Turbulent Sea (32 page)

Brian returned within a few minutes, his steps heavy, his shoulders slumped. He looked as if the weight of the world was on him. Joley glanced around her to see if anyone else was watching. Tish knew. Joley could see it in her eyes when she looked at Brian as he walked back toward them. The others didn't notice, but Tish knew heartbreak, and Joley was becoming all too familiar with it, and there was no missing the pain in Brian's expression. For once, Joley didn't care about feeling another person's pain or emotion, she only cared about shielding her friend. As Brian approached, his steps heavy, she flung her arm around him and walked with him up the stairs to the plane.

"You okay?"

He shook his head. "When I'm with him, I find it so hard to believe that he's what you say he is. Even with the evidence I've seen with my own eyes, all the little things that add up, I don't want to believe it, Joley." He pressed his fingertips to his eyes hard.

"I'm sorry, Brian."

"He said he didn't mean the things he said. He swore he'd never consider hurting you or anyone else I cared about. He was hurt and angry that I didn't give him a chance to tell his side of things. I should have done that. I should have listened to him."

Joley sank into the seat beside him, noting that Logan, who was holding Lissa, and Tish had their heads close together while Rick strapped an infant seat to the chair for Lissa. Leo took a seat with Denny across from him. She knew, without looking, exactly where Ilya was at the back of the plane. She could feel his gaze on her. She was far too aware of him, every detail, so much so that sometimes she swore she knew when he took a breath. She reached over to Brian and rubbed his sleeve in an attempt to comfort him—or herself.

"If he is the head of one of the branches of mafia, or whatever they call it in Russia, he's dangerous. Being with him isn't worth dying over." She leaned her head back against the seat. "You know my family is different. We have other senses, gifts, magic if you will. We don't think of it that way, but we know things about people when we touch them. It's why I'm careful not to touch skin. I can feel emotions, and sometimes see things others would rather keep private." She smiled at him. "You hid yourself very well from me. I see auras and melodies, and yours has always been rather sad, as if you had suffered a great sorrow."

He shrugged his shoulders. "It's hard to be so alone all the time. I love music, Joley, and I love what we do. I looked after everyone and tried to keep us all together, which wasn't always easy, especially after Tish left Logan, but I was still alone. How can you be anything else when no one knows who you really are?"

Joley sighed. "Strangely, my friend, I felt exactly the same way."

"Joley, how could you? You're so beautiful and talented and easy to love. Hell, if I were straight, I'd be all over you."

She laughed. "There's always an excuse with you. But, seriously, I'm not all that great. I have secrets just like everyone else. We'll have to form the club for worst taste in men."

Brian ducked his head. "He could be good, Joley. He swears he had nothing to do with the incident tonight."

"You know better, Brian. Deep down, you know, that's why it hurts so much." She could feel Ilya's gaze on her and knew he was wondering what they were talking about. Sometimes she felt her palm itching, and a slight flutter of warmth in her mind, but she refused to acknowledge him. She might succumb if he touched her, but in the meantime, she was building defenses as fast as she could.

Chapter 13

ILYA stood in the shadows as he normally did. The park had little lighting, and with the clouds overhead obscuring the moon, and the thick stand of trees, he doubted anyone could see him, but he wasn't taking chances with this meeting. He'd been followed. He'd lost his pursuers the moment he entered the park, but they'd find him again soon, so he had to hurry.

He watched through night glasses as Jonas Harrington came into view. Jonas wasn't alone, and Ilya recognized Aleksandr Volstov just from the way the man moved. They halted at the appointed meeting place, and with one last look around, he went to join them.

"What part of 'come alone' didn't you understand?" he asked Jonas.

Joley's brother-in-law looked him up and down, his expression a mixture of wariness and respect. Jonas was a man who couldn't be bought, had intense loyalties and would charge hell with a bucket of water if need be. Ilya liked and respected him almost as much as he did Aleksandr. He knew Volstov was engaged to another of Joley's sisters. The man had been a policeman in Russia and then later worked for Interpol.

"What the hell are you doing with Joley?" Jonas demanded.

"This meeting is about our mutual problem with Nikitin, not about Joley. That subject is off-limits," Ilya decreed.

Joley had been safely locked up in a hotel room for the last three days, away from him, and he hadn't realized until that moment how much it disturbed him that she wouldn't see him. She hadn't responded the times he'd whisper to her, shamelessly using his voice through their telepathic link, although he'd known she was awake and could hear him.

"My ass, it's off limits," Jonas snarled. "You're not going to hurt Joley without getting the pounding of your life. I could care less if you scare everyone on three continents, you don't scare me. Stay the hell away from my sister."

Aleksandr put a restraining hand on Jonas's arm, giving Ilya a clue as to why he was there. Jonas was a hothead when it came to the Drake sisters. He'd been protecting them all of his life.

