Cops 02 - Love on the Run (17 page)

“Trust me,” Ron laughed. “I’d never forget a babe that looked like that.”

Something familiar caught Tony’s attention, and he moved behind the group to get a better look. When he saw the image on the screen, he released a string of vicious curses.

Even wearing a dark wig with her back to the camera, he’d recognize Bianca anywhere.

“We’re going in,” he barked out to his stunned team. “Right now.”

“But…” Ed spoke up. “We hadn’t planned to do this for another hour. There’s still —”

“The plan just changed.” Tony practically yelled, cutting the other man off in mid-sentence. “Now, get your motherfucking shit and move!”

Tony heard the harshness in his voice and saw his teammates’ shocked expressions. He made a mental note to apologize to them later.

But at the moment, all he could focus on was Bianca, finding out why she was there, and figuring out a way to get her the hell out of Dodge as quickly as possible before she ended up arrested along with Viktor.

They were out of the van and rushing into the bar within minutes. As soon as he cleared the doorway, Tony searched for her. He saw Bianca running toward the back of the bar and took off in the same direction.

He caught up with her just as she reached the emergency exit. He pushed the door open, grabbed her by the arm, and pulled her into the alley outside the bar. He released the door, and it slammed shut behind them.

Tony swung her around and pressed her up against the side of the building. “What the fuck are you doing here?” he whispered harshly in her ear as she struggled against his hold. “Goddammit, Tony. Let go!” Bianca tried to snatch her arm away, but he wouldn’t release her.

“Quiet!” he demanded. “You’re not going anywhere until you answer my question.”

“I’m helping you! Now let me go!”

Tony stared at her in stunned silence, too shocked to respond.

“Helping me?” He frowned down at her. “What are you talking about?”

The sound of sirens and approaching footsteps interrupted them before Bianca could respond.

“Get your ass out of here,” he whispered urgently. “We’ll finish this later.” He pressed his hand into her back and forced her to run down the alley in the opposite direction of the bar. “Go. Now!” Tony watched until she disappeared around the corner and out of sight.

When he turned around, he found Elizabeth standing behind him, her cool gray eyes studying him intently.

“Who was that?” she asked.

“Just some piece of ass of Viktor’s.” Tony kept his expression bland, his tone dismissive.

“She doesn’t know shit. Come on.” He headed back into the bar. “Let’s wrap this up.”

*

Reggie walked past the four armed guards stationed in the hallway and directly up to the closed door, stopping only long enough to knock once before opening it and going inside.

Dimitryi was seated in a huge leather chair behind his desk with his eyes closed, leaning forward on his elbows, his fingers forming a steeple in front of his face.

To the casual observer, Dimitryi seemed to be in deep thought. But Reggie recognized that look and knew there was a lot more going on with Dimitryi than what could actually be seen at the moment.

“Tate’s team raided the bar today.” Reggie had a seat in one of the overstuffed chairs in the room and completely ignored the muffled sounds coming from the other side of Dimitryi’s desk.

Dimitryi shrugged, his eyes still closed. “Isn’t that what we expected them to do?”

“Yes…” Reggie’s voice was hesitant.

Dimitryi’s eyes slowly opened. “Do I detect a ‘but’ coming?” he asked, his voice deceptively mild.

Reggie gave a brief nod. “The raid happened earlier than we expected, and our people weren’t in place yet…”

“So, Tate and his team are still alive,” Dimitryi said flatly.

“Yes, sir,” Reggie confirmed. Neither of them spoke for a moment, and the muted sucking sounds coming from behind Dimitryi’s desk had graduated into wet slurping noises that echoed through the otherwise quiet room.

“What about Viktor?” Dimitryi finally asked.

“Alive as well,” Reggie said, “and in custody.”

“Is he talking?” Dimitryi sounded anxious.

“Our sources say no,” Reggie assured him.

Dimitryi paused for a moment. His slightly flushed skin and briefly closed eyes were the only indication he gave that the activity behind his desk had finally come to an end.

“Good.” Dimitryi relaxed and sat back in his chair. “Let’s keep it that way. You were right about Viktor. He’s become more trouble than he’s worth. Make sure he’s not around to post bail.”

“Consider it done.” A head appeared from underneath the desk, and Reggie barely spared a glance at the young man who emerged, his eyes cast down as he scurried across the room and out the door.

