Desperate Victory, page 26
“You have my word,” Dimitri said as pressed numbers on the phone before retreating a few steps.
“You won’t ride with us, will you?” Margareta was focusing on Lainey again.
“No, we have our own car and a driver.”
The older woman nodded. “Do you have a change of clothes?”
“No,” Lainey said.
“Pick one of your gentlemen to escort you and come with me. We will get you changed. I’d rather you could move more easily than in those heels.”
I was already moving, and waved Ezra back. I had a few questions for Margareta. She moved briskly, not glancing back to see if we followed. Lainey was right behind her, and I trailed Lainey by two steps.
At the top of the stairs, Margareta turned to a room and pushed open the doors. “This is a guest room. I keep new clothes for any guests we have that might need them. Multiple sizes.”
She strode in ahead of us and pulled open a walk-in closet then three drawers on the dresser.
“These should all do. As for shoes…” She glanced down at Lainey’s feet. “I have a pair of boots that will fit you.”
Not waiting for our response, she retreated from the room.
“Margareta,” Lainey said before she could vanish fully. The woman in question paused in the open doors and met Lainey’s gaze evenly. “Thank you.”
Whatever she’d expected from Lainey it wasn’t that. “You’re very welcome. While this isn’t the time or the place. I would very much enjoy getting to know you and hopefully teaching you that you can trust me.”
“Definitely not the time,” Lainey said. “But I’m more than willing to consider it later—after Andrea is home.”
Very safe, with new bodyguards and whoever took her carved up into a thousand pieces and buried. Not that I thought we needed to state that aloud.
“I’d like that,” Margareta said and then she turned to go.
I glanced at Lainey. “Are you fine to change? I’ll be in the hall.”
She shot me a look then flicked a glance to the retreating Margareta. I nodded once. Yes, I wanted to talk to her.
“I’ll be fine.”
I pulled the doors closed as I stepped into the hallway. Margareta hadn’t gone far, she stood a half-dozen steps away, clearly waiting.
“I thought you might want a word,” she said. “Though we should probably not take too long.”
“We won’t,” I said, sliding my hands into my pockets. It was rude, but I kept experiencing the urge to throttle her until she told us everything. Better to curb that for the moment. “I just wanted to know how much of all of this has been about Lainey since the beginning?”
“More than you suspect, less than you fear.” While that vague answer was as clear as mud, at least she wasn’t denying it. “Adam, you and I had a deal. As far as I’m concerned, that deal is done. Paid in full. No debts owed.”
Good cause I had no intentions of paying anything more.
“This conversation will have to wait until Lainey and I have time to truly talk.”
“Fine,” I said. “But I want to make something clear. That woman means the world to me. There is nothing I won’t do, nothing any of us won’t do, to protect her. Occasionally, I like you, Margareta.”
“But you love her,” she said, a smile tipping her lips. “That’s as it should be, Adam. Now if you’ll excuse me… I am going to change. Hopefully in a few hours, I will see your sister returned to both of you.”
Fuck.
My stomach bottomed out at the idea. Hot and cold flashed over my skin. The only way the past few weeks had been at all tolerable was because of Lainey and Ezra. Milo and Bodhi had done their part, but not knowing where Andrea was and not being able to protect her had been killing me slowly.
The doors to the guest room opened and revealed Lainey in a black turtleneck tucked into dark colored combat pants.
“She’ll be back in a minute,” I told her.
“Did you get what you needed from her?” Curiosity hovered in her eyes.
“For now,” I said.
If Margareta proved more problematic, well, we could deal with that too. No more enemies.
Clear the board.
Chapter
Thirty-One
LAINEY
By the time we descended the stairs once more, the others appeared ready to depart. I still couldn't quite fathom Margareta Waldemar. She was definitely a puzzle wrapped in an enigma. Yet, she seemed genuine and that bothered me more than I cared to admit.
The boots she'd brought to me were knee high and added to the combat vibe of my appearance. I caught the faint smile on Bodhi's lips when he gave me a once over. The same from Milo. Ezra flicked a look from me to Adam then back again before he seemed to relax.
Oddly, the men now all seemed like they were overdressed or really sexy spies. As focused on Andrea as I was, that thought still made me smile. I hadn’t bothered to bring the dress back down with me. I’d secured my weapons from the clutch in one of the many pockets on the pants.
“Dimitri?” Margareta asked as she reached the last step. Like me, she wore black combat pants, a turtleneck, and boots. The unrelieved black added to her icier appearance.
Maybe it was the way she’d pulled her bob back and secured it at her nape. The pull of her hair gave her a harsher appearance. In that moment, not only could I picture her giving an order to kill someone, I also could see her pulling the trigger herself.
“The men are ready,” Dimitri said. “Do you wish us to go in and secure the location—”
“No,” I said, cutting him off and glancing at Margareta. “We don’t know for sure if she is there. But if she is and she sees a bunch of armed men bursting in… there are just too many ways that can go wrong.”
Head canted to the side, Margareta seemed to consider my words. “How would you prefer to do this?”
