Antonio
I text one of my contacts and get the address of the nearest doctor who is willing to help us.
We don’t drive for more than an hour before taking a side road covered in gravel. The ride is bumpy and jars the vehicle around. Ardian must be hiding his pain or unconscious, because I don’t hear a peep from him in the front seat.
I direct Aleksandra to turn into an unmarked driveway a few minutes later.
Aleksandra is silent, and her knuckles are white on the steering wheel. Every so often, she glances at Ardian in the front seat.
His breathing is weak, labored, and he’s lost quite a bit of blood. I hate to admit Aleksandra was right. Sending him to the hospital would have been a better choice, but that’s not a viable option.
Doctors are trained to bring in the police, and they ask questions. At least medical professionals living off-grid keep to themselves, and the man we’re heading to see, he’s lost his medical license for killing a patient. His name was all over the news, and while I’d rather not bring Ardian to him, what other options are there?
We can’t just wander into a local clinic without drawing too much attention to ourselves.
When we pull up at a remote cabin in the woods, my stomach flops.
“Stay in the car,” I order Aleksandra. Hopefully, she doesn’t leave Ardian and my ass behind.
The moment she stops, the engine is idle, and I jump out of the backseat, hurrying to the front door.
All I can hope is this isn’t an ambush and the only man who betrayed me tonight is dead.
I pound aggressively on the front door.
There’s a commotion behind the door, and the interior light flickers on behind the covered windows inside the cabin.
A gentleman opens the door. He’s in sweatpants and a flannel shirt. He appears more awake than I would have thought, given the amount of time it took for him to answer the door. But he’s not brandishing a weapon or threatening me for trespassing.
“Gian sent me,” I say to explain my appearance at his front door.
“Where’s the patient?” he asks, glancing past me at the running vehicle in the driveway.
Did Gian warn him that we were coming and for him to be ready?
“In the front seat,” I say, and he follows me outside in his slippers to escort Ardian into the cabin.
The air is chilly, and our breath is visible from the cold.
There are lights around the front of his property, offering a slight glow along the driveway in addition to the vehicle’s headlights that are illuminated.
Aleksandra doesn’t say a word.
Sophia and Liam have fallen asleep in the back seat.
The doctor glances from Aleksandra to the sleeping twins before helping me carry Ardian inside. “Put him on the table,” he says. He doesn’t mention the kids or ask about Aleksandra.
How much did Gian tell him?
There’s a kitchen table that’s been cleared and on a nearby counter, medical supplies. He was waiting for our arrival.
I help Ardian onto the table, laying him down. Blood pools at his injuries, spilling past his torn and tattered clothing.
The doctor examines his wounds, ripping Ardian’s pants further to expose the injury. Shrapnel protrudes from his flesh. I’m not the least bit squeamish, but watching the physician remove the metal shards isn’t a favorite pastime.
I head toward the window, glancing out at the vehicle.
“How long will this take, Doc?” I ask, glancing over my shoulder as he tends to Ardian’s injuries. The doctor already has an I.V. hooked onto Ardian’s hand and is sterilizing the tools to remove the pieces of shrapnel.
“Could be an hour,” he says. “Depends on how bad the damage is after I remove the metal lodged in his leg. Right now, it’s keeping him from bleeding to death.”
I exhale a sharp sigh and pace the length of the cabin from the living room to the kitchen. The space is small, quaint.
“Do you have somewhere else to be?” the doctor asks.
I can’t help but feel antsy, like a sitting duck waiting for the next target to strike. Mario wasn’t working alone. That was made clear by Yuri’s presence.
And if Yuri is working with someone other than Mikhail, who is it?
The squeal of tires kicking up gravel forces me to rush to the door, yanking it open, but it’s too late.
Aleksandra is gone.
“Fuck!” I curse, standing with the cold wind in my face and the heat of the cabin at my back.
I dig out my phone from my pocket and step outside, closing the door behind myself to call Gian. I need a car and an additional set of eyes on Aleksandra.
“What’s up, boss?” Gian answers. “You make it to Doc’s house?”
“Yes, Ardian is with the physician right now. I need you to get a car for me at this location. Aleksandra left with the kids.” I can track her with my phone, at least.
“Have you thought that maybe she doesn’t want to be found, sir?” Gian says.
“It doesn’t matter what she wants. Her life is in danger, and I don’t want my children to end up in the wrong hands.”
