Moving Target (28 page)

Daniel brought his forehead to hers and they looked into each other's eyes. His were such a warm brown that she could easily lose herself in. Always.

For a long time neither one of them spoke. Then he said, "You know, I never intended to let you go. No matter what I had to do to make it up to you."

She drew back and gave him a little grin. "You did one hell of a job doing just that."

He smiled and rubbed noses with hers.

"Seriously," she said, her grin fading as she drew away from him, "I was wrong. You had no choice and were obeying orders. A part of me still feels like you could have told me, but inside I know you did what you had to."

"I wanted to tell you, honey." He stroked her hair away from her face. "Every time we talked about your family and you said how much you missed them, it got harder and harder to not tell you. But your safety—"

"I understand." She sucked in a deep breath. "Now."

"You have no idea how ruthless the Russian Mafia is," Daniel said quietly. "What they've done to you—that's nothing. If they were to capture you instead of just killing you, they could torture you in ways you can't imagine. Including breaking every bone in your body while you were still alive."

Ani shuddered and Daniel drew her closer and gave her a soft kiss. "I'm sorry," he said. "I shouldn't have said anything."

"That's okay, really." She moved closer to him and he hooked his jean-clad thigh over her hip while grasping her waist under her T-shirt.

They both froze as Ani felt his fingers on her scar, but he didn't move his hand.

She took a deep breath. "I'm ready." A tremor went through her as she moved away from him a little and his fingers trailed away from her waist. She turned so that she was lying flat on her stomach, her cheek resting on her folded arms as she looked at him.

Daniel slowly pushed her T-shirt up until it was to her shoulders, his gaze fixed on her back. He rose up to a sitting position and moved his fingers over her skin. She shivered at his touch as he caressed her twisted flesh. Like Jenn had, he traced the scar up to each shoulder blade and back down.

He trailed his fingers over it from her upper back to her ass. "It looks like a phoenix."

With surprise, Ani said, "That's what Jenn thought, too."

He surprised her again as he bent and ran his lips along her scar, slowly kissing his way to the middle of her back, to the dimple at the top of her buttocks, causing her to shiver again.

When he raised his head, he smiled. "You're beautiful, Ani. Everything about you is beautiful."

She scooted onto her side, and Daniel lay beside her again. For a long moment they studied each other.

It was all or nothing. Her chest hurt with the power of her feelings for him. "I love you, Daniel."

His smile was so gentle, so special. "I've loved you for so long I don't know when it started."

Her heart leapt to her throat. She felt a little dizzy and could barely focus on his face.

Daniel had said it.

He loved her, too. Really loved her.

"I think it was from the moment I met you," he continued. "After everything you'd been through, you were so brave and still are. Your intelligence, wit, beauty—everything about you."

She rolled back onto her side as he tugged her T-shirt down. He brought her up against his chest and he smiled. "I could stay like this forever."

Ani returned his smile and snuggled closer to Daniel just as his cell phone rang.

"One of Yegor Borenko's main men, Alkash, was just found swimming with the fishes in the East River," McNeal said when Daniel answered his cell phone.

Daniel gripped the phone tight as he sat up on the bed, switching his attention from Ani's beautiful eyes to McNeal's words. "What the hell?"

"Personally, I think it's a message to his own people," McNeal said. "They keep screwing up in trying to eliminate our witness. In my opinion, it means efforts are going to be stepped up to find her before Monday morning."

"Jesus Christ." Daniel glanced at Ani who wore a concerned look. "I think she's safe here, with her sister, for the weekend."

"But Monday morning is another story," McNeal said.

"After her testimony Friday, they're going to want her even more." Daniel scrubbed his hand over his face.

"I just want this to be over with and for the bastards to be put behind bars."

"No kidding." McNeal lowered his voice. "Now get your ass out of there. It's getting late and Janet Hernandez needs to stay with Ani."

"Give me a few minutes," Daniel said before he snapped the cell phone shut and stuffed it into its holster on his belt.

"More fun news?" Ani stretched her arms over her head, raising her breasts in a way that made him hard all over again.

"This all just keeps getting better and better."

