Russian's Determined Love (Drobilka Family Series #3) (7 page)

Elise sat there listening, occasionally interrupting to ask for clarification. When Bethany got to the part about her handler, she gasped.

“And you got all this on audio?”

“Boris talking, yes, and the part about Marci, and while that should exonerate Vadim from the murder charges, they took away his amnesty. If NYPD doesn’t press charges, the FBI will.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I’ve been thinking about this on the drive up from Dallas. The FBI would be embarrassed if word got out that one of their own was sharing intel with Russian mobsters. So, I’m hoping that if I threaten to release it, it will help Vadim. But while Boris brought up the murder charges, he didn’t actually say that Vadim didn’t do it. And then there’s the Cartel. Even if I can get him out, we’ll never be safe unless we disappear.”

“What do you need from me?”

“Information on where he is would be a good start and then I’m thinking that I need to borrow your badge.”

Chapter 12

The girls stayed up the rest of the night, talking and planning. Elise was adamant about not releasing her badge while Bethany argued over her concern about her involvement wanting to shoot for plausible deniability on Elise’s behalf.

They both fell into an exhausted sleep. When Bethany awoke, Elise wasn’t in the apartment, but there were fresh bagels sitting on the counter. Grabbing an everything bagel, she sliced it open and smeared cream cheese on it, biting into the delicious goodness.
Oh, how I missed bagels
, she thought.

She heard a key in the lock before Elise walked in carrying a bag. Setting it down, she grabbed the other bagel half and took a big bite.

“Okay, here’s the plan.”

From what she was able to find out, Vadim’s amnesty status had been withdrawn at the behest of Marci, based on some trumped up information she had provided. Since Sanderson was still angry, she had used his animosity to get him to contact the US District Attorney, who was only too happy to prevent yet another
criminal
from walking away.

Vadim was due to be transferred from the forty-ninth precinct tomorrow afternoon. If they were going to get him out, it would have to happen in the morning, which gave them the rest of the day to plan.

Dumping out the bag Elise brought in, Bethany looked through the contents.

“Do you think it will work?”

Elise shrugged her shoulders. “I can only hope so, otherwise, we will be sharing a jail cell.”

“I still think that it should be me that goes in,” Bethany ventured.

“No way. My badge. My plan. My way.”

“I still need to arrange for transport.”

“Way ahead of you,” Elise answered. She pulled out a business card and handed it over. “Call this guy. He owes me big time.”

Grabbing one of the burner phones Elise had brought back with her, Bethany called the number on the card. After speaking for several minutes in Russian, she disconnected the call.

“Well?” Elise asked.

“We’re set. He wanted me to pay up front, but I told him not until we were on board, so we haggled over the price.”

“Did you get a good deal?”

“Well, that all depends on whether we can pull this off.”

“I so want your language skills,” Elise told her as she reached into the bag for another bagel.

Laughing, Bethany reminded her, “Rosetta Stone.”

The girls spent the rest of the day going over their plan and rehearsing every possible contingency. Satisfied, they were preparing to go to bed to get a good night’s rest when Bethany’s burner phone rang. It was her transportation contact. He was departing at midnight. If they were going to make it, they would have to act now.

Bethany jumped up, grabbed the items Elise had brought back earlier, and changed. Gathering all her stuff, they left the apartment and went to the vehicle Elise had rented that morning.

When they drove over to the precinct, they were relieved to see the prisoner transport area was empty, which was normal this time of night. The girls hoped there would be a small enough staff on duty that no one would feel like checking up on Elise’s story.

Getting out of the van, Elise adjusted her badge and gun before looking at Bethany. “How do I look? Official enough?”

“You look like a rockstar.” Nodding her head, she turned and strode into the precinct as Bethany backed the van into the parking space.

Leaving the engine idling, she anxiously cast furtive glances out her rear and side mirrors. It felt as though she had been sitting there for an hour when the side door opened and Elise walked out. Behind her in chains was Vadim. Even from this distance, she could see that he’d been beaten. She clutched the steering wheel and fought the urge to leap out of the van to make sure he was okay.

