Soldier's Redemption (21 page)

The sidewalks were slippery with icy rain. Without a coat, the cold encouraged her to hurry. Her phone was in her pocket, and she kept her hand over it because twice that evening it had almost fallen out. She’d actually snapped a quick shot of the woman in the café already, but it was dark and grainy. Besides, the person she really wanted to capture was Ian Banderas.

The garden path at night resembled something out of a horror movie with waving black limbs and blowing leaves. She let herself into Katerina’s old house with a sigh of relief.

That sigh was premature as the lights suddenly clicked on, and she found the woman from the restaurant standing by the counter, a clothes bag in her hands.

“Sorry to startle you,” she said, her voice as crisp as her haircut. She wore a blue wool jacket with a complicated insignia on the lapel over a long black skirt. It was the emblem of the Kanistan embassy; Skylar had seen it before when she’d visited with her uncle. So that’s how they moved people around. Heeled boots made her tower over Skylar. “My name is Dasha, your embassy connection. Ian told you I would come, didn’t he?”

“Yes, ma’am,” she said, hoping to appear demure.

“Have you taken your pills yet?”

“No, ma’am.”

“Take them now,” Dasha said. “Ian will be here in a few minutes.”

Ian was coming! This was great news. She could get this on the camera, maybe even hit the movie mode so it recorded voices. She took the small bottle from the counter and emptied the contents—three aspirin masquerading as barbiturates—into her hand, swallowing them with the aid of a glass of water Dasha handed her.

“And change into this,” Dasha added, shoving the clothes bag at Skylar.

Skylar took the bag and saw immediately that it held the same outfit that Dasha wore. She retreated to the small bedroom and wondered how she would transfer her phone between clothes.

“Please, hurry,” Dasha said, and it was clear she was going to stand at the door and watch. Skylar took the bag and retreated into the bathroom. The first thing she did was check to see if her wallet, which she’d hidden under a pile of dirty towels, was still there, sighing with relief when she found it was. She changed out of Katerina’s old jeans and shirt quickly, stuffing them into the small trash can, donning the skirt and jacket. Neither article had pockets. With nowhere to conceal the phone, she stuck it in the trash can with her clothes. She would have to think of an excuse to use the bathroom again before she left.

“That’s better,” Dasha said when she returned and the critical cast of her gaze made Skylar glad she’d ditched her wallet and phone.

“Where is your new suitcase?” Dasha asked. “I don’t see it here.”

“I sold it,” Skylar said.

“And the money Ian gave you to settle your obligations?”

“I spent it all,” Skylar said.

Dasha shook her head. “I’ll give you your passport when we get to the airport. From now on, you’ll be Susan Williams from Seattle, Washington. Are you excited about your grand new adventure?”

“Yes,” Skylar said.

“Good for you. Oh, and by the way, we did a little checking and discovered you have family you failed to mention. We know exactly where they live. You have a little sister, too, no? Rest assured, we will send them a note to explain your absence along with a little extra cash to help them along.”

They’d found Katerina’s family? Skylar started to rub her eyes, remembered all the makeup and stopped herself. Was mentioning the sister some kind of veiled threat? Was this how they made sure the girls wouldn’t get cold feet? Katerina had assumed they didn’t know about her family, but obviously, they did.

“I know you switched the pills,” Dasha said, a little of the sugary sweetness missing from her voice. “Why did you do that?”

“I, um, sold those, too.”

“Enterprising little thing, aren’t you? Well, never fear, I switched them back. We can’t have you airsick.”

Call it the power of suggestion, but with the knowledge that she’d taken the wrong pills Skylar became light-headed. This couldn’t happen; she needed to keep her wits. As she stepped away from Dasha, the room spun and she stumbled.

Dasha handed Skylar her red coat. “I found that in the bedroom. I’m surprised you didn’t sell it, too. Put it over your uniform.”

There was a quick knocking sound. As Dasha answered the door, Skylar put on her coat. Now she had a pocket. Ian Banderas slipped inside with a draft of cold air. This was what Skylar had been waiting for, but now that the moment to act was upon her, she couldn’t. What’s more, her head swam, and she looked longingly toward the bathroom that suddenly seemed a mile away.

