We rushed into the elevator and Will pressed the floor for the parking garage.
Rika stayed silent for a moment. When she spoke again, her voice was calm and soft. “Absorb it,” she said. “Process it. And then get your head straight again. When you do, tell us what the hell we’re doing.”
She was right. I needed to calm down. I couldn’t fucking think with my mind racing and spinning like a tornado.
My father would have Michael and Winter at his house. He wasn’t trying to hide them from us. He wanted to bring us to the table.
But Rika was right. In the digital age, there were no guarantees. He knew we had the evidence backed up.
He couldn’t get his hands on Alex tonight, and he couldn’t hurt Michael.
Winter was his assurance.
Think.
Negotiation was useless. I would never let him keep Winter.
We needed to get on the property, undetected, and he wasn’t going to be dumb enough to fall for Banks as a diversion again.
Fuck, fuck, fuck…
My mind started wandering from one scenario to the next, and finally, I had it.
“David and Lev,” I said. “They’re still working for Banks, right?”
My father’s old employees who left on bad terms, hated my father, but knew the lay of the land and everyone who worked for Gabriel. They worked for my sister now, who also stole my father’s cook, Marina.
“Yeah, you want me to call them?” Will asked.
I nodded, all of us charging out of the elevator as soon as the doors opened. “Tell them to meet us at the hilltop gate. Tell them to bring something good from Marina. Something my father’s men would miss.”
Damon
Present
Since we knew my father’s men would be keeping a closer eye on the woods that we escaped through last night, it seemed less of a risk just to get them to open the rear gate for us. With a little finesse and guts, anyway.
“Thanks for coming.” I walked up to David and Lev, meeting them as they stepped out of their SUV.
“Banks made us,” Lev spat out.
Pissant.
Both of them used to work for my father, but now they worked for Kai and my sister at their home in Meridian City. Doing what, I wasn’t sure, but they stayed, so there must be something exciting going on over there.
I jerked my chin at the tin Lev was holding. “What did you bring?”
He popped the lid, but David answered, “She had some vatrushka already made. There’s zephyr in there, too.”
“Fuck, yeah.” I reached in, snatching one of the berry marshmallow things and popping it in my mouth. My taste buds exploded, making my mouth water like crazy, but it was probably more because I hadn’t eaten in two days rather than them tasting that good.
Although, they were good.
Marina also worked for my father before Banks stole her away, too. She and my sister were the only things I missed about this house, and now that they were no longer there, I had no reason to visit unless I was forced to.
I grabbed a vatrushka bun, barely chewing it before I swallowed it down, and led them over to a tree. I peered around it, the hilltop gate my father used for deliveries, caterers, and employees sat a hundred yards away, lit up by two lanterns.
Rika stood near, blowing into her hands to warm them up, while Will put on a sweatshirt, pulling the hood over his head.
“We just need you to get the gate open,” I told Lev and David.
If we could get them to come out, they’d shut off the cameras, not wanting a secret meetup caught on film.
“And then distract them, so we can get in,” Rika added, tucking her hands under her arms.
“And when you need to get out?” David retorted.
I exchanged a look with Rika, neither of us having an answer. “We’ll deal with that later,” I said.
Grabbing our backpack off the ground, I led Rika and Will to the edge of the tree line, waiting for the tiny lights on the cameras to go dark so we could move.
Behind us, I heard David on the phone.
“Hey,” he said.
He was silent a moment and then he laughed. “Aw, you still mad about that?” he joked. “Well, David and I aren’t here as friends. We come with a drug deal. We got some of Marina’s vatrushka. Bring us a bottle of Mamont, and we’ll call it even.” And then he added, “We have a little zephyr, too.”
He was quiet, and I looked over at him, seeing him hang up the phone and nod once at me.
Good. They were going for it.
I dug out some surgical tape, quickly tearing off three pieces and adding them to my wound to reinforce the stitches and hold the cut together. I’d be lucky if this shit didn’t tear open again before the end of the night.
I zipped up the pack, but Rika took it, putting it on her own back instead of letting me carry it. I almost argued, but I didn’t need another trip to the hospital, so fuck it.
After another moment, the power lights went off, and we bolted, running across the dirt road, jumping over the low hedges lining the wall, and crouching down, waiting for the gates to open.
Steam from our mouths billowed into the air, and we plastered ourselves against the wall to wait.
Luckily, my side didn’t hurt at all, and I didn’t know if it was because of the drugs they gave me still lingering or the adrenaline, but I just wanted to get in there. Rika’s fucking ideas were thrashing around my head, and every second Winter spent inside that house…
I squeezed my fists, trying to calm down.
A deep creak filled the air, iron bars clanked together, and the gate opened, a black Chevy Tahoe pulling through, its lights flashing on the forest ahead. They pulled to a stop, dust kicking up from the road underneath, and opened the doors, one guy from each side stepping out.
I waited for them to move around the front of their car, out of our line of sight, to talk to our guys, but before I could shoot off, Rika grabbed me.
I jerked my head, glaring at her.
No time to lose. What the fuck?
But she just shook her head, grinning. “I know this trick.”
And she rushed forward, crouching down and running for the back of the SUV.
What?
Will and I had no choice. We followed her, racing to the rear of their car as she pulled the back door open and climbed inside.
I shot a glance around us and inside the car to make sure it was empty. The dome lights were already on since the guys left the doors opened, so they didn’t notice when she opened the hatch.
Jesus. This was stupid.
“Looks good,” I heard one of the guys say in front. “Only she makes it right.”
Gingerly, Will and I climbed in after Rika, all of us sitting and slouched, staying down and out of sight.
“This is dumb!” I mouthed to Rika.
She rolled her eyes and pulled the door closed but not all the way.
“Try some,” someone said outside.
“Think I poisoned you?”
There was a pause as David or Lev probably taste-tested the food for my father’s men, and then I heard David speak up again.
“Where’s the vodka?” he asked.
The car rocked under us as someone dug in it for the bottle they were trading.
“Splendid,” David finally said.
“New employers too good for the black market?”
“At least I’m getting fed well,” David replied. “You?”
There was silence and then my father’s guy asked, “This time again next week?”
Come on, come on, come on…
The car jostled under us as the men climbed back in, and I watched Rika as she waited.
As soon as their doors slammed shut, she pulled ours closed, masking the sound, and the interior went dark as the guys shifted into gear and shot off in reverse.
I let out a breath.
If that hadn’t worked, I would’ve killed Rika.
But it did, so... Fine, whatever.
The car turned around, and I heard the gate start to close as we sped down the back road toward the house.
It was only a few hundred yards, but this was faster and we travelled undetected. Good plan.