Secrets Collide (Bluegrass Brothers)

pull a blanket over her. She had handled today well, but he knew from experience it was the quiet of the night when the nightmares struck.
    “You’re right.” Gemma gave a little smile and pushed her seat back. The large seats allowed her to roll onto her side and look out the window. She heard Cy move and then the overhead lights were turned off.
    Gemma closed her eyes, but images of Gia filled her mind. Of them skiing at Big Bear, at the beach, at graduation, and the hours they’d just talk on the phone when they first moved into their own apartments. The emptiness gripped her and she felt her body shudder. Fred curled closer and snuggled his small head into her shoulder. When the despair was so strong she felt as if she’d break, a warm hand touched her back. She leaned back into its heat and strength as she let the tears come.
    “It’s okay, Gem.” Gia stood next to her as they looked up at their new high school. “I won’t let anything happen to you. You’re in good hands.” Gia reached down and held her hand. Gemma didn’t want to admit it, but starting at the new school scared her to death. But she didn’t have to admit it, her sister just knew.
    The memory brought a sense of comfort to her as she let Cy rub gentle circles on her back. Gemma’s tears dried up and slowly her eyes closed as Gia talked to her through her dreams.
     
    *     *     *
     
    Sergei watched the boss pace back and forth in front of the huge floor-to-ceiling windows in his penthouse. He was in one of his moods. His boss ignored everyone in the room while he talked to himself.
    “They’ll find you, just like that bitch did,” his boss mumbled as he turned around to pace the long length of the opulent living room once again. “No, they won’t. I haven’t been caught yet.” He turned again on his heel. “Sergei!”
    “Right here, sir.” Sergei stepped forward as his boss returned to reality.
    “Are they watching us?”
    “Who, sir?” Sergei tried not to roll his eyes. It meant a lot more work for him when his boss was in this mood.
    “You know who. Sweep the place for bugs and then find that damn woman. I need those flash drives. I know they exist. I know it,” his boss yelled as he slammed his hand on the shiny glass coffee table. “Ready the jet. I’m going back to Virginia.”
    “Yes, sir.” Sergei knew he’d also have to sweep the massive mansion in McLean, Virginia, right outside Washington, D.C., before his boss even set foot inside. His paranoia was growing worse. Failing to retrieve that damn reporter’s research had pushed his boss over the edge.
    His boss disappeared into one of his multiple panic rooms in the apartment. He had at least three in every property he owned. He never rented when he was in a new city; he just bought houses through shell corporations. He kept a few of them but sold the ones he wasn’t going to visit again. His theory was it was hard to find him when no one knew where he was going to be. The deeds would be signed and paid for in cash and then never recorded until after his business had been resolved and he left town.
    “What do we do about that gossip reporter—the sister?” one of his underlings questioned as the other started sweeping the room for bugs, again.
    “Find out everything you can about her. And for God’s sake, find out who that man was, too. A regular person does not walk around with a gun and have the ability to use it like that.”
    Sergei took a silent breath and let it out. Detective Greene had been assigned to the case. When they hacked the LAPD, they found that the man who helped the woman wasn't Detective Greene. “The room’s clean.”
    “I know. It was clean an hour ago, too, but sweep the rest of the penthouse anyway.” Sergei turned and walked out of the main part of the residence and into the small secure computer room where one of his men was already working on shifting through years of information on Gemma Perry.
    Sergei took a seat at one of the desks and started inputting everything he could remember of the man he had come face-to-face with in that alley. He would find him. It might take more time than his boss wanted, but Sergei never gave up on a mission.
     

CHAPTER SEVEN
     
    The plane hit the runway, rocking Gemma out of a restless sleep. She lifted her head off the window and saw that not only was Cy awake, he had also changed into a new shirt. He had shaved and it looked as if he’d slept well all night. On the