Chapter sixteen
CARTER:
I wake at half past one to an empty bed, and empty apartment. I can’t say that I’m surprised, but it doesn’t detract from the panic I feel knowing where she’s gone. I don’t know who these people are, and I wish I could say that I even knew my brother anymore, but I don’t. This isn’t the Braxton who was my best friend for my entire life before learning he was my brother…or maybe it is. It isn’t as if I’m the best judge of character.
I find my phone to call her, but a slip of paper sitting on the counter catches my attention.
Carter-
I don’t make promises I can’t keep. I wish I could promise you that I’ll be safe, but I can’t. I wish I could promise you that I’ll come back to you one day, but it is unlikely. I wish I could promise you a lifetime together, but it isn’t in the cards for us because of me and the choices I’ve made and the path I’ve chosen to follow. I walk in the dark and you need to be in the light.
I don’t want to leave you with all of the promises I can’t keep, so instead, I’ll give you all of the ones I can. I promise you that I will protect you and keep you safe. I promise you all of the success in the world, but you and I both know that is all because of your hard work. I promise that you are the only person that has seen my soul when other people only get the mask. I promise you, that the love and the genuine happiness you’ve given me are without a doubt the highlight of my life, and I promise to carry that with me forever. There isn’t a day that will go by that I will not wonder where you are and how this cruel life is treating you, but make me a promise.
Promise me that you will love and let someone love you. Let someone see your soul, because it is a good one, Carter Linwood, whether you believe it or not.
I will love you with every part of my soul until the world burns down around me, and I burn with it.
-Anika
“God damn you, Anika,” I say out loud, my voice cracking around my tears. I don’t care how many promises she breaks, or the promises she made intending to keep, she is not doing it alone because only one thing matters. Her. She is what matters to me and she doesn’t seem to understand that if she isn’t a part of my life, then it isn’t really worth living. She thinks she’s irredeemable, but she’s not. No one is. I understand murder is a sin regardless if the victim was deserving or not. I could turn the other cheek and save myself and my reputation, but her love is and always will be greater than anything else I possess. I was searching aimlessly without even knowing it- fucking and working my way through life until I found her. I don’t care how it happened, I only care that it did, and now I’ve got to find her.
I dress quickly, throwing on some jeans and a t-shirt and grab my keys, only pausing to grab my phone. Speeding to her house I run through all of the things I will say to her to convince her we can work, and we will figure it out together. Her BMW is parked in the driveway, and I climb the steps to her door, ringing the doorbell, but there’s no answer. I knock, but still no answer. I turn the knob, and the door opens much to my surprise.
“Ani? Baby?” I call out, but am met with nothing but the silence ringing in my ears. I search room by room, and the only signs of her are the smell of her perfume in the air and the damp towels in the bathroom from her shower. I climb the stairs to her office and flip on the light. Everything appears to be in order except for the now bare walls where her mother’s photographs used to hang and the empty spot on her desk where her family’s photo once sat.
Trying to ignore the sinking feeling in my stomach, I try to think rationally. I sit down at the computer and wiggle the mouse. Much to my surprise the desktop springs to life revealing folder after labeled folder. I click one after the other, devouring the contents inside. It’s like being able to look through a window and see into the parts of Anika that she keeps locked up tight. The things that I’m learning about her from these files, and the things I’m learning she’s capable of should scare me…and they do, but not for me. I’m terrified for her, and the guilt that weighs on her from this hate she harbors and can’t seem to let go of.
I’m about ready to shift my focus to the filing cabinet at my right, when I see a lone folder in the bottom righthand corner of the screen.
Vladislav Statnik.
That is the only label given to this innocuous little file, except for when I double click and open it up, I learn that it is anything but harmless. The first thumbnail photograph inside the folder, is the face of the man that still torments my nightmares and fuels my desire for control. The sole reason I can’t watch the news or partake in conversations on politics without breaking out in an icy sweat. Lance Jennings.
My blood runs cold in my veins, freezing time for only a moment to allow everything to click into place as my eyes scan the file names and the sub folders underneath. Suddenly, all of the times I’ve caught glimpses of the darkness inside Anika make complete sense to me and I find myself consumed with her same unquenchable thirst for vengeance. For myself, for her, her parents and for all of the other people that have been crushed under the unrelenting fist of Lance Jennings.
I click on the first document and it is logs and shipping transactions under the name Vladislav Statnik. I can’t stop searching and with each click, the truth comes more in focus. This man is worse than I could have ever imagined, and he is behind everything, and she already knew my connection based on the bank transaction I’m looking at. That is why she was trying to keep me away from it. My heart could swell and burst with love for this woman, but she thinks she’s invincible. She’s going on a suicide mission, and the worst part is, somehow, I think she already knows that.
