“You might question the woman inside.She is pretending we have a language problem.”
Ivan took Edwina’s arm, and they entered the cafe with more aplomb and intent this time.Ivan spoke to the woman, his tone sharp when she was slow to answer.
Edwina made herself useful and discovered Mikhail’s scent among the others.It ended at the counter, and her mind jumped ahead.She turned to Ivan.“Mikhail’s scent ends here, but that might be because they lifted him.I can’t smell blood, so that’s a plus.”
Ivan barked at the woman, and she flinched, fear flashing across her face.
Edwina didn’t understand what he said, but she got the gist.
The woman started crying, and impatient, Edwina stalked around the counter and into the kitchen, where she spied a rear door.Despite the woman’s protests, Edwina jerked open the door and stared outside.
“Did they take him out this door?”she asked the young girl, chopping vegetables at a counter.
Tetchy at the girl’s ponderous attitude, Edwina growled deep in her throat.The girl’s hand tightened on her knife, and she backed away.When Edwina took half a step toward her, she blurted, “They carried an unconscious man through that door.I don’t think he was dead, but he couldn’t walk unaided.”
“Thank you,” Edwina said, working hard to control her anger.Smirnoff and his underlings had taken Mikhail.While she and Mikhail had known this meeting was a risk, they’d had to halt Smirnoff’s pressure to get Mikhail to follow his orders.She strode to the door again and inhaled, testing the air for scents.Yes, they’d taken Mikhail since she caught a hint of his wild tiger fragrance.She also recognized Smirnoff’s essence, which held a medicinal tang and an underlying decay.The man wasn’t lying about his ailing health.
“Are you able to pick up their scent?”Ivan asked in a low voice when she stomped back to join him.
“They took him out the rear door.Where does Clarice live?We need to interrogate her because she might have held back information when Mikhail questioned her.We have her son to return to her, anyway.She needs to disappear once we’ve spoken to her.Any suggestions?”
He flashed a grin before he spoke.“We have a pilot on call.You’re right.She should leave the country.We can ask her where she wants to take her son.She might have a family.”
“Let’s do this.This Smirnoff is an idiot, trying to change Mikhail’s mind this way.”
She and Ivan retraced the scent trail and burst outdoors.Every inhalation contained a hint of Mikhail until they reached the curb.
“They loaded him into a vehicle,” Ivan said.
“We should’ve thought of something like this.”
“Yeah,” Ivan said.“I hope Smirnoff keeps a close eye on Mikhail.He’s expecting his son and the rest of those high in management in his organization to let him replace them with an outsider.While Smirnoff is alive, they might play the game, but the minute he dies, there’ll be war.”
“I get that.Why can’t Smirnoff?”
“The guy has an ego.”
They reached the car, which Gregory had running.She slid inside to find Clarice’s son curled up in a ball in the footwell.His pale face was wet with tears, and sympathy welled in her.The poor kid.
“Hey, sweetie.Are you okay?”His fear was palpable, and her inadequate comfort only made him hunch into a tighter ball.She’d noted the bruise on his cheek, and he was way too thin.“Why don’t you come up here?We’re taking you home to your mother.”
The boy stared at her as if he thought she was telling him a tall story.Then she wanted to thump herself over the head.He probably didn’t speak English.
He studied her for several beats longer.“Mama?”he whispered.
“Yes,” Edwina said.“We’re taking you right now.”
He uncurled his thin body, and she spotted more bruises on his skinny arms.That anyone would do this to a child had her temper flying, and she made a silent promise.When they retrieved Mikhail, she would take great pleasure in exacting revenge on Smirnoff.
“Mama?”he asked, surveying her as if he didn’t believe her.
She couldn’t blame him.
Edwina wished she’d thought to buy an extra cake or something for him to eat since he appeared undernourished.
They drove down quiet streets, and Gregory stopped in front of an expensive apartment.
“I’ll take the boy,” Ivan said.
