Page 213 of Sexting His Assistant

“It might be important,” she says.

“You are important,” I say. The words come out too plainly.

Her eyes soften in a way that nearly undoes the restraint I have left.

The phone vibrates a third time.

I look at the screen.

Pavel.

Something in my stomach hardens.

Nina sees the change. “Go,” she says.

“I’ll be right outside,” I say.

She says, “I’m not going anywhere.” The joke is weak, but it’s hers.

I squeeze her hand once and let go.

In the hallway, I answer the call. “What?”

Pavel says, “Alina has vanished.”

I close my eyes.

For one second, I feel nothing but a clean, cold fury. “Explain.”

Pavel says, “She was still under watch after the clinic appointment. Marina was inside the building. Denis’s replacement was at the rear exit. Marina was called to the front desk by a nurse, and when she returned, Alina was gone.”

“How long was Marina away?” I ask.

“Less than two minutes,” Pavel says.

“And the cameras?” I ask.

“Down for four minutes in that corridor,” Pavel says.

I look through the glass in the hospital room door.

Nina lies in bed with one hand curled on top of the blanket, exhausted and hurt and alive.

Misha is missing.

A man was waiting inside her apartment.

Alina is gone.

And the people around me keep looking away at exactly the wrong time.

Pavel says, “Boss?”

I open my eyes. “Find her,” I say. “And Pavel?”

“Yes?” Pavel asks.

“No one on her detail moves without being questioned,” I say. “I want to know how the fuck she vanished into thin air.”