KIDNAPPED, A Romantic Suspense Novel (28 page)

Sami ground her teeth together and fixed the rear of the house with an evil eye, which she hoped Jake felt, preferably right between his shoulder blades. She shoved her chair from the table, scooped up the plate and refilled it with cookies. As she stomped her way to the computer den, anger replaced the fear she’d been fighting all day over the man and his stupid macho plan to get killed.

Two heads lifted from scrutinizing the blue prints spread on the table before them when she stormed into the room. She stopped just opposite them and hurled the plate of warm cookies onto the blueprints. The cookies jostled a moment, crumbs sliding over the side.

“You don’t need to worry about me, Mr. I-don’t-need-anyone. I can take care of myself. And Nicky, too, for that matter. So you just go get yourself blown to pieces. Just try not to take one of my brothers with you.”

She turned on her heel and marched out of the room, her spine ramrod straight.

“She’ll do fine,” Doyle muttered, his attention already on the blueprints.

“Yep, she’ll do fine.” Jake bit back the smile that threatened to creep out. He reached for a cookie and took a bite.

Damn, the woman could bake!
From now on he’d invent things for her to get anxious about, if it meant she’d bake more cookies like these.

He stared at the door where she’d disappeared.

A future with Samantha.

The idea didn’t scare him. That surprised him. Maybe, when this mess ended, he’d see just how comfortable it felt then. With determination, he pocketed thoughts of the future out of his mind. He had to survive tomorrow’s battle first.

“The building is five stories high.” Doyle drew Jake’s attention to the problem at hand—trapping the Kreshnins. Doyle pointed to spots along the edge of the first floor. “These are the obvious points of penetration, the front door, side door and rear loading dock.”

“They’ll be crazy to only come in at those places.”

“That’s why we’re going to let them set their own point of operations.”

Jake nearly choked. “Are you nuts? We’ll be sitting ducks, Doyle. Despite what Samantha thinks, I don’t plan to just go in with guns blazing. I sort of planned on living a while longer.”

“Relax, Jake. We already have some of our defenses in place. Lyle may be one of my informants, but I know better than to trust him from here to the front door. As soon as I gave him the message to deliver, I visited the old factory. I added some new features to the building’s structure.”

Jake stared at his old partner. “What kind of additions?”

The left corner of Doyle’s lips lifted slightly. “Seems the SWAT team lost some plastique a few years ago after a drug raid. No investigation ensued over it for political reasons.”

“Mind showing me where you booby trapped the place?” For the first time since he discovered Nicky tortured in the restaurant’s storeroom, Jake felt like he had the upper hand.

Doyle pointed out each spot he’d wired with the plastique explosive. He also pointed out a few more tricks he’d set throughout the building. With their plans set, Jake sent a final message to the brothers via e-mail. Dave and Matt would set up outer perimeter surveillance, while Luke took care of some audio-visual support.

Jake waited for Samantha’s youngest brother to acknowledge his message. Despite what she thought, he’d already learned he needed to depend on others. The time with her taught him that.

* * *

“Nicky, I need you to come talk with me some more,” Jake said after they finished dinner.

Sami took a deep breath. She knew what he was planning. All three adults had decided they needed to record Nicky’s testimony, as well as all the information he had on the Kreshnin clan’s activities in case the planned attack the next day went South.

“But I go play video games again, Big Partner,” Nicky shuffled his feet with his head down.

Jake put his arm around his shoulders and steered him into Doyle’s living room, where they’d set up a video camera and tape player. “You can play them later, I promise. I was hoping you’d help me make a movie instead.”

“A movie?” This information brightened Nicky’s face.

“Sort of, but you’re going to be the only person on it.”

Nicky drew his brows together in confusion. “I not know how to act.”

Jake sat him down on the couch, then took the chair next to it. “That’s okay. All I want you to do is answer questions as I ask them. The questions are going to be about all the things Boss had you do. I want you to tell the truth and tell me everything you can remember about each question. Do you think you can do that?”

“Da. I can do it.”

“Let’s talk about the night the man was put in the trunk of the car. Okay?”

