OtherSide Of Fear (Outside The Ropes #3) (39 page)

Anthony must have had the same idea because his car wasn’t in the lot either. No cars were in the lot. But Anthony stood at the back door, propping it open with his body.

“Let’s talk inside, out of the wind.” He nodded his head into the back room.

I looked around the area outside the club, everything was empty, but I felt eyes everywhere. On me. On us. And I quickened my pace into the club.

“We can sit at a table in here.” Anthony started walking in front of me and then glanced back and slowed to fall beside me with a small smile. He gestured for me to go first. “You know the way, I almost forgot.”

I didn’t believe him. He hadn’t forgot any of it, and his play at casual fired warning shots throughout my body.

Every step I took, I scanned the area, eyes straining to see in the shadows. I flipped on the floodlights to the main club, hoping to wash away any hiding spots. I still felt eyes on me and my skin crawled. I chose a table in the corner with a position to see the rest of the room.

Anthony sat, pulling his chair close to my side as he scanned the empty room too. He kept pulling at his jacket, sliding his hands in and out of his pockets. Maybe he felt the same nerves I did.

“Why now, Regan? Why not before when I approached you?” He stilled his movements and then leaned towards me but stopped himself from touching my arm when I pulled away.

I placed my hands on the table in front of us, clasping them together, and shrugged. “I’m over caring what happens to me. And the more I think about the people that have been hurt, the more I want to tell. Someone has to stop them.”

“Who? We arrested Ian Balov and three of his men, as well as saving a dozen girls, and we’re closing in on the rest of his operation. Is there someone else bigger?”

“Ian’s not anyone.” I leaned forward on the table, surprised that he thought he had taken down someone important. I shook it off though and got to the real information, wanting to end this as soon as I could. “There’s a big deal going down next week, coke being shipped to three points in the U.S. If done right, you could bust several key players including Alessandra and Anatoli Rusnak.”

He leaned back in his chair, eyes narrowing. “Drugs?” He tapped the table. “All right, I can pass on whatever you tell me, but I’m here about the human trafficking, Regan. That’s my role. Do you have information on that?”

“The Rusnaks are part of that, they work with Viktor Kabinov—” I cut off my words at the look that flashed across his face.

“Who have you been talking to? What sort of game are you trying to run?” He rose from his seat but leaned in close to me over the table, anger turning his face red. “I believed you. I thought you were here to help. That you had real information.”

“That is.” I stood and pulled my arm from his hand as he reached for me, but his other hand locked on my wrist. “Let go.”

“How do you know Viktor?”

“I told you, he’s the head of—”

“The Bratva? I’m supposed to believe he’s the head of the Russain mafia here in New York?”

I jerked my wrist down, out of his grip, and he moved to block me from leaving. But I wasn’t going anywhere. I faced him. “Who is he to you?”

He shook his head. “Like you don’t know? He’s the lead legal council for our task force.”

I shook my head, and he must have seen something in my eyes because he dropped his anger.

“You’re serious aren’t you?” His hand ran across his hair and he spoke loud, “Viktor Kabinov is part of the mafia?”

I hadn’t seen the door open, but suddenly Gage was walking towards us, entering through the front. Anthony whirled away from me and reached for his gun, but Gage’s was already out and aimed at him.

“Keep your hands up where I can see them,” Gage commanded.

“What the hell is this Regan?” Anthony spoke low to me, hands up at his side.

Gage was there, gun pressed into Anthony’s stomach as he searched his pockets. “What do you have? Are you recording her?” He slipped a phone from Anthony’s pocket into his own and then pushed Anthony to the back door. “Come on, this meeting’s over.”

“Stay here,” He threw the command over his shoulder but wouldn’t meet my eyes as he forced Anthony to the back room.

Like hell I would. I needed to see what he was doing, my mind was spinning.

The second they stepped through the back door a gun was pressed to Gage’s head.

“Let him go.” The mystery man spoke. I could only see his arm from behind Gage and Anthony.

I went to reach for the gun at Anthony’s waist just as his hand moved for it, but I was shoved away. Hard. I stumbled back, never looking away from the scene in the doorway, not even to break my fall on the cement floor.

