The Truant Officer (39 page)

“This is not over,” Nick shot back, glaring at her.

Viktor put his arm around him. “Your mother will never return, but she would be happy that you are home now, son.”

Nick looked incredulously at his father. “Home? That’s an interesting word. I lived in a great home with a loving family and a hopeful future. I had a girlfriend, whom I loved and wanted to marry. I was happy, but then you chose to re-enter my life. And you killed your own son, and I don’t mean Alexei. You killed Nick Zellen. He will never be that person again.”

“Everything I did was to protect you.”

“Yet in the end, by engaging in an affair with my mother, you essentially destroyed my true family.”

“I would never harm your mother. I loved her more than life itself.”

“Good intentions never mitigate destruction. A crime was committed and there needs to be a punishment. So I find the defendant responsible for the murder of my mother.”

Nick raised a gun, and gasps filled the room. Viktor was too stunned to talk. But when he found the words, he did what most bullies do when being forced to swallow their own medicine. He groveled for his pitiful life.

Nick put the gun down with a grin. “Don’t worry, I would never shoot my own father.”

Then an explosion filled the room. Lilly and Audrey screamed, as Darren tried to shield them from the horrific scene.

Zubov lowered his still-smoking gun to his side as he watched Viktor’s body fall to the ground.

The room stood silent. Zubov looked past their fear to Nick, and declared, “He deserved his fate. Your mother was innocent. Nobody should ever kill an innocent person.”

Chapter 94

Not one shot was fired by Viktor’s bodyguards when their leader was gunned down. They too now worked for the don’s son.

Nick ran right to Audrey and grabbed tightly to her arm. “Get away from me,” she screeched, wrestling away from his grip.

He continued after her. “It’s over now, Audrey. It’s over.”

He caught up to her, forcing her into an embrace.

Audrey thrashed with her arms, trying to break loose. Heavy tears began falling down her face. “It will never be over,” she shouted. But then she gave in and accepted his arms around her.

“I can’t stop thinking about Rachel—you killed that innocent girl!” she wailed through sobs.

“Dava took matters into her own hands. I swear that wasn’t my idea. That is why Zubov shot her on the plane.”

“I read all the reports, Nick. There was no forced entry. The intruder had used my key—that’s why they were so sure it was me who’d been killed. How many times had you taken her to my apartment? You were the reason she was there that night.”

Nick said nothing.

“When you were with her, did you know you were going to kill her?”

The question caused him to snap. “I would do anything to protect you. I have no apologies! We had to make people believe you were dead.”

“You sound just like Viktor.” She looked at his dead body on the floor, his purple suit stained red. “Look how that worked out.”

“Audrey, please understand. I did this so we could be together again. My life is nothing without you.”

Darren noticed Lilly out of the corner of his eye. She looked almost jealous. He didn’t take satisfaction in his wife’s pain, even if it was deserved. Revenge was a hollow drug. It didn’t give Nick his mother back, and it wasn’t going to heal their marriage.

“Together? Who would I be together with? I don’t know who you are. All I know is that you’re not the man I fell in love with,” Audrey continued to resist.

“I’m still the same person. Only the circumstances have changed. A soldier might have to go off to war to protect his loved ones, and the experience might shape him, but that doesn’t change his core,” Nick was practically begging.

“You are so filled with revenge you can’t even see straight. You’re not the Nick I knew.” She dragged him in front of one of Viktor’s many vanity mirrors and made him stare at himself. “You’re not him!”

He twitched, as if sickened by the sight of himself. “You came here to kill Viktor, just like me. But I never blamed you or judged you. Because I love you. I killed him so you didn’t have to.”

“Get away from me!” Audrey shrieked. She jerked away from his touch and turned to leave.

The guards didn’t stop her, but Nick’s words did. “I know you love me, because you did things for me that you wouldn’t be proud of, just like I did for you.”

He clicked the remote and another video displayed on the window screen. It was of Natalie Gold. Darren couldn’t believe what he was watching. It was of an intimate encounter between Natalie and the prime minister of Israel!

Audrey began to cry as she watched herself in action.

