He might have a water bottle or mug in the front with him. But I’d never be able to get it without him noticing.
My body becomes very still as I think. The drug is a very fine powder. I wore plastic gloves to put it inside. My best chance will probably be to try to throw it in his face. For that, I’ll need to be close to him, and it might get on me too. I’ll have to try to jump back and to wipe my hands off immediately.
The van pulls off the main road, and my body goes rigid. The terrain must be uneven because we bump along for several minutes.
When we come to a stop, my heart nearly does as well. I’m free of the sheet, so there’s no way to pretend I’m still asleep. I need to be ready as soon as he comes. I shift so I’m curled close to the door, ready to spring, but when he opens the driver’s door the interior light goes on.
I look over my shoulder, and his cold eyes are staring back.
“Awake? Drugs never last very long on you.”
“You’re too late. I married Alexei Vesenina. If you kill me, my money will go to him.”
“What proof will he have that the girl he married was Mikhail’s heir? Without a body, there will be no DNA to prove it.”
We stare at each other for several beats. What is there for me to say to this? Nothing.
“If you had behaved, you’d have saved your life,” he says. “I could have had you killed in Russia, just like your father, just like your grandfather. That is what I planned at first, but the man I sent said to me, ‘Ivan, you should see her first. She’s more beautiful than many of the girls I send to you.’ So I looked at your picture, and he was right. I decided to spare your life. I decided I would marry you. Then I would finally have sons, and they would be the rightful heirs to everything Mikhail and I built. Because I did build the organization with him. For twenty years, I’ve been by his side. Can you imagine the betrayal? After so many years, he wanted to take everything from me and give it to Vesenina who’s what? Twenty-two?” Egorov makes a disgusted sound. “I should take orders from someone who was a little boy the first time Mikhail brought him around? No! Impossible!” He shakes his head. “Mikhail should not have tried to cut me out. And you should not have kept trying to run away! If you’d been scared like the other girls and did what you were told. None of them would dare to defy me. Only you. It’s in your blood.”
He scowls at me, grinding his teeth. “When I look at you, I see Kalashnik eyes staring back at me. They’re just like your father’s and Mikhail’s. The same fearlessness. What sons we could’ve made.” He sighs and then smiles to himself. “Even now you don’t beg or try to tell me lies to save yourself. If you see your dead father and grandfather, no doubt they will tell you that they’re proud.”
He climbs from the driver’s seat and closes the door. I don’t wait a second before rushing to the front of the van and going out the front passenger door. He’s on the opposite end of the van, which gives me a small head start.
I run as fast as I can.
The terrain near the mountains is rocky, and it’s so dark. If we’d been on the road, I might have been able to outrun him on foot, but I fall twice, and he drives the van after me and then jumps out and grabs me.
He knocks me to the ground, and I know what will come next. He’ll choke me to death. I’m certain of it.
I flip the latch on the ring and open it. When he bends over me, I blow with all my breath. A cloud of powder rises up, so I can’t see his face for a moment.
I hold my breath and turn my face away, even though my lungs are screaming for air.
He falls on top of me, the weight unbelievably heavy. When I take a breath, I taste it.
God, no!
My head swims, and the world moves in slow motion. Fear and pain disappear. I’m floating outside myself, like a cloud. The happiest cloud in the world.
CHAPTER24
Alexei
“Natalia! Natalia!”
My throat’s hoarse from calling her name. I don’t care if she can’t come. I reason that if they hear me, she’ll fight to stay alive, and Egorov’s man might come out to kill me, showing me where they are.
I know she’s probably already dead, but my mind and body refuse to stop looking. I keep checking my phone. I’m in the right spot. I hold it up as a flashlight over and over, but I don’t find a fresh grave. So I keep going.
When I come around a curve, there’s suddenly a van. Like a mirage. I jog to it and see the bodies.
I grab the man and jerk him away from her. He’s limp and still warm. I’m startled when I realize it’s Egorov himself. He’s a bluish color. I drop him, so I can kneel over her.
Her eyes are closed like she’s sleeping. Her skin’s soft and warm.
“Kiska,” I murmur, feeling for her pulse.
She’s not breathing very deeply. All the adrenaline comes roaring back. I put my mouth over hers and blow into it.
