“If they’re not sure whether any girls got out during the raid,”

Rebecca said, “then it makes sense to watch the house. Where would girls like that go except back to the only place where they had shelter?

They don’t speak the language, they don’t know the city, they’d have no way of making money. They wouldn’t even be able to sell their bodies.”

“So the Russians have probably seen Mitch with her.”

Rebecca nodded, rolling forward again until they cruised through the intersection at the end of Mitch’s block. “That could turn out to be a good thing. It definitely helps establish their connection.”

“Unless they’ve decided Irina is a liability, or they think she got

• 107 •

RADclY fFe

out of the building because she was the one who fingered them. Then they just might dispose of her, and anyone who might miss her.”

Rebecca parked and turned off the engine. Mitch’s motorcycle was pulled up onto the sidewalk in front of the building where he and Sandy lived. Settling into surveillance mode, Watts pulled a crumpled pack of Camels out of the inside pocket of his equally crumpled suit jacket and shook one out.

“There’s too much we don’t know,” he said. “The whole setup blows.”

“For once we agree.” Rebecca glanced over at him. “Not in the car.”

“Jesus, Loo, I’ve been in this sardine can half the night.”

“And just think how much cleaner your lungs are already.”

He snorted and stuck the pack back in his pocket. “You really think we’ll get close to the guys at the top using a bottom-level whore like Irina?”

“Irina isn’t a prostitute—and even if she was, that doesn’t make her unimportant.” Rebecca struggled not to jump down his throat, because she knew his crude disregard for just about everyone was often a substitute for concern. Of course, sometimes he really just didn’t give a damn. “How many women do you think there are like Irina? With enough English to deal with clientele and enough strength and smarts to handle a house full of girls and keep them from panicking or running away? My guess is they’re going to want her to set up housekeeping with a new bunch of girls as soon as possible.”

“It’ll be sweet if it works that way.”

“Yes,” Rebecca said, thinking of the million ways it could all go wrong. “Sweet all right.”

v

Irina turned in a half circle, surveying the room. “You live here?”

“I flop here sometimes.” That was stretching the truth by a lot.

Mitch kept the room as part of his cover but he’d never actually spent a night in it. He slept with Sandy, three doors down the hall. “There’s milk and bread in the refrigerator. And peanut butter in the cabinet.

That’s all I had time to get, but—”

• 108 •

Justice for All

Irina laughed. “I know how to shop, unless you’re going to lock me in here.”

Mitch flushed. “I’m not your jailer. I know you probably don’t want to be doing this, and if you want to walk away, that’s between you and Clark.”

“And you won’t try to stop me?” Irina’s tone was incredulous.

“No.” Mitch indicated the mattress pushed into one corner of the small studio apartment. “I’m sorry. I don’t have any sheets, but there’s a blanket and the mattress is new.”

Irina sank down on the mattress and dragged the blue blanket around her shoulders.

Guiltily, Mitch said, “Why didn’t you tell me you were freezing?”

“Because I wasn’t. This…” Irina waved her hand toward the window. “This is not cold for me.”

Mitch shook his head. He wasn’t thinking the way he should be. “I should have given you my jacket while we were on the bike.”

“No matter. The cold will pass. But I am tired. I couldn’t sleep where your friends put me.”

“They didn’t hurt you, did they?” Mitch had no idea how far the feds would go to convince someone to flip on their associates. Probably pretty damn far since 9/11, especially when foreign nationals were involved.

“They tried to frighten me.” Irina shrugged. “I have known men who were better at it.”

Mitch didn’t doubt her. Why else would she have fled her country on just the word of strangers? “I’m going out. I won’t be back tonight, but I’ll bring coffee and something to eat in the morning. Then we can get this place into some kind of shape for you to stay here.”

Irina regarded him steadily. “You have someone.”

Mitch knew he probably shouldn’t talk about his personal life.

He definitely didn’t want Irina to know anything about Sandy. But he needed her to trust him, and trust meant taking a few risks. He nodded.

“Yes.”

“And this…girl? You like girls, yes?”

He nodded again.

“This girl, she doesn’t complain when you fuck other women?”

• 109 •

RADclY fFe

Irina draped the blanket around her like a shawl and leaned back on her arms. Her breasts thrust forward, straining the buttons on her blouse.