“You were Viktor’s whore. You did that for me. You did that to get revenge on him—to gain his trust so you could kill him. We are no different.”

He paused the film, freezing Audrey in mid thrust. He walked to her and wiped the tears from her face, and then took her into his arms. “You said on the plane that you would follow me, even if you saw things you didn’t understand. You pledged your loyalty, and now I’m going to pledge mine to you.”

He began to kiss her, and Audrey reciprocated. But Nick unexpectedly pulled away and wiped blood from his lip. Audrey had bit him.

“I might be a whore, but I’m not a murderer.”

Nick stood eerily calm, as if his metamorphosis into a Sarvydas was now complete.

“I have proven my loyalty to you, Audrey. I don’t hold it against you that you shared a bed with the man responsible for my mother’s death, and worked for him. I think it’s time for you to return the favor and prove your loyalty to me.”

She slapped him.

He rubbed his cheek, then coldly handed her his gun. “I want you take the McLaughlins out to the cliffs and shoot them.”

“What will you do if I refuse—kill me?”

“No—I will send Zubov to meet with your parents. He needs to find religion, and I think he would hit it off with the Reverend.”

Audrey remained defiant, but her hands were shaking. “You wouldn’t.”

“You’re a pragmatic girl. Look how you persevered this past year. You did whatever it took. One act of loyalty is all I’m asking for. They’re going to die anyway.”

He held the gun out for her. She looked at him and then to Darren and Lilly. After a long moment, she accepted the gun. Darren understood her decision. She chose to make any sacrifice, no matter how vile, to protect those that she loved—her parents. They all had made a similar decision in the past few days.

She led Lilly and Darren outside with the gun pointing at their spines. Just outside the estate was a Jeep. Zubov would go as a witness to the execution.

Nick instructed Audrey to drive across the estate until she came to the cliffs. She wasn’t really to shoot them—the gun was just symbolic. Nick wanted them to wash up ashore as victims of the plane crash. So Audrey was to bash their heads in with a crowbar found in the back of the Jeep, while Zubov held them down. Then toss them into the sea.

But as Audrey and the prisoners arrived at the Jeep, she turned and hit Zubov with the gun handle. His wounded knees couldn’t hold him, and he fell to the ground. Nick made a move at her and she pressed the trigger, but nothing came out.

His telling look said that he knew the gun wasn’t loaded. But he looked saddened by the irreconcilable wedge that she’d just driven into their relationship.

“Run!” Audrey shouted to Darren. He tossed Lilly over his shoulders and climbed into the Jeep. He found the key and started the vehicle. They sped off over the dark terrain.

Nick calmly helped Zubov up and instructed him to go after them. Zubov limped to another Jeep, and drove off after the McLaughlins.

He then grabbed Audrey by her Natalie Gold wig. “You betrayed me!” he shouted so viciously it echoed off the sea.

She again slapped him across the face. “I already know you killed my parents. I could see it in your eyes, Nick.”

“Anything I did was to keep you safe.”

“Spare me!” She thought for a moment and then said, “I take that back—kill me. Do it now. Then you really will be just like your father.”

“I’m not going to kill you…yet. I loved Audrey Mays and she was murdered in her apartment and is buried in Oklahoma.”

He returned her slap, violently knocking her head to the side. “You are Natalie Gold, nothing but a cheap whore. But a whore who makes me money. You see, Viktor left his financial empire to his living son. That makes me the head of Sarvy Music and you are my top-selling artist. As long as you make me money, you will get to live another day. And each day I let you live, I want you to remember that I own you.”

Chapter 95

Darren tightly gripped the wheel. The sound of the crashing waves told him that he was heading for the cliffs.

He’d thought about this mad-dash since they arrived. And had studied the landscape from the vantage point of his room when he changed for dinner. But like most plans, it was much different in reality, and the vehicle closing quickly on his ass wasn’t helping.

He had to make it to the path that led down the cliffs to the sea. He put the lights on—the chaser was on his tail, anyway—they weren’t fooling anyone. Audrey had outlined the plan to him during their time in the cockpit, including where the key was hidden in the Jeep.

