Lost(67)

Hanna said, “He won’t come after you if you let us go. I swear to God.”

“I’m not worried about your brother coming after me. I’m untouchable here in the U.S. But he’s caused all kinds of problems in Amsterdam. We’re one big organization. Roman and Emile Rostoff are brothers. You didn’t really think we’d let Albert return to Amsterdam, did you?”

Hanna shot him a nasty look. “This was your plan all along.”

“Part of it, yes. I knew we’d have to deal with your brother.”

Her mind raced, searching for options. For the first time since this whole ordeal started, she realized she had none.





CHAPTER 99





HANNA FELT THE panic rise in her throat. This man wanted to ruin her life. He was going to murder her brother or her daughter. How was it possible that he had her in this position? He wasn’t some sort of feudal lord. He was a Russian gangster.

Billy was looking at Hanna as if he expected her to cry. He couldn’t have been more wrong. She wasn’t sad; she was furious. Furious and scared for her daughter. There was no combination more potent for a mother.

Hanna said, “You won’t let us go, even though you have the diamonds?” It was hard to say the words in such an even tone.

Billy said, “I am quite sorry. I wish it could be different. Until your brother shows up, you and your daughter will remain my guests.”

“I don’t want to leave here with you.”

“What you want is of no concern to me. Your failed attempt to smuggle people not only didn’t pay off your previous debt, it cost us additional resources and our most valuable law enforcement contact. Your debt to us is now quite significant.”

“Even with the diamonds? That’s nonsense.”

Billy didn’t smile when he looked Hanna in the eye and said, “Speak to me that way again and your daughter will go through life without a left ear.”

Hanna couldn’t keep her eyes from drifting down to the knife Billy had set on the table. Suddenly, she felt like she had no control over her own actions. There was no conscious thought as she moved.

She reached down and grabbed the open folding knife on the table. The blade looked nasty, all sharp angles and gleaming steel. She brought the blade up and swung it at Billy’s face as fast as she could.

The muscular Russian was quick. He jerked his head back, and the blade missed him by an inch.

Hanna swung at him again, but the result was the same. A smile spread across his face. That stupid, infuriating smile.

Hanna couldn’t stop herself—she drove the sharp blade into the top of his left hand. She felt the steel pass through his flesh and tendons and then stick firm in the wooden table. Blood spurted up from the wound like a tiny oil-well gusher.

Billy’s eyes bulged and he let out a wail. It hurt Hanna’s ears, but it was satisfying to know she had hurt him so deliberately.

The two men closest to Billy rushed to his aid.

Hanna shouted in Dutch, “Run, Josie! Run!”

Her daughter didn’t need to be told twice. She jumped off the bench and turned to run.

One of the dark-haired young men moved from Billy and grabbed Josie. She didn’t make it three steps.

That’s when Hanna heard the first gunshots.





CHAPTER 100





THIS WAS LIKE a lot of operations I’d run in my career. We were making the most of our limited resources and I was working with the local police without telling my supervisor. Everything was going about like I’d expected it to.

Rolling down Ocean Drive in my Explorer, I strained to see where Hanna had gone with the backpack. That was what the Russians wanted, or at least the diamonds inside it. That’s what I was looking for. That’s where I’d find the Russians.

The last I heard, Hanna’s brother was still sitting in the rental car somewhere near the Clevelander Hotel. I could hear bits and pieces of music from the band around the Clevelander pool. Everything in South Beach picked up near dark.

Marie pointed to the road and shouted, “There!”

I saw him. Running across the street was Albert Greete with a pistol in his hand that he was aiming toward the beach. I heard gunshots. Holy shit. This crazy Dutchman was running through traffic shooting at someone.

I mashed the brakes and felt the car behind me crash into my bumper. That was the least of my problems. I popped on the blue lights and bailed out of the car.

Marie came out of the car with me but had the sense to wait by the vehicle.

Just as I pulled my service weapon, panic set in among the pedestrians. It started as a low rumble, then progressed to screams. Vehicles screeched to a halt and I heard the unmistakable thuds of cars smashing into other cars. A BMW swerved into a light pole.

A family with two little kids coming off the beach stepped right into the line of fire. My heart stopped when I saw the little girl’s face. The beefy father grabbed the kids and fell to the ground, covering the children. That was some good tactical sense. He had to be a Miami native.

People on the beach were running as well, topless women and buff men who had no idea where they were going. It looked like a disaster movie, but only I knew all the terrible things that could really happen in this story.

When I got closer to the beach, I saw Albert exchanging fire with big men dressed in suits—Russians, I assumed. I couldn’t see Hanna, but I knew where I was headed.