I shook my head. I was doing internet searches on my phone, checking a theory. “The surgeon said the ambulances looked beat-up. I think that maybe...yes, look.” I showed him my phone screen. “ACS Transport filed for bankruptcy years ago. Then someone bought it. Now it has no website, no news stories, it doesn’t exist...but it’s still dropping off patients. I think Grushin bought it, andthat’swhere he’s storing the donors. It has everything he needs: space, basic medical facilities, and ambulances to drop them off at the clinic without anyone getting suspicious.”
“Then let’s go,” said Valentin.
But to my surprise, Gennadiy shook his head. “If that’s Grushin’s hideout, it won’t be like the clinic. He’ll have armed men there to guard the donors.” He looked around. “There are only four of us. We need backup.”
“Konstantin?” asked Mikhail. “He helped us before.”
“His men are in New York; it’d take too long,” said Gennadiy. “We need someone local.”
“And someone we know for sureisn’tworking for Grushin,” I said sadly. Then I drew in my breath as the solution hit me.
Gennadiy saw my expression and narrowed his eyes. “Who?” he asked suspiciously. And then he realized, and his face fell. He looked at me pleadingly.“Oh no. Please…”
64
GENNADIY
A half hour later,I was glaring at a familiar set of double doors.
“We don’t have a choice,” said Alison, running a calming hand over my back.
“I know,” I said tightly. “That doesn’t mean I have to like it.” I took a deep breath...and opened the doors.
This time, it was night, and Finn’s bar was packed full and deafeningly loud. Finn himself had decided to take a turn tending bar and was filling a beer glass while flirting shamelessly with the pretty blonde he was serving. When he saw us, his face split into a wide, teasing grin. “Gennadiy! Saw the cops breaking down your front door on TV. Did they let you go already?”
I glowered at him and jerked my head:we need to talk.He leaned in and whispered something to the blonde, which made her giggle. Then he vaulted over the bar, grabbed her waist, and pulled her into a kiss. When he moved away, he tangled his fingers with hers, looking back at her and keeping the connection until the very last second. The blonde looked like she might swoon. Even Alison looked a little swoony. I glowered even harder.
Finn slapped me on the back and led the way to a private lounge,grabbing a bottle of whiskey from the bar as he passed. The lounge was full, but one look from Finn and it emptied instantly. He fell into a leather couch, swigging from the bottle as he did, and looked at us expectantly.
Alison filled him in on what Grushin had been doing and why we needed the Irish. Finn grinned. He couldn’tstopgrinning. “So what you’re saying is...you need my help.”
“Yes,” said Alison.
He gave her a filthy smile. “Much as I love to hear the wordyesfrom your sweet lips, I want to hear it from him.” And he looked at me.
I felt the anger rise and swell in my chest, a hurricane that just needed to be given a target. But then I thought of the people from the submarine. The women. The child. I took a deep breath...and crushed the anger down, crystallizing it into a weapon to use against Grushin. “Yes,” I told Finn. “I need your help.”
Finn grinned...but it wasn’t quite as smug as I’d expected. He must have known what it took for me to say that. He stood and called for his brothers. “Alright, then. Let’s go get the bastard.”
65
ALISON
ACS Transport was a low,ugly building on a run-down industrial park south of the city. There was grass growing in the parking lot, and the neighboring buildings were all boarded up: it was the perfect place for a hideout.
We circled around the back and found a loading dock and two ambulances, both with fading paint and sagging suspension. Valentin picked the lock, and we stacked up outside the door, guns at the ready. Finn had brought six men with him: I wasn’t sure which were brothers or cousins and which were just on his payroll because they were all dark-haired and broodingly good-looking. I just knew I was glad of the backup.
Valentin opened the door, and we rushed inside. There was a garage area where an ambulance was half-disassembled, probably being stripped for parts to keep the other two running. The van from the warehouse was there, too. The place smelled of engine oil, damp, and disinfectant.
A shot rang out, and we ducked for cover. Gennadiy shot back, downing a guy half-hidden behind the van. But more men ran in from deeper in the building and opened fire as well. Gennadiy pulled me protectively behind him. “You and Mikhail go and find thedonors,” he told me, pointing to a hallway. “We’ll take care of the guards.”
Part of me automatically wanted to argue, resenting being kept away from the action. But he had a point; we had to make sure the donors were safe. I nodded and hurried off with Mikhail and the dogs, but I threw one last, worried look back over my shoulder as I ran.Please, Gennadiy, be careful!
We found an office and then a couple of basic treatment rooms with gurneys in them. But there was no sign of the donors. We kept going, past more offices and then a break room. And surprisingly quickly, we reached the end of the hallway.Where are they?The only place left was the garage where the firefight was going on, and they weren’t there.
My chest tightened. What if we were too late? What if Grushin had already killed them and taken their organs?
I looked at Mikhail, but he looked as worried and confused as me. We backtracked, and then he put a hand on my arm to stop me. He went into the break room to grab something he’d seen: a t-shirt, too small to be an adult.The boy!But where was he now?
