Chapter 23

CHAPTER 23

C aroline

Oh, I was crazy.

This was nuts.

And highly dangerous.

And worse, Vadim would be pissed at my behavior, but I had no clue when the man would be back and Joshua had been almost frantic for me to meet him. The fact he'd provided me with his personal address meant he was in significant danger.

If I'd believed the area where my apartment was located was bad, the one Joshua lived in was scary. Yes, there were a dozen or so renovations going on with various buildings, ancient gas stations and convenience stores bulldozed to make way for new establishments, but I still made certain my doors were locked. I also continued to be highly aware of my surroundings, constantly glancing into the rearview mirror.

I'd also been very careful in leaving Vadim's house, the training regarding defensive driving I'd been required to attend in my teens coming in handy. I was very much alone, but that didn't necessarily make me feel any better. I had a shitty car, but it was decent enough that every time I was forced to stop at a traffic light, I noticed people staring at it.

And they weren't the kind of people I'd invite to lunch.

I did everything I could to keep my wits about me while perspiration trickled down both sides of my face. That was from both my nerves as well as the fickle air conditioning unit in the car. By the time the GPS indicated Joshua's building was up on the right, I was a nervous wreck.

Luckily, the moment the building came into view, I could breathe a sigh of relief. It would appear that while still under some renovation, the location was decent enough, including a separate parking lot.

After parking, I glanced out the windshield, holding my breath briefly. He lived on the sixth floor. I sat back, trying to process what I was doing one last time before it was too late. At least if I could find something worthwhile, I could help Vadim catch the culprit.

You know this isn't some television movie. Right?

After grabbing my phone and hiding my purse underneath the front seat, I opened the door, cautiously stepping out. My inner voice had been all over me that morning that what I was doing was stupid.

What was that old adage? No risk, no reward?

I was practically losing my mind by the point I headed to the set of side stairs Joshua had directed me to. By the time I entered the building, making it to his floor, I could tell the building was only partially occupied.

Panting, I glanced from one side to the other, hating just how quiet everything seemed. His apartment was at the end of the hall. By the time I reached the area, my armpits were soaked.

Just before I started to knock, it was if I'd been hit in the gut. The door was slightly ajar. Was it possible Joshua had left it open for me? I was right on time. I glanced over my shoulder. Right now, my gut told me to run, but this might be my single chance to find out who was behind the attack.

I knew Vadim thought there was a hell of a lot more going on behind the scenes as well. Holding my breath for the tenth time, I pushed open the door, waiting for a few seconds to see if I heard anything. There was music coming from somewhere else in the apartment, heavy metal of some kind. I knew nothing about Joshua. Not his age. Not his ethnicity. It hadn't mattered. However, most geeks, and Joshua had described himself that way, were in their twenties or thirties as hackers. That much I'd done research on.

When I stepped inside, even with the music, there was an eerie sense of silence. The further I walked in, the stranger I felt and the worse the sense that something was wrong became. While the front room was nothing more than a cluttered living room, I had a sense something was off about it. A chair was definitely in the wrong position, a couple of books knocked onto the floor instead of being placed.

I was about ready to back out when my gaze caught something in the hallway leading to another room. Very cautiously, I walked closer, forced to slap my hands across my mouth to keep from screaming. Joshua's body was on the floor, his eyes wide open.

While I was no expert by any means, the pool of blood under his head was a fairly good indication he was dead. Plus, his neck was twisted in a horrible direction, obviously broken. The poor guy had suffered tremendously before he'd died. I slammed back against the wall, taking gasping and extremely ragged breaths. Oh, God. Oh, God.

What was I supposed to do, call the police? Call Vadim? Breathe and think. Just breathe and think.

I'd come here for a reason. I needed to contact Vadim. He'd tell me what to do.

He could punish me later and I was perfectly fine with that. I couldn't vomit. I couldn't pass out. Joshua had also wanted me to learn something. Think. Just breathe and think.

The inner instructions weren't doing me a lot of good.

But I could do this. As soon as I lifted my head, I realized the room where Joshua had kept his massive computer was trashed, every computer smashed. A trail of blood led from the room. He had been attacked inside his office and had likely tried to flee.

What did it matter?

Get in. Get out.

Finally, my inner voice gave me some smart advice, which pushed me out of the fog. Where had he told me he'd hidden the drive?

I had to jerk my phone from my pocket, maneuvering back to his text. Smart man. He'd hidden it in a baggie taped underneath one of the kitchen drawers.

My entire body was shaking from the fact I'd had to step over my handler. I couldn't call him a friend, but goddamn it. As I headed into the kitchen, which was located just past a very nice entertainment room, crazy thoughts about the kitchen being all the way in the back of the apartment slithered into my mind.

Maybe it was my way of maintaining enough sanity to be able to get the hell out of here.

