He shook his head. “If it’s any consolation, they grilled Antony on the ship a lot longer than that after you disappeared. For an entire day, in fact.” Hari chuckled. “So you can imagine how pissed off he was when he found out you were alive.”

She raised her eyebrows.

“I mean, he was
glad
, ecstatic even—”

“Don’t overdo it.”

“—but later, he was pissed.”

Hari handed both menus to a hovering waiter.

“Two orders of the chicken cacciatore, please. And a bottle of the 2008 Chablis.” He smiled at Ruby. “That okay with you?”

“I don’t really care, to be honest.”

Hari took off his glasses and laid them on the table. His deep brown eyes were much more intense without them. He leaned in and lowered his voice.

“When I thought you were dead …” His voice cracked and he looked down at the table.

Ruby’s chest tightened and she frowned. Dammit. Why did she have to apologize? She drew a ragged breath.

“I’m sorry about that.”

Hari rubbed the back of his neck, looking up with an embarrassed chuckle.

“Don’t apologize. It wasn’t your fault. And you’re not dead, so … that’s good.” Smiling, he flicked his spoon back and forth on the table. “Very good.”

The waiter walked over with a basket of rolls, placed it beside them with a slight nod, and walked away.

Hari leaned back and grinned at her.

“So, tell me. How did you get off that ship, anyway?”

“Oh, no. Forget it.” She crisscrossed her hands in an emphatic gesture. “I answered enough questions at the police station, thanks.” Leaning back, she fingered the tablecloth while glancing around. “You’re getting rather fancy with the wines and all, Hari. I remember when you rated your plonk by whether it was in a bottle or a box.”

“Is that all you remember?”

She ignored his question and lifted her chin at the stage.

“What do they use that for?”

“The customers sing. They’re amateurs, but most are fairly good.”

“That’s why the maître d’ winked at you,” she said, her mouth twitching. “You’re his favorite tenor.”

Hari flashed a sheepish grin and shrugged.

The waiter arrived with the wine and filled their glasses. Ruby sank back into the soft caress of the upholstered velvet bench, sipped her Chablis, and looked around the dimly lit room. A spotlight illuminated the stage, augmented by tiny lights along the front. At this early hour only about half the booths that lined the walls were occupied, each with a lamp that cast a pool of light on the table. The door to the kitchen swung open and tantalizing aromas of tomato, garlic, and roasted meat wafted out. She looked at Hari.

He smiled at her and for a moment she almost forgot why they were there.

Three musicians walked to the stage and sat down. A woman rose from a table, stepped onto the stage and nodded at the trio. The familiar opening bars of
I Dreamed a Dream
echoed through the restaurant. The mezzo-soprano spread her hands and launched into the first verse.

Ruby raised a hand to shield her expression, turned to Hari, and made a face. He leaned in.

“I did say most were good,” he whispered.

When the song ended, the patrons applauded politely. The singer handed the wireless mic to the maître d’ and returned to her seat. The maître d’ walked over and handed it to Hari.

Ruby shook her head, suppressing a grin.

“I knew it.”

Hari winked at her, walked to the stage and nodded at the musicians. Soon the notes of a clarinet hung like jewels in the air.

In a clear but powerful tenor, Hari sang
Tosca
’s
E lucevan le stelle
, expressing the anguish of a condemned man who faces his execution after falling in love for the first time.

The music swelled and Hari’s voice rose to match it. Ruby closed her eyes, letting the emotion wash over her.

‘E muoio disperato

E non ho amato mai tanto la vita!’

She looked down, blinking rapidly, as the aria ended and Hari slid back into the booth. Ruby shook her head.

“You have such a wonderful voice. Why did you stop singing?” She looked up at him and smiled.

He reached for her hand and gave it a squeeze.

Startled, she pulled her hand away.

His face darkened. He picked up his glasses and slid them back on.

“Why did I give up singing? Well, let’s see. I was living in a cheap rooming house with nothing on the horizon. I had a girlfriend with more talent and ambition than I could ever hope to match. My parents had cut off my allowance and insisted I refocus.” He glanced around the room and sighed. “I’m good with numbers, Ruby. At Stanford, they said I was a genius with numbers. Turns out, that’s a highly negotiable skill. Whereas singing,” he shrugged, “not so much.”

