The Devil Inside, page 28
But the waiting ... He’d never been good at waiting or standing still. So he concentrated once more on the beat of his heart, creating an opposing beat in his head. It helped.
Dae stood beside him, hand clenching and unclenching on the phone.
The phone buzzed.
The thumbs-up.
This was it.
He opened the door and stepped inside the mud room that led into the kitchen, Dae behind him. He crept past the array of outdoor wear hanging on pegs and peered through the window in the kitchen door.
The fake nurse was seated just beyond the door, turned away from it—not so that his back was completely to the door but enough so that he couldn’t see Phil peering through the glass from this position, but would see it if he came through the door. And from his vantage point, Jerry would be able to see right down the hall, so Stan couldn’t creep up behind him, taking him by surprise. Damn.
Craig was in front of him, a First Aid box on the kitchen table.
He was patching the bastard up? Why the hell would he do that?
Then he saw why. Jerry was holding a gun on Lexi. What was she doing here? She was only going to the stables to get the rifle. Maybe she ran up here after to get something else to help with Karl’s wound. And she must have been captured while they were planning with Stan, because if she’d been in that kitchen when Dae had looked, nothing would have kept him from running in. And thankfully he didn’t have Phil’s vantage so couldn’t see his love was in there now.
Lexi sat in a chair, her hands tied behind her, eyes narrowed as she glared at the man she’d trusted as a nurse to her sister and Mel after Gavin left.
‘Don’t fix him, Craig,’ she said. ‘Let him bleed.’ Craig glanced up at her. Shook his head, obviously warning her to stop talking, but she didn’t listen. ‘No. Scratch that. I hope you live and they catch you and you get sent to jail and become someone’s bitch.’
Jerry chuckled. ‘I always liked you, Lexi. You’ve got spirit.’
‘Screw you.’
He sighed. ‘I’m so sorry. I didn’t want this. This was not my plan at all. All I wanted was my sister back.’
Lexi leaned forward and spat at him.
Jerry jerked and then said to Craig, ‘Wipe that off, would you?’ His voice was calm, so calm. Terrifyingly calm. ‘As I said, I like you, Lexi. You’re a survivor, like me. Like my sister. But if you spit at me again or give me any trouble, I will kill Craig and make you watch. Are we clear?’
‘Yes,’ she ground out, her voice huskier than it usually was. ‘Don’t hurt Craig.’
‘I don’t want to hurt any of you. I didn’t want any of this to happen, but Anatoli has forced my hand and now I’m going to have to do what I didn’t want to do.’
‘And what is that?’
He leaned forward, expression menacing. ‘Where are the diaries? I know they were brought up here.’
He hadn’t found the diaries yet? Good. Then they had extra leverage. If he wasn’t going to help them because he was concerned about Mel and Arwen, then maybe he could be bribed.
‘Go. To. Hell,’ Lexi snarled.
‘Lexi,’ Craig said in warning, but too late. Jerry was already turning the gun towards him.
He was going to shoot Craig.
Phil grabbed the boots next to him, slammed through the door and lobbed them at Jerry, Dae behind him. It wasn’t a great throw—one hit Craig in the side of the head—but the other smacked into Jerry’s shoulder and he fell sideways a little.
‘Lexi!’ Dae yelled as he saw her.
‘Get the bastard,’ Lexi cried.
‘Now,’ Phil roared at the same time, leaping at Jerry. He took the nurse by surprise and was able to tumble him to the floor, unfortunately taking Craig with them.
Lexi screamed, ‘Get the gun!’
The three men scrambled with each other, fighting to get to the gun that had skidded across the floorboards. Jerry was closest. Phil threw himself on top of the other man. Jerry’s head smacked into the floor with a thud but he didn’t cry out, just flipped over and Phil was under him.
‘I didn’t want this,’ Jerry screamed, his hands around Phil’s neck. ‘I didn’t want this.’
‘Get your hands off him, mate.’ Stan stood behind Jerry, the barrel of his rifle pressed against the back of Jerry’s head. Jerry loosened his grip but the look in his eyes …
‘Stan, watch out!’