“Help me get her out to the van,” Dasha said.

“What’s wrong with her?”

“The pills. She’ll snap out of it.”

“Where’s her suitcase?”

“She sold it. We’ll check one of my bags as hers so it won’t look suspicious.”

“Bathroom,” Skylar managed to mutter, but it sounded garbled to her own ears and they ignored her. Banderas clutched her arm. “I have good news for you,” he crooned into her ear. “Your friend Malina worked out so well the sponsoring family wants another helper. Won’t it be nice to see her again?” He soothed her hair. “You’re going to have a new life, sweetheart. You’re going to be an American!”

Malina was alive!

Ian turned back to Dasha. “The family is paying extra for you to deliver her to their estate.”

“What do I do with the other girls while I’m driving around with her?”

“Someone will meet you at the airport and take them to their next destination. Here,” he continued, producing a paper and pencil. “Write a note and leave it on the table for her landlady. Put a few euros with it. Hurry up.”

All Skylar could think about was the fact Malina wasn’t dead. There was a chance to save her, a chance for Skylar to redeem herself, to make amends for getting the girl’s mother killed.

“Did your men get Bennett?”

“We’ll discuss that later,” Ian said.

Get Bennett?
Had they tried to hurt Cole? The elation of a moment before disappeared into the certainty of what they would do to Cole if they found him.

“You’re getting careless, Ian,” Dasha said, switching to English, probably so the girl they thought was Katerina wouldn’t understand them. “Too many people know about you.”

“I’ve cleaned up my share of dead ends,” he replied.

“What do you mean by that?”

“I mean you had one simple job to do in Slovo, and you botched it.”

“The girl is Futura’s niece,” Dasha said.

“Yes, and she is getting close to discovering I killed Aneta. That bitch actually threatened me. Anyway, because of Futura’s niece, we’re going to have to cut this venture short or figure out a way to eliminate her.” He looked at Skylar, who didn’t have to work too hard to appear spaced out. Hearing her uncle’s name on top of Malina’s and Cole’s left her reeling, let alone their plans for her.

Dasha was undeterred. “When he finds out the messy way you went about taking care of this latest little problem and her friend, he’s going to come unglued.”

“What’s he going to do? I own him, and he owns the police. Everything is fine. Are you done with that note yet?”

“Yes.”

“Come on, Katerina,” Ian said to Skylar. “Let’s get to the airport.” Dasha took the other arm, and they left the little house together, not bothering to turn off the lights or close the door. The walk through the garden seemed interminable. They approached a van, and the next thing she knew, Skylar was being helped into the back. The door slid shut, and the van took off.

Under the cover of darkness, tears filled Skylar’s eyes as she thought of Svetlana and all the others—and most of all, Cole. She’d pushed him away when she should have found a way to work with him. And now she might never have the chance to feel his arms around her again.

Chapter Sixteen

Cole blended into the trees as three people left the house he’d trailed Katerina to a short while before.

His idea had been to identify Katerina at Pushki’s then find out where she lived so he and Irina could approach her the next day. The addition of phony facial hair, knit cap and thick glasses gave him a sense of anonymity, and things had gone according to plan. Once he’d trailed her through the garden, however, he’d seen her lights go on and heard another woman’s voice so he’d crouched under a window and listened. Soon after that, Ian Banderas arrived. The walls were so thin the voices were clear, but he couldn’t understand a blasted word until they switched to English and argued about who was the more efficient thug.

And then that flash of red he’d seen when the door had opened just now. If that coat wasn’t Skylar’s, it was its double. Katerina hadn’t been wearing it when she left the restaurant, so how did it end up on her back now?

Maybe Skylar had come to talk to her and left it here or had it taken from her....

“Skylar?” he murmured, ducking into the house, pausing at the bedroom doorway, half expecting to find her lifeless body, sighing with relief when he found nothing. He walked back into the living space that combined the kitchen and a couple of chairs at a small table, uncertain what to make of this. He noticed the note on the table but couldn’t read it.