You can do it. You can do it. You can do it…

By the point I began attempting to find the right drawer, I was sick as a dog, my stomach lurching every few seconds. Maybe I was imagining things, but I could swear the stench of Joshua's blood reached all the way back to the kitchen. Ignoring as much as I could was tough but by the time I opened the sixth drawer, I found it. Gasping, I held the baggie to my chest.

Still shaking all over, I knew I had to admit what I'd done to Vadim. He would be very angry with me but at this point, I was relieved at least I'd found the drive. As soon as I started to dial the number, a creaking noise caught my attention.

"Thank you for helping me locate the drive." His voice shoved me into a vacuum but only a split second before he kicked the phone from my hand. The voice was different, the man taking another accent but there was no doubt it was the same as I'd heard before.

A scream erupted from my lips, my instinct for survival kicking in. I had to get out of here.

But it was too late, too late.

As I turned around, the attacker lunged toward me.

He was wearing a ski mask and in his hand?

One big, fat knife.

Fifteen minutes before

Vadim

My head throbbed, which was rare. It felt like an oncoming sinus headache, which I didn't get.

Or pressure from an incoming vision, which I didn't believe in.

"Gentlemen. We will all need to be in touch," I told them, taking a few seconds to shake each man's hand. The meeting had been exactly what I'd hoped to achieve. I'd taken a few additional moments to enjoy a whiskey with them, also unheard of.

"Yes, and this Joshua Smith must be found," Stefano added.

We were all in agreement about that. Would there be disputes? Yes. Did I have cause for concern one or the other of us would betray the rest? Yes, it was highly unlikely any man would disrespect the sanctity of family.

Or so I hoped.

But it was time to put other pieces of my personal operation into play.

First things first. Finding Joshua.

We were the first group to walk out into the sunshine and I immediately grabbed my sunglasses.

"Do you really buy all that bullshit, Pakhan?" Nikolay asked as he flanked my side.

"For the most part but I'm also no fool. Have additional soldiers placed on the warehouses, the construction sites, and all other facilities. If any syndicate dares to make a move against us, I need to know."

"You got it, sir. Do you need anything else?"

I barely glanced at my brigadier and I sensed he knew what I was about to say.

"Find me Joshua. Leave nothing unturned."

"What if he's not in the city?"

I half laughed. "While my gut and the trail so far have led me to believe he is, it doesn't matter. Wherever he is, I want him tracked down."

"I'll get back to it."

"And call off the dogs," I told him. If anyone would think I'd been stupid enough to come here without backup they'd be nuts. However, I wasn't trying to flaunt their appearance. That could possibly erode the tenuous alliance I'd just made.

As my two soldiers headed back to their vehicle, I headed to my car, confident I'd made the right decision by insisting on the meeting.

Before I was able to climb inside, my phone rang. Seeing Tanner's number, my construction superintendent I'd been generous enough to save almost brought a smile to my face. "What do you have for me, Tanner?"

"I don't know if I can do this. I just don't think I'm cut out for this."

The man was close to being hysterical. "Calm down and tell me what the fuck happened?"

I unlocked the door, the blip from my key fob comforting.

"A warning. A box. This morning. I think they knew I was no longer keeping their requests secret."

"And what was sent to you?"

"A severed finger with a note written in blood," Tanner hissed.

"What did the note say?"

I heard footsteps and immediately reached for my weapon, spinning around to confront whoever had dared come into my space. Nikolay. His face was pinched, his eyes open wider than I'd ever seen them.

"Talk, Tanner. I have work to do." Yes, the man being sent a finger wasn't a surprise, simply a warning I'd known would occur. Which meant I'd already ruffled feathers. Good.

"That they'd start coming after my family, cutting off limb after limb."

"Go home, Tanner. Get your brother somewhere safe." It wasn't the Armenians. It was just another attempt to pit one syndicate against the other.

"I already did. I just…"

"Then stop panicking. That's what they want. I'll come by later. I have to go." As soon as I hung up, Nikolay was almost beside himself.

"She's gone."

"Whoa. Hold on. Who's gone?"

"Caroline. Somehow, she found your secret room and managed to temporarily freeze the cameras. She must have known schedules of the guards and used the small window to get away."

"Fuck. Fuck." How in God's name had this occurred? I still had my phone in my hand and immediately flipped to the app I'd had installed on both, a tracking device. My gut had told me the little miss would try to do something heroic. What the hell? "She's at an address just outside Brooklyn. I'll text you the address. Have men head there now."

"You got it, boss. But there's more. A couple of guys are MIA, another two at one of the warehouses were found dead. I think we unearthed a hornet's nest."

With no time to waste, I jumped into my vehicle, not only calling her phone but starting the engine at the same time. When it went to an unrecorded voicemail immediately, I realized the reason for my headache.

Not only was Caroline in danger, but she was also under attack.

Again.