Their Battle for Love (The American Soldier Collection 15)
As the man approached she saw him walk in front of the headlights of the van and her heart felt as if it stopped. It was Vlladim. All six foot four of tattoos and muscle, the man who wanted to claim her his woman since day one. The tears filled her eyes as he approached.
He looked her over in the designer blue dress that was strapless and landed at her knees. It was a classy dress that Nalia and Aspen helped her pick out.
He licked his lips and then squinted his eyes. “Who struck her?” he asked firmly in that deep Russian accent that instantly made her shiver with fear.
“The guy said do whatever was necessary to make her cooperate. So where’s our money?” he asked.
“Money?” Vlladim replied with a slick freaky expression. He was dressed all in black, his hair slicked back and past his shoulders. He looked like a savage, a capable weapon.
“Yeah, our money. We’re going to have the cops all over us. Come on and pay up,” the driver said.
“There’s been a change of plans. I can’t leave any unfinished business.”
In a flash he lifted the gun from his side and shot the first guy on her right and then moved the gun to shoot the other guy on her left. She screamed and ducked as both bullets killed the men who fell down to the ground. She couldn’t hear a thing. Her ears were ringing, but then she felt Vlladim grab her upper arm and pull her with him.
“Cooperate, Malayna, or your father dies next,” he threatened and Malayna didn’t resist. She was so scared of Vlladim as she got into the car and he tied her hands together then buckled her in.
He didn’t say a word as he pulled from the side of the road, leaving the two men he shot and taking her further away from her men and from the possibility of being rescued.
* * * *
Three hours later Viktor and Cosivan showed up at the hospital. Krane had just gotten out of surgery and was resting under sedation. Star, Lucca, and Border walked out of his room and met Cosivan and Viktor in the hallway. “What do you have?” Star asked Cosivan.
He looked pretty upset as he explained that they found the van. The excitement he felt disintegrated as they mentioned the two dead bodies.
“He fucking killed them?” Border asked.
“A bullet to the head each. We found out that they were from Dallas and into drugs and both had criminal records. Gunny looked over the van thoroughly with some of our guys and we found the address of the gallery and a phone number. That number is listed and when we called it said we reached a nonworking number. But it had a Chicago area code,” Cosivan explained.
Viktor handed over a small yellow envelope. “We found this on the one asshole,” he said.
Star opened the yellow envelope and poured its contents into his hand. Malayna’s necklace and engagement ring came out into his palm. He covered them up and made a fist. “I’m going to kill this fucking guy. I don’t care how long it takes, but when I find Vlladim, he’s dead.”
* * * *
“Please, please, I can’t take it anymore. You pulled out my fucking tooth with pliers,” Cruz screamed as tears streamed down his cheeks and he rocked back and forth in the chair. His arms and legs were tied together and against the chair. A table with various tools and contraptions stood by him. Dubkova rubbed his hands together and then struck him in the gut again.
“I can do this all night. Where is Vlladim taking Malayna?”
“I don’t know,” he stated. Murin slammed the knife down between the man’s legs, cutting his pants and his skin.
“Wrong answer,” Murin said and Dubvoka chuckled.
“Maybe we try electricity now?” Dubkova said.
Cruz cried out. “No, no, please, I’ll talk. I’ll fucking tell you what I know. I don’t need this. I don’t even know that fucking guy. He had me rent a cabin, some place in the fucking woods out in the middle of nowhere in Texas. I got it all stocked up for him and he has two guys who are going to kill Nicolai at his home. Two fucking guys who were loyal to Cornikup.”
Dubkova looked at Murin then back at Cruz. “What about the place you rented? Where? I need an address and to confirm you’re not lying.”
“I’m not, I swear.”
Dubkova gripped him by the neck. “If anything happens to Nicolai or Malayna you are going to suffer a slow, painful death. Do you understand me?”
* * * *
“Nicolai, it’s a trap. You need to have the guys turn the car around and head back
to the estate where it’s safe. Two of your security team are imposters. They plan on killing you.” Dubkova heard the horn honk and then some sort of commotion. A few seconds later gunshots sounded over the phone.