With the ball being served back to me, I turned to Bodhi. He and Milo were a lot more familiar with these kinds of operations. So were Adam and Ezra for that matter. I’d seen the plan they all put together with the Vandals to deal with Bradley Sharpe—may he rot in hell forever.
“We need to see the facility,” Bodhi said. “Layout. Ingress. Egress. I would also like to know how many are inside.”
“But it’s late,” Milo said, checking his watch. “Evening. Would the—” He hesitated and gave me a gentle look. “Would the students still be there?”
Students wasn’t the word he’d intended to use. But I didn’t want to look too closely at whatever the correct word would have been. I just—didn’t.
“The academy is also an internátní škola—” Dimitri frowned. “Internat.” I’d already begun that translation when he switched from Czech to German.
“It’s a boarding school,” I told Pretty Boy. “That means they might be living there.”
Andrea could be there.
Right now.
“I am sending plans for the location,” Dimitri said. “I will have my men close off access around the facility. We won’t let anyone leave and do our best to minimize violence.”
Minimize it, but that didn’t mean eliminate it entirely. It had to do. I took a deep breath. It would do.
“Acceptable?” Margareta directed the question to me and I nodded.
“Thank you.”
“Then let us depart.”
Bodhi held out a hand and I narrowed the distance to take it and then we were heading out. They fell in around me, keeping Margareta and Dimitri at a distance. Kellan was waiting for us just outside with the car.
He swept a look over each of us as he opened the back door. “Jas and Rome will follow. Liam and Vaughn are going to meet us there, Doc is holding back with Freddie and Em.”
But he would be available if we needed him.
“Ivy listening?” Milo asked as I climbed into the back.
“So far,” Kellan said with a wry smile. “Let’s see how fast we can wrap this up so she doesn’t decide to go rogue with Freddie.” He didn’t sound terribly concerned. Em wouldn’t make a move without the guys being good with it.
Not when she would worry more about being a distraction. No, she would do her best to keep from scaring anyone. Restlessness invaded my veins, a wild kind of buzz that both muffled the world and made it seem too loud all at the same time.
Milo put a hand on my right knee, the gentle touch drew my attention to the fact my foot was bouncing. I stopped, dragging a deep breath to fill my lungs.
“We’re going to find her,” Milo said, the sincerity in his voice insisted that I believe him. It was all I wanted to do.
His skin felt like fire under my palm when I set my hand on his. “I hope so.”
It was the best I could do and when my gaze snagged on Adam’s, I saw the same worry reflected back at me.
“Milo is right,” Adam said. “We’re going to find her. She’s going to be fine. And we’re going to gut anyone who has laid a single finger on her.”
“For starters,” Bodhi tacked on to the end.
“And we’ll make sure it hurts,” Ezra added.
“For a long time,” Kellan chimed in from the front.
The ease with which they circled the party line made me smile. “I’m down for that.”
For all of that.
The ride from the villa to wherever the school was located took us from one side of Prague to the other. I knew very little about Prague despite the research I’d done on the flight over. Maybe, someday, I could come back and be an actual tourist.
I could take Andrea on a proper European tour. England, France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, and so much more. We would find her and she would be up for this trip someday.
She had to be.
Milo turned his hand over and threaded his fingers with mine. The cold inside of me seemed to continue to spread until ice sheathed the hum, and put a very firm wall between me and the rest of the world.
My heart seemed to race and beat too fast at the same time. I couldn’t quite regulate my breathing. When Ezra pressed his leg against mine, I tried to absorb the comfort they were all offering.
“I’ll be fine when we get there.” The wild energy invading everything made calming myself down almost impossible. That said, I would not be the reason this got screwed up.
“Yes you will,” Bodhi said. “Inside, you’re with me or Milo. Does she know Ezra?”
“Yes,” Ezra said. “I’ve known her since she was a baby.”
“Okay, then we’ll put you with Liam. Milo or I will be with Adam. We’ll sort the Vandals out after that.”
Three teams.
Three teams, each team with someone that Andrea knew.
I blew out a breath. “That’s smart.”
“Thank you,” he said easily.
“He’s modest too,” Milo added.
Ezra let out a hysterical little snort and even Adam snickered. Laughter swam up from under all the noise and I had to bite my lip as I started to chuckle. The sound cracked some of the ice surrounding me, bringing the world closer.
The tectonic shift helped. Closing my eyes, I drank in their nearness and focused on my breathing. With every inhale, I pulled in calm and exhaled my stress.
My system wasn’t really listening to me. Despite it seeming to take a century, we were finally there. The slowing of the vehicle had me sitting forward. Milo’s hand tightened on mine.
“I’ll go with Adam,” Milo said. “You take care of Mayhem.” He locked gazes with Bodhi. The two seemed to be in a wordless conversation but they also resolved it swiftly.
“Done.”
Milo looked at me. “Mayhem…”
“I’ll stay with Bodhi,” I told him. “I promise.”
“Thank you.”
