The Dark Duet (16 page)

The thud in my chest increases the slightest bit, yet I can’t let that deter me. I have come too far. I’m too close to my goal, and now that I’ve sacrificed the woman I’ve come to care about in a way I didn’t think would ever be possible for me, I do not intend to hold back on my plan.

Crow slips in behind me, his movements graceful and quiet, the signs of a natural born killer trained in the art of stealth. We both hunt through Burkenstein’s office for the incriminating evidence, getting slightly frustrated when neither of us finds anything.

“I’m not feeling this, Belikov,” Crow says as he checks his watch. We gave ourselves fifteen minutes, no more. Ten of those have passed, and I’ve yet to discover this computer Valentino mentioned while begging for his life. I must find a connection to Vladimir before I put him out of everyone’s misery.

“Why would a genius like Burkenstein leave a window wide open for any gutter scum to come through?” Crow asks. He has a point. The lab is too empty and doesn’t feel right.

“I don’t know. Instead of griping about the obvious, why not set about making yourself useful,” I snap. My gaze lands on a group of tiles along the floor beside the cabinets, a small group that sits a bit higher than the rest. A line of fake turf covers it, reminding me of the miniature golf course Rudolph had built inside his laboratory back in Switzerland. I narrow my eyes and walk along the left side of the carpet.

“What’s wrong? You find something?” Crow asks, coming to stand by my side.

“Not sure,” I answer, my gaze focused on the carpet. Running my fingers along the edge of the side closest to where we’re standing, I stop at the section that’s slightly raised. Removing the knife I keep hidden inside the lining of my boot, I plunge the blade into the carpet and cut around the outline of the raised tiles, stripping away bits and pieces of turf, and then lifting the tiles underneath. With Crow’s help, I manage to uncover the one thing that has eluded me this entire time I’ve been working with Rudolph, the computer he uses to communicate with Vladimir, the same one that undoubtedly holds the addresses of all his conquests.

“I thought it was a lie,” I say without taking my eyes off the laptop that’s attached to the floor in some way. Right away, I feel the surge of blood rush through me, an exciting kind of high that makes me want to rush into Rudolph’s laboratory and squeeze every bit of life from him, the same way he has done to so many others who came before Alese and me.

“Fuck me. The bastard wasn’t lying,” Crow responds.

“So, ye of little faith,” I begin. “We need to copy the contents onto this.” I hold up the flash drive.

“It wasn’t a lack of faith, my friend. Guess I’ve just been in this business for too damn long. Men like Valentino don’t turn against their bosses. Especially ones like the Widow.”

“Can we hack into the database?” I ask, eager to move on.

“Why don’t we just snatch it out of here,” Crow replies, shrugging.

“Do you honestly believe Rudolph would allow such a thing to happen so easily?” I’m getting irritated with Crow’s naiveté. The tiny red light on my watch starts blinking; I set it to go off whenever I get a message on my cell phone. The name Alese fills the screen. I hit the button on the side to read the message.

Alese: Nikolai, I need you. We need each other.

Alese: I can accept who you are. I know it.

Me: Where are you?

Alese: The theatre

Me: On the way

“This is some good shit,” Crow says as he glances at his tablet, the one he has hooked up to reveal the contents of the flash drive as they upload. “Might as well say we got the personal address of every single group leader in Vladimir’s ring. Take a look at this. We’re getting addresses, aliases, names of negotiators. Fuck yeah!” He turns his dark eyes toward me and does a double take after glancing at my face.

“I have to go,” I state, standing and resetting my message

“What the fuck, man? You can’t just leave in the middle of a job.”

“The transmission is almost complete, is it not?” I ask impatiently.

“Well, yeah, but—”

“Then finish it and meet me back at the penthouse in an hour,” I order and turn toward the window, my mind whirling.

“What the hell is wrong with you, Belikov?”

Ignoring Crow’s protests, I crawl out of the window and head down the ladder, my mind allowing itself to experience the one word that has teased me and then knocked me flat on my ass too many times in this life ... hope.

What the hell is wrong with you, Kolya?
Lately, I have been searching for the answer to that question myself.

