“How long will this take, Doc?” I ask, glancing over my shoulder as he tends to Ardian’s injuries. The doctor already has an I.V. hooked onto Ardian’s hand and is sterilizing the tools to remove the pieces of shrapnel.
“Could be an hour,” he says. “Depends on how bad the damage is after I remove the metal lodged in his leg. Right now, it’s keeping him from bleeding to death.”
I exhale a sharp sigh and pace the length of the cabin from the living room to the kitchen. The space is small, quaint.
“Do you have somewhere else to be?” the doctor asks.
I can’t help but feel antsy, like a sitting duck waiting for the next target to strike. Mario wasn’t working alone. That was made clear by Yuri’s presence.
And if Yuri is working with someone other than Mikhail, who is it?
The squeal of tires kicking up gravel forces me to rush to the door, yanking it open, but it’s too late.
Aleksandra is gone.
“Fuck!” I curse, standing with the cold wind in my face and the heat of the cabin at my back.
I dig out my phone from my pocket and step outside, closing the door behind myself to call Gian. I need a car and an additional set of eyes on Aleksandra.
“What’s up, boss?” Gian answers. “You make it to Doc’s house?”
“Yes, Ardian is with the physician right now. I need you to get a car for me at this location. Aleksandra left with the kids.” I can track her with my phone, at least.
“Have you thought that maybe she doesn’t want to be found, sir?” Gian says.
“It doesn’t matter what she wants. Her life is in danger, and I don’t want my children to end up in the wrong hands.”
I’m finding it difficult to trust anyone right now, after Mario’s betrayal, but all along, I worried about his allegiance to me after Roberto’s death. He’d been playing with me, making me believe that I could trust him.
Are there any other mafia members looking to stab me in the back when I least expect it?
“Get me a vehicle,” I say, ignoring his remark. I end the call and pull up the tracking software to locate Aleksandra and the twins.
They haven’t gotten far, and I’m not sure how they plan on getting anywhere without a map or GPS to guide them.
Does Aleksandra even have any money to stop for fuel? What about a credit card for a hotel? Or will she return to Mikhail’s after all that’s transpired now that she knows he’s free?
She’d do anything for Sophia and Liam, but returning to Mikhail’s, that’s the worst choice she could make.
The tracker blinks with their movement down the main thoroughfare we came upon. The vehicle stops, or the tracker has difficulties finding the signal as it flashes in the same spot for several seconds. It doesn’t appear to be moving.
How long until Gian can secure a vehicle to my current location? He’ll probably reach out to a local used dealership and have a car driven down to me. But that takes time, and I’m not the most patient man.
I head back inside the cabin.
The doctor is working tirelessly to save Ardian’s life.
“I need to borrow your vehicle,” I say to the physician.
He grunts and mutters something unintelligible under his breath.
“I’ll buy you a new car and pay you double your fee for looking after my soldier,” I say. It’s not like I can’t afford it. And while Ardian is more than just a soldier, I don’t want to risk his life by letting the doctor that I barely know in on his position and worth to me.
He glares at me and then nods toward the front door. “The keys are hanging on the wall.”
“Thanks,” I say. It’s not like he doesn’t have Ardian as collateral as well.
I despise leaving my man behind, but he’s in no condition to travel and needs to be stabilized before I take him home.