Summer Kisses (214 page)

No.
She pushed the gun down between the seat’s cushion and the console. Their escape would not play out like that. She’d killed once tonight. She would again, to save them all.

Ahead, a woman stood with Marco. His girlfriend Tiffany.

Marco was the one bodyguard who had special privileges because he’d been with the family eons.

As the headlights crept up on the couple, the petite, mousey brunette stepped out of Marco’s embrace and disappeared into the shadows along the brick wall that surrounded the estate. Marco held up his hand, and Nicole slowed the car to a stop and shifted into park.

Marco’s flashlight blinded her through the glass.

Nicole lowered the window with one hand and raised the other to shield her eyes. “Put that down, before you wake Luka.”

A gust of wind billowed through the opening and made the moisture at the nape of her neck feel cool.

“Gorgon did not say he was sending you out, Katrina. Where are you going?”

Peter, the other guard, walked around the far side of the car, checking the rear seat.

Heat lightning seared the sky.

Nicole lifted her chin so that Marco would see the bruise left on her cheek from Gorgon’s slap and the split of her lip. “I didn’t like him bringing that girl into our home,” she spat. “He told me to go to his brother’s for the night. I imagine he wants to be alone with his new prize.”

The smirk that grew on Marco’s face sickened her. He knew what she implied.

“Gila waits for us.” She put the car into gear.

“Wait.” Marco grabbed the steering wheel. “We will need to check with Gorgon.” His smile made her pulse kick up a notch. “You understand.”

She was betting their lives on the fear Gorgon caused his men. Keeping her cool, she shrugged as if his intentions made no difference to her and shifted the car into park again. “Of course. I’m sure he won’t mind if you disturb him. Our fight was small.” She held up her hand and displayed the tiny distance between her thumb and index finger. “But know, I will not accept the responsibility of your blood.”

Marco’s smile faded. His hand fell away from the steering wheel and he nodded to Peter, who met him at the car’s grill.

Nicole leaned toward her window and tried hard to hear their muffled conversation. Apparently, Peter didn’t think disturbing Gorgon was in their best interest. Marco agreed.

Peter headed toward the gate and Marco returned to her window. “Okay. You go right to Donnie’s. I will call Gila and let her know you are on your way.”

Again, she shrugged, holding back the sigh of relief waiting to escape her lungs. “Do what you must.”

When she was away from these people, she had to watch her speech. Over the years her speech patterns had picked up the parlance of the Russian tongue.

Peter’s stare prickled the hair at her neck’s nape as she drove through the gate. In her rearview mirror, she saw Marco pull his cell from his pocket. Tiffany came out of the shadows and stood next to Peter.

She had to hurry. “Be patient,” she told herself gripping the steering wheel.

Under the haze of the street lights, Ash Avenue had never looked so wonderful. Nicole tapped the gas and drove away from hell.

Rounding the corner as if she was going to Gila’s, Nicole fought to keep from panicking. She had to think straight. Gorgon had kept her in line for years, first threatening her family and then telling her how disgusted they would be to find out she was a whore. Then he used her son as a weapon against her. Well, Gorgon didn’t rule over her any longer.

Once out of the sight of Gorgon’s men, she stomped on the accelerator. In a minute, Marco and Peter would wake Donnie from a sound sleep and know that neither Gorgon’s brother nor his sister-in-law were aware of her late night visit.

One of the men would come after her. The other would go to the house and find Gorgon dead. She had maybe fifteen minutes, at the most, before the whole Novokoff family would be alerted and any and every man and woman under their power would search for her.

A crack of thunder shook the car and rain drops smashed against the windshield. Nicole turned on the wipers and curled her fingers tighter around the steering wheel. Where could she go that they’d be safe? She’d heard more than once while eavesdropping on Gorgon’s conversations that he had friends on the police force. Friends who’d turned their heads or gave up information for a sizeable dollar. If captured by the cops, they’d make sure Susie was returned to her family, stating they found her in a drug-induced state, walking along the highway. They’d take Luka away from her and hand him back to Gorgon’s family and charge her with his murder.

She had to get as far away as she could.

Through the glistening windshield, thirty miles ahead, the New York skyline reminded her of a snow globe she’d once purchased while on a middle-grade school trip to the Museum of National History. The glow from the city’s many lights sparkled around the rooftops in a huge arch.

