Moving Target (18 page)

"Father looked so angry. 'Killing the mayor wasn't part of any bargain,' he said." Ani tried hard to swallow. "Dmitry just shrugged and said, 'We do what we must.'

"My father went on about how he'd gone through enough trouble convincing other council members to vote in favor of zoning Blue Meadow commercial so that the Borenkos could build businesses to launder their funds. He said he'd performed every other function the Borenkos had requested of him."

Singleton's gaze was steady, unemotional. "He specifically mentioned the Borenkos?"

"Absolutely." Ani nodded. "He said he'd decided he wanted out. He refused to have anything more to do with the Russian Mafia. He was done."

Ani's vision blurred and her voice shook. " 'Then this discussion has ended,' Dmitry said. He got up from his seat, reached beneath his jacket, and drew out a gun. Faster than I had time to process what was happening, a shot rang out and a hole appeared in my father's forehead." Tears rolled freely down Ani's face. "He—he collapsed into his chair."

She didn't bother to wipe the tears from her eyes. "Dmitry said, 'Problem eliminated,' just before I screamed."

The memories of the disbelief and the horror of the moment made Ani feel as if she'd been broadsided. "Dmitry—he casually looked over his shoulder and saw me standing outside the doorway, and raised his gun.

"I started to turn to run, but pain slammed into my left shoulder, above my heart, and I fell." Ani reached up and rubbed the wound that now ached as if she'd just been shot.

She could still hear her own screams from the pain, could feel the agony. She'd pressed her hand against the wound, and remembered the feel of blood leaking through her fingers. She'd had a hard time focusing, so overcome with pain and horror at watching Dmitry murder her father.

"My mother and sister ran into the room. I tried to shout at them, to tell them to get out, but nothing would come out of my mouth." Ani held her arms tight around herself and rocked back and forth as she cried. "But Dmitry shot my mother then my sister. Jenn screamed before she hit the floor, then she was silent," Ani whispered. "Our mother never made a sound."

They hadn't moved. They'd been so completely still. Ani's breath had come in short, harsh gasps as the unreality of it all had swept through her.

Singleton's firm gaze kept her in the here and now as she looked at him. "Please continue," he said.

Continue, continue, continue
. . .

Ani cleared her throat. "Dmitry ordered the other two men to torch the house before he walked out." She clenched her arms around herself tighter. "The two men followed him, then one came back and returned with a can—and I smelled gasoline. The man tore a drape from the curtain rod and threw it over my mother's body. He soaked her and the drape with gas, then dropped his cigarette."

It had tumbled through the air, end over end, its glowing red tip almost mesmerizing.

It landed on the drape.

Flames whooshed over her body.

Ani screamed for her mother.

The man tossed more gas on the furniture and in front of the door before he let himself out and shut the door behind him.

By the time Ani finished her story her whole body was ice-cold and she could feel herself slipping into that place where reality no longer existed. Her eyes began to glaze over and she started to feel fire licking at her body.

No
. She fought to regain control. She couldn't let the PTSD take over and push her back into that place again. And definitely not in court. She had to have complete control over herself. She took the hem of the shirt she was wearing over her body armor and wiped her face with it before straightening in her seat and meeting Singleton's gaze. She felt Daniel's presence behind her, and wished he could take her in his arms and just hold her.

"Are you all right?" Singleton asked, but in a calm, professional tone.

No
, she wanted to scream. She wasn't all right. She would never be all right again.

But she took a deep breath and exhaled before saying, "Yes," in a voice so quiet she could barely hear herself.

Singleton nodded and began grilling her mercilessly. He fired question after question after question, tearing apart every bit of her story.

"The defense will be brutal in their cross-examination, Ms. King," Singleton said, his voice hard. "It won't matter to the defense attorney that you lost your family to that bastard. What they're going to do is rip you up one side and down the other. By the time they get through with you, you'll feel like you've been through a meat shredder."

His expression and his tone gentled as he leaned back in his chair. "You did well today, Ani. Tomorrow your testimony will help us put Dmitry Borenko behind bars for a very long time."

