Edge of Control: An Edge Security Novel (Edge Security Series Book 1) (22 page)

“
Kotyonok
,” he said, drawing the hated nickname out. “I came to visit my old friend. We are friends, are we not?”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “Friends don’t hold guns to your head.”

He sat down on her bed and smiled. “I wanted your attention, and for you to realize how serious this is.”

“Fine,” Dani said. “I’m working for you and, believe me, I know it’s serious.”

His hand smoothed over the duvet cover, back and forth, as if caressing it, his dark eyes focused on her. “Won’t you join me?”

“What do you want, Vladimir? I’m tired.”

“Ah, I see,” he said. “You’re going to play hard to get. I understand. It is your right as a woman to dictate how fast the relationship goes.”

She froze, his words like tiny grenades waiting to explode if she touched them wrong. “We don’t have a relationship. We haven’t for a long time.”

He stood and stalked over to her. His hand swept her hair back behind her ear and then trailed down her neck. She shuddered in revulsion, but didn’t move otherwise. “You remember how good we were together,” he whispered. “You just won’t admit it.”

She shook her head and he put a finger to her lips. “I will give you time to get used to me again,” he said. His smile scared her more than the threat of branding. “But not too much. I find I’m impatient to have you.”

He walked to the door and rapped once. Ivan unlocked it and pushed it open.

“Dream of me,
Kotyonok
,” Vladimir said before locking her back in.

Dani sagged onto the bed.

The next day, Dani felt like a tightrope walker as she sat at her workstation, her fingers typing slowly as she dragged her way through the assigned hack.

She struggled to keep up her tough persona, proving to Vladimir she was trustworthy, and yet holding back enough so as to not provoke him to violence.

All day she’d attempted to hack her way into the Customs and Border Protection network. It was slow, delicate work. She wasn’t part of the hacktivist group Anonymous, or any kind of super hacker. She was out of practice for this type of job, but she knew she’d eventually do it and the thought of helping Vladimir made her gut churn.

He wanted the trucks carrying his cargo of trafficked women to be passed right through customs without inspection. Once in their network, it would be easy to give the green light to the trucks. Apparently, Vladimir had buyers all over the States, but he lost too much of his profits getting around the CBP.

She didn’t want Vladimir’s trucks to be passed over for inspection. So she kept making minor mistakes in her programs, little bugs that she had to fix. If she kept going the way she was, she’d be caught by CBP.

She stopped typing, an idea forming. If she could lead the CBP to her, then maybe they would storm this place. She’d probably end up in prison, but at least she’d stop Vladimir and his sick business.

And prison might be safer than here.

With a set jaw, she started to lay the groundwork, the trail of breadcrumbs that would bring CBP to her. She had to be careful; Vladimir had another tech geek checking on her while she worked. He was Vladimir’s cousin, about her age and straight from Moscow. His English sucked, though his computer skills weren’t horrible.

A real smile tugged at her lips. But she was better.

That night, Vladimir had dinner in her room. The Boulder Brothers brought in a small table, while Anya set it with elegant tableware. Dinner consisted of prime rib au jus, roasted potatoes, and braised carrots. The red wine was dry and full-bodied. The candlelight washed their faces in a warm glow.

She wished foolishly that Jake sat across from her.

“
Kotyonok
, you’ve barely touched your food. Is it not to your liking?”

It tasted like ashes in her mouth. “It’s fine. I guess I’m just not that hungry.”

“Come now, are you sulking? Where is my fiery
Kotyonok
?”

She lowered her eyes so he wouldn’t see the hate she couldn’t hide when he referenced their time together. She made herself start eating, if only to keep her strength up, though she passed over the wine for a glass of water.

Vladimir spoke of trivial things like movies and celebrity gossip. Dani chatted back, and if her tone wasn’t as carefree, he didn’t seem to notice. At least her smile was genuine, as she kept picturing shoving her fork into his eye.

After dinner, Vladimir ran a hand down her arm. “We need to get you some proper clothes, Danika. I dislike seeing you in jeans and t-shirts. You dress like a boy.”

Dani grit her teeth. “New clothes might be nice. But I’m not your harlot.”

He smiled. “Of course not,
Kotyonok
.” The hand trailing along her arm came up to cup her face. He leaned down and kissed her, gentle and slow. His lips reminded her of warm slugs, squishy and a bit wet.

