The bomb goes off.
The blast is sharp and hard. The concrete jumps under us. My ears ring. Dust fills the air. A wave of heat pushes against my back. Small fragments bite into my vest. One hits my arm. Pain lances through the muscle. I grit my teeth and hold on.
Then it is over. Bits of debris patter down. The ringing in my ears fades to a dull hiss.
I lift my head. The recess is a blackened hole now. Smoke pours from it. The chair is gone. The wall took most of the force. The lake side holds. The dam did its job.
“Everyone alive?” I say. My voice sounds strange to me.
Kirill coughs. “Yes,” he says. “All good here.”
Oleg groans as he pushes up to sit. “Arm bruised,” he says. “No holes.”
“Check each other,” I say. “Then check the upper path. Make sure nothing cracked wrong.”
They move slowly but steadily. These men are used to blasts. So am I.
I look at Raina. She lies under me, eyes closed. Her face is gray and streaked with dust. Her lashes tremble.
“Raina,” I say.
Her eyes open a crack. She looks straight at me. For a moment she seems not to know where she is. Then her gaze clears.
“You’re late,” she whispers.
Relief hits me so hard my hands shake. I slide one arm under her shoulders and pull her up against me. She clings to my vest with weak fingers.
“I told you I’d come,” I say.
She presses her face into my throat. Her body shakes once. There are no tears yet. There will be later.
“Bomb?” she asks.
“Gone,” I say. “We stole its show.”
Above us, the small speaker on the pump house crackles again. Ilya’s voice drifts down, faint but clear.
“Well done,” he says. “You still have speed. I’m almost pleased.”
I glare up at the concrete ceiling.
“Our deal stands,” he adds. “Seventy-two hours. Use them well. After that, we see who still has a house.”
The speaker goes dead.
“Can we trace where that signal came from?” Kirill calls down.
“Andrei?” I say into my throat mic.
“I’m on it,” Andrei’s voice answers. “Signal bounced through three rural relays. The last known point is a small tower near the highway. By now he’s already switched. I can mark the path but not the end.”
“He’s moving all the time,” I say.
“Like any good courier,” Kirill mutters.
I stand slowly, bringing Raina with me. Her legs wobble. I keep an arm locked around her waist.
“We’re done here,” I say. “Oleg, leave two men to watch the site until local crews come. We don’t need questions. The rest back to the cars. We go home.”
