Fatal Truths (Heroes of Olympus Book 2) Page 16

  Fortunately, they were in and out of the attorney’s office quickly since all she had to do was sign the bonds for the non-profit foundation in front of a notary. “So what do you think we’ll do now? Are we all going to have dinner together while we are out and about? Since I signed the paperwork and we are all ready to get out of here and all, can we have dinner together?”

  Victor paused with his hand on the glass door leading to the street. He and the others all shared a look. “We’ll have to pick a place that doesn’t mind the hardware, sweetheart. Preferably low key and not very well known would be best. But I think we could swing it. If we’re lucky, they’ll sit us on the opposite end of the building from your brother.” He grinned and shifted slightly to wiggle his eyebrows at Mikhail.

  Later, she’d realize if he hadn’t moved the shot would have hit her instead of hitting Victor’s Kevlar vest. But in the moment, all she could focus on was the glass shattering and the fact Victor was thrown toward her. Crashing into her, he took her to the ground with a pained groan. Someone grabbed her wrists and yanked her from under his dead weight and into a seated position behind a solid post. Another shot smashed a vase, pieces flying everywhere, and the flowers and decorative branches inside tumbled through the air.

  “Victor!” Gareth yelled.

  “Alive,” he groaned. He didn’t move, but he did meet her gaze. “Son of a bitch, I’d forgotten how much that fucking hurts.”

  “Stay down,” James said. His look of relief likely mirrored hers in that moment.

  “Ya think?” Victor muttered.

  “What the hell is happening?” Kasper pulled the weapon from her boot and looked around from where she was seated on her ass behind a protective column. “Talk to me. What’s going on?” Her gaze went to Victor again to ensure he was okay. “Jesus, I would have been dead.” She felt her hands shake and swallowed hard. “If he hadn’t moved just that slight inch, the shooter would have killed me.”

  “Mik, what do you have?” Gareth called.

  “Nothing. Whoever was out there is gone,” her brother called back. “Wyatt, Nolan, let’s go double check. Everyone stay where you are. We’re going out of the side door, and we’ll sweep across the road. Shots came from the second level of the building, so keep your eyes peeled.”

  Blowing out a breath, Gareth reached over to squeeze her arm. “Victor’s okay. Bruised, but he’s not bleeding, which means the shot hit his vest and the vest did its job. Focus on that. Everything else can wait until we’re safe at home.”

  Kasper sucked back a half sob, half cry of hurt. She couldn’t take her eyes from her man; he was there and hurting and Kas couldn’t get to him. She felt as if it were killing her. He might have been hit in the chest and was moving, but he had still been shot, and that was not a good combination in her mind. She couldn’t touch him to reassure herself that he wasn’t bleeding out. Even though she knew intellectually that he wasn’t, her emotional side was currently in control.

  “Shit,” James muttered. He dug out his cell phone and stuck it to his ear. “Lincoln, any trouble?” He fell silent as he listened, met her eyes, and shook his head with relief flooding his face again. “Someone took a shot at Kasper here. Victor took it to the vest. He’s fine, everyone is fine. Mik, Nolan, and Wyatt are off clearing our path. We’ll be heading out as soon as we can. Unfortunately, it won’t be before the fucking cops arrive.” At his words, Kasper heard sirens in the distance, getting closer.

  “And us staying around while the cops are here is bad? Seriously? Shouldn’t we file a report and do everything that we need to do so that it is nice and legal? That way, when this bastard is caught we’re able to nail his ass to the wall nine ways to Sunday. Whatever it is, I would like for it to be legal. So do we stay?”

  “We don’t exactly have a choice,” Gareth said. James stuffed his phone away and shifted on the balls of his feet. “But we’re going to get a serious grilling given the hardware we’re carrying. Even with the IDs, this is going to take forever. We’ll stay. We’ll have a chat with the cops. But don’t expect much out of it except grief, Kasper. And a lot of paperwork.”

  “I vote we wait,” Victor said. “It hurts to even think about moving.”