It all happened so fast. Gage moved, gripping Anthony’s arms that now held his gun. He pulled Anthony in front of him as shots fired, and Anthony dropped with a bullet to the neck, blood pooling around him. I could only see the shoes and legs of the man beyond Gage, but he was crumpled on the ground as well. Gage was still standing, his lips pressed together, but a smile somewhere in his hard look.

“I didn’t even have to shoot.” He slipped his gun back under his coat and stepped over Anthony to me. He put his hand out, reaching to help me up.

I scrambled back, picking myself up off the ground, about to explode. “What the hell just happened?” Standing, I could see clearly now. The guy in the doorway was dead, a bullet to the head.

“I’ll explain when we get out of here. Come on.” He stepped towards me again, arm going behind me.

His touch made me shake, that and Anthony’s blood almost reaching our feet. I couldn’t breathe. I remembered the phone Gage slid into his pocket. Anthony’s phone.

“This was your plan all along? You set me up, didn’t you? You used me to do this?” I gestured at the two men.

Gage pulled me to him, keeping me from backing up further, and I was shaking too hard to fight him off. Panic hurt my bones. I didn’t know what to trust.

“Come on. We need to get out of here.”

HE HAD HIS ARM AROUND ME, DRAGGING me to the front of the club. Dragging because my feet wouldn’t move. I wanted to look back, but I didn’t. I couldn’t. Anthony was dead. Anthony.

Then we weren’t moving. Gage had his hands on my shoulders, saying something.

“…Stay. I’ll be quick.” His hands dropped away, and he jogged back to where Anthony and the other man lay dead, leaving me at the club entrance.

I took a breath and followed, not caring what his instructions were. I needed to see what he was doing. I needed to figure out what he had done. He had his gun out as he went around the perimeter of the place, checking the office and back rooms. I stopped following and stood in the middle of the room, waiting, watching.

He ended his search at the people he killed. He crouched beside the other man and checked his pockets, pulling the dead man’s phone out with a gloved hand.

Did he always have those gloves on? That image hit me harder than the bodies on the ground, he had been prepared, and I knew nothing. He had truly betrayed me, but how far did it go?

“Stay back.” Gage pointed to the blood soaked ground. “Watch where you step, you don’t want to leave prints.” He only flicked his eyes to me for a moment before refocusing on the screen. “He already told someone about Viktor, but I don’t see any messages mentioning us by name. Fuck, they probably already told who they were meeting though.”

I couldn’t look at Gage. My eyes were stuck on Anthony. He had walked in here for me, but I led him to his death.

“I hope they did.” I crossed my arms to keep still but then gave up trying, not seeing the point, and I went to Anthony’s side. I laid my hand on his chest but pulled back immediately. He was already stiff, chest inflated unnaturally. It didn’t feel like him. My vision blurred, tears filling my eyes beyond my control.

Gage was pulling on my arm, but I resisted.

“Get up. What are you doing?” He used both hands to lift me to my feet and turned me away from the scene.

“What the hell are you doing?” I pushed at him, but he pulled me into him, restraining me in an embrace that use to give comfort but now only made me sick with anger.

“Trying to keep us alive.” His arms held mine down as he pulled back and met my burning eyes with a look that gave me pause. Concern filled them, but it was the urgent, almost panic, spark in his gaze that froze me. “Calm down for one minute so I can put these phones back.”

I didn’t move, and he dropped my arms.

“Don’t touch anything. Stay here.” He stepped back slow, testing that I would listen.

I twisted to watch him but kept my feet still. He slipped to the backroom for a quick moment and then returned, crouching beside Anthony. He hesitated with Anthony’s phone in his hand, and his eyes slid up to meet mine, his gaze icy as he looked at me.

“He’s the one that set you up, not me. He was recording everything you said.” He held up the phone, but I couldn’t make out what was on the dark screen. He pressed some buttons and then wiped the screen on Anthony’s pants. “I cleared it. I hope that’s enough,” he spoke low as he slid the phone into Anthony’s pocket. “I would take it, but we don’t want anything connecting us to this.” He rose to his feet and his blue eyes pierced mine, determination making them sharp. “Let’s go.”

I walked on my own so he wouldn’t pull me this time. I had to stand on my own, that’s the only thing I kept thinking. Nothing else made sense. I quickened my pace as he came next to me, not letting him touch me.

