Chapter Nineteen
Maddie paced the pavement at the truck stop just outside Detroit, chewing the edge of her thumb as she waited impatiently for her backup to arrive and take over with Eva so Maddie could get back to looking for Jack. She’d tried calling him several times but with no response. And the longer she went without hearing from him, the more her fear grew.
And where in the hell were Finn and Adam? It’d been two hours since she’d called them to report what had happened. That should’ve been ample time to get their asses in gear. She halted and snatched her phone from her belt, calling Jack again.
This time the line connected. “Oh, thank God! Where have you been? Are you okay?”
“Hello, Ms. Blake.”
Maddie’s blood turned to ice water in her veins at the deep, thickly accented voice. “Kozlov.”
At the mention of his name, Eva jumped to her feet from the curb where she’d been sitting and rushed to Maddie, her hands covering her mouth in alarm. Maddie traded a glance with her, wondering if the woman knew more about what was going on than she’d let on.
“It is lovely to speak with you,” Kozlov told her. “I look forward to meeting you in person very soon.”
“Where’s Jack?” she demanded. “Is he . . . is he alive?”
There was a slight pause, then muffled voices speaking in Russian. Finally, Kozlov replied, “He is alive for the moment.”
“What do you want?” Maddie asked, her relief at hearing Jack was alive at war with her fear for what he’d endured at his captors’ hands—and what he still might have to endure before she could get to him.
“Nothing you can give,” Kozlov told her. “But your lover—he has a price to pay.”
Maddie swallowed hard, deciding to try a different tack. “How much do you want?”
Kozlov laughed, the sound rough as sandpaper. “Unfortunately, Ms. Blake, not all debts can be paid with money. Some require flesh and bone.”
Maddie choked back the tears that constricted her throat, glad for Eva’s comforting arm, which was now around her shoulders. “There has to be something else you want, Kozlov, something else that will satisfy your vendetta.”
“What do I want?” he asked. “Why, I want nothing else. This is not about me, Ms. Blake.”
Maddie felt panic rising in her chest, her breath going short and shallow. “Then who is it about? Let me talk tohim.”
“You will soon enough,” he assured her.
The line went dead. “Kozlov?” Maddie said, her voice catching. “Kozlov!”
“This man Kozlov is a sadistic bastard,” Eva told her, shaking her head, her gray eyes glistening with unshed tears. “My grandfather warned me about him. He’s the only man my grandfather truly feared. Hewillkill your Jack. Just like he killed my grandfather. Tell me how I can help you.”
“Did your grandfather ever say anything about where Kozlov stayed, people he knew? Anything?” Maddie asked, striding back toward the Harley.
Eva shook her head. “No. He only warned me to run if Kozlov ever showed up. He told me stories . . . They made me sick to my stomach. And I’m anurse. There isn’t much that turns my stomach.”
Maddie felt the bile in her own stomach rise. There was no way in hell she was going to let Jack continue to suffer. If she had to, she’d tear the goddamned city apart to find him.
“Wait,” Eva said, her face suddenly brightening. “There is one name I remember—it’s a man my grandfather knows. He said he’s a politician.” She squeezed her eyes shut, mentally searching for the name. “Stone! His name is Jacob Stone.”
Maddie couldn’t help the bitter laugh that escaped her. Did Jacob’s betrayal know no bounds? He’d pissed on his relationship with her father and nearly killed him, and had put Sarah and her son Eli in the center of his grab for power, putting their lives in danger as well. And now he’d betrayed Jack, a man he’d called his friend.
“Do you know him?” Eva asked. “Could you go to him for help?”
Maddie heaved a furious sigh. “Yeah, I know him.”
At that moment, a black H2 pulled into the truck stop and drove toward where Maddie and Eva stood. Finn and Adam were jumping out of the vehicle the second it came to a stop.
“Do you have anything on a location?” Maddie demanded.
Finn shook his head. “I reviewed security and CCTV footage for the time you mentioned. All I got was a black SUV with bogus plates. No hits on any of the men. And then we lost track of them.”