  “Shut up, you’re alive,” James said. “On the plus side, the EMTs can take a look at him, and then ferry his whiny ass to the hospital.”

  Gareth shot him an annoyed look. “Kasper, you need to ditch your weapon. It’s not exactly legal. Owen, get the gear out of here we can’t legally be carrying before the cops arrive. Everyone should only have their handguns on them. Anything else goes back to the trucks. Now!”

  Owen collected a few pieces from the group, including the gun she had, and then disappeared out of the side door.

  Kasper looked to James and then to Victor again. “I need to go to him. Can I?” She ached to touch Victor, to make sure that her big guy was okay and not bleeding or dying on her. “Are you sure he’s not going to be hurt laying there waiting?”

  “They’re still clearing the building across the way,” Gareth said. “Victor’s fine. He’s breathing, there’s no blood, and he can move his feet. Victor, wiggle your feet for your woman so she knows you’re okay.” Giving a groan and muttering something she couldn’t hear, Victor did as Gareth demanded. “As soon as I get the all-clear from across the way, you can move over to him. Be ready for the cops, though. They’ll come in here full bore and looking for us to be the bad guys in this situation.”

  She nodded and looked from James to Victor and back again. “I just hate that he was hurt because of me. I wish that there was something that I could do to make him more comfortable. I’m sure that he’s all bruised like crazy right now. Hopefully he won’t have broken ribs.”

  “We heal faster than we used to,” Gareth said. “A couple days and he should be fine. If he has broken ribs, it might be a few more days for them to fully heal, but the pain will have dissipated soon enough.” He put a hand to his ear, and letting out a breath, he tucked his weapon away. “The building’s all clear. Get over there before the cops arrive. Guys, dig out your credentials and make this look all professional.”

  Kasper moved to Victor’s side as quickly as she possibly could. She touched her fingers to his cheek. “Talk to me, Victor. You’re good, right? Please, tell me that you’ll be okay,” she asked as she stroked her fingers over his cheek.

  “I’m fine, babe,” he said with a crooked smile. “As long as I don’t breathe too deeply or move, I’m perfectly fine. I’m just going to keep laying here for a time. I’m really beginning to like this floor. It’s stable and mostly comfortable. How are you? You okay?”

  “I’m good.” She leaned in and kissed him. “You saved me. If you hadn’t moved when you did, I would be dead.” The shot would have hit her square between the eyes. Kas was certain she wasn’t the only person who was realizing that small fact, either. “Whoever the shooter was is good. They’ve been trained.” She could have made the shot and knew Mikhail would have been able to do the shot with one arm tied behind his back and blindfolded, but regardless, it meant whoever it was, they were trained, which worried her.

  “I figured that out while laying here with my good buddy the very stable floor.” Closing his eyes, he shifted slightly, and screwing his face up he eased up to sitting position. “Holy mother of the Gods, that hurts.” Panting hard, he pulled on the Velcro to loosen the vest. Then shot her a pitiful look, and pouted. “Can you do the other side please, and get it off?”

  Kas undid the other side of his vest as well and helped to ease it off his body. “Would it help if I rubbed you a bit to help with the ache? Or would that be too much?” She didn’t want to do anything that would hurt him, that was for sure. “Tell me what you need for me to do, babe.” She leaned in and kissed his cheek again.

  “Pull up the back of my shirt and see what the damage is. Don’t poke,” he said softly. “I’d really hate to embarrass myself by screaming. It really won’t help my reputation an
y,” he muttered.

  “I won’t poke, promise.” She lifted the back of his shirt and winced. “Crap, it’s already turning blue and purple. Holy balls, the bruise sucks ass.” She hated that he hurt as much as he likely did. “Please, tell me how to help? Perhaps a massage? Not a hard one, though, promise.”

  “Nothing for now, love. Later, I’ll have you put on some ointment and maybe rub it down with liniment.” He was pressing at his ribs gingerly. “Nothing broken, but damn, they ache. I think I have a couple of cracked ribs,” he said.

  “Any trouble breathing?” Dieter asked him as he moved to crouch down before them.

