Page 69 of Russian Rescue

“Let him go, or you all die,” I said as I quickly surveyed the four other armed men in the room and the fifth standing beside Petro. Likely Dima.

“Put down your guns, or we’ll kill him,” Petro said, gesturing to his guard, who lifted a gun to Wes’s head.

I chuckled. “You won’t kill him. You need him.”

Petro slid a hand down his grey beard. “I’d prefer not to since he’ll save us months, even years of work, but I will.”

“No. You won’t.”

Petro gave a quick nod, and the guard slammed the butt of his gun against Wes’s head. The sound of the crack tore apart my insides.

“Leave him alone!” I demanded.

“Drop your weapons,” Petro repeated.

I surveyed the room again, trying to find some way, any way, to get us both out of this alive without Wes handing Petro the nuclear codes to kill millions of people.

I saw none.

“Don’t do it,” Wes said, but a guard cracked a hand across his head.

Kill Wes.

That solution popped into my mind. The simplest solution... the safest solution. If I still worked for Elite Stealth Force, my handler would be shouting that command into my ear. Kill one to save millions. I could pop off one quick shot, fly out of the room and probably make it out of here alive. But as I stared into Wes’s beautiful blue eyes, all my years of training dissolved away. Everything faded except for the man I loved staring back at me.

“Drop your guns, or I’ll cut off his hand,” Petro said. “He doesn’t need them both to do my bidding.”

A guard grabbed Wes’s arm and held it out as he pulled out a huge knife.

“Oh, fuck!” Wes struggled against him, but a second guard restrained him.

Bile rose up my throat as I tried one last time to find a solution to save him and all the people I knew would die if I didn’t.

And one more time, I came up empty.

“Three seconds,” Petro said, his hard, grey eyes locked with mine.

“Don’t do it, Piper,” Wes pleaded. “Get out of here.”

Petro continued counting. “Three, two...”

The knife glinted in the blue computer light.

“Okay, okay!” I lifted my guns in the air, holding my hands up. “Fine.”

“Drop them,” Petro spat.

I did as he said, hoping that maybe I could buy us some time to find a solution. Any solution to get us out of this shit situation, and without Wes parting with one of his hands.

My guns clanked on the wood floor when I dropped them, and Petro commanded me to kick them away. I did as he demanded and sent my guns across the floor, paying attention to where they landed.

“Tie her up,” he said to a guard.

I didn’t resist as they pushed me into a chair and secured my hands behind it, my wrists burning as the ropes cut into them.

“Now get me those locations and those codes, or I’ll kill your little girlfriend here,” Petro said. He stepped behind me, and the cool barrel of his gun brushed across my cheek.

“Don’t fucking hurt her,” Wes growled as they released his arm. “I’ll do it.”