Russian Boss’s Secret Baby by Bella King
Ch 28
SLATE
“The car! It crashed!”
I’m awoken by Michael, hovering over my bed as I sleep like a fucking oblivious creep. “What are you talking about?” I ask, still half-asleep and a little irritated.
“The Firebird, the exact one you were looking for, same plates and everything. It fucking crashed last night but nobody was found inside when the paramedics got there,” he says excitedly, as if that last detail wasn’t something to be extremely concerned about.
“That doesn’t make any sense, Mike,” I reply, trying to be as patient as I can. “A car doesn’t crash without someone in it.”
“Okay, maybe not, but I called around, and the hospitals don’t have anyone either,” he says. “That means that they both got out alive, or barely alive. Could you call in a favor to one of your buddies at the police station and see if they can get you the security footage from the stores in that area?”
“That’s… actually, yeah, I’m going to go do that right now,” I reply.
“It’s four in the morning, Slate,” he says somewhat hesitantly.
“Michael, this guy knows I could plant coke literally anywhere in his house, his car, or his office, and ruin his life completely. There’s more I could do with all the information I’ve got on him, but I’d start with that. This dude owes me a fuck ton of favors. I’m not worried about what time it is.”
I wave Michael off and grab my phone, dialing up my crooked police friend Don, knowing that he’s likely awake in bed next to a girl half his age. He gets them easily as a cop, offering them freedom for a night with him. It’s revolting, but I’ve known worse men.
“What do you want?” he says upon answering, clearly peeved.
“You’re going to meet me at the station in 30 minutes, and we’re going to get a warrant for all of the security tapes from the shops near the site of a crash that happened today, you understand?” I say.
“Slate, dude, nobody’s going to pick up their fucking phones for you at 4:30 in the morning just because I have a warrant. It doesn’t work like that,” he replies, and I can hear the hesitation in his voice. He doesn’t want to leave the woman in his bed, probably.
“You answered, and that’s all that matters right now. I’ll figure out the rest later,” I say, knowing full-well that he’ll be cooperative once I have him out of his house and away from his plaything. This is just the way he is, always forgetting who he works for.
I hang up the phone and get ready, joining Michael in the lobby before taking a sleek black sedan to the police station to meet Don. It’s ironic that I have to do business here, but there are only a handful of people there this early, which makes it the perfect time for me to work.
Don brings me over to his office, and within the next two hours, we’ve called in enough favors to get digital copies of yesterday’s footage emailed right to the office. The first few videos are unremarkable, just some kids making out in their car or a homeless man harassing a woman on the sidewalk.
After that, though, things get interesting.
A video that we received from the post office near the crash had a perfectly clear video of the crash when it took place. Katya swerved off the road and into a steep ditch where the car rolled five times and landed upside-down. Once the car lands, it’s a bit hard to see what happens next, so we play the video from the nearby strip mall.
I watch as the car flips over and over, finally throwing Mia headfirst from the windshield as the front of the car is stopped short by a light pole. Mia lies there for about twenty-five minutes, completely motionless, until finally she begins to move a bit. It takes her a long time, but she’s able to crawl to the car, presumably to look for the things she had brought with her.
It’s so hard to watch her struggle, especially knowing that she’s carrying my baby inside of her. She’s so strong, and I know that wherever she is, she’ll keep that baby safe. Right now, that’s all that matters.
It takes her a few moments to regain her bearings when she’s back by the car, but eventually she stands to her feet and is able to limp away towards the strip mall. Seeing her reach a safe place mostly unharmed is such a relief that I can almost feel my heart rate slow down, back to it’s normal rhythm. I think about the baby’s heartbeat, so fast and tenacious.
My trance of relief is broken after about five minutes.
A black SUV pulls up to the store and four men jump out of it, walking with intent towards the store. Before I even see her dragged out with a hood over her head, I know that she’s in huge trouble.
The video is long enough that I’m able to take down the license plate number of the vehicle.
After I write it down and search for it, I realize that the SUV belongs to a mining company that I used to have a deal with. I hadn’t heard from them for a while and assumed they went under. I housed a ton of product in their mines; all of it was lost.
Fortunately, I know exactly where the mine is.
Whether they went there first or not, I know they’ll be returning. The mining company doesn’t have a central office, so any shady business would have taken place in one of the mine shafts.
“Michael, I’m going to the mines to save Mia. You find a ride home. Thanks for your help, though,” I say with some remorse. I don’t want him getting hurt for the sake of my baby. He didn’t sign up for that.
Don leans back in his chair as Michael leaves. “What kind of fucked up shit have you gotten yourself into?”
“Speak not, lest ye be judged yourself,” I reply, standing up.
“What the hell does that mean?
“Something biblical,” I mutter, turning my back to him and walking out.
The drive to the mines is unusually quiet, almost as if there’s a huge event in the city that everyone has closed down for. This is extremely helpful to me, as most of the police presence that would usually be casing the city looking for civilians to harass will be at the event to harass those particular civilians. Their response time will be shit in case anything goes down or someone gets caught.
When I pull up to the mines, I realize that there is only one entrance into the shaft itself, and there is only one car parked here. There’s one man guarding the entrance, but he doesn’t appear to be the most engaged with his work.
“Today isn’t your day, buddy,” I say softly as I step out of my car.
As I approach him, he slowly turns to look at me, obviously not registering me as a threat.
That’s a mistake.
I take my pistol out from its holster and shoot him twice in the face. His body falls to the ground, crumpled in an inhuman manner. Whether he was with Katya or not is irrelevant to me. I only care about Mia and the baby now. Everyone else can rot in hell.
There’s an elevator to the mine shaft waiting for me, almost as though it’s beckoning me in. I know that’s where they went. There’s nowhere else for them to flee.
As I descend, I allow my rage to consume me.
Whoever is trying to hurt Mia is going to get what they fucking deserve.