The Novokoffs would assume she’d head north on RT 278 and then into New York because she was somewhat familiar with that route, having accompanied Gorgon into the city on occasions. Instead, she turned onto RT 202 and raced south. Within miles, she was heading west on the smaller RT 23.

Each town the road cut in half had fewer stop lights. The fast-food chain restaurants diminished, replaced by family-owned businesses. Not familiar with the two-lane road, Nicole drove the speed limit and remained alert to every traffic sign. She couldn’t be stopped by a local cop and have her plan foiled.

A Medivac helicopter crossed the sky in front of her. Its red lights were a sign of hope in a sea of darkness.

Leaving the next town, Nicole checked her rearview mirror, again. She hadn’t noticed anyone following her, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t pick up a tail at any corner. She wasn’t sure how far west the Novokoff family’s connections reached.

The next hour seemed like thirty while Nicole traveled along the rain-washed RT 94 to RT 80 West and made her way into Pennsylvania by crossing the Delaware Water Gap Bridge. The car’s dash clock now said the time was one a.m. The rain had stopped. Luka still slept. She had to get Susie out of the trunk. She hadn’t dared stop before this to check on the girl.

Nicole picked an interstate exit that had no signs for a rest area, restaurants or gas stations and drove up the ramp. Parked at the stop sign, she noted darkness surrounded her. Under her headlights, large trees covered the swells of the mountains surrounding them. She chewed her bottom lip, wondering which way she should take. There wasn’t a building in sight in either direction. Turning the wheel, she headed south.

The roads became unmarked as she followed her sense of direction and continued to take road after road, south and west. Spying a pull-off into a wooded area ahead, she maneuvered the car off the road.

In front of the car, beady eyes glowed and shifted toward her. She hadn’t seen a possum in years. The long-nosed creature scurried into the underbrush before she opened the car’s door. Cool air and sweet freedom cradled her in their arms.

The wind swirling through the tree tops reminded her of the sound of the ocean off Cape May. She took a moment to breathe in the fresh air before she hurried to the rear of the car and opened the trunk. The storage light clicked on and flooded over Susie’s deadpan face.

Nicole’s heart caught. She prayed the child hadn’t died from inhaling the car’s fumes.

“Hey.” She poked the girl’s shoulder.

Susie stirred and Nicole exhaled the breath she’d held. “Come on. Let’s get you out of here.”

She laced her arm under the child and helped her into a sitting position. Behind her, the purr of a car’s engine grew louder, and then a beam of pure white light searched the area before finding them.

Lightning ripped across the restless, murky sky in front of the descending helicopter.

US Marshall William Haus grabbed the panic bar. “Damn it to hell.” Air escaped his lungs in one gush at the craft teetering to the side a mere fifty yards above the marked landing site next to the PA State Police Barracks.

“Bitchin’ wind.” The pilot’s curse, grimace and the fact he fought to control the bird didn’t bolster Will’s belief that the jockey trip from New Jersey was going to end well. He knew without turning around and confirming his hunch that Chase Hunter and Aden Nash, two members of his C.U.F.F. force, smirked at his angst. Instead, he squeezed his eyes closed and braced for an impact to write home about. Maybe.

Damn. He hated to fly in choppers. God knew his fear and was screwing with him again.

The copter jarred true and Will jerked right in his seat. Between a slit of eye, he peeked out the window and saw the building below steadily grow larger.

The moment the landing rails kissed the wet tarmac, he ripped off his seat belt, shouldered the door open, and jumped out of the whirlybird. With his worn boot heels planted on the ground, he drew a breath. He’d survived the flight. Now he could again concentrate on his job, ‘catching the bad guys.’

From the corner of his eye, he saw the chopper’s rear door slide open. Chase jumped from the craft while Aden hesitated, catching his scowl.

The frustration over tonight’s bust going sour curled Will’s fingers into fists. He glanced over his shoulder. His men wore solemn faces, which was a good thing. If they cracked even one joke over his helo phobia, he might lose all restraint and sucker punch one of them. He wanted to hit something or someone real bad.

“We had Novokoff,” he yelled, venting his anger over the sound of the chopper’s blades whacking the air above him.