We both pulled our hoods up as we stepped out of the doorway of the club into the chilling wind blowing dark clouds in.

“Did you park on Connecticut?” He ducked his head against a gust and I nodded, mute.

We walked in silence; cutting through warehouse parking lots and side alleys to get to the car.

“I’ll drive.” He reached his hand out for the keys, his gloves no longer on.

I handed them over, not wanting to drive. My world was spinning, and nothing seemed real.

The moment I sat in the passenger seat, I closed my eyes and pressed my fingers to my temple, trying to block out all my senses, needing all my energy to process and make sense of everything. But I couldn’t. Not on my own.

“Why did you do it?” I asked Gage with a cracked voice. My throat like sandpaper.

He flashed his eyes to me, pulling off the curb we were parked on. “Because I had to.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I pressed when it was clear he wasn’t saying anymore.

“Tell you what?” He was close to shouting, voice sharp. “You honestly think I knew that was going to fucking happen?” He stopped in the middle of the empty street, throwing the shift into park and twisting in his seat to face me in one forceful movement. “That I sent you in there alone to tell him shit just so I could kill him?”

Yes. I did. And the fire in his eyes didn’t look like he was sorry about any of it. He looked wild. Dangerous. Someone who would take whatever they wanted no matter who they hurt, including me.

I leaned away as he came at me, but I couldn’t move quick enough. He gripped my shoulders, leaning into my space.

“Think. Think for a moment. Why would I do that?” His eyes bounced over me, and his grip relaxed on my arms. He softened and deflated as he exhaled, and his hands slid over my shoulders and arms. “Babe, you’ve got to trust me.”

I pushed off his touch. “No, I don’t. Not when you do things like this. You killed him.”

His hands had hung in the air between us, but he curled them into fists now and pulled them back to his body. His muscles went rigid and jaw flexed under his skin. “Was I supposed to let him shoot me first? You saw that. He was going for his gun, his partner already had his gun out and on me.”

The truth in his words cracked my anger a little, I wanted to reach through and believe in him.

“But you came in there with your gun up.”

“I saw that other guy sneak into the back, so I came through the front. But he had you cornered, and his hand kept fucking going to his pocket. I wasn’t taking any chances.” He ran his hand over his head, knocking off his hood and tugging at the ends of his hair. “It was them or us. And they might have fucking screwed us already.” He looked around the car, chest rising and falling as something built in him. A storm, the flash in his eyes was a warning. He directed it at me, his energy blowing down my defenses. “Why can’t you see it? I did this for you. For us. All of this. Everything I’ve done since I’ve got you back has been for you. And now this fucking plan has blown up, and I need you to—I just need you.”

He broke first. His head dropped, and his hands reached for me, one grabbing my hand, the other my leg. “I need to know you’re here with me and not going to run.” His breathing strained, the tension in the air making it hard. The dark despair in his eyes stole my heart. “But I can see it in you. You’re going to jump the second I turn my back.”

I shook my head, but I couldn’t deny what he said. “I just don’t understand what happened. Make me understand,” it was more of a demand than a request.

“How can I, when I’m not sure either?” But he was speaking calmer now, and that helped to calm me. He watched his hand move absently on my leg. “I was walking up on the club like we discussed, but you weren’t out there.” The lines on his hand strained slightly, and I knew that had been my first mistake, even if he didn’t say it out loud. “I saw that guy slip into the back though, so I went to the front. I still have the keys for the place and was able to let myself in. I could hear you two talking, and he sounded angry, but when I saw he had you cornered, plus knowing he had some other asshole in the place, I had to put an end to it.”

There was a strong thread of anger to his words, but he was trying to keep calm. His muscles strained, but his touch stayed soft on me. “Even then, I wasn’t planning on killing him. I wanted to question him and find out what the hell he was doing. I pulled my gun because he reached for something in his pocket. It was his phone so I took it. But it’s like I said before, we have to be prepared for anything, and when I pulled him to the other room and that guy put a gun to my head, I reacted.” He paused a moment before continuing, trying to read my reaction, but I had none. Not yet. “It worked for our benefit that they both pulled their guns. I used Anthony’s to shoot his partner and pulled him in the line of that guy’s bullet before it could hit me. Only thing is, now we can’t ask them questions.”