Her eyes stung and she had to fight more tears. She was exhausted from the constant questions he'd thrown at her and emotionally drained from crying and going through what had happened to her family. Tomorrow she would experience this again and likely it would be worse. She only hoped she could keep from completely losing her composure like she had today.

The prosecutor got up from his seat and shook hands with her again. "You're going to do all right." Singleton released her hand and patted her shoulder before walking out the door.

Special Agent Michaels, the FBI case agent, stayed behind to coordinate plans for her actual arrival for the testimony. Ani remained quiet as Michaels and Daniel discussed the plans.

After the case agent left and the door had closed behind him, Ani sniffled and took a shaky breath as she pushed back her chair. Daniel was at her side and held out his hand to help her stand.

To her surprise he enveloped her in a tight hug. His clean male scent calmed her and she wished they could stand right where they were and hold on to each other. She needed his strength so much.

He drew back and took both of her hands in his. He had such big, strong hands. "You okay?"

The air in the conference room was stale and she felt like she couldn't breathe. She stared up at Daniel's handsome face that was marred only by the purple bump on his forehead. He looked so concerned, so caring.

"Get me out of here. Please."

Daniel released her hands. "Sure you don't need a minute?"

Ani brought the shirt up and wiped her face again, almost dropping the ball cap. The makeup she'd been wearing was now a beige smear on the black shirt.

When she straightened, he put his hand on her elbow and they walked out into the hallway where the other Deputies waited. There were about ten Deputies accompanying her, she realized. It hadn't quite hit her before. So many—to protect just her.

Daniel dropped his hand. "We'll take you on that tour now so you can get accustomed to a similar courtroom before tomorrow."

"Sure." Her chest ached with the knowledge that tomorrow this would all be very real. If today had been bad, what was tomorrow going to be like?

She met Daniel's gaze. "He's here, now, isn't he?"

Daniel nodded. "Borenko is testifying, but on another floor, in another courtroom than the one we're taking you to. We'll be far enough away that no one will even know we're here."

Ani looked at all the men and women surrounding her. Yeah, right. Like she didn't stick out with a mob of people around her, even if they were dressed like civilians.

With the other Deputies following, Daniel guided her along a hallway and down a series of steps until they reached a barren passageway with a steel door at one end.

"This underground hallway was finished only recently," Daniel said as he escorted her into it. "There's no way in hell I'd take you outside to walk from the U.S. attorney's building to one of the federal courthouses. There are two courthouses—the old one and a newer, more modern one, where the trial will be held. Before this hallway was built, only the old courthouse was connected."

The hallway smelled of freshly painted walls. It was a simple concrete rectangular tube that seemed to go on forever, with only lights to break it up along the way. Ani found herself breathing a little faster, feeling almost claustrophobic. Her heart beat hard, as if Dmitry would be waiting for her at the end of the tunnel.

A little over two years ago Ani had given her statement to the cops and the federal agents when they debriefed her. They had secreted her away while the case agent worked with the AUSA to get an indictment against Dmitry for all the violations, including murder. An arrest warrant was issued and Dmitry was locked up.

However, because he could afford a good attorney, he made bail, after his long-standing ties to the community had been established ensuring he wasn't a flight risk. The bail had been extraordinarily large, but his family hadn't had a problem making it.

Ani and the Deputy Marshals finally reached another steel door, and they entered a different building. More hallways, more steps, and then an elevator.

After they got into the elevator, a man tried to join them, but the Deputies blocked the door with their bodies and told him to take the next car.

The elevator opened to an enormous hallway. The floor tile was mottled black-and-white marble and their footsteps echoed as they walked.

When they entered the courtroom, her eyes widened at the sheer size of the place. It was so much bigger than any courtroom she'd seen on TV. She'd never been selected for jury duty, so everything was new to her. Right now she wished she had been chosen to serve on a jury just so she'd have more experience to draw from.