Will Alese really accept me? Do I even want her to? Perhaps, the more important question is, can I accept her and what will doing so mean to me? Am I ready to release the darkness inside my heart in order to let the sunshine in?

I start walking toward my car, which is hidden in an alley four blocks away from Burkenstein’s lab, ignoring the nagging ache inside of my chest that tells me the events of this night will alter the course of everything from this point forward.

Chapter 18

~Alese~

I sit in the auditorium, waiting for Nikolai to arrive, holding my breath for what seems like an hour or more since he sent that last text. Smothering thoughts of my grandparents’ betrayal, since obviously they must know about Burkenstein’s involvement in my life if they were the ones who recommended him to me, I cross my arms and try to act like I’m more patient than I’m truly feeling right now.

The vision I experienced was a breakthrough in so many ways, and yet, I shudder to consider the possibility that the man I have given my body and soul to might’ve been involved as well. He agreed to meet me. At least I can look forward to getting a few of the answers I need once Nikolai arrives. One thing’s for certain: I cannot allow myself to throw all caution to the wind until I find out what part Nikolai plays in this vision that haunts my dreams.

A door in the hallway slams shut and my traitorous heart starts beating faster. So much for being strong, I guess. “Stay calm. Don’t scare him off again by acting like a psycho needy girl,” I mutter under my breath. Yeah right. Forget all of that Miss Calm and Frigid crap. He’s finally here and I couldn’t be happier!

I run toward the exit, rush out of the auditorium, and collide with a wall or something. I stumble backwards, gain my footing, and glance up at the thing I just slammed into.

“Rudolph,” I say, glancing at the three men who stand on either side of him. All four of them are dressed in dark outfits, the same ones I recall seeing in my dream. “What are you doing here?”

“Why, I’m here to see you, of course,” Burkenstein answers, smiling in a way that doesn’t reach his eyes.

“Me? For what reason?” I ask, attempting to smile. Chills run up and down my spine.

“Oh, Alese. Why could you not have simply left well enough alone?” he asks, and I don’t fail to catch the implication behind his words. If I play stupid, then he won’t know I’m on to him. “Now we have to resort to drastic measures.”

“Nikolai’s on his way here,” I answer, taking a step backward for each one he takes toward me.

“I’m well aware of your ... lover’s whereabouts. As I have been aware of yours for the past few years of your life. I do believe you’re smart enough to understand why I’m here,” he responds, a crooked grin on his lips and a wicked gleam in his eyes, the same kind of expression he wore the day he ripped me out of the cottage in the dream-vision that keeps haunting me.

I close my eyes a short moment and inhale deeply. “You won’t get away with whatever it is you’re planning to do.”

He stops walking and shrugs. “I intend to do you no harm, Alestasia,” he says, carefully pronouncing the syllables of my name. “You wanted answers, I do believe. Wanted to feel whole again. I’m simply here to serve you.”

I turn and run toward the auditorium, my heart pumping and my head thrumming.
Why does hearing his voice affect me this way?
I don’t get far. His men move fast, seizing my arms and wrestling me to the ground; once again, I’m reminded of the time when this exact same type of scene played out in my dream-vision.

Before I get the chance to fight back, or even scream, a sharp pain surges through the left side of my neck, the part closest to my jugular vein. Instantly, the world spins to fiery life as every move I make, every single breath I take, singes my throat. I roll over onto my back and stare at the ceiling, my body paralyzed and my heart slowing down. After finishing whatever thing they’ve done to me, the three men step back away from my body.

“Alestasia, my sweet girl. You’ll now remember all that has been taken away from you,” Burkenstein assures me, stroking my hair just before he pulls something out of a bag one of his henchmen is carrying. I can’t move, and a sudden stab of pain shoots through the front of my skull. Closing my eyes, I give in to the familiar sensation of numbness that accompanies the vision-dreams as a song from the music box Burkenstein just finished winding up begins to play. It’s the Romeo and Juliette theme song, and I’m not sure how I know this, but the box once belonged to my mother.

I’m ripped back to the day my parents’ SUV rolled down the hill, splashing into the river after its long descent. The sinking car has shaken me up, my legs ache, and the forest animals growling and yelping in the distance terrify me.

