AllFreeNovel
Share Us
To his horror, it fell open. It wasn’t locked. It wasn’t even closed properly.
Luka silently drew his weapon and began to creep into the house, worrying that perhaps she was being held captive inside. But within minutes of stepping inside, he realized the place was totally empty. And for whatever reason, Kira had disappeared in a hurry.
There was still a beautiful table set for two complete with flickering candlelight, romantic music softly playing on the stereo, and a roasted chicken keeping warm in the oven. In the bedroom, Luka found a new set of lacy lingerie draped across the bed. Coming back to the kitchen, he saw there were vegetables in the middle of being chopped on the counter. Even worse, Kira’s cell phone was sitting right next to it where she had been standing, prepping dinner.
Seeing that, Luka was certain someone had taken Kira. She would never leave her belongings behind like this, and she was too smart to leave the house with lit candles and the oven still on. Luka switched off the oven, blew out the candles, pocketed her phone, and rushed back outside. This time, he turned on the porch light to see clear drag marks through the muddy earth from the doorway to the road. Shining his cell phone light, he found tire tracks on the road from where someone had peeled out in a hurry. On the side of the road in a puddle was a cigarette, still faintly smoking where it had been tossed. It was a Winston red.
A powerful scent memory appeared in his mind: the musty scent of cigarette smoke on his hands after he threatened that client who’d messed with Kira at the casino. And then a flicker of an image: Winston reds poking out of the man’s shirt pocket. Then, Luka remembered something Kira had said in passing one night as they lay cuddled in bed together.
She said she was grateful not to go back to Cal’s Counter, as she didn’t want to ever have to see the shitty owner again. She mentioned how he overdressed like he was undercover and refused to abide by the NO SMOKING sign.
It was all coming together in Luka’s mind. He didn’t have a second to waste and he was probably going to need backup. He rushed to his car and threw it into gear, peeling out just as Kira’s kidnappers had done earlier. As he drove, he called Mikhail to fill him in on the situation.
“How was the training?” Mikhail answered, getting right to business, as usual.
“The men are ready to begin their first mission,” answered Luka. “Tonight.”
“Tonight? You’re a pro, Luka, but the rookies might need a little break.”
“One of ours is missing,” Luka growled. “I think we have a new enemy, Mikhail. Someone has taken her, but I’m going to track them down and get her back even if it kills me. But I’m going to need help.”
“Her? Who are you talking about?” the Pakhan questioned.
Luka sighed. He had wanted to wait longer before spilling the secret, but if he didn’t act now, there wouldn’tbea secret to keep anymore. Kira’s life was more important than anything. So he jumped into a brief but thorough summary of the situation for Mikhail, explaining how Katja had recruited her for the casino, how Luka and Kira had developed a romantic attachment while she worked as a cocktail waitress, the circumstances that had led to Kira quitting the job, and the subsequent chase that had followed. Luka was unabashed in his confession. He was not ashamed to be with Kira; he was only ashamed to have let someone take her from him.
“I’ll have the trainees meet you at… what’s the place called? Cal’s?” Mikhail said.
“Cal’s Corner,” Luka confirmed. “I’m not sure what we’ll find there.”
“I have faith in you, Luka. Just bring that girl home safely, and don’t fuck this up. We can’t afford to lose another innocent life,” warned Mikhail. “We’ll discuss details afterward.”
“Da. As you say, boss,” Luka replied, and hung up the phone as he pulled to a crooked stop in front of the diner.
Cal’s was dark inside, with the CLOSED sign on the door. That was unusual. Normally, the restaurant would stay open for another hour or so at least. Luka stepped out of the car just as another car pulled up next to him. His two trainees stepped out looking slightly bewildered, exhausted, but desperately eager to earn Luka’s approval.
“I appreciate the urgency, boys,” Luka greeted them. “We’re not just playing cops and robbers in the desert tonight. This mission is real. There is a real young woman in danger.”
“Is she inside?” the darker-haired one asked.
“That’s what we’re here to determine. But there may be enemy targets in there, as well. Remember what I taught you. I’m going to take the front entrance. You two take the back,” Luka commanded.
Both men nodded and promptly stalked around to the back entrance. Luka strolled up to the front, glanced around to make sure nobody was watching, and then he kicked the door with such violent force that the glass panel fractured down the middle. Luka slipped his thick jacket sleeve over his hand to protect it from broken glass and reached through to unlock the door. He stepped into the dark diner with his gun raised and his cell phone light barely illuminating his path. He cleared the dining room, then checked behind the counter. There were no signs of life. He was about to push into the kitchen when he heard the trainee enforcers shouting for him.
“Hey! We’ve got a victim back here!”
Luka darted into the back office, slamming the door open so hard it whacked the wall. The trainees were crouched down next to a slumped-over person tied to a swivel chair behind the rickety desk. To Luka’s dismay, it wasn’t Kira. It was an old man, beaten black and blue, and only barely conscious. Evidently, someone had tried to knock him out or even kill him, but they weren’t quite successful.
“Are you breathing?” asked Luka, dropping down in front of the wounded elderly man.
“I-I’m sorry,” the man croaked out, blood dripping from his mouth.
“For what?” the enforcer asked.
The man sighed and barely lifted his head to look at Luka. “The girls. They took the girls. I wish I could have stopped them.”
“Girls? As in, more than one?” Luka prompted.
“Four of them… the last one… they caught her tonight,” he panted.