But Stan had already taken a step back so that when Jerry jerked around in a martial move meant to take the gun, the older man reversed his hold and smacked Jerry in the face with the butt of the rifle.
Jerry went down like a tonne of bricks.
Phil scrambled away, coughing and rubbing his throat, his head pounding anew. He grabbed hold of that rhythm as adrenaline spiked through him—he needed to keep panic away, keep his thoughts clear.
Dae was already over at Lexi’s side, pulling her up without freeing her hands, holding her close.
Stan tugged some twine out of his jeans pocket with one hand, rifle pointed squarely at Jerry who was still sprawled on the floor. Phil looked around for Craig—he’d grabbed the handgun, stuffed it in the back of his jeans and was making his way over to Dae and Lexi. ‘Here, let me get rid of your bindings.’
‘Did you kill him?’ Lexi asked as she was released, arms going around Dae to hold him close.
‘I don’t know,’ Stan said.
‘No,’ Phil said. ‘He’s playing possum.’ Jerry’s chest rose and fell steadily and there was something about his posture that said he was still as dangerous as ever. ‘Stand up.’ His voice was hard, harsh, uncaring, a tone so unfamiliar it had the others staring at him.
Jerry didn’t move.
‘I said, get up.’ He nudged Jerry with his boot—hard. Jerry grunted and rolled over. ‘Get in that chair. Stan’s going to keep his rifle on you and I’m going to tie you up and if you so much as twitch the wrong way, he will shoot you.’
‘He won’t kill me. He doesn’t have it in him anymore.’
‘I do,’ Lexi said, grabbing the pistol out of Craig’s waistband and pointing it at Jerry. ‘To save the people I love, I’d be happy to.’
‘Lexi,’ Dae said.
But something in her face must have convinced Jerry that she was a serious threat. He slowly got to his feet, wincing, the bandages on his shoulder soaked through with blood. He sat in the chair Phil pulled out, and with two guns pointed at him, didn’t move a muscle as Phil bound his hands to the chair rungs behind him.
‘You’re making a mistake,’ Jerry said, a Russian accent now apparent in his voice. ‘If you don’t give me the diaries and let me go, my brother will hurt Milessa and Arwen.’
Phil pulled the binding tight. ‘She’s his sister.’
Jerry shrugged. ‘Stepsister. Anatoli shared a different mother from me, and our father is not Milessa’s father.’
‘Even so, with the baby—’
‘He cares nothing for the baby. I’m his half-brother. He cares for me as much as he cares for anyone and he shot me because I annoyed him. What do you think he’s going to do to Milla and the baby to get what he wants?’
‘And what does he want?’
‘The diamonds that were supposed to pay for a drug shipment.’
‘That’s what all this is about? Stolen diamonds?’ Phil looked around at the others, suddenly remembering the sparkly things that had scattered across the floor in the garage when he’d torn the blanket up to help staunch Karl’s wound.
Mel’s baby blanket.
The one her parents had hidden. That she’d had since a baby.
It had had diamonds in it all this time?
‘You’ve been chasing all these years for a bunch of diamonds?’ Craig asked.
‘Millions of dollars in diamonds. But it wasn’t just about the diamonds. We are Bratva. Face is everything. Our word is our bond. My father had given his word and our mother and her lover broke that word. My father lost his life because of it.’
‘But that’s …’ It made no sense. ‘Surely you had funds to cover what was lost?’
An expression crossed Jerry’s face, bleak fury manifest. ‘We didn’t know, but our mother’s lover—Milessa’s real father—had siphoned our funds out of our accounts and hidden them in offshore bank accounts. My father went after them, caught Milessa’s father, tortured him. But he wouldn’t talk. My mother then got caught—gave herself up as a distraction to allow her sister, Katya and her lover’s brother, Mikhail, to get away with Milessa and our property. Threw it in our father’s face before shooting herself so he couldn’t torture her.’ He shook his head. ‘They were two of my father’s best and most trusted operatives and they turned out to be traitors to the family. And spies. Not even loyal spies. They betrayed the government they’d been spying for and disappeared with Milessa, the diamonds and the bank account details, leaving our family with nothing and a debt that couldn’t be paid. Our family have been virtual slaves to those we owed money to ever since. My brother will do anything to get back what we lost all those years ago.’
