Page 87 of Dark Soul

The dark SUV had stopped, its engine still running.

“I think Ilya’s lonely, and we should join him.”

So they did.

Dark stood up and half-ran, still crouching, until he reached the back of the SUV. That was one disadvantage of an SUV that size. It had too many blind spots, and Ilya was an idiot to stay in the car and not think of these.

The security guard obviously wasn’t expecting anything. Kvyat must have told them Lemercier was working alone.

Taking a deep, steadying breath, Dark crawled to the passenger side. Although modern cars usually locked automatically as soon as the car went into drive, Dark took a bet that Ilya would have forced it unlocked, to make sure Kvyat could get in at any point, should it be required.

Dark readied the Glock-19 that Griffin had given him earlier. Though that wouldn’t have been his first choice of gun, Dark was an equal opportunity kind of guy when it came to weapons. In his career with the Rangers, he’d learned to shoot everything and anything, and knew it didn’t pay to play favorites.

Taking a deep, steadying breath, he forced the passenger door open in a single move and pulled his upper body through, making sure Ilya got a good look at the weapon.

“Keep your hands on the steering wheel,” Dark growled. “If I shoot right now, I’m pretty sure I’ll hit your balls, and you don’t want that.”

He needed Ilya and couldn’t afford to shoot him, in the balls or anywhere else, but the man didn’t need to know that.

Dark had to give the Russian credit. Though his hands stayed on the steering wheel, his gaze didn’t waver and he didn’t cower at all.

This isn’t the first time he’s been on that side of a gun.

“I don’t want to hurt you. My friend and I just need a ride where you’re going.”

At the word friend, Ilya tensed. But by then, the back passenger door was open as well, and Ash had slid through. At that point, Ilya had two guns pointed in his direction, one at his head and one at his crotch.

“You’re Americans,” Ilya said, sounding surprised. Fear made his accent thicker. Dark imagined there weren’t any American names on the list of Kvyat’s known enemies, or Ilya would look even more worried than he already did. “Who are you?”

“That doesn’t matter.” He took a deep breath. This was the tricky bit. “We don’t want to hurt your principal. We’re interested in the other man.”

“The other man?” Ilya asked, his shoulders tense.

Dark didn’t like the way he eyed the gun by his side and the one he could see in the rear-view mirror.

Keep him busy.

Keep him busy or he’s going to bolt.

“We know your boss is going to meet someone. We want to see him, too.”

He could see the wheels turning in the man’s head as he wondered how big of a problem this was going to be for Kvyat.

“Your boss doesn’t concern us,” he repeated.

Behind them, the heavy iron gate began opening again.

“They’re coming,” Ash said. “Dmitri’s driving, and Kvyat’s already in the back.”

Dark smiled.

Great.

He’d counted on the fact that Dmitri and Ilya wouldn’t want Kvyat out in the open, so they would have arranged for this.

He crouched so he wouldn’t be seen from the other car. Even though the back windows were tinted dark, Ash crouched as well.

“I still have a gun to your back. Move, and we’ll see if I can hit both kidneys with one bullet,” Ash said darkly.