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Her eyes brightened again, and she nodded, then watched as I fished out my phone. I was way tenser than I ever got staring down a gun barrel as I called Alissa.
She answered on the second ring. “Gregor, hi. It’s late. Did you…have news?” The tentative hope in her voice hurt to hear.
“I do. I’d like you to come over to my apartment. As soon as possible. Can you make it?”
I heard her breathing pick up. “Do you have her?”
I hesitated.
“Gregor, do you have her?”
“Yes. She’s alive, she’s physically fine, she’s clean, she has clothes, and she’s got food in her tummy.”
She broke down in the middle of the list, and it took more effort than expected to keep talking, to keep reassuring her that Michelle was all right and waiting for her.
“This place is a lot more secure than yours. I—”
“Yes, yes, yes, I’ll be right over.” She was breathless, voice shaky, sounding like she might collapse with sheer relief.
“Are you safe to drive?”
“No, I can’t stop shaking, I’ll Uber over. It shouldn’t take long.” I heard the faint rattles and clicks that said she was messing with her phone. “What’s the address?”
I gave it. Then she said, “I want to talk to her.”
A chill ran through me. “I can put her on the phone, but you should know…she hasn’t said a word since I rescued her.”
“What?”
“I’m sorry. There’s not a mark on her physically, but she isn’t speaking.”
Next to me, Michelle squirmed. She could tell we were talking about her. She looked up at me unhappily and her chin trembled again. “No, sweetheart, it’s not your fault,” I said to her hastily. She gulped and sniffled.
“Put her on the phone,” Alissa said in a firmer voice.
I nodded and put the phone to Michelle’s ear. “It’s your mama, sweetie.” With my free hand I hunted blindly in the side table drawer for my tissue box.
I heard Alissa’s voice go into Michelle’s ear, and suddenly Michelle’s face was crumpling, and next thing I knew both her eyes and her nose were going. Poor kid. I helped her mop up as best I could while her mother talked to her.
“It’s me, sweetie,” I heard Alissa say. “I’m coming to get you, okay?”
Both of them were sniffling. Alissa’s voice kept breaking. My throat was tight as I kept my hand on Michelle’s shoulder, and the phone to her little ear.
They stayed on the phone until Alissa’s Uber got there, and when she was on her way and had hung up, I kept my hand on Michelle’s shoulder. She looked up at me, and patted my arm, then leaned against me suddenly. I put my arm around her tentatively, marveling at how tiny and delicate she was.
How could anyone think to harm her? I couldn’t imagine being the sort of damned deviant who looked at that tiny face and saw something to use and destroy. I couldn’t understand what was missing from the souls of people like that.
I was a stone-cold killer. I had too many notches on my gun barrel to count. But what the Ivanovs had done was another layer of evil below mine…deep below.
They destroyed lives. I only ended them. As I would end the rest of the Ivanovs, soon enough, as punishment for what they had done.
Chapter 11
Alissa
He found her. He had her. She was back.My heart felt like it was going to pound its way out of my chest as I Ubered across town to Gregor’s place.
The Uber was one of those blocky former cop cars that I saw on the streets sometimes, with their heavy frames and narrow back seats. I struggled to find a comfortable position while the driver chattered about the ice storm. All I could see of him was a spray of gray shoulder-length locs and a slice of black-and-gray beard.
