My heart lodges in my throat as I slip out of the car, staying low and creeping along the fence line. My hands shake as I scramble under a bent portion of the chain link, scraping my palm on gravel, but I barely feel it.
This is stupid. Idiotic and reckless. And yet I don’t turn around.I can’t.
I crouch near an old delivery truck. I catch a flash of movement. A black SUV. Men in tactical gear shouting.
Then Viktor.
He’s running after someone, gun in hand, cutting across the lotlike a dark shadow with a sole purpose. The man he’s after is unmistakable even in the low sunlight.
My heart thunders.
Gennady.
I feel a scream burn through my throat. But I swallow it down. “No,” I croak. “No, no, no?—”
Gennady ducks behind a wrecked trailer.
Viktor rounds the corner after him.
A gunshot rings out. Sharp and brutal.
The world shatters.
Viktor slumps.
Collapses.
And Gennady sprints off into the darkness.
I hesitate until I see Viktor drag himself across the ground and radio for help. And in that split second, I decide to chase after Gennady.
I don’t know what’s making me do this. But I get the feeling that there might be more to come.
Gennady is thorough.
He doesn’t do anything by halves.
I’m light and quick on my feet as I follow his silhouette through the inky night.
Then I see Gennady duck into the shadows behind an outbuilding.
Is he just catching his breath?
Why isn’t he getting away?
Why is he lurking?
And why is he suddenly circling back to Viktor and the other men?
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
AVELINA
I don’t think.
I act.
My feet move before I can process what I’m doing. My keys are already in my hand as I sprint back to my car, stumbling over the gravel. I trip. Jump back up. Yank open the door. Leap into the car. The engine roars to life the second I twist the ignition. And I floor it.
