Page 35 of Unbridled Fire
“They’re Russian and they have a syringe, Leo!” she yelled.
Closing my eyes, I reveled in her quick thinking. She’d just given me valuable info: her attackers were most likely bratva, and they were going to inject her with something.
“I’ll find you!” I yelled, clenching my fist tight as the other held the phone.
She emitted a small groan, and then, the line went silent.
My brain kicked into overdrive, and I ran to my bedroom to grab my burner phone. Locating the number, I punched it with trembling fingers.
“You’re calling me, so it must be an emergency—”
“They took her, Michael,” I said. “The bratva took Katia.”
A brief moment of silence pulsed over the phone. “Are you sure?”
“Yes. They posed as her delivery driver and injected her with something.”
“Shit,” Michael hissed. “Joaquin and Enzo are surveilling Oskar. I’ll call them immediately.”
“I’m going to find her,” I said, putting the phone on speaker so I could start changing into street clothes. “I’ll go by her apartment and survey the scene. I might be able to get there before anyone reports it, and I can also see if her neighbors heard anything that might be helpful.”
“Good call. We don’t want one of the neighbors reporting this to the NYPD if we can avoid it.”
“Exactly,” I said. “It’s easier to keep this off the books so we’re not mired in paperwork and procedure.”
“I can meet you at her place.”
“Honestly? It’s probably best if you stay away from the scene. We’re trying to keep you both out of prison, remember?”
Michael sighed. “I can’t stand by and not take action—”
“I know, Michael, but we have to be smart. Let me survey the scene. I’ll take the burner phone with me and update you on everything. Can you have Joaquin call me? I want to ask him about Oskar’s movements over the past forty-eight hours.”
“Of course.” A tense moment of silence stretched over the phone. “Keep me updated. I’ll reach out to everyone in my syndicate to see where they might have possibly taken her, and I’ll put Alexis on it too.”
“Will do. I’m leaving my house now. I’ll reach out when I have an update.”
The phone went dark and I finished dressing. Rushing down the stairs, I jogged toward my car and hightailed it out of my quiet Long Island suburb toward Brooklyn.
Fear for Katia pulsed in my veins, but I also knew she was a smart, resilient woman who could handle those bastards.
“I’m coming, baby,” I whispered, accelerating on the highway as I drove under the star-filled sky. “Just hang on. I’m coming...”
Chapter 13
Katia
Consciousness crept upon me slowly; the darkness taking on a slow, pulsing energy as it seemed to spread through my body. I slid my tongue around my mouth, craving water. God, I was sothirsty. My eyelids weighed about a thousand pounds, but after a long, hard-fought struggle, I was able to slightly pry them open.
I couldn’t move my head yet, so my eyes darted right and then left, taking inventory of the room. The walls were painted a drab yellow but were otherwise bare. Looking down, I could see that I was seated although I could barely feel my legs.
My arms were behind me, so I concentrated and tried to pull them forward. No such luck. As I regained more feeling, I realized they were tied behind my back. Grunting, I tried to lift each leg, but those seemed to be restrained too.
I waited in the dim silence, my brain working overtime to assess the situation and figure out an escape. Eventually, a door creaked behind me and a young man with bushy eyebrows and dark eyes entered.
“Good, you’re awake,” he said, coming to stand in front of me. “We shot you full of the shit that Oskar gave us, and you slept for hours.”
Noticing his accent, I spoke in Russian. “Gde ya?”
