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“And the bastard just kidnapped her.”
“Yes.”
“Why? Do you think it’s because Alexandrov believed Sky killed Vlad?”
“Doubtful. I am sure Yerik has secret, undetected ties into the U.S. government. I heard Vlad once brag that his father had moles inside the State Department, inside NSA and the CIA. He can find out who really killed his son. I am sure Yerik knows by now it was not Sky.”
Cal began to pace. “Then why the hell did he kidnap Sky? This doesn’t make any sense to me, Alex.”
Alex gave him a sympathetic look. “A very old Russian way of seeing the world, Cal. Family,” he rasped softly.
“What?” Cal halted, confused. “What the hell are you saying?”
“Alexandrov had seen his son, who was madly in love with Sky, buy wedding rings for her. I am sure there were many emails and phone calls between father and son about her, about how happy he was to be in love with Sky. Yerik helped Vlad pick out those rings. He was already planning to have a huge wedding for his son in New York City. From the elder’s point of view, Cal, Sky was already his daughter-in-law.”
“Only,” Cal snarled, feeling rage flow through him, “Vlad made several fatal mistakes. He cornered Sky in her bedroom. He damned near raped her, Alex. And when she pushed him away and started screaming for help, her foster father, Jack Zimmerman, broke down that door to see what was wrong. Vlad shot him point blank. And then, Marielle, his wife, ran in. Vlad murdered her on the spot. Sky saw it all. She escaped out a window after hitting Vlad with a bronze statue, nearly knocking him out. That’s how she got away and ran to a neighboring house and called 911.”
Heaving a sigh, Alex said, “He never told us about that part of it at all. All we heard was how deeply in love he was with her. His dreams of her and a having a large family.”
“That explains why he never stopped hunting for her then,” Cal growled. It made so much more sense to him now. What a sick, obsessed sonofabitch Vladimir Alexandrov really was. Sky must have felt tortured by knowing he was stalking her no matter where she tried to hide in the world. He turned, looking over his shoulder at Alex, who looked agitated. “So, when Sky went missing, I wonder if the father ever knew what Vlad had done to her? That he’d murdered two people. Tried to rape Sky? I wonder what he told his father?”
“I do not know.” He shrugged. “Remember? Vlad was a like his father. He could have condoned such acts. None of us know…”
Cal said, “I do know that when Vlad escaped the police, he fled back to New York City. His father gave him new a new identity, a new passport, and sent him to Russia to become trained as an officer in the Russian army. Yerik had many powerful ties with Spetsnaz, because he was once in the Psy Ops branch as an officer himself. He wanted his son to follow in his footsteps, and he did. It kept Vlad safe and secure, the trail on him and the murders of the Zimmerman’s growing cold, and eventually being dropped by the Trenton police department.”
“None of us knew this,” Alex said, apology in his tone.
“Okay,” Cal muttered wearily, “how does this affect Sky’s status right now? Is Yerik torturing her if he saw her as a prospective daughter-in-law?”
“That is what I have been thinking a great deal about,” Alex said hesitantly. He opened his hands. “Russians value family above all other things. They will kill for family. They will protect family with their own life if they need too. They are fierce about family, caring for and protecting them.”
Cal gave him a scowl. “Are you saying that Alexandrov kidnapped Sky because he STILL sees her as his daughter-in-law? Even though Vlad and her never married?”
“I cannot be sure, but that is my present thinking,” Alex admitted. “And if that is so, he is not going to torture her. He would, instead, be nice to her. Try to convince her that he is her father-in-law, that he is there to take care of her. She is like family property to him. I’m sure he knows Sky did not kill Vlad. If that had happened, then yes, I would think he would torture and kill her. But knowing what I heard Vlad say constantly, I do not think in my heart that Yerik Alexandrov is going to harm Sky.”
“What’s he going to do with her, then?” Cal demanded angrily.
“Alexandrov the father,” Alex said, “he collects things. He collects fish for his aquarium. He is a falconer, and he collects raptors from around the world and flies them. I believe,” and Alex gave him a sympathetic look, “that he has now collected Sky, made her a part of his family, whether she knows it or not. What he has in store for her, I cannot guess. But I earnestly believe, Cal, he is NOT torturing her.”
“Not physically,” Cal rasped, pacing, his head down, his mind in turmoil, relief trickling through him. “Sky is being brainwashed by the bastard, then. She’s being lulled into being a prisoner somewhere, being cared for, fed, and hidden. It’s Stockholm Syndrome.” He halted and stared at Alex. “Do you think she realizes this?”
“I do not know. I think she fears Yerik even more than Vlad. After all, his bad seed of a son was gotten directly from the father’s rotten genes. Yerik is far more of a mind torturer than his son could ever have possibly been. He’s smoother, more elegant, and quieter about the kind of mind games he will employ on Sky. I worry she will not realize it. I worry, like all those who are captured for a long period of time, she will develop feelings of trust or affection towards her captor.”
Cal cursed, staring out at the black water. “Fuck.”
“At least, Sky is not being physically tortured.”
Running his fingers through his hair, Cal shook his head. “That would be a huge relief to me. She’s being tortured in other ways, though. Far more lethal to her sanity in the long term.”
“I am afraid so. In time, if we cannot find her soon enough, Sky may come to see Yerik as her benefactor. She may see him as a kind father figure she never had. He will give her family, Cal. Something Sky never had and always yearned for.”
“Sonofabitch!” Cal felt terror clawing up through his chest. He glared over at Alex. “Is there anything else you’re not telling me? Us?”
“No. That is it. I honestly did not feel this was important until now. The fact that Alexandrov has gone to ground, that we can find NO evidence of him, forces me to come to this conclusion and to tell you this, Cal. I believe Alexandrov has Sky somewhere in Central America. We have sources telling us he has not been at his New York penthouse for over a week. Yerik is with her. And the longer he stays away from New York City, that tells me he is working to brainwash Sky into believing she is his family, that he has her best interests at heart. He will impress upon her that Vlad, who loved her with his life, would have wanted her to be a part of the family, even though she never formally married him. In Yerik’s eyes, Vlad and Sky were already married. The ceremony was just a formality. In other words, he sees her as blood. Family blood.”
Cal stared disbelievingly at Alex as he digested the man’s impassioned words. “That is sick. Absolutely sick…”
“Vlad was insane,” Alex said, shaking his head. “The father, worse.”
