34

John was watching Savannah from a corner of the H lounge where the assembled men had withdrawn in order to not disturb the children, when the door opened and Donnelly entered. John waved to the detective to join him, Samson, and Amaury. He’d been relieved to see that Samson was in the room. It had given him an excuse to leave Savannah. Just in time, because ever since they’d started talking about blood, his need to bite her had grown by leaps and bounds. And he knew it was wrong in so many ways. She was a mother in fear for her child, and not in the right frame of mind to make any kind of decision, let alone the decision to allow a vampire to bite her. He was a bastard for even having these thoughts at a time like this.

Donnelly greeted them all and immediately reported his news. “I’ve got something. SFPD’s organized crime unit has been looking at an individual who’s suspected of money laundering. They haven’t been able to prove anything so far, and that’s why this case has been under the radar, and I hadn’t heard anything about it. But listen to this: the guy owns a string of dry cleaners under various business names. Incidentally, the IP addresses our hacker, Otto Watson, was able to trace from the emails he received, lead back to several of these dry cleaning shops.”

“Finally, something!” John let out.

“Not so fast, John. We have a name, but not much else. The organized crime unit doesn’t have a location for him. He moves around too much, and they don’t have the resources to surveil every single one of his business locations.”

“Who is he?” John asked.

“Name’s Sergei Viktorov, Russian national. Immigration has no information on him ever even entering the country. We assume that he’s here under a false name, but we’ve not been able to find anything further on that.”

“A Russian, that fits,” John said. “What else?”

“They sent over a photo, but as I said, since immigration has no record of him, and the DMV hasn’t got anything for a Sergei Viktorov either, we can’t even be sure it’s him.” He reached into the pocket and pulled out a photo. “I printed it out on your printer. But the colors are a bit off.”

“Let me see it,” John demanded and took the picture from Donnelly.

John perused the picture. Just like the children and the two kidnappers had said, the man was in his fifties and blond.

“My colleagues told me something else, too.”

John lifted his gaze back to Donnelly. “What’s that?”

“Rumor is that Viktorov has a preference for young meat, sisters, twins, mothers and daughters. According to Vice, some prostitutes in the Tenderloin reported that a man matching his description has offered to pay for women who would bring their virgin daughters with them so one would watch while he fucked the other.”

“Disgusting asshole!” Samson cursed.

“Fucking bastard,” John grunted. “It sounds like him.” And he’d set his sight on Savannah and Buffy. John’s blood started to boil at the thought of what Viktorov was planning.

“Are you okay if I show this picture to the girls?” Donnelly asked.

“Let’s compare it to what your sketch artist has come up with first,” John suggested.

Donnelly was already turning in the direction of the sketch artist, when John saw Savannah approaching them. Quickly he said to Donnelly, “Mike, not a word about Viktorov’s reputation to Savannah. It’ll only upset her, and it won’t serve any purpose.”

“Understood.”

Savannah made a beeline for Donnelly. “Do you have news?”

Donnelly cast a quick glance at John, then nodded. “We think we know who it is. A Russian named Sergei Viktorov. I was just about to compare the photo we got to what the sketch artist has drawn.”

“Let me see.” She took the photo from Donnelly’s hand and looked at it. Her mouth dropped open. “Oh, no! Oh God no!”

With one step, John was by her side and gripped her arm. “What’s wrong?”

She looked at him, eyes wide, while she lifted the photo higher. “This man, I know him. He came to my office. He shook my hand.” Her face distorted in disgust.

“Who is he?” John asked.

“Viktor Stricklund. He claimed to be from Sweden. Wanted a business meeting about cyber security for his company.” She choked out the words. “Oh, God, John, that’s how he knew about you. He said my assistant arranged the meeting, but I couldn’t check with Rachel, because she was out sick. He probably never had an appointment. He must have somehow found out that Rachel was out sick and then pretended that she set up the meeting, knowing I couldn’t verify it. And when Alexi told him that I had a family emergency, I told him that my daughter had disappeared.” She swallowed. “He pretended to be concerned. He offered his help, said he knew people who could search for her. To get rid of him, I told him that I’d already hired a private investigator.” Tears now ran down her cheeks. “He played me. And I didn’t see it.”

John nodded. “He’s brazen. He wanted to make sure he knew what steps you’d taken. I assume he showed up in your office before you received the ransom note?”

She nodded.

John exchanged a look with Donnelly. “Show the picture to the kids. Confirm that he’s the same guy who took Buffy.”

Donnelly nodded, took the picture back and walked to the sketch artist and the two kids she was working with. John pulled Savannah into his arms. “We’ll get him, darlin’, we’ll get him now.”