I’m finding it difficult to trust anyone right now, after Mario’s betrayal, but all along, I worried about his allegiance to me after Roberto’s death. He’d been playing with me, making me believe that I could trust him.
Are there any other mafia members looking to stab me in the back when I least expect it?
“Get me a vehicle,” I say, ignoring his remark. I end the call and pull up the tracking software to locate Aleksandra and the twins.
They haven’t gotten far, and I’m not sure how they plan on getting anywhere without a map or GPS to guide them.
Does Aleksandra even have any money to stop for fuel? What about a credit card for a hotel? Or will she return to Mikhail’s after all that’s transpired now that she knows he’s free?
She’d do anything for Sophia and Liam, but returning to Mikhail’s, that’s the worst choice she could make.
The tracker blinks with their movement down the main thoroughfare we came upon. The vehicle stops, or the tracker has difficulties finding the signal as it flashes in the same spot for several seconds. It doesn’t appear to be moving.
How long until Gian can secure a vehicle to my current location? He’ll probably reach out to a local used dealership and have a car driven down to me. But that takes time, and I’m not the most patient man.
I head back inside the cabin.
The doctor is working tirelessly to save Ardian’s life.
“I need to borrow your vehicle,” I say to the physician.
He grunts and mutters something unintelligible under his breath.
“I’ll buy you a new car and pay you double your fee for looking after my soldier,” I say. It’s not like I can’t afford it. And while Ardian is more than just a soldier, I don’t want to risk his life by letting the doctor that I barely know in on his position and worth to me.
He glares at me and then nods toward the front door. “The keys are hanging on the wall.”
“Thanks,” I say. It’s not like he doesn’t have Ardian as collateral as well.
I despise leaving my man behind, but he’s in no condition to travel and needs to be stabilized before I take him home.
Threats have a time and a place; now isn’t it.
I need to go after Aleksandra, Sophia, and Liam before she does something stupid.
* * *
In a matter of minutes, I’m following the tracking device on my phone, pointing me north on a side road.
Two sets of railroad tracks cross the main thoroughfare. And just before I approach, the red lights flicker on. I hit the gas, but there’s no way I will make it before the train.
I slam hard on the brakes as I near the tracks, jolting the vehicle around a bit.
“Damnit!” I slam my fist against the steering wheel.
I’m lucky enough to get stopped not just by one train but two. The first whizzes by at lightning speed. The other on the second set of tracks crawls by at a snail’s pace.
I examine the GPS maps, but there are no other roads that don’t cross the tracks, and any other route will add at least an additional hour to the trip.
I flip from the GPS app on my phone to the tracking device with Aleksandra’s whereabouts.
There’s no sign of movement, which either means she discovered the tracking device or they’re waiting for something.
Or someone.
I’m impatient, but there isn’t much I can do but wait.
Finally, the tracks clear, and I hit the gas, hurrying as quickly as possible. But she’s already had a decent head start.
Up ahead, as I close in on the last half mile until the destination, the sun has already come up. There’s a small gas station on the right, and I recognize the car we were in earlier pulled over in the parking lot.
I hurry into the lot and shut off the engine before jumping out of the vehicle. I lock the doors and shove the keys into my pocket while heading toward the abandoned car.
It’s empty.
I rush into the gas station, pulling open the glass door—the bell on the door jingles to announce my presence.
The place is small, and unless they’re in the bathroom or intentionally hiding from me, it’s not like I’d have difficulty spotting them, especially Aleksandra.
“My wife and kids just stopped in here, couldn’t have been more than a few minutes ago,” I say to the man behind the counter.
“I didn’t see anything,” he says.
He’s lying.
He looks nervous, and his eyes are darting around, avoiding me. He glances at the trash briefly.
I stalk toward the bin and notice the stuffed animals torn to shreds. My mouth is parched at the sight of the destruction of Sophia and Liam’s bears. She knows I was tracking her, watching her movements.
The attendant on duty must know something.
“I’ll bet she spoke to you,” I say and approach the counter. I flash my weapon holstered on my hip to let him know I’m not fucking around.
His gaze lands on the phone near the counter. “Did she ask to use the phone?” I ask, grabbing the landline before he can stop me. I hit redial, already suspecting that she’s reached out to Mikhail.
“Aleksandra?” a Russian voice picks up the call. It sounds like Mikhail, but it could be any of his comrades.
I don’t have to ask to know where they’re taking her.