I keep my face neutral and my breathing even, but my mind is racing. Something is very wrong.
“The turn-off’s ahead,” I say, slowing the vehicle. “Track through the woods, then the quarry.”
The SUV bounces along a rutted dirt path that’s barely wide enough for the vehicle. Branches scrape against the windows with a sound like fingernails on glass. The forest presses in, dense and dark, swallowing the weak daylight. There are no other tyre tracks. No signs of life.
Then the trees fall away, and the quarry opens up before us.
It’s a wound in the earth. Sheer rock faces a drop of fifty feet to water so black that it reflects nothing, swallowing the grey sky whole. Wind cuts across the exposed clearing, sharp with the smell of pine and wet stone, stirring the dead leaves that have gathered in drifts against the rocks.
No birds. No traffic noise. Nothing but the whisper of wind and the crunch of gravel as I park and kill the engine.
Then silence rushes in, and we all know something’s about to go down.
The wrongness in my chest sharpens suddenly. Not prickling anymore, stabbing. Emma. Something’s happening to Emma.
“Let’s go.” Pavel starts at my loud voice booming suddenly in the quiet interior, and my senses tingle. He doesn’t strike me as the jumpy sort, not ordinarily, anyway.
We climb out, and the cold hits immediately, cutting through my jacket, raising the hair on my arms.
Pavel and Piotr hang back but position themselves on either side of me as we approach the edge, their movements too casual, hands hovering near their waistbands.
They think they’re being subtle.
Two hard men, ready to take care of business and pretending not to be nervous, but their instincts are telling them they’re seriously outgunned. They’re praying Dimitri is wrong, and we can all walk out of here together.
I walk to the edge and look down, gesturing for them to come and take a look. The water is still as black glass, impenetrable, giving nothing back. A body could sink into that darkness and never surface.
There’s no way to know if they’re down there.
“You dumped them in there?” Pavel peers over the edge, keeping well back from the drop. Wind tugs at his jacket. “Long way down.”
I glare at him like he’s an idiot.
“That’s the idea.”
Piotr circles the perimeter behind me, gravel crunching beneath his boots, as he puts distance between himself and Pavel. Flanking me.
“No drag marks.”
I flex my muscles and fold my arms across my chest, emphasizing my physical strength. “Don’t need to drag anyone if you’re fit enough.”
Pavel scoffs and nods, but his hand moves to his gun, fingers curling around the grip. “You’ve got an answer for everything.”
“Because it’s the truth.”
Piotr stays quiet, which tells me he’s going to move first, while Pavel keeps talking, staying the focus of my attention. They have this all planned out.
I press my lips into a thin line.
So, this is how it’s gonna go.
“You know what I think?” Pavel says, louder now, trying to keep me engaged with him. “I think there’s nothing down there. And I think you’re not who you say you are.”
I remain silent, knowing nothing I say at this point is going to matter. They’ve been given a job to do.
Piotr draws his weapon, the click of the safety loud in the quiet.
“Dimitri noticed those clean boots. So, he had us check up on you.”