  “As long as I don’t breathe too deeply, nah. Just aches,” Victor said.

  “Keep an eye on him, Kasper. The cops are here and securing the exterior. They’ll be storming in soon, so stay low and keep your hands where they can be seen. We’ll get through this as quickly as we can. I doubt you need to go to the hospital, but it’ll depend what we get for EMTs on the scene.”

  Victor nodded and lifted one of her hands to press to his chest. “If they even bother sending any in. We’ll see.” Turning his head, he looked back at her. “Hey, I’m fine, love. Promise. Give me a hug and hold onto me with your hands on my chest so they see them when they barrel in here.”

  “I’ll hug you when I’m sure that you are okay, but not a moment before that. I mean it. I will keep my hands on your chest, though, so they can see them and not think they need to shoot my happy butt. That would put a serious crimp in my plans.”

  “It would definitely put a crimp in mine. But I mainly said for you to hug me so I had a reason to lean back into you, babe. I’m feeling the need to get close to my good friend the floor again. Which is extremely embarrassing. So lean into me with all those soft curves and hold onto me so I can pretend to protect my manly reputation. Pretty please?”

  “Of course.” She smiled and moved so he could lean into her. “I’m always willing to let you lean on me,” Kas whispered against his ear and let him hug her. She looked up when the police started to enter the building. She was grateful Mikhail took point and started to talk to the cops.

  Victor leaned into her and closed his eyes as he rested his forehead on her cheek. “I need a really hot shower and a very long nap. I’d forgotten how much getting shot sucks. At least this one hit the vest, though I’m still internally debating on whether that was better or not.”

  “I’m glad that you were wearing it, I wouldn’t have liked it if you had been hurt even more than this. When we get home, we’ll make sure you have all of that. I’ll also get you a drink or a few pills for the pain. How does that sound?”

  He let out a happy sound and nodded slightly. “A drink sounds perfect. A really big, seriously deep drink of the good stuff. No pills, though. I’ve never been very fond of taking anything like that unless it’s absolutely necessary. Oh hey, looks like we’re not all getting arrested today. Bonus.”

  “Smartass,” James said as he moved over to them. “And no, we’re not getting hauled off to jail. It was close. Had Mik given in to the urge to deck the one cop, it would’ve been a different story, but he held out. They have EMTs outside checking a few people over that got hit with glass. You want them to look at you?”

  “No, I’m okay. Just get me home,” Victor said, lifting his head. “A few hours of sleep and I’ll be mostly back to normal.”

  James looked to her and lifted an eyebrow. He was obviously waiting for her opinion on the matter.

  “Are you sure?” Kasper asked Victor and then looked to James and Mikhail. “You guys have seen him hurt before—what do you both think?” She had to know that if they took him home it wouldn’t cause more trouble for him.

  “One to ten, Victor,” Mikhail said.

  “Six,” he told him.

  Nodding, Mikhail waved her out of the way. He went to one side while James moved to Victor’s other side. Slowly, they helped him to his feet. “He’ll be okay, Kasper. We take injuries seriously. But he’s only rating the pain at a six, so he’s good. I’d be more worried if he said a low number or a ten. Low is bad because it means he’s not feeling it, and high is just as bad. With where he feels, he’s at in the mid-range. We’ll take him home and keep an eye on him. As long as the pain doesn’t get any worse overnight, I wouldn’t worry.”

  James picked up his vest and whistled as he looked at the back. “That is a big-ass slug. You are fucking lucky it hit the double plating in this thing.”

  “Told you I had a bad fucking feeling about all this,” Victor muttered. He was leaning heavily on Mikhail and holding his ribs with his free arm.

  She saw the vest as well and felt a little faint, something Kasper never had felt before. “Oh God.” That would have blown her head apart completely. “I’m ready to go home now. Also ready to not leave until you’ve all assured me it’s okay.” Then again, that would be when they decided that it would be time for them to leave as well, which made her sad because she had grown accustomed to having all of these men around. Kasper wasn’t familiar with feeling afraid; she was used to being in charge and had been in more than one life-or-death situation, but this was too much for her. She felt as if she was losing her family, but at least she would be keeping Victor and James.