Then the car stopped and Kellan glanced over his shoulder. “We’re gathering here…”
By here, he meant not far from the drive leading to the school. It was cold, dark, and there weren’t a lot of streetlights. The area seemed to be trapped in time where old cobblestone roads intersected with freshly paved areas. There were buildings that dated back to the previous century, but just a half a block up, was a corner store and it looked far more modern.
“This area is being gentrified, more or less,” Margareta said. She’d arrived right behind us and slipped out to join me as I studied our surroundings. “The academy is located on five acres above. I believe it has more land attached, but I’m waiting for more information from my people.”
“How many ways in?”
The Vandals had arrived and they were talking strategy with Bodhi and Milo. Adam was within arm’s reach. Ezra split the difference, partially with the guys but also closer to Adam and me in case we needed him. I didn’t think I could love these men more.
“Three,” Margareta said and she held her phone over for me to see the screen. A map appeared with the local area highlighted.
The school was in the center. There were routes stretching away from it in three different directions. The fourth butted up against the river.
The red ticks were where her people were setting up, including where we were standing right now. The roads—driveways—leaving the property were all direct. At least according to the map.
“If they have a boat—that could be a problem.”
“I have people watching the river. Dimitri has a good group here,” Margareta assured me. “We will find your sister, Lainey.”
Like the guys before, she sounded so confident, I wanted to believe her.
Bodhi appeared next to me. “We’re going,” he told me. “You and I are going over land. They’re giving us a fifteen minute head start.”
“Coat,” Margareta said briskly as she stripped off the jacket she was wearing. “Are you armed?”
I had my baton, my taser, and my knife. “I have enough and I have Bodhi.”
She glanced from me to him. “I won’t ask if you’re armed.”
“Thanks,” he said. “I appreciate the confidence. Let’s go, Buttercup.”
The use of that nickname in front of everyone made me splutter even as I tugged the coat on. “Right behind you, Trouble.”
“Next to me,” he said, cupping my elbow. He set the pace, but he didn’t lengthen his stride. I wasn’t having to take two steps for each one he did. The dark around us seemed to close in as we left the puddle of light around the cars.
I didn’t glance back. I knew they were there. That was enough for me. The cold air was almost abrasive to my lungs, but I found myself craving it.
Between the walking and the cold, the shaking in my system eased. “What’s our job?”
I’d heard portions of it, and I should have paid closer attention. It had grown more difficult because we were so close. Impatience had never been such a battle for me before.
“Our job is to find Andrea. I have a rough idea of the layout for the school. Multiple training and class rooms on the first and second floor. Third floor and then in the back are the dorms. Or at least, what looks like dorms.”
I licked my lips.
“We have no idea how many are in there, what the security situation is going to be. I will handle any on the ground security guards. You will watch my back.”
“What about electronic surveillance?”
“One thing at a time, Buttercup. One thing at a time.”
The darkness enveloped us as Bodhi led us off the driveway and onto the lawn. If not for the half-moon above, I wouldn’t be able to see anything.
It wasn’t long before the building loomed ahead. “Trouble?”
“We’re going to find her,” he said. “Keep that a fixed point in your head. We’re going to find her.”
Chapter
Thirty-Two
LAINEY
As we approached, the building loomed larger and larger. Outdoor lighting was definitely at a premium because it was sketchy at best. I kind of wished I’d gotten to see what the building looked like in daylight or even a photograph of it.
The Gothic-appearing architecture just added to the creep factor. I half-expected there to be some eerie soundtrack playing.
“Breathe,” Bodhi said, half-exhaling the word next to my ear. We’d paused and he’d gone to a crouch, bringing me with him. I tried to scan the darkness, looking for any potential threats. “Lainey B.”
The command in his voice was impossible to ignore so I turned my attention to him.
“Tell me the truth, can you do this?”
“It’s a little late if I can’t,” I admitted.
“I can get you back to the others,” he said. “I need you to be okay with going in. I need you to be aware of your surroundings and not panicking.”
The adrenaline dump had my nerves singing again. “Bodhi, I need to be there for her. I can do this.” I took a deeper breath, the vise around my chest easing. “I know I can do this.”
He ghosted his fingers down the side of my face. “Then stay with me, watch my back, and let me clear the obstacles on our way.”
“I’m going to kill anyone who tries to hurt you.” It came out far more matter-of-fact than the match striking against my temper would suggest. But I needed the fire of that to combat the icy chill in my soul.
He paused, as though considering it, then nodded slowly. “Very well, I will allow that.”
I could practically taste his smile. Trusting his instincts, I leaned forward and pressed my lips to his. It was a fierce kiss, a promise and an oath. It wasn’t about passion or desire, though they were both present. This was claiming and faith.
“Hmm… I give you shoes, I get a declaration. I give you permission and I get a kiss.”
“You give me gems and I get orgasms.”
His soft chuckle brushed right over me. “Hmm, that’s going to demand a repeat performance.”
“Whenever you’re ready, Trouble.”
Silence wrapped around us, then he slipped his phone from his pocket. I braced for the screen light to blind me, but it didn’t come on.
“We’re going in now,” he said softly, then hit send.
A voice clip.
