Page 52 of Devious Corruption

I’m on the floor, between the seats, sticking my fingers through the grate of Marion’s crate.

He saved her. That bullet could have easily hit him, too.

Eyes as large as saucers peer at me through the thin metal bars. She nudges closer to me, lickingmy fingertips.

“It’s okay, sweetie. We’re safe. Lev will keep us safe,” I whisper to her.

The car swerves, and I slide, hitting the seat.

“It’s okay now. You can get up,” Lev says. “Put your belt on.”

I manage to climb up into the seat and strap in. Resting my head against the window, I try to look behind us in the rearview mirror. No one’s behind us.

“Dominick? And the other two guys?”

“They’ll meet us.”

“Are they all right?”

“They’re fine.”

At a red light, he leans to the side, grabbing his phone from his back pocket. A tense, short conversation in Russian takes place. His accent gets so thick when he’s taking in his native language, I can’t tell if he’s angry or simply being himself.

“That was Dominik. They’re all fine, like I said.”

“Why where those guys shooting at you?”

His eyes meet mine in the rearview mirror. “They weren’t shooting at me, Max. They were shooting at you.”

Lev drives in silence. His hands grip the steering wheel while his eyes focus on the road in front of us.

My nerves are shot. Marion can sense my tension and begins to mewl in her crate again. I pull her out of the carrying case and put her in my lap. She rubs the top of her head against my chin, purring now that she’s out of her little box.

Where could Joey and Keith be, and why would they leave town without at least letting me know they’re okay?

Maybe they’re in bigger trouble than even Lev suspects. But if they would just tell me what they’re up to, maybe I can fix this. It’s a colossalsized maybe. The deeper they go into the shadows, the harder things become. But I have to at least try. I can’t give up on them.

Lev pulls into an underground garage and drives down two levels before coming to another garage door.

“Do you have the key?” I ask when we continue to sit at the closed door.

“I don’t need one.” A moment later there’s a soft beep from a box next to the door, and it rolls up for us. “It scans the car and the driver.”

I lean forward. “And the driver? What if I was driving?”

“It wouldn’t open,” he says as he pulls through, and the garage door immediately shuts behind us.

A dozen, maybe more, cars are lined up in a perfect row. Some are SUVs with dark tinted windows like the one we’re driving in. There’s also a Bentley, Porsche, a BMW, and others I can’t name, but they look as though they’d cost more than a year’s rent.

Lev finds a spot close to a set of elevators and pulls in. As soon as he parks, several men step up to the car. The trunk is opened, and my bags are pulled out, while another man opens my door. Lev says something to him, and he steps away.

“I can get out on my own, thanks.”

Lev snatches my hand, tucking it into his palm and walks me through the garage to a private elevator at one end. When the doors open, he pulls me inside, and his men wait with my bags outside.

“There’s room.” I try to tuck myself into the back corner, but Lev tightens his grip on my hand.

“They’ll wait.” He slides a card key into a slot and punches in a code, making the doors close.