Ilya found Joley both maddening and endearing in her fight to stay away from him. He knew she thought she was running because of his reputation. His refusal to disclose his past had been another excuse. She feared turning her life, her body, her heart over to him. He knew what her needs were, and that embarrassed her, terrified her, because he would make certain they were met and she was fiercely independent. She didn't want to need him. She didn't even want to
want
him. He hoped she craved him, thought of him night and day the way he did her, because right now, that was all he had to entice her with—sex—and his voice.

Ilya shrugged. "I'm going to marry Joley, so you'd better get used to the idea of having me around."

"She know that?" Jonas asked, somewhat mollified.

"Not yet. She has a few issues with me."

"Don't you hurt her."

Ilya's eyebrow shot up, and for a moment his tough features were stamped with sheer arrogance. "I have no intentions of hurting Joley. And we're done with the subject."

More of the tension drained out of Jonas. "I'm not going to ask who you work for, Ilya, but you're in a bad position. Aleksandr's been hearing rumors from a few friends at Interpol that Nikitin is one of the main traffickers of women and children into Brussels and Indochina. If that's true, and his reputation is growing throughout Europe, then you're smack in the middle of a time bomb. Nikitin is spending so much time in the States that he's in danger of losing his stronghold. They'll be a war soon, and with every side thinking you're the enemy, you're going to be the number one target."

Aleksandr agreed. "Nikitin is spending way too much time here; he's been doing business, and he's made a few enemies, cutting into territories. He's got trouble on two fronts."

Ilya nodded. "I was afraid of that. I need information fast. I can't go through my usual channels so I'm asking for help."

Aleksandr snorted in derision at the tone of his old friend. "That must be hard."

Ilya sent him a look. "Nikitin is gay. He doesn't like women or little children, never has, they represent money and power to him, nothing else. He isn't sampling his products, he just sends them down the line fast."

"Are you sure?" Jonas asked. "Because Joley…"

"Not Joley. It's never been Joley. She's his cover. We've known that for some time. He recruited at least one of her crew members to help him move young girls, but his main interest is one of the band members—he's in love. I know you have someone undercover, working the other end to find the routes and the girls. I need to know if she's safe and out of the way because this thing is going to blow up in our faces."

Jonas and Aleksandr exchanged a long look. "Who are you talking about? Interpol has someone inside?"

Swift impatience crossed Ilya's face. "I'm coming clean with you at the risk of my life, not only my life, but blowing years of undercover work, not to mention taking down a major human trafficking ring. I'm asking you to do the same. If she was working for Interpol, I wouldn't need you reaching out, now would I? Where is she? Is she out yet?"

"She?" Jonas was beginning to have an idea of just who Ilya was referring to. "Tell me Elle Drake is not in any way involved in this mess. Do you think Elle is working undercover trying to bring down this network? What have you heard?"

"You tell me. Nikitin is unstable at best, and now he's crazy. Joley tipped her band friend off, and the idiot did the noble thing and broke up with Nikitin. Nikitin knows the heat's come down on his human trafficking routes. On top of that, Joley spotted some of the young girls with a couple of her crew members. Nikitin had one of the roadies killed, and did it nice and ugly to scare the other one, but if he loses his lover, his route and everything else he considers his because of Joley, he'll try to wipe out her and everyone close to her. If he gets an inkling Elle's anywhere near him, she'll be the first to go, and he'll make certain she suffers a long time before she's killed. I need to get her out if she isn't already gone."

"Honestly, Prakenskii, I have no idea where Elle is or who she's working for." Jonas swore in frustration. "Do you have enough evidence on Nikitin to take him down?"

"I can take down his routes, and most of his people, but he's never tied directly to anything and he always,
always
, has an alibi. He's got another layer above the one I've compromised, and I need them to make sure the trafficking is closed off for good here. Otherwise, I cut off one head and another grows back. It would take years to get that one and I don't have that much time."

"Jackson can get word to her. They've always been able to connect," Jonas said. "I honestly don't know what Elle's doing. I was fairly certain it involved undercover work, because Jackson's been restless and edgy lately and Elle's disappeared again."

"See if he can get word to her to get out for a while. Any excuse. I don't care how close she thinks she is to shutting things down, she has to get clear. I can't control or guess what Nikitin will do, but he has a tendency to resolve issues with violence."

"Joley has to come home where we can protect her," Jonas said.

"Joley can't go home without finishing her tour. As long as Nikitin is following the band, he'll think he has a chance to put things back together with his lover. The moment she pulls out, he's going to know he's blown and it won't matter anymore. I'm not throwing away years of work, Harrington. I can protect Joley from Nikitin. If I have to, I'll kill him, but I've got to get to his first line of people or all this has been for nothing."

Jonas exchanged another long look with Aleksandr. "Joley only has two performances here in southern California and two in northern California before she's finished. Time's running out, Prakenskii."