Daniel leaned closer and brushed his lips over hers. "I've got to get out of here."

Ani sighed. "I know. But I wish you didn't have to."

"Same here, honey," he said before he stood and opened the French door to let himself out of the room.

He met with McNeal in the hallway outside Ani's and Jenn's rooms and he nodded to Janet Hernandez who went inside to stay with Ani. Daniel and McNeal strode down the stairs to the first floor.

"I'm off my rotation," McNeal said as they reached the lobby level. "Beer?"

"Damn, I could use one." Daniel's throat was dry. "I don't suppose the fridge is stocked?"

"Jonas brought a twelve-pack for those off duty."

"Good man." Daniel grinned. "Now that I'm no longer Ani's twenty four/seven guard, I'm off my shift, too." He walked beside McNeal until they reached the kitchen, passing a couple of Deputies on guard along the way.

After they'd each grabbed a beer out of the fridge, McNeal leaned his hip against the counter and studied Daniel. "I take it Ani's no longer pissed at you."

"Let's just say that's behind us." Daniel leaned back against the counter and popped the tab of his can. "How are you feeling?"

McNeal rubbed his chest and grimaced. "Hurts like a sonofabitch."

"Damn good thing you were wearing your gear." He shook his head. "Tell me about Alkash."

McNeal took a sip of his beer before setting the can on the counter next to him. "Like I said, he was one of Yegor Borenko's main men."

"How do you know it wasn't a hit by another faction?" Daniel said before he took a long swallow.

"Police informant." McNeal picked up his can and gestured with it as he spoke. "Too bad the informant won't flip and testify against Borenko."

Daniel shook his head. "That would save Ani all the way around."

Sunday morning, Ani woke with warmth in her belly at the thought of Daniel and their make-up session. Janet Hernandez was already out of the other bed and had left the room.

Ani smiled and hummed to herself in the shower before getting dressed. When she left the bedroom, Janet was in the sitting area. The room smelled of coffee, scrambled eggs, and bacon, and her stomach rumbled.

A man sat on a couch. Jenn had her head on his shoulder.

"You must be Brian." Ani reached him as he stood and she extended her hand. He had a smile to die for. He was blond with a dimple in his right cheek and had an athletic build, like a runner. No wonder Jenn had fallen for him.

"It's good to finally meet Jenn's big sis." He released her hand and gestured to one of the chairs where she seated herself before he sat again. "The Deputy Marshals allowed me to come with Jenn, but now won't let me leave, either." He smiled at Jenn and patted her leg. "Not that I want to let her out of my sight.

"But," he added, "I'm sure the two of you could use more time together."

Ani smiled. "Thanks."

He returned her smile before leaving the two of them in the room with Janet.

After eating the breakfast that had been brought up to them from downstairs, Jenn said, "I have some stuff to show you.

The FBI gave me a box when I finally came out of rehab. I brought it with me from Rochester."

Ani's jeans felt snug as she followed her sister who was wearing a loose pair of pink sweatpants and a pink top. Janet stayed in the sitting room while Ani went with Jenn into the bedroom she was staying in.

"Have a seat." Jenn gestured to the bed for Ani to sit while Jenn walked over to the closet. She opened the white shuttered doors and knelt. She retrieved a file box and lugged it to the bed. The box smelled faintly of smoke.

"Amazingly enough, some stuff survived the fire." Jenn lifted the lid and set it aside. Ani widened her eyes in surprise. "Dad had a big fireproof safe," Jenn continued. "The police managed to get it open, and this was in it."

Ani's heart beat a little faster at just the thought that some of their past had survived.

"It's not a lot, but some of it is precious." Jenn pulled out a will, titles to their cars, deeds to the property, birth certificates, and Social Security cards. There were many older journals her father had handwritten before he had eventually switched over to using a computer. There were stocks, bonds, old coins, and bills. The kinds of things one would normally keep in a safe.

With a smile, Jenn handed Ani a framed photograph. Tears burned her eyes as she looked at a picture of the four of them the summer they'd gone to Paris. Ani caressed the glass over each one of them in the frame, and a tear splashed onto the glass.