Instead of stabbing him like she wanted, she gently pushed him away. “It’s too soon.”

His eyes narrowed, and she kept her revulsion buried deep, only showing him a blank face. Finally he nodded. “Goodnight, Danika.”

Alone, she scrubbed at her mouth. She wasn’t going to be able to wait for CBP to be her rescue. She had to escape soon, before Vladimir decided to force their relationship to the next level.

The next day, Dani shoved back from the workstation. “I need a break.”

Vladimir was no longer in the room, but two men worked at the other stations and the Boulder Brothers stood by the door.

“
Nyet
. No breaks,” Ivan said.

“I worked through lunch. I’m hungry.”

He smirked. “You can eat later.”

“
Mudak
,” she said, calling him an asshole. “I’m going to the bathroom.”

“Make it quick.”

She gave him the finger as she walked to the door beside the glass-walled office. In the bathroom, she took care of her needs and then splashed water on her face. She eyed the mirror. She could break it and hold a piece of the glass wrapped in her shirt, but the brothers would hear the mirror break and be waiting for her with guns drawn. She didn’t fancy dying in just her bra.

She snorted at herself. Did it really matter what she was wearing if she was dead? The stress of the situation was obviously getting to her.

She stepped out of the washroom to find Vladimir waiting for her with a childish look of glee on his face. Nausea swirled inside her. Whatever had put that look there couldn’t possibly be good for her.

“There you are,
Kotyonok
,” he said. “What news do you have for me?”

She crossed her arms. “It’s slow work. There’s a ton of security on the site. It’ll take at least a week to hack it.” And she planned to be long gone by then. Somehow.

He shook his head. “That won’t do. Come. I have a present for you.”

“A present?” That wasn’t what she’d expected.

If anything, his excitement rose with her question and he looked as if he wanted to rub his hands together. “You could call it an incentive.” He chuckled and even the Boulder Brothers cracked smiles.

He led her outside to the outbuilding he’d shown her when she’d first arrived. The one where he’d planned to punish her. Her steps slowed. Was this his present? A little mid-afternoon torture?

He turned to look back at her, the maniacal gleam in his eye almost as disturbing as watching the woman in the barn being branded. How could she ever have let this man into her life and her bed?

“Don’t be nervous, Danika. This won’t hurt…
you
.”

Dani didn’t want to see what was behind the door, but she had no choice. Boris pushed her into the building. She didn’t see anything at first as her eyes adjusted to the dim interior. The smack of flesh on flesh and a low, masculine groan jolted through her system like electricity. Her eyes widened.

Jake sat tied to the chair, wearing only a ripped black t-shirt and jeans. His feet were bare and his head lowered.

“Jake,” she whispered.

His head lifted and she gasped. Blood ran from a cut over his eye, making him seem like a horror-film victim. Raw scrapes marked the other side of his face. They must have been beating him for a while.

She tried to run to him, but the brothers caught her arms and held her back.

“How?” She looked from Jake to Vladimir, who nodded at her.

“Your boyfriend is not as tough as he looks, Danika. My men subdued him easily.” He shrugged. “It matters not. We have him. If you don’t do what I ask then I will hurt him. If you still don’t do it, I will kill him. Very simple.”

She wanted to tell him that Jake wasn’t her boyfriend. He wasn’t her anything. But while Jake may not have strong feelings for her, she realized she had feelings for him.

Panic and pain at the sight of him tied up seared through her, making her brain numb. She couldn’t let them hurt him worse than they already had. But she also knew that the safest thing for Jake was to distance him from her.

She shook off the restraining hands. “He’s not my boyfriend,” she said coldly.

Vladimir laughed. “You’re not a very good liar, Danika. We found him at your apartment.” His voice carried an edge. “Sleeping in your bed.”

Vladimir no longer called her Kitten. “I’m not lying,” she said. “He’s someone I just met. And I have no idea what he was doing at my apartment.”

“It bothers you to see him like this,” Vladimir said accusingly.

She huffed. “Of course it does. I feel responsible that he’s in this situation. He wouldn’t be here if not for me. It’s what any sane person would feel.”

Vladimir scowled. “You slept with him.”