“Mommy! Daddy! Please come help me,” I plead, my only answer being the sound of water bristling under the touch of a breeze.

A thousand images rush through my head at once it seems, leaving no part of my life hidden inside the shadows of a forgotten past. Everything comes rushing back: Burkenstein’s presence the day he took me from my home, my memory of the man I shared a life with before I came to Rudolph Burkenstein for treatment. The final moment we shared in bed together before our lives were ripped apart.

“I love you, Alestasia Broussard Jeffers,” he says as we lay in bed together before we head downstairs to make breakfast, a stolen moment of intimacy between a man and his wife. “You bring out the best in me.”

Oh my God. I remember now.

“I love you, my gorgeous husband,” I answer, leaning over to kiss the right side of his neck, making sure I caress him with my warm breath. That small gesture always turns him on, drives him wild with lust.

“Keep doing things like that and neither of us will make it out of this bed,” he warns, his face darkening with passion. “What will the agency say if two of its best agents miss work?”

“They’re all jealous,” I reply, nibbling along the skin leading from his jawline to his ear to the back of his neck, savoring the scent of him mixed with a hint of the soap we used to shower together. A moan escapes his lips and my body shudders in response. The two of us are connected in that way, a sacred union of a man and his wife.

Why? Why is this being shown to me now? The pain of discovering what I’ve lost equals the agony of who this is going to affect, the one who loves me now, my savior and knight, my cleansing rain.

White flash forward. Once again I’m fighting the agents inside of our living room. My husband, Aaron, has been overpowered and someone has injected something into my body. A fiery sting surges through my veins.

“Get her out of here. She’s too important to waste,” a gruff, yet familiar voice says. Burkenstein. I’m taken outside, the medicine in my veins pushes me in and out of consciousness.

“Let me go, damn you,” I demand, but talking cuts up the inside of my throat, or at least that’s what it feels like; tiny knives slicing a path through my body that started in my toes, leaving a path of numbness behind as it does so.

“Alestasia!” Aaron’s tortured voice calls out to me from inside of our tiny cottage, but I’ve lost all feeling in my arms and legs as Burkenstein’s men carry me to a black van parked well beyond the edge of our lawn, and proceed to load my dead weight onto a stretcher. I begin to cry. Deep down I know this will be the last time I see my husband, hear his voice, or kiss those sweet lips of his. Oh, how I wish I could’ve been wrong.

An explosion thunders through the air. Our dream house shatters into a thousand pieces and the glow from the flames hurts my eyes. “Aaron!” I scream inside my mind because every single muscle in my body has now shut down and gone numb.

I can’t scream.

I can’t cry.

However, I do want to die, but I can’t even do that. This Burkenstein owns me now. Finally the medicine steals the view of the flames and engulfs me in darkness instead.

White flash forward. I’m lying on a cot inside a room that reeks of medicine and cleaning solution, the stale kind a hospital uses. Tubes are attached to specific points on my head, my arms, my abdominal area, and my legs. I’m completely naked save for a thin sheet barely covering my body. How did I get here? Who are these people? A mind-splitting headache becomes my only answer.

“Dr. Burkenstein, she’s awake,” one of the nurses tending to me says.

Burkenstein’s face appears above me. He’s smiling, and I hate him for doing that right now, although I’m not entirely certain of the reason why.

“Hello, my little ghost. How are you feeling?”

Like shit. I want to punch him just for asking. I no longer have any memory of the events that transpired before I arrived at that house of hell. He has done something to steal my memories.

“I’m going to take care of you now, Alese,” he says, running his slimy fingers down the side of my face and then skimming across the outside of the sheet, the part covering each of my breasts. “Increase the serum by 2dbs.”

White flash forward. “She’ll make a fine assassin. A deadly combination of both beauty and stealth,” Burkenstein says to someone.

“Exactly how do you plan to pull this off? She’s a fucking CIA agent, Rudolph. You can’t just bring her back from the dead without people noticing,” the man’s familiar voice answers. Oh my God. No more of this torture. Please, let me die now. However, I’ve never run away from anything, and I sure as hell must face this one last thing.