Maybe there were other coats like Skylar’s, but hadn’t she told him the first night they had dinner that she made hers and it was a one of a kind? Still, a red coat was a red coat, right?

A very soft vibrating noise suddenly caught his attention, and he turned in a wide circle to see where it came from. The place looked all but abandoned. He opened a few drawers, but they were mostly empty. Eventually he found himself heading toward the bedroom where, upon a closer look, he found a few pieces of clothes he recognized as Skylar’s stacked on the top shelf of the closet. His heart sank.

The noise started again, and this time it was closer and more distinct. He walked into the tiny bathroom and picked up the small garbage can, lifting old clothes and finding a cell phone set on vibrating mode. With the sweep of a finger, he turned on the screen. The ID showed the call was from Skylar’s aunt. Taking care not to answer the call, he checked the information screen. Yep, it was Skylar’s. If her phone and clothes had been abandoned in this shabby little hole in the wall, it meant something had happened to her. The girl wearing her coat was his one and only lead.

He racked his brain, trying to remember if he’d understood anything of the conversation he’d overheard. He had recognized Skylar’s and Futura’s names and even his own. And he’d heard reference to the airport.

Of course. The airport.

The phone stopped vibrating. He slipped it in his pocket, then left, running up the path and back to the café area where he could hail a cab. His knee throbbed with the exertion, but he ignored the pain. He had to get to the airport—now.

* * *

I
T WAS IMPOSSIBLE NOT TO
notice the extra security, thanks, no doubt, to the dead body in the bathroom. Cole did his best to blend in, extra glad of the disguise.

If Banderas and company were going to America and they weren’t taking a private jet, then they had to be on the flight Cole was already checked in to. He took a circuitous route to his terminal, ditched the beard and the glasses and kept the mustache.

As casually as he could, he inspected the other passengers waiting in the enclosed area. He found no sign of Katerina and began to panic. Maybe he’d misunderstood the word for airport or maybe there was a private strip.

Boarding for first-class passengers began but he held back, his patience eventually rewarded when he spied the striking brunette in an official-looking jacket coming toward him. She was surrounded by four girls, one of them Katerina. They all appeared to be a little scared, a little excited and a little drugged, and they, too, all wore the same jacket and even the same long black skirt as though part of a group. He had to find a way to separate Katerina from the rest and ask her about Skylar.

Nearby, he noticed Banderas standing with arms crossed, surveying the area from a distance. It didn’t appear he was boarding. While firearms weren’t allowed in the airport, there wasn’t a doubt in his mind Banderas could get around that rule easily, and Cole would be willing to bet his own face was at least known to the man.

To make things worse, the guy from the incident in the bathroom was prowling the area. It was only a matter of time before they spotted him. Add all the airport security they could summon that he could not and the whole thing became daunting.

What was he supposed to do? If he used his ticket, these two would be informed, and he’d be hauled off the plane and that would be the end of him. If he approached the woman holding Katerina, he’d be nabbed as well. He pulled his hat down and hunkered in a seat, staring at Katerina, making and discarding plans.

And that’s when her gaze met his, and he felt a jolt of recognition that shook him to his soul. His pulse raced; his mouth went dry. How could he not have realized it was Skylar under all that makeup? Her nose, her lips, her alpine-blue eyes? His heart lodged in his throat.

He expected her to break away and run to him or at least plead silently for help. His body tensed as he plotted a way to put himself between her and Banderas. But Skylar looked away at once. Was it because she hated him? No, that wasn’t it. He’d seen the same flash of longing on her face that he felt in his heart. For reasons of her own, she didn’t want him to interfere.

She boarded the plane with the others, and Cole managed a shaky breath. Now all he had to do was figure out a way to board without Banderas and his crony getting wind of it, but amazingly enough, that problem seemed to melt away. The two men sauntered off as though it never occurred to them Cole would be at the airport.

Last chance boarding was announced. Cole checked in at the desk and ran to make the plane. His goal was finally obvious to him, his mission defined with crystal clarity: save Skylar at any cost.

* * *

S
KYLAR KEPT HER MOUTH SHUT
as she’d been instructed. Her mind, however, was screaming at the top of its lungs: she’d seen Cole!