“I already told you. Madson helped Boss.”

“I know you did, but this time you need to tell the camera.”

Sami watched from the doorway as Jake led Nicky through the events the night Ivanovich was killed. It still amazed her how Nicky could tell the same exact accounting of the events. Nothing changed. His voice never wavered. It was as if he read it from a script. Maybe that’s the way his brain worked. Like a script of events or a laundry list.

“Very good, Nicky,” Jake said when the tale was finished. “Now, we’re going to do something a little different. Do you remember all the times Boss sent you to collect money for him?”

“Da. I go same places every month. You know this, Big Partner. You go with me.” Nicky squirmed in his seat a bit.

Jake laid his hand on the boy’s knee, instantly stilling him. “That’s right, I did. That’s one of the ways we became friends, wasn’t it?”

Nicky nodded and Jake sat back in his chair once more. “Tell me who each person was and how much money they owed.”

“Andropov, the baker…three hundred. Baranov, at the restuarant…four-fifty…” Nicky repeated the same list he had when he’d been fighting the fever. Only this time, he listed each man’s occupation.

Sami listened, then realized what it was she heard. The words that had so innocently tumbled out of his mouth before now made sense. Nicky’s memory held every piece of evidence against Kreshnins’ extortion operation.

Twenty minutes later Nicky finished recanting every visit he’d made to the Boss’ victims, as well as every time he saw someone injured. Apparently, if the victim was short on what he owed, the enforcer that accompanied Nicky would break a finger or pummel the man into remembering just how serious Kreshnin was. Sami burned with the desire to punch something. No child should witness such violence.

“Good job, Nicky,” Jake said, and sat forward once more. “We’re almost done, little partner. There’s just one more question I need you to answer, okay?”

‘Then I go play gorilla video game?”

“Yes, until Samantha says you have to go to bed, okay?”

“Okay,” Nicky mumbled half-heartedly.

“Do you remember when Boss and Ivan would take you with them to special houses?”

“The ones with the ladies?”

Sami sucked in her breath. Oh God, they hadn’t really taken a little boy to their sex-slave houses, had they? How deranged were these men to expose a child to something like that?

“Do you remember the names of the streets?”

“I can’t say them, Jake.”

“Do you think you could remember the words if you saw them?” Jake pulled out a map and laid it on the table in front of Nicky.

Nicky scrambled onto his knees and leaned over the table. “Here is one, number 1205,” he said pointing to a spot on the map.

“Main Street,” Jake repeated for the camera. “Very good.

Sami left the room and wandered into the den, unable to listen to anymore. Her nerves, already on edge nearly hummed from her anger. As much as she wanted to keep Jake, Doyle and her brothers safe, she realized now just how evil the men threatening them were. They had to be stopped.

“You know, once he’s out of their hands, the boy will probably forget most of what he’s seen or heard,” Doyle’s raspy voice said from behind her.

“He never should’ve been involved in this mess.”

“No, but you and Jake are doing everything you can to protect him.”

“It doesn’t feel like enough.”

“Sometimes all a person needs is someone to believe in them to change the course of their life.”

Sami studied the older man for a moment. “Are we talking about Nicky now or Jake?”

“I’d say a woman could look a long time before she finds a man better than Jake or a boy smarter than Nicky.” He fixed her with a steady gaze. “Wouldn’t you?”

Before she could answer, Nicky came barreling into the room, landing right on the chair in front of the video games.

“Interview time is over?” she asked as Jake sauntered in behind him.

“Yep, he did real good.” Jake handed the digital camera to Doyle. “Make several copies for us, old man. I want no chance of this stuff getting lost or destroyed.” He turned to pull Sami into his arms. “You know what you have to do?”

“Yes,” she replied, her heart in her stomach.

In the event that no one returned from the meeting, she was to deliver the information and Nicky directly to Jake’s contact in the DA’s office, Natalie Johnson. She was also to ask for federal protective custody for both herself and Nicky.

