Drake Sisters 03 - Oceans of Fire

of the shadows. I hadn’t even noticed him, but I could tell everyone was afraid of him, especially Chad.”
    “Chad was going to let them shoot Mason?” Jonas swore and turned away. “I would never have thought that of him.”
    “Maybe he didn’t have a choice,” Abigail said. She glanced questioningly up at Aleksandr, reading the answer in his eyes. He believed, as she did, that the man coming out of the shadows was Prakenskii. It stood to reason that Chad would be very afraid of him.
    “The man said they could use Mason. He said Volstov or the cops didn’t have a clue what was going on and why should they take the chance. Chad could transport it and they’d hold Mason until he returned. I didn’t know what it was, but Chad kept shaking his head and looked like he was going to cry.”
    “They referred to something as it , but they didn’t say anything at all that would help you identify what it was?” Jonas asked.
    Sylvia shook her head. “They talked about what a threat Volstov could be. Even Chad said so.” She looked at Aleksandr. “They must be afraid of you. Can’t you do something? Please do something.”
    “This man, the one they were all afraid of, did he talk with a Russian accent? Was his hair worn fairly long?” Aleksandr asked.

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    Sylvia nodded. “He said something to Mason I couldn’t hear and Mason kicked out at him. The man seemed to get mad and he told Mason if the police came anywhere near the barn, he was a dead man.
    Mason spit at him. He shoved his gun against Mason’s head and I couldn’t help myself, I screamed.”
    “That doesn’t sound like Prakenskii,” Aleksandr said.
    “Yes! That was his name. The other Russian man called him Prakenskii. It sounded different when he said it, though.” She took the tissue from Joley and blew her nose. “He came out of the barn and I ran as fast as I could. About halfway to my car, he caught up with me, grabbed my ankle, and I fell down. I kicked and scratched him and fought until I was free. I was frantic. I ran back to my car and he shot the gun once and missed me. He called out to me that if I went to the police, he’d kill both Mason and Chad and hunt me down.”
    Aleksandr sank back on his heels. “You were able to get away from Prakenskii? He shot at you and missed?”
    “I kept kicking until his hands slipped off of me,” Sylvia said. “Jonas, if he sees me with you and knows you’re a cop, he’ll kill Mason.”
    “Sylvia,” Libby said, “I want to help you calm down a little. Jonas and Aleksandr will get Mason back and I’ll give you a mild sedative. You can stay here with us until they bring Mason to you. It won’t help him if you make yourself sick.”
    Sylvia touched her face. “Can you take away the rash?”
    Libby glanced at Hannah, who shrugged and lifted her hands palms up in a gesture of surrender. “Only you can do that, Sylvia,” Libby said. “You have to do the right thing.”
    “You’ve said that before,” Sylvia wailed. “I don’t know what the right thing is.”
    “Apologize to Abbey for slapping her.” Joley fought to keep the exasperation from her voice. “I don’t think that’s too much to ask. She didn’t intentionally use the word truth and you were the one who screwed up and was having the affair. You should never have hit her.”
    “It doesn’t matter,” Abigail said.
    “It does,” Joley insisted, Hannah nodded her head in agreement. “It’s the only way to get rid of it.”
    “All I have to do is apologize?” Sylvia asked incredulously. “I’m sorry a thousand times. You have no idea how sorry I am.”
    Libby drew her out of the chair. “Come with me. We’ll get you cleaned up and you can rest.”
    Sylvia touched her face. “Will it really go away now?”
    “Yes,” Joley confirmed.
    “And you two will get Mason?” Sylvia asked the men.
    Jonas nodded and waited until Libby had led her away. “You don’t think she got away on her own? Do Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    you think she’s lying?”
    “It’s possible, although I don’t know why she would.” Aleksandr frowned as he tried to puzzle it out.
    “There’s no way she could have gotten away from Prakenskii. And he’d never miss.“
    Abigail cleared her throat. She took a deep breath and let it out. “She’s not lying.” She had promised herself she’d never divine