Chapter Thirty-Two
Alex, Uly, and Lance used the good old-fashioned tactic of breaking and entering to get inside the North Pointe theater. The phone’s last signal had come from the exact center.
Once in the lobby, they ran smack dab into a hysterical Victoria St. Claire, who was trying her best to crawl quickly along the wall leading to the doors.
The woman had seen better days, but Alex’s hope surged as she recognized them, got up and ran over.
“Help!” she implored. “Please!”
The woman collapsed into Lance’s arms, and he let out a grunt. “Sure, now she acts innocent,” he muttered.
Alex looked around the empty lobby, drawing his gun.
“Scarlet’s in the theater,” Victoria managed. “I don’t know what happened. She told me to hide and run when it was clear. Nora got a hold of her. I tried to see if I could help her, but the man … I had to escape.” She broke down sobbing, unable to let go of Lance.
Lance shifted uncomfortably in Victoria’s grasp. “I’ll get her to safety and call the police,” he said. “You know, the ones who should be handling this. You be careful.”
Uly shrugged and raised a high-powered rifle over his head. “Don’t you worry, we got this.”
Alex frowned. He wanted to say something to the overly confident Uly, but hesitated.
“Let’s go, amigo.” Uly walked to the ornate theater door.
Alex watched Lance lead Victoria out before taking a deep breath. He stood behind Uly as he carefully cracked open the door and pressed his face to the opening.
“Big theater,” he mumbled.
Uly waited there for a moment, before turning his head to Alex.
Alex tapped his foot, hoping to convey his impatience to the man.
“They’re on the stage,” he said. “Your girl is in a line of fire. Head down that way and flank them—less light on that side. I can sneak in and get a shot on my bad guy.”
“You gonna kill him?” Alex asked.
Uly thought for a moment. “No. Boss won’t like that. I’ll do an arm shot.”
“Boss?” Alex tilted his head. He didn’t like that Uly seemed so twitchy. He was like a kid who’d just gotten his hands on a handful of Pixy Stix and was about to overdose.
“Need to take these idiots alive.” Uly sighed. “Jesus, shit was so much easier when I didn’t have to do everything by the book.”
Alex frowned. “When you said you may know some people who know some people who’ve dealt with problems like this, what did you mean?”
Uly winked at him. “Don’t you worry. Just rescue your girl.”
My girl, Alex thought as he watched Uly slink into the theater without a sound. Until that moment, he hadn’t allowed himself to think of the worst-case scenario, but now it mocked him. One wrong move, and he could get her killed.
Alex moved down the hall to a door in the middle and opened it slowly. He held his breath as he heard Andre’s voice.
“Make your choice, but please, make it fast. I have a schedule to keep.”
Alex knelt down and made his way to the side of the stage. Scarlet stood on the edge, looking down into the orchestra pit. Andrej walked closer to Nora, leaving Scarlet a decent amount of space. Nora began a tirade as Scarlet inched closer to the edge of the stage.
Make your choice… Alex realized Scarlet was going to jump off to escape Andrej.
Alex drowned the voices out as he maneuvered to the orchestra pit. The lip of the stage gave him some refuge as he made his way down the stairs and past the chairs in his way.
Scarlet looked back up, tears streaming down her face. She looked over her shoulder at Andrej and Nora, still fighting.
He holstered his weapon, positioned himself under her, willing her to shift her attention.
Look at me. I promise to get you out of here.
When she finally looked down, their eyes locked and she smiled. He winked, beckoned to her and mouthed, Jump.
A shot rang out into the theater, accenting Alex’s command. He heard Nora scream.
An instant later, Scarlet plunged off the stage and rushed toward him. She fell into his arms, knocking him to the ground beneath the sudden weight. Once they were safe, he exhaled as he cradled her body.
“You’re okay,” he whispered. “I’ve got you.”
Alex carried her under the lip of the stage to stay out of the line of sight. He wasn’t sure what happened up top, but he hoped Uly had his back.
Scarlet grasped at the collar of his black polo shirt, and kissed him hard before hugging him tight. Alex’s relief was overwhelming as he held her close, even though he knew the threat was still very much real.
