Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 106159 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 531(@200wpm)___ 425(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106159 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 531(@200wpm)___ 425(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
“Do you have the keys?”
Even though she can’t see me, I shake my head.
She must hear the woosh. “Is there a latch inside the car?”
I feel like every blonde joke on the planet is about me when I return to the open driver’s side door and find the latch on my first scan of the multiple buttons. “It’s open. There’s definitely someone in the trunk.” The groans of a man in pain can’t be missed. “Should I help him?”
“Unless you can give me some cross streets or notable landmarks close to your location, you have no choice. I can’t triangulate your exact location from your phone. I can only pinpoint a ten-mile radius.”
“Why not?”
More clicks of a keyboard sound down the line. “I don’t know, but I promise you I’m trying. Can you give me any landmarks?”
As I slowly return to the trunk, my eyes scan the home that would have once looked like a castle. “What about a previous owner's name?”
“That could work, especially if their name remains on the title. Who is it?”
“Bastian Fernandez.” This is the first time I’ve said his name out loud in years, and it still makes me sick to the stomach.
“The client is deceased. Do you know who the current owner is?”
“Matvei Ivanov?” The words crack out of my mouth like a whip, and they fill me with an immense amount of pain. There are too many hiccups now for him to come out of this with a clean slate.
“No. I’m not bringing up any properties close to your location in that name.”
That can’t be right. With Matvei taking the long route to draw out his blowjob, we weren’t that far from home when we were bombarded.
When I recall Matvei’s conversation about property with Maksim, a brick lodges in my throat, which makes it hard to suggest, “What about Natalya Lefevre?”
A whistle sounds out of the dispatcher’s mouth. “There are several properties close to you in that name, but I have satellite imagery, so you can guide me to your location. The first property has three outdoor pools. One in the front yard.”
“No. There’s no pool here. How up to date is the imagery?”
“It is a live feed.”
I don’t know whether to breathe lighter or harder before saying, “Look for the rundown one. All the lawns are overgrown, and a black sedan is parked out front.”
“Is there a large circular rotunda to the left of the driveway?”
I sling my head in that direction. “Yes!”
“I’ve got you. Please hold. Help is on the way.”
When a clunk sounds down the line, I pull the satellite phone away from my ear and peer down at it. The dispatcher disconnected our call.
The movies don’t show that response. They make out the officer stays on the line with you until help arrives.
Not wanting to face the murmurs in the trunk alone, I dial for emergency services again. In my confused state, I dial nine-one-one instead of one-one-two. This time, it doesn’t announce a wrong number. It connects immediately, making me feel like a fool.
“We’ve got a location ten clicks from Kronstadt. Sending a crew now.” The voice matches the dispatch caller’s tone and demeanor, but it is no longer Russian. She speaks with a clear American accent.
“Who are you? And what do you want with me?”
A cuss comes down the line when she realizes our call has reconnected. “Hello, are you still there?” Her accent is back thicker than ever. “Help is on the way.”
“I don’t want your help. I just want you to leave me the fuck alone.”
I hang up before raking my fingers through my hair. I’m clueless on what to do next. We can’t stay here. They’re clearly coming, but I don’t have anywhere else to go and no plan of attack.
Saka always took care of that before Matvei took over.
Hating that I let Matvei push away the only person who truly cares about me, I dial a number I know by heart before lifting my shaky hand to my ear.
My pulse is raging so furiously, it takes me several seconds to realize the vibrations I’m hearing aren’t coming from the satellite phone. They’re coming from the trunk of Maksim’s car.
With my heart in my throat, I throw open the trunk and take a massive step back when I find Saka inside. He is twisted up like a pretzel and his eyes are closed.
33
NATALYA
After blinking enough times for his eyes to adjust to the blinding mid-morning sun, Saka locks his pained eyes with mine. “Yo… com… da…”
I rip off the tape covering his mouth with no concern that his stubble is now almost a beard, then set to work on the rope keeping him hogtied.
He’s so weak he more falls out of the trunk than crawls out.
“Are you hurt? Did they hurt you?” I check him like he forever does me, my lungs refusing to breathe until I’m confident he is without injury. “You didn’t send those messages, did you? They were all from them.”