And he, for one, wasn’t going to throw that chance away.
29
* Megan *
It was close to midnight. The snow was easing off and Megan was once again stuck in a room with her captive. At least this time she wasn’t alone. Lake, Grunt, Claire, Joe, Callum, Matt and Kirsty sat around Caroline’s guestroom on the second floor of the castle. The room was huge, outfitted with a massive bed, desk and chair, sofa and armchair, all in shades of blue with white. It was gorgeous. But the décor wasn’t the reason they were there.
Candles flickered on the tops of the desk and dresser, and Megan wished the electricity was back on, because she would seriously have killed for some coffee. Especially since the first thing Claire had told her when Grunt brought her back to the castle was that the pub had a generator. Megan bet Claire had coffee. But then, Claire had also been stuck with Betty, so she guessed that evened things out.
“Talk,” Grunt ordered from where he was standing beside the armchair Claire was curled up in. Normally he would have been sitting in the chair with his wife in his lap. Megan could only assume he was standing because he expected Dimitri to make a run for it and he wanted to be ready.
Dimitri let out a sigh, ran a hand over his hair then looked around the room. “I’m an independent contractor.”
“You mean a gun for hire,” Kirsty said, making Lake smile.
“I’m a gun for hire, love,” he said.
“No you’re not.” She wriggled closer to him on the sofa. “You’re a security specialist.”
They shared a secret smile that sent shivers through Megan’s body. It took her a minute to realise it was envy she felt.
“Anyway,” their captive said, “I was in the army until about six months ago.”
“Which army?” Grunt asked.
“US Rangers,” Dimitri said.
Grunt grunted, and Megan didn’t know if that was a good grunt or a bad one.
“So you’re American?” Megan asked.
“Sometimes,” Dimitri said. “Mostly. That’s not the point. The point is this, about a year ago my sister went missing in Eastern Europe.”
Megan felt her heart miss a beat and wondered at the calm, even tone Dimitri was using to tell his story. What exactly did it hide? She looked over at Claire, only to see her own worry mirrored back at her. If Megan’s sister went missing, she would rip the world apart looking for her. And she knew Claire would do the same.
“When the authorities came up with nothing,” Dimitri said, “I resigned my commission and went hunting on my own.”
It sent a chill up Megan’s spine when he said “hunting” instead of “investigating.”
“I followed rumours, hitting dead ends, until I heard the same name whispered over and over.”
Grunt looked at his best friend Joe, and they seemed to communicate with the telepathic link Megan had always wanted with her twin.
“Rudi Abramovich,” Joe said.
Dimitri’s lips thinned as he nodded.
Lake turned to Joe. “Fill us in.” It was an order.
“Rudi runs a crime ring out of Eastern Europe—Romania mostly, but he moves around. He has a base in London. His speciality is skin trade.” He looked at Dimitri. “Slaves.”
Dimitri nodded. His fists clenched beside him, where he sat perched on the end of the bed. Megan had the insane urge to rush over to his side and rub his back, as though it would somehow help ease his pain.
“He snatches young women,” Dimitri said. “Tourists, locals, runaways, then sells them off to the highest bidder.”
“You think he sold your sister.” It wasn’t a question. Lake already knew the answer.
“Sold or killed.” Dimitri’s voice was flat.