Retribution (29 page)

She screamed as another man
appeared beside her from out of nowhere. Turned out it was one of
Ryan’s men. The one with the icy stare.

“No one’s going to hurt
you,” he said calmly.

“How many left inside?”
Mario asked.

“None. The girl isn’t
there.”

Kat stared at him. He meant
Anna. “My sister?”

He nodded, but didn’t
speak.

“She wouldn’t be. She’d
have people do her dirty work like when she tried to murder Ryan.”
Somehow that made her angry again.

A man came around the
corner, then fell to the ground dead. He was shot just as he lifted
his gun.

The line of fire came from
the darkness. Ryan. It had to be. She remembered the elite sniper
rifle he had in the aluminum case. Well, now she knew what he used
it for.

Suddenly, there was the
deafening sound of helicopters.

Peter and his remaining men
jumped in the limo and tore out of there.

“They won’t get far,” Mario
said.

“He left me.” Not that
Katya expected her father to save her, but seeing the reality of
it, really hit home.

Nick covered his earpiece.
Then lifted his head and pointed to the field. “He’s coming
in.”

“H-he?” she
stammered.

“Ryan.”

She followed Nick’s line of
sight and suddenly saw him. Out of the blackness came a figure all
in black with a rifle slung over his shoulder. He was jogging. She
bit her lip. Although she couldn’t see it, she could feel the heat
of his anger from where she stood. “Oh oh.”

When he came up to her he
just stared down at her furiously. Then he cupped her head and
kissed her hard. She could feel the relief flow through
him.

He released her
suddenly.

She lifted her hands.
“I—”

“Save it. We’ll discuss
this later,” he cut her off just as a helicopter zoomed overhead
and landed in front of the hanger. He grabbed her upper arm and led
her toward it. “Get in.”

“What? No!”

He shook her. “Dammit Kat,
I’m not done here and you are in the line of fire. You could have
been killed for christsakes! How the hell can I do my job with you
running around like that? You were supposed to stay at the
estate!”

He was angry and shouting
at her. Well, it was probably due to the noise of the blades but he
was still enraged. “I know—I was stupid, but—”

He looked past her. “Mario,
get her the hell out of here!” He shoved her backwards toward
him.

Mario didn’t hesitate and
actually scooped her up carrying her toward the helicopter kicking
and screaming.

Just then, Nick pulled one
of the Range Rovers next to him screeching the brakes. Ryan hopped
in the passenger seat. It spun around and sped after the
Limousine.

Mario plopped her into one
of the helicopters seats and when she tried to get out he actually
had the nerve to handcuff one of her wrists to a bar on the inside
wall.

“Are you kidding
me?”

He sat beside her and
shrugged. “Hey, I have my orders. The last thing I want to do is
piss off my brother and his best friend.” He placed the headset on
her head and one on his and pointed to the ear piece. “It’s better
to speak through these.”

Well, she was done talking.
She looked out the window as the copter lifted off the ground. The
spotlight lit up the landscape below. There were a dozen men, that
seemed to come out of nowhere and scatter throughout the grounds.
“Who—”

“—
They’re mine, Miss
Nickolov.”

Kat looked across from her.
All along there had been another man sitting there. She must’ve
looked like an idiot fighting the way she was.

“It’s finally nice to meet
you. I’m Ned.” He leaned forward and held out his hand.

She absently shook it. “Who
are you?”

“I’m Ryan’s handler so to
speak.”

“What’s going to happen to
him?”

“He’ll be fine. Ryan can
handle himself.”

“What about my
father?”

“I’ve given orders for him
to be taken alive. It’s not him Ryan’s after. It’s
Demetrev.”

She turned her head to look
out the window at nothing in particular. She should have known that
Ivan would have murdered Ryan’s brother, but it was on the word of
her father.

“Miss Nickolov?”

She turned her head to meet
Ned’s eyes again.

“Your sister wasn’t
there.”

She tilted her
head.

“Do you have any idea where
she would have gone?”

Kat shook her
head.

He reached forward and
patted her leg. “Don’t you worry. We’ll find her. We always do.
Every airport, train station and bus depot is under
watch.”

She didn’t know how she
felt about that, all of this. Did she want her sister caught and
tried for her crimes? Yes, she abused her, near killed her, and
treated her with less than indifference, but was that the fault of
her father’s loveless upbringing? Well, she turned out all right,
didn’t she? And what about Ryan? Did he really want to be with her,
or did he use her to get close to her family? She didn’t know
anymore.

About forty five minutes
later the helicopter landed on the roof of a building in the city
center. She wasn’t sure where she was, but it didn’t matter
anymore. Mario uncuffed her and actually took her hand to help her
out of the copter. She accepted it because she wasn’t sure if her
legs would hold. Things started to finally hit home and she was a
nervous wreck. Ned led the way to a set of doors. There were two
heavily armed men guarding them. One of them opened the door as
they walked through. It led to a long hall, then into an
elevator.

Once inside Ned spoke
again. “Miss Nickolov, you are not under arrest, and we are not
holding you, but we ask that you stay with us until my men return
with your father.”

His voice was actually
quite soothing, and calm. She knew that’s probably a practiced
technique because these were not normal men and everything they did
had a purpose. “That doesn’t sound voluntary.”

Ned smiled. “I’m strongly
recommending it.”

“I see.” She didn’t have a
choice. She leaned back against the elevator wall and shut her
eyes. The ding of the doors made her open them again. Mario held
out his hand and she stepped forward. It was like an office
building layout. There was a long hall full of offices.