“Trying out the new merchandise,” Dimitryi said in explanation, a slight smile on his lips, his gaze fastened on the young man as he left the room.

Reggie simply nodded, all too familiar with Dimitryi’s varied sexual appetite.

“There is one other issue that we need to discuss, Dimitryi.”

“What?”

“That reporter from the news station was with Viktor when the raid happened.”

“That Mendez whore was there?” Dimitryi’s voice held a mixture of surprise and anger.

“Yes, sir.”

“What happened to her? Was she arrested as well?”

“No,” Reggie replied. “Tate let her go.”

“Interesting,” Dimitryi commented. Reggie could almost see the wheels turning in his head.

“We have to do something about her, Dimitryi. It’s obvious that she hasn’t let the story go, even after we took out Greenley. She’s still nosing around, and she’s getting way too close. Considering how disloyal Viktor has become of late, we have no idea what type of information he may have already passed on to her. The sooner we get rid of her, the better. I would be more than happy to personally take care of her myself.”

“I’m sure you would.” Dimitryi sounded amused. “And you’ll get your chance. But not yet.”

Reggie frowned. “I don’t —”

“Think, Reggie,” Dimitryi interrupted. “This reporter is our link to eliminating Tate, which makes her worth much more to us alive than dead.” “True,” Reggie finally conceded, grudgingly acknowledging the wisdom of Dimitryi’s words.

“She is beautiful, yes?” Dimitryi asked suddenly.

Reggie hesitated. “Yes…extremely.”

“Then she is of even greater value to us.” A satisfied smile lit Dimitryi’s face. “Once she’s served her purpose, we’ll make her disappear just like we do with any of our other merchandise. And if she’s as beautiful as you say, I’m sure we won’t have a problem finding an overseas broker willing to pay any price we name to take her off our hands and get her out of our way — permanently.”

“You are right, as always, Dimitryi.” Reggie said respectfully, rising from the chair and walking toward the door. “I will see to all of the arrangements that we discussed.”

“And don’t worry, Reggie. I’ll let you play with her first, before I get rid of her.”

Dimitryi’s amused laughter followed Reggie out of the room.

“So, you’re telling me that Viktor came to you and said he wants to turn on Dimitryi?”

Tony could hear the skepticism in his voice.

He stared across the room to where Bianca sat on her living room couch. Since the raid earlier that day, his thoughts remained so unfocused, his emotions so unstable, he barely managed to concentrate long enough to wrap up the loose ends on the raid before he’d come straight to her apartment. He was determined to find out how in the hell she’d managed to get involved with someone like Viktor.

“Yes,” Bianca said. “He approached me right after Richard was killed.”

“It’s not that I doubt you, Bianca, but are you sure you can actually trust him? I’ve known Viktor Sikolov for a long time, and the man is far from a Boy Scout. He’s been loyal to Dimitryi for years, and I find it hard to believe that he’s had a sudden attack of conscience.” Tony shook his head. “I mean, why does Viktor want out now? It would have to be something pretty damn serious to make him risk Dimitryi’s wrath just so he could get out of his organization.” Although for the life of him, he couldn’t imagine what that might be.

Bianca’s answer shocked him. “Love,” she said simply.

Tony frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, Viktor’s in love with a girl at one of the brothels. Several months ago, he made the mistake of telling Dimitryi how he felt about her. Viktor asked Dimitryi to release her, but Dimitryi said no. Then, he offered to buy her freedom, and Dimitryi still refused. Viktor was ordered to stay away from her, and when he disobeyed, Dimitryi punished him by forcing him to watch the girl being raped repeatedly by multiple men.” Bianca shuddered.

Revulsion clouded her face and disgust filled her voice.

“Now, all Viktor wants is out. And he’s willing to tell everything he knows about Dimitryi’s operation in exchange for protection for him and the girl.” Tony stared at Bianca intently. He could see that she truly believed Viktor’s story. If she was correct, it could be the break they’d been trying to get in their case against Dimitryi for years.

He sighed. “Okay, let’s assume for a moment that he’s telling the truth. Why didn’t he just come to the police with this, instead of you?” Bianca looked at him like that was the dumbest fucking question in the world.

