Shouting echoed as I got to my feet and readied my weapon.
“Anna Hyde. We meet at last.”
“Vasiliev. I’d say it’s a pleasure, but the only happiness meeting you will bring me is sending you to hell, where you belong. But first, tell me why my family had to pay for your crimes?”
“You think this is about you? You think I had a choice?” He cackled. “Or that it ends with me?”
“You’re wrong. It does end with you. Tonight, you answer for Mikhail. His son. My children. The thirteen. And Horatio.”
His voice came again in a sinister laugh. “I would like to take credit for Horatio’s death. I was so disappointed that another of his enemies got to him first.”
Vasiliev pulled his gun and raised it.
“NO!”I screamed, racing toward them.
Vasiliev’s head snapped toward me, and his gun came with it. His arm was straight, and his finger was on the trigger. I was ten yards from him, and soon, my name would be added to the list of every other person he’d taken from me. And then, he’d kill Anna too.
My gun was locked on him. I didn’t care if I died as long as he did too.
Before I could pull the trigger, a shot cracked the air behind me, and the top of Vasiliev’s head came apart.
As I watched his body crumple to the ground, my own legs went out from under me. I went down onto the sand, and a sound ripped from my chest. It was a wail that had been locked inside of me, and I could not stop it. I sobbed and sobbed.
For my babushka.
My father.
My mother.
My grandfather.
Horatio.
Amelia. Eleanor. And Edgar.
For the thirteen.
My sorrow for their loss kept tearing from my chest and my throat, as all the tears I’d never shed trailed down my cheeks and onto the sand.
I couldn’t breathe, and I couldn’t stop. I didn’t want to stop.
Arms came around me from behind. They pulled me up off the ground and held onto me.
“I’ve got you, kitten. I’ve got you.”
Bishop.
He didn’t tell me to stop. He didn’t tell me it was over. He didn’t tell me I was safe. He held on, and he cried with me.
20
BLACKJACK
My round caught Vasiliev before he could fire on Katarina. He dropped off the side of the boat and into the water. I was already moving when she collapsed onto the sand at the same time.
It took me nine strides to reach her. I went down behind her on one knee, set my gun on the sand beside me, pulled her against my chest, and wrapped both arms around her.
“I’ve got you, kitten. I’ve got you.”