‘Including your sister.’
‘He doesn’t care about Milessa. I do though. She was my little Millanushka. My mamochka’s solnyshkuh. I came here hoping to talk to her, to find a way to make her remember what Katya hid in her mind. I didn’t want this to end in violence.’
‘Mel and Arwen kidnapped at gunpoint isn’t violent?’
‘I didn’t want that.’
‘What happened to the real Jerry?’
Fake Jerry shrugged. ‘Taking his place was my only way to get close. He had to go.’
‘Why did you kill Gavin and Alan? And that other man?’
‘We needed Gavin gone so I could replace him. The other man was because Anatoli kept going rogue despite my plan. He decided to try and kidnap Milla just after she’d woken. He needed hospital ID.’
‘And Alan?’
‘In the wrong place at the wrong time. Alan found Anatoli in his office searching through the notes he’d made of his sessions with Milla. He had no choice.’
‘You’re a psychopath,’ Lexi said.
Phil held up his hand. ‘It was you. You stole the sketch books and paintings. But why?’
Jerry looked at him as if he were stupid. ‘That’s obvious, isn’t it? They are representations of the memories Katya hid from my sestra. She was a specialist in psych techniques around memory. This all might have stayed hidden except the accident brought those hidden memories to the fore. I knew those memories held the answers we were looking for.’
‘But you were here before she awoke. How could you know she would have those memories?’
‘I didn’t. We had plans to extract the information in other ways when we tracked her down. But when we arrived it was to discover Milla in a coma. We stayed to see what happened but needed to stay close so I became her nurse and Anatoli got a job as a farmhand. My patience paid off, because when she woke, it was obvious she was having memories of her life in Russia. But Anatoli was too impatient and decided to take matters into his own hands.’
‘How did you find her in the first place after all these years?’
‘A fluke really. Katya and Mikhail were very good at what they did. But they didn’t take into account how helpful media and social media can be. I couldn’t believe it when I saw Milla’s photo in a newspaper article announcing her pregnancy. I had seen photos of her before that, but never seen the resemblance between her and our mother until then. It didn’t take much to figure out she was my sister after that and track her to here.’
‘Why are you telling us about this?’ Phil asked suspiciously.
Jerry leaned forward, gaze boring into him. ‘Anatoli won’t stop until he gets back what is ours. I want you to understand that if you hold me here, if you turn me into the police, then Milla and Arwen are dead. I want you to see that the only way forward is to release me, give me the diaries and let me use them to make Anatoli give up Milessa and the baby and let us leave.’
‘But if he wanted the diaries, why take Mel?’
‘Because he thinks to tear the answers right out of her head as we initially came here to do. But if I present him with the diaries, he might stop.’
‘Might?’
‘We could do nothing.’ He sat back. ‘I’d prefer to try to save my sister and niece if I can.’
‘And you will let Mel and Arwen go?’
Jerry’s jaw tensed. ‘Babushka won’t care what happens to them as long as we get back what is ours.’
‘You can’t trust him,’ Craig and Dae said at the same time.
Jerry stared calmly at Phil. ‘Milla may not be an Orloff, but she is my blood. That is more important to me than the rest of it. If I have to promise these things to make certain of their safety, then you have my word. Give me the diaries, let me go, and I will return Milessa and the baby to you unharmed.’
Phil stared at him for long moments. ‘Done.’
Chapter 26
Melissa stared at the house they’d pulled up in front of. She knew it. It was the house Nigel had rented for the boys to stay at if they wanted a break from Storm Haven and each other. Was it still being rented on their behalf? If so, it was a perfect hide-away because of its isolation and the fact nobody, as far as she was aware, had come here since her accident. In fact, before her accident, only she and Phil had used it, sneaking off for a couple of romantic nights away in the weeks before the accident.