“He’s a criminal, Tony. The information he has doesn’t just incriminate Dimitryi, it implicates him as well, and he’s scared he’ll end up rotting in a jail cell next to Dimitryi. Plus, Dimitryi has eyes and ears everywhere, and Viktor was afraid of confiding in the wrong person and ending up dead. Viktor knew about my connection to Clarke, Jack, and you, so he came to me for help.”

“And just when was he planning to do all of this?”

“He’s been ready to turn himself in for the past few weeks, but you’d been on an assignment,” Bianca explained. “By the time you returned, it was time for Clarke and Jack’s wedding. I met with him today to tell him that you were back. I was going to call you to arrange a meeting with him when the raid happened.”

“Listen, Bianca. I’m not going to lecture you about the risk you took when you met with a man like Viktor on your own. I want you to know that I really do appreciate what you tried to do here.”

Bianca nodded and gave him a small smile. “No problem.”

“I’m going to head down to the station and try to talk to him. I’ll see what type of deal we can work out.” He started toward the door. “By the way” — he stopped suddenly — “it looks like you were right about Reggie’s connection to Dimitryi.”

“Oh, really?” He saw the interest spark in her eyes. “How do you know?”

“I received a report from the FBI that confirmed it a couple of days ago.”

“Good.” Her smile widened slightly. “Now all you have to do is catch them.”

“We will, Bianca.” Tony’s voice grew serious. “I swear.”

They stared at each other for several moments. Neither spoke or moved. Tony finally tore his gaze away from hers and looked at his watch. “I’d better leave.”

“Okay.” Bianca nodded and started toward the door. Tony followed behind her. He couldn’t help but admire the way her short silk robe clung to her body, and how it emphasized the sexy sway of her hips, the sweet curve of her ass. All he could think about was getting lost in the pleasure only she could provide.

Just as Bianca reached for the door, Tony turned his fantasy into reality. He pulled her into his arms and pressed her against the closed door. The feel of her body next to his made him instantly hard, instantly needy. His hands slid under her robe, and he groaned when he found bare skin. He’d missed her so much, had longed to touch her like this again for so long. Bianca moaned, and the sound vibrated down his spine.

“We shouldn’t do this, Tony.” The words sounded torn from her, filled with equal amounts of need and anguish. “It’s only going to make things worse.”

“I know. I can’t help it. I just…” Tony began pulling at her robe, the need to see her, to be in her almost overwhelming. He nipped at her exposed skin, wanting to mark her, to claim her, make sure that she knew she belonged to him. He pushed her robe past her shoulders, and it floated to the floor. His hands glided across her body, caressing and worshipping her soft, supple skin.

Bianca’s hands started exploring, making him shudder. Her fingers were struggling with the fastenings on his jeans, and with a frustrated moan, she finally gave up, forcing her hand down the front instead, working past his shorts until he felt her soft hands wrapping around his hard cock.

Her touch set Tony on fire, and he reached between them to quickly open his jeans, pushing them down just enough to release his aching erection.

Using both hands, Tony reached between her legs, gripped her thighs, and lifted her off the floor. Bianca locked her legs around his waist; her warm, wet pussy cradled his dick.

He held her tightly as he leaned down, and his mouth claimed hers in a hard, almost bruising, kiss.

Bianca pulled back after a moment, panting hard. “Why can’t I stop thinking about you? Why can’t I just let you go?” Confusion lined her face. “Why do I have to want you so much, need you so much…” She breathed against his lips.

Her words trailed off, but Tony could see all the things she’d left unsaid shining brightly in her eyes.

“You know why, baby.” Tony’s voice softened. “And I do, too.”

His mouth closed on Bianca’s again; his tongue pushed inside as his cock pressed into her heat. She moaned loudly as she began helping, her muscles working, clenching him tightly as she rode him.

He pushed Bianca up against the door and thrust deep over and over. “Look at me.”

Bianca’s eyes slowly opened, and her passion-filled gaze found his.

“You belong to me,” Tony ground out. His hands spread her thighs farther apart as he pumped in and out of her slick, tight passage. “Say it.”

“Yesyesyes…yours…please…” Bianca was crying out almost incoherently, riding him desperately.

It was over quickly, ending as explosively as it began. A few strokes later, Bianca pulsated around him, her juices flowing out of her as that sweet pussy massaged his cock.