Ruza removed her glasses, momentarily forgetting about her black eye. “I have no—”
“Ma douce amie, you’ve been injured. Who has hurt you, my sweet? I’ll kill the bastard.”
She arched her shapely gray eyebrows above her damaged eye. “You said you’re the owner of—” she looked toward the stage “—this cheap acting den?”
“Oui. The very one. Saber Lazie at your service, mon coeur.” He pulled out a chair and sat. “I haven’t seen you here before. Have you come to my city on business or seeking pleasure?”
“That would be my business.”
Another chuckle. “Oui, a spirited woman, with a snake’s bite. The man who hurt you, does he still have his legs?”
She studied him a moment, got a whiff of his cologne, but couldn’t recognize it. It smelled familiar. That was odd.
“All you need to know—Lazie—is that I’m not ripe for plucking. I’m waiting for my daughter. You’re sitting in her chair. As you can see, I’ve bought a drink from your lacking establishment, so I’m not loitering.”
“Ruza-a…do you dance?”
“How do you know my name?”
He stood. “It’s a fittin’ name, for one so lovely. I like slender women, and memorable names. You’re a feast for a man’s eyes and his imagination.”
His sharp eyes drifted to her chest.
Ruza considering going for the mace in her handbag, which lay on the table. Not yet, she thought. He still hadn’t explained how he knew her name.
She emptied her martini glass, then asked again, “Who told you my name?”
He shrugged, checked his watch. “It’s time to go.”
She saw him step around the table. Then his hand was on the back of her chair. With a sudden jerk he pulled it away from the table, and then lifted Ruza off her chair and tossed her over his shoulder. It happened so quickly she had no time to react or reach for her mace.
The bar crowd was too busy watching the stage to notice Ruza being carried out the back door. She began to pound her fists into his kidneys as he stepped out into the back alley.
Screaming, she fought harder, but the man was stronger than he looked. He ignored her blows as he rolled her inside the trunk of the car parked next to the building.
“Don worry, Cookie. I’ll let you out soon.”
Then he slammed down the trunk and the car’s engine roared to life.
Ruza started to scream again. Maybe someone would hear her. That hope turned to dust as the radio speaker inside the car began to vibrate and drowned out her cries.
The car sped away as Aaron Neville began to sing “Use Me.”
Oh, God. Lazie—if that was his real name—was going to assault her, then kill her.
Worse, at her funeral she would be sporting a black eye.
Chapter 5
Pierce stopped next to the women’s bathroom and pressed his ear to the door. He’d guessed right. She was on the phone, chewing off Polax’s ear, and anything else that was dangling unprotected.
“Fourtier never showed at the airport. And Yurii has already found us. One of his men was at the airport. Send someone to get us out of here. Pierce Fourtier is not only an asshole, he can’t tell time, either. If he’d picked us up when he was supposed to, that gypsy scum with the earring might have missed us loitering in the lobby. I want a new contact, and a new location. And you can tell your pal from Onyxx that I want Fourtier on his knees licking up garbage with his tongue for the next month.”
Pierce slowly turned the doorknob and slipped inside. He saw a pair of blue stilettos and slender ankles in the end stall.
He locked the door, walked to the last sink in a line of three and perched his backside on it, aligning himself with the door she was behind. Arms crossed over his chest, he lit a cigarette and continued to listen and learn what she really thought of him in between a few choice adjectives.
Minutes later he heard the toilet flush, and then Miss Bitch opened the door and stepped out, wearing a blue satin pantsuit.
“Lick up garbage with my tongue?”
“You… How did you get in here?”
“Not on my knees.”
She started for the door. Pierce slid off the sink and followed. When she tried the door and found it locked she spun around.
“You’ve been fired, so get off my back and stop breathing down my neck. Polax is sending someone dependable to pick up Mama and me.”
“I’m not off the job until I’ve been notified by my boss, and until then you’re my baggage.” He saw her hand disappear into her pocket. He grabbed her wrist, raised his arm and pinned it to the door. He dropped the cigarette to the floor with his other hand, and while it died a slow death, he said, “Your first mistake was running from the airport. Your second is trying to pull a gun on me.”
“I wouldn’t have had to run if my ride had showed. What was I supposed to do, let Petrov’s gunman stuff us in a trunk and drive us to the nearest landfill? Whatever plan your boss and Polax cooked up is a joke.”
“And you think I’m a joke, too?”
“If the shoe fits, buy a pair in every color.”
He could snap her beautiful neck so damn easy. Instead, Pierce backed off. After all, he was the calm and collected one, while she was the spitfire who never knew when to shut up.
She turned, unlocked the door and walked out. He followed, stopping in the hall to light another cigarette. He took his time, taking a much-needed drag of nicotine. As he entered the bar, he saw her head for the table where she’d left her mother.
She picked up the empty martini glass, then turned to search all four corners of the bar. When she didn’t see Ruza anywhere, she spun a half turn and nailed him with that bitch look that had made her famous in the spy world as one of Quest’s untouchables.
“Where’s my mother?”
“How should I know?”
“Because you’re a—”
“Oui, I know.” He sauntered to the table, sat down in a chair. “The words you used on the phone when you were burning Polax’s ears were, a useless turd in a sea of stink.”
“Where is she?”
“Sit down.”
“I said—”
“Sit.”
She hesitated, then jerked the empty chair out, and as she sat, she slammed the empty martini glass down between them. “Okay, I’m sitting. Where’s my mother?”
“On her way to Le Mystère.”
“With who?”
“The gypsy scum.”
The gypsy wasn’t one of Yurii’s loyal soldatos. Casmir contemplated that. Rationalized why it had been easy to make the mistake. Considering the man’s appearance at the airport, it had been an easy one to make.
“And where were you when we got off the plane, riding in the gypsy’s pocket?”
“I sent Lazie to pick you up in my place.”
“Without telling me? Why would you change the plan and send a new contact? Someone I didn’t know or expect? I’m confused.”
“Use