“Miro has broken his arm, sir, but we are mobile.”
“Question them. Miro can take what he needs from them.”
“Yes, sir.”
Vitki returned his attention to Ivo, although he had never fully taken it off. “Ivo? Are you hurt?” Vitki looked him over, searching for signs of injury.
“No, I think I’m okay.” Ivo shook his head, bits of glass shards flying free.
Vitki ran his fingers through Ivo’s hair just to be sure all the glass had shaken free. He might have lingered a little longer than he should have, but touching Ivo was a delight in itself. Making sure there was no more glass in the man’s hair was just an added bonus.
“Okay, we need to get out of this car, and we’re going to have to climb out the back. My side is pinned against a tree, and the other car is crushed into your side.”
Ivo looked dazed. “I can do that.”
“You must put your trust in me and listen to every word I say. If I tell you to run, you run. Don’t look back. Don’t stop. Just run. Is this understood?”
Eyes wide, Ivo nodded again.
“Good man.” Vitki patted Ivo’s arm before climbing over the seat. The back was open, Miro standing there holding his arm to his chest. “Have you taken care of your arm?”
Miro nodded. “Da. Is only tender.” He nodded to the far side of the scene. “Yuval question men who try drive us off road.”
“Go help him. I have Ivo.”
“Da.” Miro gave a curt nod and moved off.
Vitki climbed out of the open hatch and then turned and reached back for Ivo. “Come.”
Ivo climbed over the seat just as Vitki had before taking his hand and scooting the remainder of the way out of the back of the vehicle. His legs wobbled a bit when he finally stood. Vitki quickly grabbed onto his arm to steady him.
“You okay there, Ivo?”
Ivo looked at Vitki as if he were crazy. “Our car was just slammed against a tree. You fired a gun right over the top of me. ‘Okay’ isn’t a word I would use.” He ran his hands through his hair, as if trying to free glass that was no longer there. “I thought you said your guys went after the shooter at the airport?”
“These are different men.” Vitki pulled Ivo close when the magnitude of the situation crashed into him as hard as the car had. This was no accident. Vitki just didn’t know if this was the right time to tell Ivo. He didn’t think Ivo had realized all that had occurred yet.
He would.
Vitki held Ivo close just a moment longer before letting him go. He couldn’t afford to grow used to holding Ivo. Not even thelonginghe felt gave him a right to do more than see to Ivo’s safety.
In all honesty, he was a bit surprised that Ivo hadn’t decked him instead of letting Vitki hold him. But Ivo looked as if he needed the safety and security of Vitki’s arms, and Vitki hadn’t been able to deny either Ivo or himself. He was just thankful Ivo hadn’t been hurt.
He started to ask Ivo again if he was okay, but decided against it since Ivo hadn’t reacted very well to the question the first time.
Vitki turned toward the other side of the small, open area where they were. He appreciated the fact that Yuval was questioning the ones who hit them on the far side of the vehicle. There were some things Ivo did not need to see until everything had been explained to him in a calm, secure environment.
Yuval’s questioning technique was one of them.
“They know nothing, sir,” Yuval said as he rounded the car. “They are merely hired muscle. They received a phone call, a deal was struck, and money was transferred into their account, half now, half when the job is done. They never met whoever hired them.”
Vitki suspected as much. He wanted to believe that those of the Vítkovský Clan would attack head-on, not use subterfuge and thugs, but he couldn’t be positive. “Secure them. We will send someone back for them once we reach the estate.”
“Yes, sir.”
Vitki waited until Yuval walked away before turning to Ivo. “The estate is still a good twenty miles from here. We have to hike it and it’s going to be nothing but trees, darkness, and the possibility that there are others out there hunting us. Can you handle that?”
“I’m in the middle of nowhere, no car, with people after us for a reason I’ve yet to be told. Now I have to hike twenty miles in the wilderness. At this point, I think I can handle walking. Just as long as I’m not shot at again, or no one tries to run me over with their damn car.”
Vitki suppressed his grin. Ivo had fire in him. Vitki loved that. “We’ll be moving fast.”
“I figured as much.”
The one saving grace to this fiasco was that Ivo had no clue about the true danger he was in. If he did, Ivo might have run back toward the airport. Little did he know that the monsters Max had told him about weren’t simple fairy tales.
They were real, and they were headed right for them.