Her parents were smiling and so full of life in the photograph—the person taking the photo had made them all laugh and had captured them with the camera at a good moment. Ani wiped her eyes and set the framed photo on top of all the legal documents. Why her father had put the photo in the safe, she didn't know. Maybe so he'd have it if anything happened to the house.

Next Jenn drew out Ani's and her own baby booties that were in the box, too. They looked at one another and smiled.

Who'd have thought their father was so sentimental?

"This is what's really precious." Jenn used both hands to heft the next item out. It was a thick, heavy photo album with red leather binding. "You know how anal Dad was. He probably kept this for posterity."

Ani and Jenn sat side by side as they slowly turned each page of the album. It was amazing. The album started with a few pictures from their mother's and father's childhoods, then photos from when they were dating, on to their wedding. After a few photos of their Mom and Dad, next came pictures of Ani as a baby. It progressed, showing her growing up until she was four and then along came baby Jenn.

There were pictures of them Easter egg hunting, dressing up as ballerinas and princesses for Halloween, opening up Christmas presents, and on and on. Their lives were chronicled all the way to Ani graduating with her bachelor's degree and ended with the trip to Aruba the four of them had taken a month before their parents' deaths.

"I can't believe Dad put this together," Ani said as she caressed the last page of the album. Each picture was in its own protective sleeve against a solid black background.

Ani touched a picture of the four of them in Aruba. A rough, hard shape was behind the photograph. She rubbed the plastic over the picture and pressed down a little more.

"Something's in here," Ani said as she reached in and found a second photo behind the first. In between the two photos, her fingers brushed cool metal. As she touched it, she realized what it was. "A key," she said as she drew it out and looked at Jenn. "It looks like a safe-deposit box key."

Ani clasped the key tight in her hand, feeling its ridges and smoothness. She opened her palm to show the key to Jenn who picked it up and examined it.

"I wonder what he's got in it," Jenn said. "What would Dad keep in a bank safe-deposit box that he wouldn't put in his fireproof safe?"

Jenn handed the key back to Ani who held it between her thumb and forefinger. "Of course it doesn't say the box number
or
the bank." Ani cocked her head. "But considering how predictable Dad was, he only banked at one place our entire lives."

"First National." Jenn fiddled with the key on the mattress.

Ani closed the photo album and set it aside as her thoughts whirled. "What could be so important . . . so important that he wouldn't chance it being found in the house," she repeated. She put her elbows on her jeans and tapped her chin with one of her fingers. "Maybe it's something he wanted to keep from anyone who might know about the safe and try to force him to open it."

Jenn gave her a skeptical look. "That sounds a little far-fetched. A lot far-fetched."

Ani cleared her throat. "It could have something to do with Dad's involvement with the Russian Mafia."

Jenn's face turned bright red. She stood and clenched her fists at her sides. "I still can't believe it, no matter what the FBI says."

Ani rubbed her temples before returning her gaze to Jenn's furious one. "I was at the door to the office when Dad was talking with three Russian mobsters. I saw them. I heard them." Ani's voice shook. "Dad said he wanted out. He was through working with the Russians. After Dad argued with those men, Dmitry Borenko stood and shot him in the head."

Jenn's expression was a combination of disbelief and horror, her eyes wide and her face pale.

"That's when I screamed. I clearly remember Dmitry seeing me standing in the doorway. I can see him raising the gun and shooting me. I dropped to the floor just as you and Mom rushed into the living room. I'm sure you heard the gunfire and ran in to see what was happening and then Dmitry shot you both."

Jenn wrapped her arms around Ani's waist, tears streaming down her face. "I've known that all along—about Dad—since they told me, but I still don't want to believe it."

"I'd rather not, either." Ani let out a long sigh. "I was shocked and I've never really come to terms with it. You know how Dad kept track of everything down to the last detail. What I heard and saw that night only confirmed what I read on his computer."

"So you'll be able to send him to jail for their murders?" Jenn asked.

"Not only did I witness Dmitry Borenko murder Mom and Dad," Ani said, "but I also have information on money laundering, racketeering, and bribery that could put Borenko away."