Deadly Crossing (Tom Dugan 2) by R.E. McDermott Read Free Book Online

with both hands. After a moment’s resistance, the door opened with a metallic shriek followed immediately by the raucous clanging of an alarm.
    Anna started in, but Borgdanov put a hand on her arm. “We will get Dyed . Better you have van ready to go immediately, so we waste no time.”
    She started to argue, thought better of it, and nodded. “Take this.” She handed Borgdanov the Glock before rushing back to the driver’s seat.
    Borgdanov and Ilya rushed inside and found the open bedroom door only a few steps down the dimly lit hallway. Through the door they saw a big man crouched over Dugan, his fist drawn back as he prepared to land a blow.
    “Stop!” Borgdanov yelled in Russian, and the big man’s head snapped around just in time to receive a vicious front kick from Ilya that drove him over Dugan to land in a heap. Ilya was on the man in seconds, hammering his face with two more vicious haymakers.
    “Enough, Ilya!” Borgdanov shouted in Russian. “He is finished. Help me get Dyed up.”
    Ilya turned back to see Borgdanov stuff the Glock in his belt and reach down to help Dugan. Dugan brushed off Borgdanov’s hand and rose unsteadily on his own.
    “I’m okay. I just got the wind knocked out of me.”
    “We must go!” Borgdanov said.
    “Wait,” Dugan said, looking at Tanya cowering in the corner. “She recognized the picture of Karina. She knows something. We have to question her.”
    Borgdanov stepped to the door and glanced down the long hallway. “There is no time, Dyed . I think we have company very soon.”
    Dugan looked from Borgdanov to the girl and back again, then motioned Ilya towards Tanya.
    “Take her, and let’s get out of here!” Dugan said, and Ilya rushed to the corner to scoop the girl up and flee the building on Dugan’s and Borgdanov’s heels.
    They were nearly to the van before Tanya realized what was happening. She twisted in Ilya’s arms and screamed curses in Russian as she struggled to escape. He clamped a hand across her mouth to silence her and got bitten for his efforts. At the van, Dugan waved the two Russians and their struggling captive through the cargo door and slid it shut behind them, then jumped into the front passenger seat.
    “Go,” Dugan said to Anna, as she looked back to see Borgdanov and Ilya struggling to restrain a half-naked girl who was fighting like a wildcat.
    “Bloody hell!” Anna said.
    “Go,” Dugan repeated and was rewarded by the squeal of tires as Anna slammed the accelerator pedal to the floor.
    Kairouz Residence
London, UK
    Anna paced the expensive oriental carpet and muttered under her breath, pausing occasionally to glare at Dugan and the two Russians seated on the sofa. Alex watched her from a chair across from the subdued trio.
    “Bloody unbelievable,” she said out loud at last, directing her ire at Dugan. “You’ve really topped yourself this time, Tom. How could you?”
    “It seemed like a good idea at the time. Besides, we rescued her.”
    “Let’s just recap, shall we. It’s a ‘rescue’ when the person wants to come with you. When you take them against their will, it’s called kidnapping. Do you see the difference?”
    “She’ll thank us when she understands,” Dugan said.
    “And how’s that working out so far?”
    “Anna, I know you’re upset,” Alex said, “and there’s no doubt Thomas’s action was impulsive, but what’s done is done. And if anyone can reach the girl, it’s Gillian.”
    “And what’s the plan if Gillian can’t ‘reach’ her? Do we drag her down to the basement and water-board her until she tells us what we want to know?”
    “Please, Anna. Do not be angry at Dyed ,” Ilya said. “Is my fault. You are trying to help me, so problem is my responsibility, and I took the girl, not Dyed .”
    “After he told you to,” Anna persisted.
    “You’re right,” Dugan said. “I didn’t think it through, but as Alex says, what’s done is done. Let’s just hope Gillian can get