When she wasn’t cutting albums and making controversial videos, Audrey was stuck on the Sarvydas estate like a prisoner. So to entertain herself, she had the staff take her out into the Mediterranean in one of Viktor’s boats and teach her to scuba dive.

Now the scuba gear she’d kept in the Jeep had another purpose. She told Darren if he could make it to the boat, it was possible to use the scuba gear to make a swim for it. Audrey provided the contact info of a man in Tel Aviv who could change identities—or if he got to the US Embassy, he could possibly gain some protection. It was a long shot, especially since being declared an international hijacker his picture would be everywhere. But at least he’d have a fighting chance.

But Darren couldn’t locate the path in the dark. And as certain death moved closer to their back bumper, he knew this wasn’t going to end well.

Lilly looked at him and said, “It wasn’t your fault that you fell in love with me.”

Her tone said that she came to the same conclusion he had. It was over. She was saying goodbye.

Darren looked behind them, the headlights growing larger.

Lilly continued, “You tried to save me, but I was a lost cause. I wanted it so badly to work for us that I fooled myself. And one thing they said in there was right—you can’t build a relationship on lies. But just because we’re not going to have a fairytale ending, doesn’t mean that you’re not my hero. I really did love you—I need you to know that.”

He looked at her with a sideways glance, momentarily taking his eyes off the fast-approaching cliff top. “I will always love you, Lilly. Marriage is for better or worse. And we had a lot more better than worse.”

She stared ahead blankly at the jagged cliffs coming into view. Then solemnly added, “Until death do us part.”

Darren looked ahead and knew she was right. They had two choices—be mutilated by Zubov, or go out on their own terms. He grabbed Lilly’s hand and looked into her eyes. She understood what he was saying and nodded. He kissed her on the bandaged cheek and hit the gas. They headed for the end.

Just as they approached certain death, shots rang out. One pinged off the metal roll bar just above their heads. Since they just agreed to plunge to their deaths, Darren wasn’t sure why they were ducking. Maybe they weren’t ready to die. But when an explosion rocked their vehicle, he understood that they didn’t have much of a choice in the matter.

The gunshots had ripped through their tires and caused a blowout. The Jeep teetered and tottered, then flipped onto its back. It skidded to an upside-down stop.

Darren and Lilly hung like bats as they heard the footsteps of their killer move toward them. They were trapped. They were still going to die, just not on their own terms.

Zubov bent down to look into the upturned Jeep. He chuckled. “You left so fast, I didn’t get chance to say goodbye.”

He took out a machete and cut them out of their seat-belts. He grabbed Lilly by her hair and dragged her out with no regard for her leg injury. He then dragged Darren out by his suit jacket.

Zubov forced them to their feet and announced, “Running from Zubov is like running from death.”

After a few parting words, and the assurance of no hard feelings, Zubov explained that this was a business arrangement and he was just doing his job. When he said all he had to say, Darren and Lilly McLaughlin flew off the high cliffs of Netanya.

Chapter 96

The cavalry arrived. Israeli Special Forces stormed the Sarvydas estate, clad in black, and assisted by high-tech night-vision goggles. It was a two-pronged attack, arriving from both land and sea.

The Sarvydas security force had no chance. The Special Forces unit was on orders to shoot-to-kill, and they did. The guards fell like raindrops to the floor, before they could even shoot off the rounds from their Uzis.

They found Nick and Natalie Gold tied to chairs in one of the bedrooms. They appeared more relieved than elated to be rescued, saying very little.

When the place was completely secure, Israeli Prime Minister Ati Kessler showed up to view the scene that had kept his country on edge for the past day. But now he was going to be the hero. The forceful leader who stormed the beaches to rescue the hostages.

It was the stuff that legends are made of, and Ati Kessler was a living legend. The key word being living—he knew how to survive. But he was also a politician and his approval ratings were about to go through the roof. It didn’t hurt that his biggest political baggage was lying dead on the floor in a purple suit.

He requested to meet privately with Nick—the victim. He walked him outside, knowing that Viktor had every inch of the house bugged. “You look good for a man who endured a plane crash.”