Crossing the Line (30 page)

When Park picked Katya up from work and said he was taking her to an apartment in South Beach, her imagination went wild. Was Aleksei suspicious? Was Park going to kill her?

“Is Aleksei there?”

“Unexpectedly away on business. He put some clothes in a bag for you. He said to tell you he didn’t want you to be on your own but your violin is still in his house and you’d understand what he meant.”

That he wanted her safe, wanted her back. But he didn’t trust her.

“Natasha’s at the apartment. I’ll pick you up tomorrow morning for work.”

When there was no answer on the intercom, Park used his key. “Do you need money?”

“No, thank you.” She still had sixty dollars of the hundred Aleksei gave her the day she started work.

Park sighed. “I just lost fifty dollars. He said that would be your answer.”

After he left, she stood with her back to the door next to a pile of boxes.

“Natasha!”

There was no response. Katya swallowed hard remembering Anna and Nik. Was she next on Petrenko’s list? Was that why Aleksei hadn’t wanted her left alone in his house? It might have nothing to do with trust. One of the bedrooms had shoes all over the floor and clothes draped across the queen size bed. The other two were empty. When Katya took a closer look at the boxes by the door, she saw they contained Anna’s stuff, not Natasha’s.

She started as the door opened and Natasha came in with groceries.

“Hi, isn’t this place fantastic? We’re near all the bars. I’ll be able to use my rollerblades. Have you seen my bathroom? That has to be the biggest tub in the world. I think you could get three in it. Maybe we should try.” Natasha giggled. “I bought pizza. See if you can work the oven. I’m going to take a shower.”

Katya wasn’t sure if Natasha was pretending to be cheerful or babbling because she was nervous. It was the first time they’d met since Anna’s death.

“Why are Anna’s things here?” Katya asked.

“Park arranged for everything to be picked up from the other apartment. They brought Anna’s stuff too.”

“What’s going to happen to it?”

“Dumped, I guess.”

“What about Anna’s family? Do they know she’s dead?”

Natasha shrugged. “Nothing to do with us.”

How quickly a friend could be forgotten. While Natasha was in the shower, she looked though Anna’s things. She found photographs of Anna when she was a newborn, on her first day at school, ice skating with friends, looking beautiful in a long dress with a boy on her arm and then graduating. The largest photograph was of Anna with her family. Katya bit her lip as she looked at the smiling faces.

She checked through the rest and found Anna’s passport, her driver’s license, purse, bank statements, cell phone and charger. There were a few paperback books and DVDs, no extra ones hidden inside, and a single toy, a curly haired puppy. Anna’s life. She hadn’t liked Anna, but she hadn’t deserved what happened.

“What are you doing?” Natasha walked out of her room, combing her hair.

“Somebody has to tell her family.”

“Not us.”

“We should have gone to the police.”

“Are you crazy? We’d join her in the ocean. Keep quiet. That’s what Anna should have done. Even five million’s not worth dying for.”

The breath caught in her throat. No figures had been mentioned. “It was you, not Anna. You didn’t need to see the tape of Hastings raping me because I told you exactly what happened. I thought Anna tried to blame you out of desperation, but she was telling the truth.”

Natasha’s face hardened. “Anna went to Nik’s. She watched his copy with him. She told me about it. She phoned Hastings, tried to blackmail him and now she’s dead. Finish. End.”

She took the pizza from the oven, looked at it and pushed it away. “Please don’t tell Aleksei you think I did it. Anna’s dead. Nothing will change that. I’m scared.”

Katya backtracked. “Me too. Petrenko didn’t care who did it. We were lucky.”

Natasha hugged her. “Valentina wasn’t.”

“Is that why she was killed?”

“She had movies with men doing things to her they didn’t want their wives to know about. She chose the weakest guy, said she’d make even more money then disappear.”

“Why did you do the same? You know what happened to her.”

“Because I thought if I didn’t get away with blackmailing Hastings, they’d think it was you, because it was you on the disk.”

“Right, thanks.” Katya moved out of Natasha’s embrace.

“I really am sorry.”

No, she wasn’t.

When Natasha went out, Katya searched her room. Everything was such a mess she doubted she’d notice. She removed the extra DVDs she’d discovered in the other apartment, but didn’t touch the two shoeboxes full of cash at the back of the closet. She hid the disks together with Anna’s passport, driving license and the family photograph under the lining of her violin case.

* * * * *

The following morning Katya handed everything to Tom, told him about the boxes of money and gave him the address of the new apartment. He didn’t hide his disappointment that she had nothing more about the uranium. But now the FBI had Anna’s documents, Katya believed they’d do something, perhaps identify the men on the DVDs. Maybe Valentina was one of the women.

Before her final morning session ended, a student came in with a note to say someone waited to see her in the office. Katya stumbled when she saw Petrenko.

“I’ve come to take you for lunch.” He kissed her before she could pull away. “While I’ve been waiting, I’ve been chatting to this delightful lady.” He smiled at Alice who beamed back. “She’s told me how popular you are. Everyone wants you to join their group.”

“I need to work this lunchtime.”

“Nonsense. You’re too thin. I have a table booked at La Dorada. They serve excellent seafood. Come. You don’t want to keep Aleksei waiting.”

“I thought he was away.”

“He’s back and busy on his cell phone.”

She sensed something wrong. Why hadn’t Aleksei come in for her?

“I’ll leave my violin, Alice.” She slid it behind a chair. “Could you tell Tom I’ll see him later this afternoon? We had the piano booked for two.”

“Don’t bother this Tom,” Petrenko said. “I’ll return Katya in plenty of time.”

With her back to Petrenko, she mouthed “Ethan.”

Alice gulped. “Have a good lunch.”

