“I still think we should call the police,” Vanessa disagreed. “We don’t know anything about this guy. He could be a criminal for all we know.”
“Open your eyes, Ness!” I cried out. “He’s a dancer! A dancer! I don’t care if he’s got gambling debts or . . . or a drug addiction . . . or anything! He needs us!”
Vanessa stared, biting her lip.
“If it helps,” Jo said calmly, “I saw no sign of drug addiction. And if he’s a criminal, well, you’re the one with the police connections. Speak to your dad. In fact, call him now. He could . . .”
“If I do that, he’ll tell me to go the police here—you know he will.”
We were all silent, staring at each other.
“And what about Ash?” I asked desperately. “We can’t leave him!”
At that moment, Ash opened the bathroom door, clouds of steam swirling behind him. He was dressed in Vanessa’s sweatpants which were too short and hovered above his shiny patent shoes as if waiting for an invitation to join the party.
His movements were stiff, lacking the fluid grace that had first entranced me. His dark eyes met my gray ones.
“You should listen to your friends. Get out of Las Vegas. It’s not safe for you now.”
“What about you?”
He shrugged and then winced. “I’ll hitch a ride.”
“You’re in no state to do that,” I said decisively. “I’ll buy you a plane ticket. Where do you want to go?”
Ash frowned.
“I can’t catch a flight,” he said flatly. “They stole my ID, but the airports aren’t safe either.”
I ground my teeth with frustration.
“What about a bus?”
“They watch the bus station,” Ash shook his head. “He’ll be looking for me now.”
“We’ll have to drive,” I said quickly. “Can you drive?”
Ash nodded but looked worried. “Sure, but I have no money, no ID.”
“I do.”
“You’re in no fit state,” said Jo, seriously alarmed.
“I know that,” I argued earnestly. “I’ll rent the car and Ash will drive.”
“To Chicago? You’re crazy! That’ll take three, maybe four days!”
“It’s the only way to get him out of town,” I said, determined. “And we don’t have time to stand around here arguing.”
That was one thing we could all agree on.
Jo took charge of checking us out and Vanessa called a cab.
As we piled into the waiting taxi, a police car was idling at the curb outside the hotel, and I knew that there would be trouble if we were caught. Fleeing the scene of a crime and failing to give a witness statement about a man with a gun in public—it wouldn’t go well.
At the airport, I said goodbye to my friends, promising to stay in touch. Vanessa’s plane to Seattle would board in less than an hour, and Jo was catching the red-eye to Boston. She’d also rented a car on her credit card for me and Ash, hoping it would throw anyone looking for a woman in a wheelchair off the scent.
Just thirty minutes later, I was sitting in the passenger seat of a Chrysler 200 while Ash guided the car through the flat darkness of the desert. Tiredness washed through me, but fear kept my brain fizzing and firing, making sleep impossible.
Ash’s shoulders were hunched and his jaw was locked with tension.
“I’ll understand if you don’t want to talk about it,” I said carefully, glancing at his profile, “but why did those men want to hurt you?”
He was silent for so long that I was certain he wouldn’t answer.
When he did, his voice was low and quiet, but throbbing with suppressed anger.
“I came to Las Vegas to dance,” he said. “I thought it was my big break,” and he laughed harshly. “But I soon realized that I was working for Bratva.”
“Who?”
“Russian mafia.”
“Oh God!”
Mafia. The word alone conjured ugly images, and after what I’d seen . . .
“I’ve been here almost six weeks,” Ash continued, his voice strained. “They took my passport and phone the first night. They told me that the airport and bus station were watched. They told me that the police couldn’t be trusted.” He glanced sideways. “Your father is a policeman?”
“Yes, he’s a captain at the 13th district in Chicago. You’ll be safe there.”
Ash stared at me incredulously.
“Nowhere is safe!”
Ash swore loudly, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the steering wheel, and I cowered back from his anger.
Awareness of our situation settled over me. I didn’t know this man, although instinct told me to help him. But right now he was scaring me.
“He’ll know what to do, Ash,” I whispered. “You’ll just have to trust me.”
He was silent for a moment before glancing at me quickly.
“You know my name.”
I smiled weakly. “You told me last night when we met.”
He nodded once. “I remember.”
But from his dark expression, it didn’t seem like a happy memory.
“And you are Laney. I heard your friends call you that.”