“You can stay here,” Bogdan offered. “You will be safe.”
She glanced around and looked little consoled.
Tucker suggested another path. “There must be a reason you were grabbed. Whatever it is could be important. We have a team arriving in Moscow this afternoon. If you’re willing, they might help us determine your role in all of this.”
She frowned, clearly no happier with this plan. Then again, why should she trust any of them? They were all strangers to her.
Tucker stared at her. “If you come with us, I promise we will do our best to keep you safe, to get you back to your life as soon as possible.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Who iswe?”
Tucker waved an arm to Kowalski, who gave a slight bow of his head.
Bogdan motioned to his head of security. “Yuri, too. You may need his expertise.”
Tucker accepted the wisdom of this.
Dr. Stutt remained tense, clearly still unsure.
Finally, the last two members of the team joined Tucker. Kane slid up on his right side, Marco on his left. Tucker absently brushed their napes with his fingertips. It was a reflexive gesture of affection and brotherhood.
The woman stared from the dogs to him. “They’re coming, too?”
Tucker grinned. “Always.”
She considered the matter for two more breaths, then nodded. “I will meet with these others. But if they have no answers, that will be the end of it.”
Tucker nodded his agreement. “Thank you, Dr. Stutt.”
“Call me Elle?” She then qualified this offer. “For now.”
The botanist turned to the physician and spoke rapidly in Russian.
Bogdan used this moment to draw Tucker aside. “Now that’s settled. We must reconcile the other matter. With me lending Yuri to you—”
“It will further unbalance the scales between us,” Tucker said.
“Da, but there is an easy way to right that imbalance.” Bogdan glanced down. “Last time you were here, you came with only one dog. Now you havetwo. Maybe leave one. It will make us even.”
Kowalski overheard this. “Buddy, you’d have more luck asking for one of his balls.”
Bogdan scoffed, “I have no need for any more of those.”
Tucker scowled at the two men. “My balls and my dogs are staying where they are.”
“Then know I’m willing to pay... very well.”
Tucker suspected Bogdan was seldom refused his desires, but he’d have to live with disappointment this time. “No deal.”
Bogdan’s face darkened, and his lips thinned, but he simply waved Tucker off. “We will talk again.”
Tucker shoved past, hoping that he had not soured their relationship, or worse, made an enemy. He leaned down and brushed the flanks of his two dogs. No matter the cost...
I’ll never part with my brothers.
Tucker joined the botanist as she finished conversing with the doctor. “We should get moving.”
She nodded, but her hands wrung nervously as she followed.
