Megan pulled out the antibacterial wipes and used all of them cleaning her hands.
“Do you think he’ll stop going after Claire?” Elle turned into Rachel’s road.
“I hope so.” Surely, even Abramovich would heed this warning? “Stop the car.”
Elle swerved to the kerb and Megan threw open the door. She emptied her stomach in the gutter, much to the disgust of a passer-by. When she sat back in her seat and closed the door, Elle handed her a bottle of lemon flavoured water.
“I’m sorry,” Megan said as she gratefully took it.
“Don’t be. I couldn’t have done what you did.”
“We did it together.” She gulped the water. It was the truth. She may have been the one to walk into the building, but without the rest of the women it wouldn’t have happened.
“I just hope the guys understand.”
“I hope Dimitri understands.”
“He will once he realises you got the information he needs.”
Megan wasn’t so sure. In Dimitri’s eyes she’d put his sister at risk. Megan didn’t see it that way. She was certain the level of risk in the plan she’d just pulled off was less than it would have been if she’d gone in with Dimitri.
She knew now that there was no way the two of them could have disabled the guards and then walked out of there. It would have been chaos. And, assuming Dimitri was even able to knock Rudi out long enough for them to get the information on the ring, Rudi would have known as soon as he came to that they’d accessed his records. The police wouldn’t have had a chance to plan for a raid. Rudi would have shut things down. Megan rested her forehead against the cool glass of the passenger window as Elle used the fob Rachel had given her to open the security door to the private garage.
No, this way was better. She just hoped Dimitri would come to understand that.
“Come on,” Elle said after she’d parked the car in one of Rachel’s spots. “You need a cocktail.”
“After a shower.”
They climbed out of the car and headed to the elevator. Before the doors opened, Megan turned to her friend and confessed. “I was terrified I would screw the whole thing up.”
“It’s okay.” Elle pulled her into a tight hug. “It’s okay.”
And then they rode together up to Rachel’s apartment.
Chapter Twenty
Elle was right. Cocktails did help. So did the long, steaming hot shower Megan took where she scrubbed her skin red to remove the memory of the body search. Unfortunately, it would take a lot more than expensive body wash and a loofah to rid her of the memory of touching Rudi.
“When do you think the guys will calm down?” Megan sat on the edge of Rachel’s pool, sipping a blue cocktail with a cherry in it. Elle said the drink was called: She got away with it. Megan wasn’t sure the name was legit, but the taste was heaven.
“Duh, never,” Elle replied from the bar in the corner of the pool room, where she was mixing more drinks from her imagination.
“They might calm down a little when they realise how successful the operation was.” Julia sounded more hopeful than convinced. “Maybe Rachel should send them a text to let them know we have Rudi’s records. They must be worried about it.”
“Bad idea,” Elle said. “Better not to contact them until we know they’re calm and rational.”
“Which might happen faster if we keep them informed.”
The sight of Julia gently arguing with Rachel
made Megan do a double take. She was overwhelmed with a surge of pride and had to fight the urge to break into a cheer.
Elle cast a sceptical glance at Julia. “And they’ll forgive us for cutting them out of the loop, they’ll then offer to cater to our every whim and we’ll all live happily ever after.”
Julia let out a heavy sigh. “Okay, I get the point. But I don’t like shouting and there will be shouting when we see them.”
“Earplugs,” Rachel announced. “Discreet and effective. Put them in, think of something you can cope with, like puppies, and smile politely no matter what happens.”