“Maybe I was wrong,” Scarlet breathed. “Maybe I do need you to save me…” She released the hug, looking into his eyes. “From time to time.”
“Anytime you wanna fall,” he murmured with a smile. “I’ll catch you.”
More tears surfaced in Scarlet’s eyes and she nodded.
Alex couldn’t have picked a better moment. He needed to tell her now, before something happened. Chances were everything would crumble in moments.
“I love you.”
Scarlet’s eyes lit up. Her fingers played with the nape of his neck for a moment as her eyes searched his.
“I love you, too,” she whispered.
He pressed his lips against hers, and they both momentarily forgot where they were. All that mattered to Alex was Scarlet.
A cry of aggravation sounded from above them. Alex looked up in time to see Nora aim the gun. Alex pressed his body into Scarlet’s and kept them under the safety of the stage as Nora fired into the pit.
Another shot echoed into the theater with a whirring bang. A split second later, Nora let out a shrill scream, and the space above was silent.
Alex kept Scarlet behind him as he inched back out of the pit to theater aisle.
“Petrovich is loose,” Uly called out from the seats. “West wing!”
Scarlet stayed close to Alex as he kept his weapon trained in front of him. He surveyed the area. Nora was across the stage, crying and clutching her arm, her gun abandoned at center stage. Yuri was holding both his hands above his head. There was no sign of Petrovich.
“Get eyes on the back of the building, He can’t get far.”
Alex realized Uly wasn’t talking to him. He was talking into his wristwatch.
Something in Alex’s mind clicked, as a few of the theater doors opened, letting people he’d never seen before into the theater. They were armed and wore protective vests with their suits. They were too fancy to be cops, but they had badges. Briefly confused, he didn’t know what to do with his weapon.
He didn’t know who was who or what was what.
In the brief moment of confusion, Yuri pulled himself up and reached for his gun. Uly advanced on him quickly, and cracked him on the back of the head with the butt of the rifle. The husky man fell to the ground and turned on his back, blinking rapidly, his hands shot up in surrender.
Uly pointed the intimidating weapon right at his nose. “CIA, scumbag.” He threw him a smile and a wink. “Give me a reason.”
Alex and Scarlet looked at each other blankly as the theater sprung to life.
CIA, Alex repeated in his head. He counted at least six men and two women. He could see their badges around their necks glint in the low light. They’re CIA.
Alex instinctively raised his arms, surrendering his weapon to the group. He glanced at them, most of them rushed by to help Uly defuse the situation.
“You can put your weapon away, Mr. Strong,” a voice said.
Kyle Jackson walked up, also wearing a CIA windbreaker.
Alex did a double take, since he looked even less like a CIA officer than he did a detective.
“Thank you.” He nodded at Alex. “You took a few chances and saved these women, and probably a few hundred more in the process.” He looked around the theater. “I shouldn’t have let Uly take point. He always lets the big ones get away. I’m almost convinced it’s because he likes chasing them.”
Alex opened his mouth to say something, but Kyle held up a hand.
“I know.” He looked at the couple. “It’s a lot to take in, but good news! You’re both alive.” He adjusted his badge and cleared his throat.
Alex’s eyes narrowed in confusion at Kyle. “Not … Detective Jackson?”
The man smirked. “Not exactly. I’ve been working with the San Francisco Police for almost a year now trying to bag Petrovich. The guy is elusive as hell. He’s a part of a hydra system of human traffickers that broke off from a main hub that my boss busted a few years back. She wants this guy alive. It’s been tough to catch him.”
Scarlet’s hand slipped into Alex’s, but he kept his attention on the agent. “Petrovich?” she asked.
“Brevic’s real name.” Alex tightened his jaw. “Stefan Petrovich.”
Scarlet swallowed, closing her eyes. “Jesus,” she whispered.
“You’re safe,” he insisted. “It’s over.”
“Is it?” Scarlet glanced over at Nora. She was sobbing and bleeding all over as the agents tried to calm her down.
“Need paramedics in here,” someone called.