Mitch sensed he was being tested, and he wasn’t certain what answers he should be giving. He remembered Frye saying once that the truth, or at least part of the truth, was often the best answer in a tough undercover situation. “She minds.”

Irina pulled the blanket closed over her breasts and curled on her side, resting her hand beneath her head as she pulled her knees up close to her body. “Were you going to fuck me, before the police came?”

“No,” Mitch said, sliding his hands into his pockets. His jeans tightened over his cock, and he felt the pressure through to his spine.

“But I wasn’t pretending, either. You’re…very hot.”

Irina’s eyes drifted down his body, lingering on his crotch. Mitch didn’t move, but he twitched in his jeans. “Go, new boy,” she said softly. “For tonight.”

“I’ll see you in the morning.” Mitch walked to the door, then looked back. “Do you have a picture of your sister?”

“Why?”

“Because it will help us find her if we know what she looks like.”

Irina shook her head. “No. The police will lock her away. Then I will never see her again.”

“I won’t let that happen.”

“Even if I believed you, you are just one.” Irina folded her arms and pillowed her head, then closed her eyes.

Mitch returned, crouching down by the side of the mattress. “I’ll talk to some people. About protecting your sister, okay? Then will you let me see the picture?”

“Do you keep your promises, new boy?”

“Yes,” Mitch said.

Irina opened her eyes, searching his face. “Come back in the morning. Maybe we’ll talk.”

v

Sandy heard footsteps in the hallway and a shadow blocked out the sliver of light beneath the apartment door. She wrapped her arms around her bent legs and rested her chin on her knees, holding her breath until a key rasped in the lock. Mitch was backlit briefly in the square

• 110 •

Justice for All

of light as the door opened, then his blade-like figure disappeared into darkness again.

“You can turn on the light,” Sandy said when she heard him bump into something.

“Jesus,” Mitch gasped. “It’s three in the morning. I thought you’d be asleep.”

“Not without you.”

“Didn’t you get my note?” Mitch fumbled on the dresser a few feet from the door and pulled the chain on the small lamp. He removed his jacket and hung it on a hook on the wall.

“Yeah, I got your message. What’s this shit about not coming back for a while? And where are your clothes?”

Mitch sprawled on the couch beside her and kicked off his boots.

“I’m going to be working a lot at night, so sometimes I might not make it home.”

“I get that. That happens sometimes. But something else is going on this time, isn’t it?”

Mitch stared at the ceiling. Frye hadn’t said not to tell her. “I’ve got this assignment. We’re going after the mob who are hooked up with the Russians.”

“I know that. Frye thinks with foreign girls out of the picture, all the action is going to swing back to the local girls again. I’ve been asking around. I think she’s right.” Sandy turned sideways on the couch and poked Mitch’s shoulder. “What’s your part?”

“One of the Russian girls flipped after she was arrested. I’m working with her.”

Sandy jumped to her feet and strode across the room, then spun around. “Working. Working as in what? Following her? What?”

Mitch sat forward, trying to stay calm. “We’re supposed to be a couple. So she can get me close to some of the guys in charge.”

“Perfect. It’s Irina, isn’t it?”

“Yeah.” Mitch didn’t see any point in denying it. Sandy knew Irina, or at least what she looked like. She’d seen Irina’s picture when she was screening porn videos for Frye, trying to identify the models.

She also knew that Mitch had had to get physical with Irina before.

Sandy stalked back to him, her eyes narrowed. “Where is she?”

“In my apartment down the hall.”

“Which is where you moved your clothes.”

• 111 •

RADclY fFe

“I thought I better have a change of clothes there, just in case.”

Mitch waited, expecting an explosion. When it didn’t come, he really started to worry. “Look, I know you’re pissed off.”

“Is she there right now?”

Mitch nodded. “She’s going to be staying there for a while.”

“Why aren’t you there?”

“Because I’m here.” Mitch stood up suddenly and pulled Sandy into his arms. He couldn’t stand the distance between them any longer.

She felt stiff in his embrace, but she didn’t push away, and she would have if she’d been really, really pissed off. He rubbed his cheek against her hair. “I’m sorry. I wanted to tell you earlier, but then we had a fight, and I didn’t have a chance.”

“I’m going to kill Frye,” Sandy whispered.

Mitch laughed. “Good. Better her than me.”