  Victor reached over for her hand. “Hey, none of that,” he said softly. “Come over here and give me a hand out to the truck. I think you need to stay cuddled up close to me, babe. Preferably glued to my side—the good side, though, please.”

  “I think that I need to as well.” She needed to stay close to him just to know he was okay. “Please tell me that you guys will find this asshole soon. That you’ll be able to nail either my uncle or whoever it is that is out to kill me.” She could pray they found whoever did it soon.

  “We’re working on it,” Mikhail told her quietly. “We’re also not going to stop until someone’s ass is nailed to the wall. Now, let’s get the hell out of here before the cops start thinking up ways to hold us or charge us. Out the side door, everyone. Move it.”

  She was more than happy to listen to Mikhail and helped Victor out of the building as best she could.

  Chapter Fifteen

  While Victor was sleeping, Kasper slipped downstairs to get him something to eat. She found Owen spread out all over her kitchen table with four laptops, papers all over the place or in teetering piles, and looking more than a little frazzled. He was talking into his phone headset in some language she didn’t understand, but he sounded extremely unhappy.

  He paced around the kitchen, barely avoiding running into her as she wandered in. She wasn’t even sure he’d seen her as his voice rose and the words came faster. “Son of a bitch!” he snapped finally. Turning, she saw him at one of the computers typing frantically. When she went to ask him what was going on, he answered another call in what sounded like Spanish. Kasper caught a few of the words, but he was going too fast.

  Owen moved to another laptop to type as he continued to chatter with whomever was on the other end. This went on while she prepared Victor’s snack and made him up a cup a coffee in one of the travel mugs. Silence behind her finally caught her attention, so she turned to look at where Owen stood staring at a computer with a blank expression. “I’ll call you back,” he muttered into the headset before tearing it off. Muttering, he tapped away at his phone, even while she heard voices getting closer to the kitchen.

  “What’s going on?” Nolan snapped when he entered the kitchen. He stopped whatever he’d been about to say next when he caught sight of her and then moved over to her side. “Hey, how’s he feeling?” he asked in a gentler tone than the one he’d just used on Owen.

  Over his shoulder, she saw Owen blink at her and then lift a hand in a wave as he gave her a crooked and embarrassed-looking grin.

  “So now that you realize that you are no longer alone,” Kasper said, moving to Owen’s side, “how about you tell us what has you all sorts of out of focus enough that you don’t realize that you have a bu
nch of people in the kitchen with you? Talk to us.”

  “They actually just got here. You, I didn’t see wander in, though, sorry about that,” he said, making a face. “I’ve been trying to track the money. Everything else is so obscure, and in some form of code, that it could take months to break the pattern. So I thought I’d go back to the money. See where it came from. I’ve tracked most of it through several countries—and had to call in some help from friends who know the areas better than I do to assist in the continuation of the money trail.

  “The biggest problem is some are straight-up numbered accounts. No online records of who they belong to, so it’s hard to figure out anything from that. The other problem is some countries have some serious protection on their banking systems to prevent basically what I’m doing, the tracking of money transfers. What it all boils down to is bouncing around the globe a few dozen times in the last eight hours trying to figure out if the money started here. And of course, if it did start here, where? The other issue is the fact that occasionally the funds are split. We found one such split that paid for a gun for hire. I have one of my friends following that money and the gun to see if he came into the States. Oh, is that coffee fresh?”

  “Yes, the coffee is fresh.” She moved so that she was at his side and looking around. “I think that you need sleep more than coffee. Why don’t you go and take a nap while your friends work on the money trail? You can always wake up if they call you and take care of things from there, but right now you need sleep.”

  He frowned down at her before hooking an arm around her shoulders. “You’re a good egg, Kasper. But you should be off using all that natural mothering instinct on Victor. If I promise to go have a nap, will you swear to keep the coffee fresh until I get back down here? These guys will empty a pot and then not put one back on. Savages, I tell you.” He gave her a grin and let out a breath. “A nap does sound good, though.”