“Sorry for the smoke and mirrors,” Jackson explained. “We couldn’t quite break this whole ballet ruse Petrovich had going on. About two years ago, he disappeared completely after a nasty confrontation left one of our men dead. We’ve been trying to track him down since. He showed back up on the radar a couple months ago. We had to go through all the formalities of figuring out what the hell he was up to.
“We put surveillance on Frisco Met and North Pointe to get a better look. When things started to pick up, we saw a chance and placed one of our guys in your employ. I started to manipulate the situation a bit from there.”
Alex opened and closed his mouth a few times. “So… Uly…”
“Is CIA.” Jackson nodded. “I know, right? He’s a little unorthodox. Good guy, but…”
“A cowboy?” Alex raised an eyebrow.
“It’s kind of his thing.” Jackson shrugged. “And hey, it worked out. No one died. I’m shocked.”
Uly gestured back at Nora. “I only tagged her, but she’s a crier. If I actually shot her, her arm would barely be attached. I swear, she should be thanking me.” He looked Kyle up and down. “Boss said the paramedics can take these two down at Cal Pac. B team can process them there while we continue to search for Petrovich.”
“How pissed is she?” Kyle asked.
“She’s on her way.” Uly cringed. “She can let you know herself.”
Across the stage, Nora burst into tears. “What do you mean, gone? He wouldn’t just leave me. He wouldn’t!”
Scarlet turned her head away, as if unable to look in Nora’s direction.
“Tough life.” Uly shrugged as Jackson took Nora and led her away. “Being the pseudo-daughter of a crime lord. At least, I assume it is.”
“What’s going to happen to her?” Scarlet asked.
Uly pursed his lips. “Well, she’s the one connection we have to Petrovich. We’ll use that to our advantage. Hopefully before my boss gets cranky and makes her disappear.”
He tilted his head at Kyle and Uly. “Why’d you pose as a bodyguard and a detective to run this little operation? Seems like you would have done just fine on your own.”
Uly gave him a haphazard shrug. “I work better in a team, and you seemed trustworthy. I never met an Alexander I didn’t trust.”
Kyle nodded in agreement. “Sometimes you have to work outside the box.” He let out a long sigh. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a metric fuckton of paperwork to go file.”
Alex ran a hand through his hair and took a deep breath, trying to figure out what happened to get him to that point. The simple answer was, the CIA just needed some help.
Uly held out his hand for Alex. “You did good, man. Thank you.”
Alex shook the man’s hand and nodded. “No problem. Just … don’t do it again without letting me know.”
Uly chuckled and dropped his arm to his side. “There’s gonna be a lot of formalities to go over, but I know you two have had a long couple of weeks, so I’ll have my people call your people soon.”
“Agent Vega.” A feminine voice sounded from one of the far doors leading to the lobby.
Everyone turned to see a woman dressed in a pressed black suit with her arms crossed in front of her chest.
Alex noted her intense scowl as she tapped a stiletto heel on the ground.
“Well.” Uly pursed his lips. “I can tell I’m probably in trouble. You two take care.” He nodded at Alex and Scarlet before making his way over to the woman. Then he turned back.
“Oh, and Alex…” Uly winked. “This is the part where I tell you, if you ever want a job, let me know. I could use someone like you on my team.”
Alex couldn’t help the laugh that escaped his lips. He shook his head, putting an arm around Scarlet. He didn’t answer the man, nor did he need to. Alex was done fighting for now. All he wanted was to hold onto the things that were important to him.
The events of the past weeks flashed back through his head, and he had to blink to make sure it was all over.
Scarlet looked up at him. “Thank you, Alex. For everything.” She took his hands in hers, tracing his palm.
“Thank you,” he responded. “For saving me.” He caressed her cheek and brought his lips to hers. When Alex drew back, he stared into her eyes. “I love you.”
Scarlet smiled, exhaling as if relieved to hear the words again. “I love you, too.”
Lance sauntered in behind the paramedics, looking the couple up and down. “What’d I miss?” he asked.
Alex shook his head. “Everything.” Scarlet tilted her head at him, and chuckled. Alex wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tight. “But we handled it.”
“Looks like it.” Lance smiled. “Now, who needs a beer?”