Petrenko swept Katya down the corridor towards the exit.

She slapped her hand on her pocket. “I’ve forgotten my phone. It’s in my violin case. I’ll—”

“Aleksei will be with us. Who do you need to call?”

“Is Aleksei in the car?”

“The restaurant.”

He opened the car door for her. Kirill sat behind the wheel. Her knees locked and her toes curled in her shoes.

“What’s the matter?” Petrenko asked. “Oh yes, of course, how stupid of me. Well, don’t be nervous. I really do just want to talk, and think—you’ll have us both together. You can ponder what you’d like to do to us.”

“I’m not getting in the car.”

Petrenko shoved her and she braced her hands on the side. “Don’t be unreasonable.”

“If you don’t let me go I’ll scream.”

“Okay, okay. I only wanted to talk to you about Aleksei and this deal. I need your help. Come and have lunch. If I wanted to harm you do you think I would come myself?”

He was right. Alice had seen him. But no way was she—Katya cried out as hands reached from inside the car and Kirill dragged her inside. Before she’d uttered the first syllable of a scream, Petrenko was on top of her and Kirill was back in the driver’s seat and pulling away.

Petrenko lifted his weight off her, yanked her upright, and sat straight. “It’s a beautiful campus. Not in the same league academically as Moscow State, but more attractive. Did you enjoy studying chemistry there?”

Katya knew her mouth had fallen open. They’d kidnapped her and he was asking about college?

“Stop the car and let me out.”

“I’m not going to hurt you.”

She glanced at Kirill and Petrenko laughed. “Yes,
he
might but not unless I tell him to. I just want to talk to you.”

“What about?” She was amazed she could speak without screaming.

“I want you to persuade Aleksei to help me with the deal we spoke about the night before last.”

The irony almost made her laugh. “Aleksei makes his own decisions.”

“This deal is important to me and you’re important to him.”

She understood the threat. “What makes you think he cares about me?”

“He wants to protect you. I saw the way he looked at you on the boat and the way he looked at me. He’s not forgiven me for Phoenix. I tricked him into taking you to play the violin, but you were always intended for Max. I made sure Aleksei was out of the hotel. He likes you more than any of the other blondes he’s fucked. God knows why because you’re a conniving little bitch, just like your sister. But he’s my son. He’s made his choice and I respect that. Get him to do the deal for me. Take him to bed and tell him you love him. It’s what he wants to hear.”

“I won’t lie to him.”

“Very noble.” He slid his hand onto her knee and she knocked his fingers away. “You’re shaking.”

“You scare me.”

Petrenko laughed. “I almost like you.” Then his expression hardened and she shivered. “Persuade Aleksei to help me.”

“He never does what I want him to.”

“Oh, I don’t believe that.”

“I’ve seen the stars on his knees. He doesn’t give way.”

“He would to you.”

“Why should I help you?”

“Because if you do, I’ll let you live.”

And there it was. “Stop the car.”

“You know, you have lovely fingers. Do you need all of them to play the violin?”

“Aleksei will—”

“Will what?” Petrenko grabbed her wrist and twisted.

Fear galloped through her body and she screamed. Kirill glanced at her through the rear-view mirror.

“You really do have beautiful fingers, Katusa,” Viktor said. “Fingers that make stunning music, fingers that take a man’s life, fingers that take what does not belong to them.”

“What are you talking about?” She tried to pull free but he tightened his hold. Her heart pounded in her chest.

“
Sukatch,
” hissed Petrenko.

Fear paralyzed her.
I‘m going to die.
Oh God.
She glanced at Kirill and her lungs locked. She knew how she’d die.

“Normally I don’t like snitches, but I can hardly ignore what I’ve been told.”

What?
He doesn’t think I’m the snitch?

“Do you want to tell me yourself?” he asked.

She could throw herself out, but the car moved so quickly she’d probably be killed. But it would definitely be a better death than the one Petrenko planned.

“What did you do with the things you took?”

“Things?” Her confusion was genuine.

“Natasha told me you were altogether too concerned about Anna’s possessions.”

Katya gulped. Natasha was the snitch not her. “My concern was for her family. I thought they should know she was dead.”

“What did you do with the things you took?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” How did Natasha know what she’d taken?

“Do you want me to get Kirill to ask you?”

“It won’t change my answer.” She thought it would.

“Natasha says Anna gave you the idea of calling Max after you saw she’d used copies of movies to make money. Natasha says Anna’s disks have gone.”

The bitch.
Katya frantically tried to decide what to do. Strangling Natasha was high on the list if she managed to talk herself out of this.

“I haven’t taken them. I didn’t know about them. Anna didn’t like me because she thought I was stealing Aleksei from her. Why would she give me the idea of blackmailing Max Hastings? It’s more likely she and Natasha were in it together. Natasha must have decided to try and load the blame on me before it landed on her.”

She hoped Petrenko had his doubts, otherwise she was already dead. He let her wrist go and Katya clutched it to her chest, rubbing the red arcs made by his fingernails.

“Doesn’t matter. You have a simple choice. Persuade Aleksei to help me with the deal and you live. If you don’t, I’ll support Natasha’s version of events and you die.”

“Do I get to think about it?”

Petrenko laughed. The car slowed at a red light and Katya didn’t hesitate. She’d never fastened the seat belt. She wrenched the door open and tumbled onto the road. She was up and running before the car stopped, even before she could tell if she was hurt. Her legs moved. It was enough. She heard the squeal of wheels turning and ran faster.

Katya had no idea where she was. She cut left into a parking lot as a car engine roared behind her. A fast food outlet was coming up on her right. She slid past the trash bins at the rear and sprinted through the parking lot towards a strip of vegetation that divided the blocks. She didn’t waste time looking back.