“But you love singing. You could have—”

He held up a hand. “Never mind that.” He lowered his hand to the table and studied her. “Antony’s in more trouble than you know.”

She slumped back against the bench.

“Not my problem. And if he’s in trouble, he deserves to be.”

“Maybe. But he needs those bonds back, Ruby. The ones you took off the ship.”

She pressed both hands to her temples.

“I told you, I don’t … wait, I get it.” Her voice quavered. “Antony sent his right-hand man to soften up his bitch of a wife and get his bonds back. Well, it’s not going to work because I don’t have them.” Grabbing her coat, she slid off the bench.

“Ruby, please. I’m trying to help you.”

She tugged on her coat and turned to face him.

“Why do you keep tormenting me, Hari? Why did you have to work for Antony? Why can’t you leave me alone?” Brushing a tear away with the back of her hand, she walked out.

A soft rain gleamed on the sidewalk and fog wreathed the streetlights. Ruby turned up her collar and set out for the subway. She was half a block from the restaurant when Hari caught up with her.

“Ruby, please.” He put a hand on her arm.

She shoved his hand away and kept walking, her head lowered against the drizzle.

“Leave me alone,” she said over her shoulder.

“Antony is scum. He’s always been scum. Why do you think he married you?”

Ruby stopped and turned, crossing her arms.

“Be careful, Hari.”

“You were a bright shiny object. One he didn’t have. And he knew I would try to make his schemes work if you were around.”

“Are you saying Antony didn’t love me?”

“Of course he loved you. That’s not what I meant.”

“Then what did you mean? Tell me the truth.”

“The truth?” Sighing, Hari reached a hand under her elbow and guided her under a storefront awning, out of the rain. Once there, Ruby yanked her arm away. Hari held up both hands and took a step back before he spoke.

“Antony didn’t know enough about accounting to pull it off by himself. He needed someone who would be aggressive with the numbers, but not enough to get caught. Someone he could trust, who wouldn’t turn him in. I think even back then he knew Carvon was in trouble.”

A taxi drove slowly past, looking for a fare. Hari shook his head at the driver and the cab sped up, its wheels spurting water.

“I was at Jason Brothers when Antony sent his headhunters. They were persistent and I was flattered. But not flattered enough to jump ship. Then one weekend Antony invited me along on a trip to the Cape. Private jet, gourmet restaurants, the whole nine yards. Next thing I knew, he’d asked me to be a witness at his wedding. Your wedding. I guess his headhunters found out about our background because he knew the whole story.”

“Our background? What are you talking about?”

“You remember the rooming house?”

Ruby nodded reluctantly. Where was this going?

“I never really believed I’d make it as a professional singer, but there was no doubt you were a wonderful actor. I used to sit in the back of the theater, where it was dark, while you rehearsed that play you were in. You were brilliant.” A smile touched his lips and for a moment he looked as if he were miles away. Hari shook his head.

“You were everything I ever wanted, Ruby. I knew you’d never be mine, but I wanted you to be happy. Always.” He drew a deep breath. “Two years ago, when I figured out what Antony was doing, if I had walked away, it would have all come out and you’d have been—”

“The wife of a criminal?”

“Worse. A criminal yourself. Antony made dozens of transactions in your name, through subsidiaries that list you as president. I thought perhaps I could reverse them and delete the evidence. I knew you’d be cleared eventually, but in the meantime—”

“The media would crucify me.”

He nodded.

“So, have you deleted the evidence?”

“It’s complicated.” He pulled car keys from his pocket and held them out to her. “I know you don’t trust me, but I can prove it. Go to the parking garage on the corner. The silver Jaguar on the third level. There are things in the car you need to see. I’m going back to the restaurant to pay the bill. I’ll give you fifteen minutes. If you still don’t want to have anything to do with me, you can hail a cab and leave. If not, I’ll meet you at the car.”

She stared at the keys dangling from his hand and then looked up into his eyes.

“Did you turn me in to the police, Hari?”

“No. No, of course not.” He stared at her with his mouth open. “Where did you get that idea? Why would I …?” Shaking his head, he held up the keys. “Fifteen minutes, Ruby, that’s all I ask.”