* * *

They stood in the kitchen loading the night vision gear and weapons they planned to use at the warehouse. In an hour dusk would settle on the city. The meeting was set for six a.m., but they planned to be in the warehouse all night, quietly observing the Kreshnins from camouflaged spots.

“Don’t forget, Rookie. As soon as I give the cue that the explosives are going off, get rid of the night vision equipment. One flash from the plastique with those on and you’ll be blinded.”

“Got it, old man.” Jake packed his gear into a SWAT team style duffle bag. “How do you get this stuff?”

“Let’s just say I have my sources. You’re better off not knowing.”

A shadow passed over the room.

Samantha stood in the doorway, her silhouette blocking the light from the hall. With her face hidden by shadows, her concern showed in the way her arms wrapped around her torso in a hug. Jake suspected she wore her anger, as well. Once they were all safe, he’d face her ire.

“This is going to be a long night.” Tension filled her voice.

“There’s no other way.” As much as he’d like to reassure her things would turn out good, he couldn’t lie to her. “We need to be in place before the Kreshnins come in to set their trap.”

“Luke never liked waiting as a kid. He’d open his Christmas presents as soon as he found them.”

“Luke’s not a kid anymore. He’ll do fine.”

“Dave’s third child is due any day now.”

Jake and Doyle exchanged looks. The older man zipped his parka and lifted his duffel bag. “I’ll be waiting for you in the van.” He paused at the door. “You remember the code to the alarm system, Sami?”   

“Yes, Doyle. You be careful.”

“Thank you, ma’am. You and the boy stay safe.”

Jake finished loading his bag, zipped it and set it aside. His eyes on the darkened profile of Sami’s face, he hefted on his own coat. “I won’t promise we’ll all come home unharmed, Samantha.”

“I’m not asking you to.”

He walked around the table and came to stand only inches from her. He cupped her face in his hands. His thumbs caressed the smooth skin of her jaw line. In the fading light he read the worry in her crystal green eyes. “What do you want me to promise?”

“Just try not to get any of you killed.”

“I’ll do my best to keep your brothers safe.”

She gripped his hands in her softer ones, imprisoning him on the spot. “I want a repeat of what happened in the cabin, Jake.”

He fought a hard laugh. “Sweetheart, we don’t exactly have time for that now.”

“Not now. Later. I want enough of you intact to give me another day in the cabin.”

“When this is over, I’m planning on more than just a day with you there.”

He lowered his lips to hers in a claiming kiss. He willed her his strength and took a big dose of her passion. Now that he’d found her he planned on sticking around long enough to explore their need for each other. He tried to convey that promise through his kiss.

With a determination he didn’t know he possessed, he pushed away from the warm seduction of her body and grabbed his gear. At the door, he paused. “Don’t open this door for any cop or federal agent.”

With that order, he stepped out into the dusk.

The prey had become the hunter.

* * *

Two blocks from the warehouse, a dark truck sat parked between two brick buildings, waiting for Jake and Doyle to appear. When they approached it, the head lights flickered three times, then once. The code Samantha’s brothers had decided on. Jake backed the van in beside them.

Dressed from head to toe in dark camo gear, all three of the Edgars brothers climbed out of the truck’s cab. Matt pulled two tarps out of the truck bed while Luke and the brother Jake hadn’t met yet, grabbed their own bags of equipment. The group secured the two vehicles and camouflaged them from any curious passers by.

“You’re the guy who dragged my sister into this mess?” Dave said by way of introduction.

“That would be me.” Jake hefted his duffle bag onto his shoulder.

“You hurt her, and I’ll make the hit team that shot you look like amateurs.”

Jake nodded. Samantha’s older brother didn’t mince words. But he didn’t plan to give the brothers a reason to seek vengeance on him. Not because he feared them, but because of Samantha’s growing importance to him.

Darkness covered the city with the help of a cloud-filled, moonless sky. Jake handed everyone night vision goggles as they approached the warehouse. Stopping across the street from it, they slipped on the goggles and scanned the building’s perimeter and the surrounding area. When they were sure no cars held occupants ready to gun them down, Jake and Dave circled the building to look for any obvious snipers or traps.