She jerked, even though the memory came to her gently, a subtle thing with no flourishes. She and Phil had made love here. They’d had romantic dinners here. It had been a special place for them.
Now it was turning into a nightmare. One of the many edging her mind, threatening to spill over and send her screaming into the void.
‘Get out.’ Anatoli stood at her opened door, waving the gun at her. ‘Inside.’
She managed to get out of the car even though he offered no help and both her hands were tight around Arwen, holding her close. She’d stopped crying during the drive, which was a godsend because Anatoli had a temper and she didn’t like to think how he would snap if the baby had screamed through the twenty-minute car ride along back roads. However, as she got out, Arwen started to wave her hands and make little mewling hungry noises.
‘You need to shut her up,’ Anatoli growled.
‘I need to feed her. When we get inside, please let me feed her.’
‘Will it shut her up?’
‘Yes.’
‘Then you need to be quick about it.’
Anatoli shoved her in the back when she didn’t move up the front steps fast enough, almost sending her sprawling, but she managed to catch herself in time against the verandah post and stay upright. He pulled out keys and opened up the house, gesturing for her to enter before him.
She hesitated when she was in the hall as he shut the door behind them. ‘Where to?’
‘The kitchen.’
She knew where the kitchen was, but she wasn’t about to let him know she knew the house, so shook her head.
He waved the gun again. ‘At the back.’
She went before him, taking note of the rooms on either side of the hall. They all had sturdy doors but the only one with a lock was the bathroom. If she could get away from him, she might be able to lock herself and Arwen inside it. It wouldn’t give her much time—Anatoli would break the sturdy door down eventually. But it would give her something while she waited to be found.
Phil wouldn’t stop until he found her. He was alive. She was certain of it. He’d been breathing when they left him. He had a head injury though—
No. She wouldn’t think about that. He had to survive. As did Karl. It was the only way she could make it through this, to think he was still alive, coming to find her.
Maybe one of the band would think of this vacant house when the stolen car wasn’t found anywhere near Merrijig or Mansfield. She wasn’t certain how else she could get out of this situation safely if someone didn’t come to help. She was resourceful, but most of the things she’d try if it was just her were out of the question because of the baby.
She had to make certain Arwen survived this and got back to Phil. It was the only thing that mattered.
They passed the fully furnished lounge room. ‘Can I please feed her in there?’
Anatoli’s eyes narrowed. ‘Why?’
‘The armchair. It’s easier if I can lean my arm on something. And there’s also a cushion I can put her on.’
His eyes moved over the room and back to her then back to the room again. ‘Fine. But do it quickly.’
She nodded, hoping he’d leave her to it, but no such luck. He stood in the doorway, the gun still pointed lazily at her, and watched as she settled herself in the chair with a cushion, unbuttoned her shirt, unstrapped the flap of the maternity bra that allowed easy access, and tried to ignore the thug watching her while she fed her daughter.
She couldn’t believe this was the man she’d talked to so happily about horse feed and working in the stables. There had been nothing about him that indicated he was anything other than the quiet stable hand he seemed to be. And Jerry—she couldn’t believe she’d been so fooled by him too.
She blinked back hot tears. Getting over-emotional about it wasn’t going to help. Neither would thinking about how she’d been manipulated and fooled. She needed to take this moment to think of how she could possibly get out of this.
Arwen drank deeply and greedily—she was way overdue for a feed and had been through a lot of upset. Thankfully, she didn’t choke on the milk again—she hadn’t had time to express some off and slow the flow. Maybe the stress of the situation was slowing her milk down. At least one thing went her way.
‘Hurry up.’
‘It’s not really something I can hurry.’
‘You’ve got ten more minutes and then I don’t care if she’s not finished.’
He turned side-on to lean against the doorframe and Mel almost sank into the cushions of the armchair. This situation was worse than any she remembered going through, but it was even worse with him watching her feeding her baby.
Mel stared down at her daughter. This moment should be full of peace and happiness instead of fear and regret. Even so, she was still overwhelmed by so much love for her daughter, it stole her breath away. Just as the love she had for Phil had done the same.
