Eva sniffed and Maddie felt her nod. “Yes, I know this.”
Antonovich then held up his hands and let his gun hang from his index finger. Jack edged closer and took it away, tucking it into the back of his waistband. “Jacob Stone will kill me soon.” At Eva’s strangled cry, he shushed her gently. “It is all right. I would rather it end this way instead of in a hospital. But I let myself be seen so that I could reach you, Jack. I want you to look after my Eva. I know the Alliance will do right by her. I would not have her pay for my sins.”
“You have one helluva a way of making amends,” Jack said. “By drawing me out you may’ve killed us both, Sergei.”
“I will do what I can to help you, my old friend,” Antonovich promised. “But first, you must agree to my request.”
“Of course we’ll do everything we can for your granddaughter,” Maddie said in a rush, answering for Jack. “You have our word.”
He nodded his gratitude, then sighed. “In a safe deposit box in Washington, D.C., the real flash drive is waiting for you to retrieve it. The box is in your name, Jack. I always intended it for you. It will give you and William the answers you seek about your fathers, the proof that the Illuminati is rising once more—”
Antonovich’s words were cut off on a gasp as the apartment’s window crackled behind them. Maddie saw his eyes go wide with surprise as she instinctively ducked down, pulling Eva down with her.
She looked frantically toward Jack, relieved to find him crouched down as well. But Eva’s agonized cry brought her attention back to Antonovich. A dark stain was slowly spreading across his chest. As she watched, his knees buckled and he slumped to the ground.
“Damn it! Jack—Antonovich’s hit!”
But Jack was already crawling toward the man. Eva attempted to follow, but Maddie held her back.
“You’re in the line of sight,” she said, her tone harsh to get the woman’s attention as she tried to struggle out of Maddie’s grasp. “Stay down or you’ll get yourself killed!”
Another two rounds penetrated the glass, shattering a picture frame near Eva’s head and spraying shards of glass. The woman cried out, instinctively backing toward Maddie.
“Any ideas, Jack?” Maddie asked, pressing back against the wall, an arm across Eva’s chest to keep her in place.
“It must be Kozlov,” Jack told her. “I’ll leave first and draw them off. Give me five minutes, then follow. We’ll meet up back at the hotel.”
Fear for Jack spiked in Maddie’s veins. “What? Are youinsane? They’ve got a sniper on the building. Odds are they’ll have any exits covered, Jack. You might as well wear a target on your back.”
“If you have a better idea, Mads,” Jack drawled, “I’m open to suggestions. We have to get Eva to safety. I’m the one Kozlov’s after.”
She pulled her phone from her pocket. “I’m calling headquarters. They can get somebody local to give us backup. We’ll just hang tight until they get here.”
“Who?” Jack countered. “The Alliance or Kozlov and his men? Because if I don’t come out, they’ll come in. And then we’ll all be going out in body bags. I’m not letting that happen.”
“Damn it, Jack!” Maddie spat as he got to his feet. He crouched low as he hurried toward the door.
Several bullets hit the futon, spraying foam padding and fabric. Jack cried out as one struck him in the side. Maddie tried to rush toward him, but this time Eva heldherback. Jack struggled to his feet, holding up a hand and motioning for her to stay where she was.
“Jack,” Maddie said, her voice cracking. She didn’t even know what else to say. That she loved him seemed like too much of a good-bye.
He winked at her and attempted his boyish smile, but it was more of a grimace as he pressed his hand against his wound, his fingers already covered in blood. “See you soon.”
And then he was gone, leaving only a bloody handprint on the door frame. Maddie suddenly couldn’t breathe. Every instinct told her to go after him, to stop him, keep him from getting himself killed.
But then she heard Eva’s whispered, “Should we wait like he told us?”
Maddie closed her eyes for a moment, trying to put her fear for Jack aside and focus on her duty to the Alliance and to the frightened young woman at her side. Finally, she nodded. “Yeah,” she said. “But when it’s time to move, stay close and do everything I say.”
As soon as five minutes had passed, they crawled toward the door, but to Maddie’s surprise, when they reached Antonovich’s body, Eva paused and quickly went through his pockets, grabbing several items from his body and shoving them into her own pockets.
“Eva, what the hell are you doing?” Maddie demanded.
The woman rubbed her cheek against her shoulder, wiping away her tears. “I was told never to leave these items on his body if anything were to happen to him.” She sniffed and mumbled something in Russian before bending to place a kiss to Antonovich’s forehead. Then she lifted her eyes to Maddie’s. “Let’s go.”
* * *
Jack held back a groan as he made his way down the stairs, pressing harder against his wound to try to stanch the flow of blood. It was a flesh wound—albeit one that had taken out a sizeable chunk in his side where the bullet had hit and passed through and was now bleeding like a bitch. The last thing he needed was to pass out from blood loss and leave Maddie and Eva in Kozlov’s sights.