At the side door, Elise waited while the officer loaded Vadim into the van and chained him to the ring in the floorboard. Taking the key from him, she signed off, shut the door, and got into the passenger seat as Bethany put the van in gear and pulled out of the parking lot.

“Don’t speed,” Elise cautioned. “The last thing we need right now is to get pulled over. My story won’t hold up under scrutiny.”

“What did you tell them?”

“That he was to appear before a grand jury in DC tomorrow morning,” Elise answered smugly. Bethany shook her head as she bit back a laugh.

“Would you please unchain him?”

“My pleasure.”

As Elise slipped into the back of the van, she bent down to unlock the chain attached to his hand and leg cuffs before releasing the cuffs. Leaning over the seat, she grabbed one of the bags and handed it to him.

“You’re going to want to change into something more appropriate,” she told him as she smiled.

Staring from one to the other, Vadim burst out, “Will someone please tell me what the hell is going on?”

Bethany lifted her hat off her head and took a quick look over her shoulder as Vadim’s eyes widened in surprise. “Bethany, what is going on?”

“It’s a long story, but your amnesty has been revoked. We have to get you out of here.”

“But what are you doing? Your career will be destroyed. You can’t do this. Take me back. We’ll tell them it was a mistake.”

“We’re not going to do that.”

As she drove, the girls filled him in on what happened in Dallas, Marci’s role in everything, and Boris framing him for murder to get him out of the picture. Vadim stared from one to the other as they talked, shocked that Bethany had driven all the way up from Dallas and that they had arranged a jailbreak.

When she pulled into a parking lot down at the harbor, Bethany jumped out and ran around to the back to get their stuff out and pull the uniform off. Since it was considerably larger than she was, she had left her street clothes on underneath, which made changing out that much easier. Leaving the jumpsuit in the back, she met Elise and Vadim by the side door as she hugged her friend.

“I can’t thank you enough for everything that you did. You do know that this will come back to bite you in the ass,” Bethany told her.

“Let me handle that,” Elise replied as she hugged her back. “The two of you need to get on that boat and get the hell out of here. Now.”

Giving her one last hug, Bethany grabbed Vadim’s hand and they ran to the freighter, which was already making preparations to leave. When they ran up the gangway, they were directed to the captain, where Bethany finalized their travel arrangements.

After being shown to a cabin, they looked around at the sparse surroundings. Vadim wrapped his arm around her and hugged her to him, “Have I told you, thank you yet?”

Turning around to face him, all the emotion that she had kept pent up inside her was unraveling as her lips trembled.

“Can we do this?” she asked him. “Can we actually disappear?”

He hugged her tightly. “I think if anyone can, it would be us. We both have the knowledge and skill to do it; it’s just a matter of not getting caught.”

“That’s such a tall order, Vadim. We are trusting these people. This captain. Any one of them could easily turn us in for a reward.”

“Don’t jump so quickly. No one is actually looking for us yet, and when they do, we’ll be in international waters.”

“I’m so concerned about Elise. I didn’t want to involve her in all this, but I didn’t have anyone else I could trust. I wanted to use her badge, that way she could say that I stole it, but she insisted on being the one to go in.”

“I have to say that she handled herself well. I was convinced she was there to bring me to DC,” Vadim answered as he kissed the top of her head.

“She always was the better actress. I don’t know why she didn’t go into covert operations,” Bethany replied as she reached for the buttons on his shirt.

“What are you doing, Malyutka?”

Pulling his shirt open, she leaned in to kiss his chest, freely stroking his upper body. “Checking you for injuries,” she answered smugly.

He pointed to his face. “My injuries are up here. You won’t find any…OW! Okay, maybe I do have a few on my torso, but they aren’t bad enough to keep me from making love to you,” he replied as he scooped her up and walked over to the single bed. Grimacing at the bunk beds, he laid her down before pulling his shirt off and joining her. “It will be tight, but I think that we can manage,” he told her as he kissed her.