Daniel directed her down the aisle between the rows of wooden benches, to the dark mahogany barrier between the spectators and the floor of the courtroom. He opened the swinging gate for her and she stepped through. The other Deputies followed behind them.

On the right were risers contained within the jury box where the jurors would sit. She remembered from a TV program that the prosecution table was always closest to the jury. The defense table was on the left side of the gates. A large desk sat in front of the raised judge's bench. The smaller table was close to the witness box for the court transcriber. The American flag stood on the left side of the Court of the United States seal positioned behind the judge's bench.

Daniel gestured to the witness box. "Why don't you try it out?"

Ani rubbed her arms from the chill. Either the air-conditioning was up high, or she was really nervous. She voted for nervous.

After she took a step up into the witness box, she sat and looked out into the courtroom. Two of the Deputies guarded either side of the door they'd just come through.

Another chill caused her to shiver as she stared at the defense table. All she could think about was facing her family's murderer. She'd never forget his face, the casual way he'd shot her father and then turned the gun on her.

"In some ways I don't want to be forced to look at the man who murdered my family." She felt Daniel's warmth behind her as she spoke. "In other ways I want to stare him down. I want him to see the person who's going to send him to prison."

Daniel rested his hand on her shoulder and squeezed. "Do you realize what an incredible woman you are?" he whispered.

She turned in the chair to face him, and kept her voice low. "I don't feel incredible. I feel scared and angry and it's all balled up inside of me so tight I think I'm going to lose it. I want to scream and cry. But right now I'm just drained. I'm totally out of energy."

"Come on." He took her hand to help her to her feet. "Let's get back to the hotel."

After she tucked her hair up under her cap again, Daniel and the Deputy Marshals took her back the way she'd entered the building, and out into the dirty underground garage where the four SUVs were waiting.

After they left Federal Plaza, the four SUVs snaked through traffic, McNeal driving the vehicle Ani and Daniel occupied, Hernandez riding shotgun.

Daniel ground his teeth the moment they hit congestion.

Deputy Jacobs's voice came over the radio, "There's a suspicious van trying to edge in behind you. They look nervous as hell and we're pretty sure we saw the passenger holding a handgun. Kramer and I can divert the van away from you, but it will leave your ass open."

"Shit." Daniel looked over his shoulder. "Do it," he shouted into his handheld radio. The two rear SUVs of their motorcade edged off a blue van.

In front of them, gridlock.

McNeal practically rode the bumper of the lead SUV, not allowing more than a foot between the vehicles.

Then McNeal stepped on the brakes, hard, as the SUV in front of them came to an abrupt halt. Their vehicle bounced off the lead's bumper and Daniel's body jerked forward against his seat belt, then back in his seat.

Just as they started moving again, Daniel glanced over his shoulder to see a green sedan slide in behind them.

McNeal grabbed the radio microphone and spoke into it, asking Jacobs if he'd run the tags on the van behind Kramer and Jacobs.

Ani sat beside Daniel, looking from him to the men in the front, her mouth pressed into a thin line.

"Done," came Jacob's voice over the speaker. "It's registered to a Matvei Suhov. We've got the sonofabitch pinned in traffic."

McNeal slammed on his brakes again, causing everyone to jerk forward and back in their seats. "Accident ahead. Total fucking gridlock."

The lead vehicle came to a hard stop again.

Daniel looked over his shoulder. One of the men in the sedan leaned his forearm on the vehicle's window frame, his right hand out of sight. The other man started opening his door.

"Get out, McNeal," Daniel braced his hands on their seats. "You and Hernandez take care of the bastards behind us and I'll get Ani the hell out of here."

"You got it." McNeal drew his gun just before he pushed open his door and Hernandez stepped out from the passenger side, Glock in hand.

As soon as the Deputies were out of the SUV and had slammed the doors shut, Daniel climbed into the driver's seat.

"Stay in the back," Daniel told Ani. "You'll be safer there."

Daniel looked at the lead vehicle. Totally jammed in traffic. He glanced to his right and saw an opening on the sidewalk.