I have to know everything, but at the same time, I also know that the clock is ticking down, and I need to find her – to help her, to join her on her quest for revenge. The next file I click on, I wish I wouldn’t have. It is the crime scene from the night her mother was murdered. I have to close it immediately as my stomach turns with sickness. When she told me, I thought it was horrific, but seeing it, understanding it, makes me wonder how she’s still standing. I scan through the papers on her desk, and find nothing but junk that cannot help me.
I pull out my phone, calling the only person who can help at this point.
“Agent Booth,” Marcus answers on the third ring.
“Marcus, its Carter. I need your help.”
“Where are you?”
“Anika’s house. I need to find her, and she needs our help.”
“Give me ten minutes. I have the address,” he says, cutting the call.
I go downstairs and wait. It only takes Marcus a few minutes until he’s pulling up. He and another older man get out of the car, and scale the steps to the front door.
“Carter,” Marcus greets. “This is the man in charge of the operation. I know you may not have wanted company, but if you have information we need to hear it and fast. Things are going down today, but we don’t know what.” The older man reaches out to shake my hand, introducing himself as Henry Lawrence, senior agent.
“Follow me,” I say climbing the stairs. Anika may never forgive me for telling them everything, but I know Marcus and I know he’ll find a way to help.
“Anika did hack Lintech, but only because she was blackmailed. She didn’t actually steal information. Instead she rebuilt my data into something less powerful and put the plans on a hard drive. She embedded a virus inside. When accessed, the virus will eat away at the files on the user’s computer while simultaneously pinging government agencies with the information and locations. She’s coded it to feed you guys information. She’s making the drop today. The only problem is who it’s for and I have no idea where to find her.”
I show them the files on her computer and they exchange a grim look.
“You guys already knew,” I confirm.
“We speculated who was behind it, but we didn’t have all the proof. We knew the drop was happening, but we don’t know the location. That’s what we’re working on. If we can catch him there, then it should be enough,” Henry says, and I shake my head.
“I have everything you need except for the location, but I think you may be able to get that. Track Anika’s phone. I don’t know how, but I know you can,” I say and Marcus makes a phone call stepping out of the room as Henry sits down at the desk.
“They’re working on tracing her now,” Marcus says, stepping back into the room.
“Holy shit,” Henry says slowly as he clicks through file after file. “It’s all here. How did she get all of this? Our best guys couldn’t even find this information,” he marvels.
“I suppose she knew exactly where to start looking. Click on the folder that says Papa,” I say, and he clicks as Marcus looks over his shoulder at the screen. Marcus glances back to meet eyes with me in disbelief.
“She’s had the lost files this whole time, working off of them,” he says, and I nod slowly. When I hear the muffled curse, I know they came to the files at the end. The ones that hold the crime scenes and the victim’s Anika herself has taken.
“She did this? But how? I’ve seen her…” Marcus asks.
“Don’t underestimate Anika Borkova,” is all I can say in response.
“None of our teams were able to get enough information, let alone come close… to proving anything, to being capable enough to… Jesus Christ,” he curses when he gets to the file of Yury Volkov. I know because I felt the same way, trying to picture how the same woman I spent the night with was capable of this just minutes before I met up with her. Yet, somehow, I understand after seeing everything else.
“She’s dangerous,” Henry says, and I don’t even try to disagree.
“She is, but she isn’t a psychopath. She only had one goal and it was to take this group of men down. I’d do the same thing,” I defend, and I know I could tell them what this very same group of men did to me, but it wouldn’t matter right now. It doesn’t change the past, and it won’t change Lance Jennings’ fate at this point.
“But still, the things she’s capable of… she can’t be walking free., Henry argues.
“She isn’t a bad person! She made the wrong choices, but for all of the right reasons. You can’t tell me that there wouldn’t have been a shoot to kill order on these men if you had known where they were, and all of these vile things they did!” I gesture to the computer where Henry is still devouring the files. “She’s brilliant, and kind, and…” I trail off on a defeated sigh.
Marcus meets my eyes, seeing my grief and somehow understanding me just as he always has.
He chimes in. “Henry, maybe Carter has a point. Anika is brilliant, and lethal. I mean, she managed to singlehandedly uncover an entire network of crimes – foreign and domestic with all the major players. None of our agents could do that. Not to mention, we never caught her, never had any idea of who was doing our dirty work for us. She could be an asset.” Henry only nods as if to take it under advisement.
A text alert interrupts the tension in the room.
“Got her,” Marcus says, already heading for the door. “They’ve got her just off Lander Street. She was last pinged by the Industrial District. Looks like Harbor Island. Carter, you can ride with us, but you have got to stay in the car. We’re not done talking,” he says and the three of us rush out of the house and into the black four door Ford. Marcus begins to rattle off the coordinates as Henry types them skillfully into the custom GPS.
The only thing I can do is hope my girl can hold her own until I can get to her.