“We’ll get them, boss.” Aden jumped to the ground and Will kept a watchful eye that the man didn’t stand to his full height.

“If we had arrived ten minutes earlier, we would’ve caught the bastard with his pants down and maybe cracked this ring apart,” Chase hollered around Aden’s chest while they stalked as a trio toward the barracks.

“Try to raise Kyle again,” Will ordered. Aden fished his cell out of his pocket and checked for a signal in this rural setting. “I want to know what the fuck happened? A freakin’ year’s worth of work down the drain.” Will pressed a hand to his burning gut. How many more young lives would be lost or ruined before he had the opportunity to nail Novokoff’s ass to the wall again?

The last words he heard from Kyle, aka Peter, one of his people who had infiltrated the mafia’s ring, was an urgent cry to back off. Since then Kyle had dug in and had gone silent. What the fuck had happened? Hell had to have broken loose in the Novokoffs’ world for Kyle to cry ‘wolf’’ in the last moments before they’d infiltrated Gorgon’s home.

“We dropped into a freakin’ dead zone,” Aden stated. “There’s no goddamn service.”

“Keep trying.” The cell Aden carried was one of two that Kyle would respond to. Gary had the other. Their cells displayed on Kyle’s phone as the Russian owned whore house, in case Novokoffs’ men checked Kyle’s calls. Technology was always wonderful until the bad guys caught up.

A state trooper, bearing the ID tag of M. Balliet, greeted them a few yards beyond the chopper’s blades. “Captain just went into the interrogation room with the woman,” the officer shouted over the chopper’s whine down. “And your partner is also inside.”

He already knew Gary was on site. His partner had been texting him updates on this break.

Balliet fell into step next to Will. The kid didn’t look old enough to shave, much less be a cop.

“Why is the captain talking to her?” Will worked with Ebberts before. He knew the captain was thorough, but taking down the Novokoffs was his case and Will wanted his Ts crossed too. One misstep could mess up a conviction.

“The suspect didn’t want to give up her fingerprints,” Balliet answered.

“Why didn’t Ebberts order them taken? She was found with the girl,” Chase asked over Will’s shoulder.

Balliet shrugged. “The woman looks like she’s been roughed up a bit. Cap thought he could calm her down. Get her to offer them instead of forcing her.”

“She drugged up?” Aden who also walked behind the cop leaned into them.

The cop’s neck arched back as he stared up over his shoulder at Aden. He stumbled and Will caught his arm. “I know. He’s tall. Comes in handy at times.”

Balliet’s Adam’s apple dipped before he responded. “Nuh. I don’t think so. No alcohol on her breath either, but she sure seems real nervous.”

Will caught his gaze. “You find her?”

“Yes, sir. I caught a glimpse of her car’s tail lights as she turned into the road leading to the Water Authority. No one goes back there at this time night. At least no one with business there. With all the shit we’ve heard about terrorists and bio-warfare, I thought I should check it out.”

Will dipped his head in a quick nod. “Good job.”

“Thank you, sir.”

Yesterday’s blistering sun and the recent cool rain caused steam to rise in swirling waves from the tarmac.

The officer matched Will’s slightly longer stride while they stalked up the path from the landing pad to the building’s entrance. At the last second, Balliet rushed ahead of Will, by a step, and yanked open the glass door in time for him and his men to pass through without breaking their stride. Then they followed Balliet down the hall illuminated by bright fluorescent bulbs and into a room where Will found Gary, his right-hand man, waiting.

“It’s about time.” Gary turned from the two-sided mirror. “You guys stop in AC without me again?”

“Hell yeah,” Chase chirped, flashing Gary his dimple. “We didn’t want any old married fart slowin’ us down.”

“Tell him, boss.” Aden chuckled, blowing on his cell. “The slots were hot.”

“Don’t get him started, guys.” Will headed for the two-way glass while Gary, Chase and Aden continued their never-ending debate over the advantages and disadvantages of being married.

Balliet was right. Someone had roughed the woman up. Her rushed make-up job did little to hide the damage. Under the bright lights, he could see the tint of black and blue markings on her cheekbone and the purple rimming her eye. Her red lower lip was way too puffy to be considered just plump. She was a looker nevertheless.