“No,” she said, her face flushing. “I—”

“I saw you kissing at the party,” Vladimir said.

The room became quiet. Dani wanted to sigh with relief. He didn’t know about what had happened at the hotel. For a minute she’d been sure Vladimir had found a way to spy on her.

“She’s a tease.” Jake’s voice rasped like stinging wasps. “Little bitch led me on.”

Dani’s horrified gasp echoed in the room. Vladimir turned to face Jake. “What did you say?”

“I
said
, the bitch led me on.” Jake’s jaw jutted out. “It’s why I was at her place. She owed me after I rented that tux for the fancy party she wanted to go to.”

Dani felt off-balance as Jake’s hard gaze scanned her curves. “Feeling her tits wasn’t worth this kind of trouble.”

Vladimir’s eyes narrowed as he studied first Jake and then Dani, before swiveling to fully face Jake. “You’re either very stupid or very brave.” He snorted. “I’m thinking stupid. But let’s just have a little test, shall we?”

He crooked a finger at Boris, who lumbered over. Vladimir nodded at Jake and then focused his attention on Dani. She knew what was coming and steeled herself. She had no idea why Jake was provoking Vladimir, but she wouldn’t add to his torment by showing that she cared.

Boris made a fist and struck Jake in the gut. Hard. Jake exhaled heavily and gave a small groan. He hit him twice more and each time, Jake slumped farther in his chair.

Boris straightened and looked to Vladimir. At that exact moment, Jake raised his head and winked at her, before letting his head loll forward again.

Dani froze. What the hell? Was he trying to be brave? To reassure her? Did he not realize he was tied to a chair and being tortured?

Dani fought to keep any emotion off her face as Boris punched Jake twice more.

“Enough,” she said. She didn’t know what Jake was doing, but she hated standing there and watching him get hurt. Vladimir raised a hand and Boris stepped back from Jake.

“Seriously, Vladimir?” she said. “Do I really need to watch this? I’m already working for you.”

Vladimir chewed his lip a moment. “Perhaps you’re right. This probably isn’t the best use of your time,
Kotyonok
.” He waved a hand at Jake. “I will deal with this
mudak
while you get back to work.”

Her stomach dropped, but she swallowed and asked calmly, “Are you going to kill him?”

He looked at her slyly. “Not until we find your friend Tassia. Until then, we’ll use him to keep you from escaping. You may not care for him, but I do believe you’ve become softhearted enough to not want his death on your hands.” He smirked. “I will see you tonight,
Kotyonok
.”

Jake’s head snapped up and his gaze seared her. She ignored it, gritted her teeth, and smiled at Vladimir. It was part of the plan, she chanted to herself.

But as Ivan escorted her back across the field, the hurt and rage she’d seen in Jake’s eyes haunted her.

When the sun set that day, the Boulder Brothers escorted her back to the main farmhouse. Anya brought her a simple dinner of bread and stew, and locked the door behind her, leaving Dani alone in the room with her thoughts.

Vladimir clearly wasn’t joining her for dinner and a sigh of relief escaped her. She ate quickly and then started to pace.

How had Vladimir managed to capture Jake? He was a freaking Navy SEAL. Wasn’t he supposed to be superhuman or something? How had Vladimir’s less-than-capable thugs overcome Jake?

Her head snapped up. They hadn’t. They couldn’t overcome a SEAL. She’d fought Vladimir’s men herself, and had almost overpowered them.

No, they didn’t capture Jake. He’d let himself be taken. He’d done it to help her. That thought stunned her for a moment. She sank onto the bed. He’d been trying to help her.

But what had his plan been? Why had he let himself be tied up? Maybe they’d drugged him like they had her. She needed to get to him and untie him. Then he could help her rescue the women in the cages.

First, she had to get out of this room.

She pounded on her door, hoping Anya would come back. She jumped back when only a few seconds later someone unlocked it. The door pushed open and Dani forced herself to smile, though it was the last person she wanted to see.

Vladimir walked into the room with a bottle of wine and two glasses, and Boris closed the door behind him.

“Impatient?” he murmured.

“I’m tired of being locked up all the time. Can’t we go for a walk?” She made her lips pout just a little.
Or maybe I could just kick you in the balls
, she thought. But she needed him to get the door open first so she could escape.