She reached for the key ring.

R
uby’s footsteps
echoed in the empty stairwell of the parking garage as she climbed to the third level, where she clicked Hari’s key ring. Lights flashed and she walked to a silver Jaguar and clicked the key again. The car’s locks snapped open. Ruby glanced around. She was alone.

Opening the driver’s door, she tossed her tote bag onto the passenger seat and slid behind the wheel. There was nothing on the burled walnut dashboard and only her bag on the leather passenger seat. The back seat held a crumpled wool blanket. Maybe there was something underneath it. She twisted around, reaching for the blanket.

It moved.

Ruby jerked back. Two eyes and a furry white muzzle emerged from under the blanket.

“Charlie!” she shrieked, grinning as the frenzied terrier scrambled over the front seat. He clambered onto her lap, frantically licking her face. Ruby giggled, shivering as his cold wet nose nuzzled her neck. She hugged him, her face buried in his hair.

“I thought I’d never see you again, Charlie.”

Wait a minute. She wrinkled her nose and sniffed. Someone had given her dog a bath. Charlie smelled of—she sniffed again and chuckled—Old Spice. After giving him another hug, she reached for the door handle.

“Come on, Charlie. Let’s see if Hari’s got any biscuits.” There was no leash, so she climbed out with the terrier in her arms and walked out from between the parked cars.

Hari emerged from the stairwell thirty yards away. He waved and quickened his pace when he saw her. Behind him, a man in a sheepskin jacket and black wool cap also came out of the stairwell, arms pumping and head lowered. As he came alongside Hari, he swerved and raised an arm.

With a glint of metal, he plunged something into Hari’s side.

Hari’s face contorted as he crumpled onto the ground. He lay sprawled on the concrete with one hand outstretched, blood pooling around his coat.

Ruby’s jaw went slack and her legs turned to rubber.

The man bent over Hari and raised his arm again.

Ruby screamed, clutching Charlie to her chest, and the attacker looked up.

Dimitri.

Ruby tried to take a step back, but her legs wouldn’t move. She opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She stared at Dimitri, her heart thudding.

He straightened up and ran at her with the bloody knife in his hand.

Still she couldn’t move.

Then Charlie growled and tried to leap from her arms, barking in her defense. Jolted into action, Ruby darted for the car. Wrenching open the door, she threw Charlie onto the back seat and slid into the driver’s seat. She slammed the door shut and fumbled with the keys with one hand while searching for the lock button with the other.

Dimitri was steps away.

Ruby slammed down the button and the locks thudded on.

Dimitri yanked on the door handle and then pounded on the driver’s side window, first with his hands and then with the knifepoint. In the back seat, Charlie barked furiously, his front paws scrabbling at the side window. Ruby’s hand shook so much it took several seconds to slide the key into the ignition. As she cranked the engine, the driver’s side window cracked under Dimitri’s repeated blows. She hit the gas pedal just as the window exploded, showering her with shards of safety glass.

Flooring the accelerator, she jerked the steering wheel hard right. The Jaguar fishtailed out of the parking spot, shearing off the bumper of the car beside it. Ruby hit the accelerator again and raced to the down ramp. Without braking, she turned left onto the ramp. The car scraped and bounced off the concrete walls.

She checked the rearview mirror. Dimitri was sprinting to the stairwell.

When the Jaguar reached the bottom of the concrete ramp, its front bumper hit the floor with a shattering crunch. Ruby took another hard left and the car hurtled down the incline to the next floor.

Dimitri jumped in front of her with a gun in his hand.

She hit the brakes.

“Get out!”
he roared, running to the driver’s side and reaching through the broken window for the door handle.

Ruby rammed the gas pedal and the car jumped ahead, knocking Dimitri off balance. The Jaguar raced a hundred yards to the far wall where she wrenched the steering wheel to the right as hard as she could. The car hurtled to the exit.

A red Mazda blocked the way, its driver handing change to an attendant in the kiosk. Ruby slammed on the brakes and the Jaguar halted, jerking her back against the seat. She fumbled in her bag for a bill, any bill. The barrier lifted and the Mazda drove out.

Ruby tapped on the accelerator and halted beside the kiosk.

A bored-looking teenage boy with dyed black hair and a nose ring leaned out.