She slid her hands up and ran her fingers through his hair as she stared up at him. Her eyes were huge. He kissed her nose and smiled down at her as the ship began to move away from the dock.

“We have now, my love,” he told her as he kissed her face. “And that is all that I can guarantee for the moment. The future, the past, they don’t matter. What matters is that we are together and safe.”

She dropped her hands to his neck, tugging him toward her as she kissed him back. Nibbling on his lower lip, she licked the crease before dipping her tongue into his mouth. When she found his, she twined her tongue around it, sucking hard as he groaned in response. Her hands worked their way around to his chest as her fingers found his nipples, and she rubbed them to small points.

“You are making it very difficult for me to go slow,” he warned as he captured her hand and nipped at her fingertips.

“Even though I haven’t stopped moving in days, I feel as though I’ve been in slow motion all this time. I don’t want you to go slow, Vadim. At least, not now. We’ll have the rest of our lives for that. For now, all I can think about is feeling you buried deep inside me.”

Pulling her up off the bed, he reached for her shirt and pulled it over her head. Impatient, Bethany released the buttons on her jeans and pushed them down over her hips as he helped her step out of them. She pointed at his pants. “You are overdressed.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he replied as he reached for the clasp on his trousers, kicking his shoes off as he removed the rest of his clothes. Bethany paused while undressing to admire him.

“You are so beautiful, moya lyubov.”

He helped her remove her remaining clothes as they stepped together. He wrapped her arms around his neck and plundered her mouth as her breasts pressed against his chest. Their hands roamed freely over each other’s body, as they once again sought to memorize each other. To be sure that this was all so real.

Walking her backwards, he pressed her back against the wall and she shivered against the cold metal of the ship. Her fevered skin warmed the wall as she moaned. When she slid her hands down his body, she found his erection as it bounced against her hand. She reached under to cup his balls, lightly scraping her fingernails across them as he groaned in approval. She massaged them in her hand with a  tightened grip as she reached out with the other to wrap her hand around his cock.

Pumping her hand up and down, she continued to massage his balls as she felt him grow in her hands.

Vadim’s own hands were busy as he swept them over her body. He cupped her breasts and rubbed both her nipples as her back pressed harder against the wall to keep her knees from buckling. Dragging one hand down her body, he rubbed the palm of his hand on her mound as his fingers rubbed along her slit, which was already wet in anticipation.

“So, wet,” he moaned as he dipped his fingers inside while he sucked on her nipples. “So, ready,” he added and began to pump his fingers in and out.

Pulling his hand free, he stopped what she was doing and grabbed her around the hips. He lifted her up so that she could wrap her legs around his waist, then he arched her pelvis, placed the tip of his erection against her slit, and rubbed it back and forth until she groaned in complaint.

“Vadim,” she dragged out.

“Yes, little one?” he asked her as he licked her nipples.

“Fuck me, now, please,” she begged as she attempted to push down with her hips.

With a growl, he pulled her against him, impaling himself in her as she cried out in surprise. Tightening her grip around his waist, she held tight to his shoulders as he began to thrust in and out. Bethany adjusted her hips with a moan as he changed angles, pushing in farther and harder with each thrust.

“Oh God, that feels so good. Don’t stop,” she panted as she matched him thrust for thrust.

Moving faster, he slammed into her over and over as her body began to spasm around him. Before she could cry out, he kissed her, his tongue easily invading her mouth to mimic the motions of his cock. Bethany clutched tightly to his cock as it became harder for him to move. He gasped when a spasm caught him off guard and he came. Holding her tightly to him, he drank up her cries of pleasure as he emptied himself deep inside her.

With a step back, he carried her with him as he worked his way back over to the bunk and sat down. Still buried deep inside her, he held her tightly in his arms as he kissed her.

After they had both come down, they lay intertwined on the bed, lightly stroking each other.

“Where do I know her from?” he asked her.

Bethany mumbled a sleepy reply. “Who?”

“Elise.”

She chuckled against his chest. “Absinthe makes the heart grow fonder…”

“And the pants come off,” he finished for her. “She was the other girl at that bar?”