Ned led the way down the
hall to a pair of double doors. “This is my office.” He opened one
of the doors. “You are more than welcome to wait here. As soon as I
have news, I’ll come and tell you.” He stepped inside. “There’s a
mini kitchen behind that wall.” He pointed to an opening. “Help
yourself.”

She never said anything as
he left with Mario and shut the door behind him. She turned and
walked toward the windows and ran a hand through her hair. What the
heck has she gotten herself into? God, she hoped Ryan was
okay!

She would hate for the last
words they shared to be in anger. She’d never forgive herself. It
was all her fault that she was there in the middle of it all, after
he’d warned her to stay in the house.

She’d returned to her room
after the three went down the hall to her father’s office and saw
Ryan’s keys on his bedside table. She snuck out one of the servants
entrances and climbed in the jeep watching the men pack the trunk
of the limousine a short time later. When it went through the
gates, she followed them at a distance. Unfortunately she lost them
at a set of traffic lights. A black truck pulled up next to her,
the passenger got out and rushed her door. Before she knew what was
happening she was staring down a barrel of a gun.

“Move over.”

Terrified she obeyed. It
was that man! The birthmark.

The truck sped off and he
followed driving Ryan’s jeep. She scratched him and he hit
her—hard. That’s the last thing she remembered until she was woken
up with a hard slap. He twisted his hand in her hair and hauled her
out of the jeep just as the hanger doors opened. She cried out as
he dragged her toward men waiting outside the doors. Oh my God, it
was her father! He looked just as shocked as she did.

“What the fuck!” he pulled
a gun

Then an explosion. So loud
it hurt her ears.

She closed her eyes and
felt the man holding her recoil and fall backwards releasing her.
It was then she realized he was shot. Next thing she was tackled
from the side. The man came out of nowhere as bullets whizzed over
her head. She curled up into a ball and screamed.

Now, as she stood looking
out over the lights of the city through the window of Ned’s office,
she wondered about her future. She had fear over never seeing Ryan
again, whether he survived or still wanted her. Her father would
most likely be in a cell for the rest of his life, and her sister
was gone somewhere.

Funny, what hurt her gut
and heart the most, was not her family. It was not knowing exactly
what she was to Ryan. She was amazed that she could feel so
detached from her own blood. Was that cruel of her? She reached up
and wiped away the tears that started to fall.

She could start over again.
She had some strength in her. The last few weeks proved that to
her, and Ryan taught her how to tap into it. Well, if she walked
away all alone, she still had those things.

Just then the doors opened
and she spun around to see Ryan walk in. He was removing his gloves
and she saw that he still had a rifle slung over his shoulder. That
told her something. He didn’t stop to remove it. She was his first
priority. She stood there wringing her hands as he finally reached
up, and swung it off his shoulder laying it across a large
conference table. Then he turned and looked at her. His expression
still looked angry.

“Are you trying to give me
a heart attack?” he finally said. He may have been irate towards
her but he was also severely relieved.

She sobbed and rushed
toward him. He gathered her in his arms and held her
tight.

“Jesus Kat, you are
seriously trying to kill me.”

She shook her
head.

“I died when I saw you
there.” His arms tightened around her.

“I’m so sorry.” She sobbed.
“I honestly wasn’t going to follow you all the way, I just wanted a
sense of the direction, but then—“ she sobbed “—then everything
went wrong!”

“I’ve told you from the
start. You need to listen to me.”

“I know! I screwed
up.”

“Shush. I hate to see you
like this.” He tilted her head up to face him. “Are you hurt?” Her
face was wet with tears and he felt his heart constrict. Yes he was
in a rage, but he managed to calm down since then. What the hell
was she thinking? She’d scared him like nothing else in his entire
life. He knew she was traumatized yet again, and having him rant at
her for an hour would serve no purpose.

“No.”

He looked around. “Have you
been by yourself the whole time?”

She nodded.

He cursed. “Damn sometimes
we can be so unfeeling.”

“Are you angry?”

“Very.”

She swallowed.

“You can make it up to me
later. I’m just relieved you’re okay.” He smiled. “Let’s sit
down.”

“Why?”

He pulled her over to a
white leather sofa and coaxed her down beside him.

“Ryan, you are scaring me.
I know that look. Something’s wrong.”

“I just want to let you
know what happened.”

“Is everyone okay? Your
friends—?”

“They’re fine.” He reached
up and moved a stray hair off her cheek. “I’m sorry babe, but we
found your sister.”

“Why are you sorry?” An
unusual chill moved through her. Tears formed in her eyes. “Ryan?
She—she—” she choked.

“Keep it together, I have
to get this out.”

“Oh God!” She took a few
deep breaths, then nodded to let him know she was ready.

“It appears your sister
made promises to Ivan. When she didn’t fulfill those, he murdered
her.”

“I-Ivan was the traitor?
What did she promise him?”

“You, babe. She promised
him you.”

She was taken back. The
tears stopped and her eyes narrowed as she was trying to absorb
what he was saying. “She
what?
”

“Ivan was leaking
information to your sister in exchange for you. I told your father
to only tell one man where the drop was to be made tonight. That
was Ivan. He didn’t want to believe me, but went along with
it.”

“She…he…neither one of them
had that right!” She stood abruptly. “What kind of family did I
have? Twisted—sick!”

He stood up and gathered
her into his arms. “I’m sorry Kat.”

She buried her face in his
chest and wept.