“Ticket please.”

She threw a twenty at him. “I don’t have one. Open the gate.”

“I have to have a ticket.”

Dimitri stepped out from behind the kiosk with the gun in his outstretched hand.

Ruby floored the accelerator and the Jaguar smashed through the wooden barrier, breaking it in two with a loud crack. The car bumped over a ramp on the sidewalk and she jerked the wheel to the right without slowing.

A block later, she slammed on the brakes at a red light and the Jaguar screeched to a stop partway through the intersection. As Ruby’s head snapped back onto the headrest, a car veered past with a blaring horn.

She slapped one hand on her chest, gasping, and with the other reached for her cellphone and keyed in 9-1-1. It might not be too late to help Hari. While gasping out a garbled report and an address, she checked the rearview mirror.

Dimitri ran to a Town Car idling nearby, yanked open the door and pointed his gun at the driver, who clambered out with his hands up. Dimitri jumped in and the Town Car screeched into the street, heading straight for her.

Ruby dropped her cellphone and clamped her foot on the accelerator. The Jaguar shot through the intersection. She turned down a street that led to the lake, swerving around other vehicles, and raced up a ramp onto the elevated expressway that curved through the downtown core. Leaning on the horn, she veered from lane to lane. Glass-walled condominiums flashed by, huge video billboards flickered and danced, and a domed stadium loomed beside her.

One wrong move and the Jaguar would strike the concrete divider at the road’s edge and soar through the air, drifting soundlessly until it crashed on the streets below in a cloud of smoke and twisted metal.

Ruby glanced at the speedometer. One hundred and forty kilometers, nearly ninety miles an hour. The rear mirror revealed the Town Car close behind, weaving from lane to lane. Dimitri was gaining on her. She pushed the accelerator to the floor.

By the time they left the expressway’s elevated section, her hands and face were numb from the night air that whipped through the broken window. A traffic cop often lurked behind the bridge support at the next overpass. Hopefully one would be there tonight.

Ruby gave a grim glance to the speedometer. One hundred and sixty kilometers. That should get the cop’s attention.

As the Jaguar raced under the bridge, she chanced a quick look to the side. There was an officer, all right. But he had already pulled someone over. He stood by the car, talking to the driver.

Ruby whooshed past him, checking her rearview mirror.

The Town Car was closing in. As it raced past the bridge, the cop ran for his cruiser. Within seconds, the police car had pulled out into traffic with its lights flashing and siren blaring. Ruby wrenched the wheel to the right and veered across three traffic lanes onto an exit.

The Town Car roared past, unable to turn in time, the police car close behind.

At the bottom of the exit ramp, Ruby slammed on the brakes. Gasping, she leaned over the wheel, blood pounding in her ears, as the siren faded into the distance. Taking a deep breath, she turned the Jaguar to the left with trembling hands and drove a few hundred yards to the lake, her foot numb against the pedals.

She pulled into a parking lot overlooking the water and stopped, killing the engine and the lights. Charlie, who had been forced against the back seat during the chase with his tongue lolling, clambered over the front seat and snuggled into Ruby’s lap. He licked her face, wagging his tail as she slumped back against the headrest with her eyes closed. She sat up, pushed him to one side and opened her eyes.

They couldn’t stay here. That cop, or others, would be along soon.

As she picked up Charlie to put him into the back seat her fingers brushed against something on his neck. Ruby turned on the overhead light. The Hello Kitty bracelet was looped around Charlie’s leather collar. She unsnapped the bracelet and examined it under the dome light, but there were no visible marks or message. She fastened it around her wrist. As she stared at it, the smiling Kitty disappeared, replaced by Hari’s contorted expression as he fell to the ground in a pool of blood. A gasp burst from her throat and she hunched over, sobbing.

Eventually, she rubbed her nose on her sleeve and rummaged in her bag for tissues. She blew her nose, staring at the moonlit lake. Dimitri must work for the
vor v zakonye
. But why would they want to kill Hari? What had Hari done to the mob? Her stomach twisted. Was it a warning? To who? Her?

Turning the key in the ignition with a shaking hand, she left the parking lot and drove west along the lake. She would drive out of the city and dump the car. Then she could think about what to do next.