John caught Samson’s look, as the Scanguards CEO said, “I’ll have Thomas run his photo through our database, just in case.”

John knew he was referring to the database of known vampires across the country that Scanguards had put together. “Thanks.”

“And I’m sure Thomas or Eddie can get into the servers of Homeland Security to see if anything comes up under a Swedish national named Viktor Stricklund. Maybe that’s the passport he travels under,” Amaury added.

Savannah turned in John’s arms, wiped her tears away and addressed Samson and Amaury, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t fall apart like this. Thank you for all your help. I’m so grateful. But I’m sure the name he gave me is just as fake as everything else about him. We won’t find him like that.” She sniffled. “There’s only one way he’ll show himself.”

John gripped her shoulders and made her look at him.

She met his gaze. “And we all know what will draw him out.”

John shook his head. Without her saying it, he knew what she meant. “No! I won’t allow it.”

“It’s not your choice, John. It’s mine.”

He saw red right there and then. With a quick nod at his bosses, he bit out an “Excuse us” and snatched Savannah by her arm, dragging her toward the nearest door.

“John, let go of me!” she protested, but he ignored her and flung the door open that led into the kitchen and supply rooms adjacent to the lounge.

“We’re gonna have a word,” he bit out and dragged her along the corridor and around the corner, glancing at the signs on the doors, until he found one saying Break Room. He pushed the door open and entered with Savannah in tow.

A female employee sat at a table, reading a magazine and drinking a coffee. She whipped her head in their direction.

“Out!” John commanded, and the woman scrambled to her feet and rushed out of the room. When the door shut behind her, John let go of Savannah and flipped the lock shut so nobody could barge in and interrupt them.

When he turned back to Savannah, she glared at him, her hands braced on her hips. “What the fuck, John?”

“That was gonna be my line!” he replied just as furious. “Are you fucking crazy proposing what I think you are? Offering yourself as bait to this madman?”

She narrowed her eyes. “Not as bait! I’m offering myself in exchange for Buffy. So she doesn’t have to live through this nightmare any longer.”

“That’s fucking nuts! He’ll never let her go if you offer yourself. He’ll take you both! That was his plan all along. And now you want to deliver yourself to him on a silver platter? Over my fucking charred body!”

“It’s not your decision! She’s my daughter! And I’ll fucking do what I think is best.”

“The fuck you will!”

“You can’t stop me!”

“Can’t I? Watch me!”

“You have no right to tell me what to do!”

“I don’t care whether I have the right or not! I’m not gonna stand here and watch you put yourself in danger.” Because it would break him. It would shatter what was left of his heart.

“You have to.”

“No! I’m not gonna lose you. I’ve been through this once. I’m not gonna do it again. I’m not gonna let the woman I love walk into certain doom. I won’t do it. Damn it!”

Savannah’s eyes widened, and she sucked in a shaky breath.

Had he suddenly scared her into submission? “What? Damn it, Savannah!”

She shook her head. “You love me?”

Only then did he realize what he’d said. For a second, he froze. But he knew it was true. “I love you more than I thought I could ever love again. And not just you. I love Buffy. I love her like the child I lost. I love her because she’s part of you. And I’ll do anything to get her back for you. But I can’t let you do this. I can’t lose you both.”

Tears started welling up in her eyes, and she sniffled. “Oh, John. I didn’t know… After what you told me about Nicolette… I didn’t think you could feel anything…”

He sucked in a much-needed breath of air, and with it, some of his rage dissipated. “I didn’t either. But, you, Savannah, you made me feel again. And I can’t throw that away. I can’t let this bastard steal that from me. From us.”

She took a step toward him and put her hand on his chest. When she lifted her gaze to look at him, there was calm determination shining from her eyes. “If you truly love me, then you have to let me go. Buffy is part of me. If I don’t do this for her, I’ll never be able to forgive myself. And I’ll never be happy again. It would kill the love I have for you. Because I do love you. I don’t know how it happened or why.”

John put his hand over hers. Knowing that she loved him, that she felt for him what he felt for her, would have been the most joyous revelation he could have ever imagined, had it not been for her request to let her go.

“But what if he takes you both?”

“You’ll make sure that he won’t. I trust you. I trust you to save Buffy. And once she’s safe, then you’ll come for me too. I’ll trust in that too. And then we’ll be together. All three of us.”

He knew her mind was made up. No matter how long he argued with her, Savannah wouldn’t change her decision. Resigned, he said, “We’ll do as you say. Under one condition.”

“What condition?”

“You let me drink your blood now.”