Page 91

"Too late for that," I murmur. "Thanks, Rian."

The call ends. I drop the phone onto the passenger seat, throw the car into reverse, and whip around to head back in the opposite direction.

Back into the storm.

—

As I'm driving, I pull up the tracker on my phone. A small, steady blue dot blinks against the pixelated map of rural Indiana.

She has no idea there's a tracker in her earring, and thank fuck for that, because she'd probably have taken them off before what happened at the cabin; she was so pissed at me. Hell, she might have taken them off today to prevent me from doing exactly what I'm doing now. But she didn't, and now I can find her.

The signal is stationary. My brow furrows as I trace the coordinates on the screen. The blip isn't at a federal field office or the county sheriff's department, like I'd expected. It's sitting dead center on the empty rural cabin where we hid out during the storm.

Why the fuck are they at the cabin?

My jaw tightens. Oksana must have given them just enough of a breadcrumb to lead them back to where she left me, trying to prove she was cooperating while keeping them far away from the highway. She probably told them I was still back at the cabin, to send them on a goose chase. But it wouldn't have taken them long to figure out that she was either lying or I'd already taken off.

But likely Reyes knows I'm injured by now. And she'll expect that I'll come back for the pregnant wife who betrayed me. That I'll want revenge on her, or both in some fashion. If Oksana has led them to believe I hadn't left the cabin, that makes sense why they took her there.

They're using her as bait.

"Clever bitch," I mutter under my breath, my jaw tightening until my teeth ache.

I kill the headlights two miles before the turnoff. The fog is thick, and I ease the car into a stand of trees a short distance from the cabin, far enough off that hopefully I won't be spotted but close enough that Oksana and I can make a run for the car before they catch us.

I step out into the mud. My shoulder throbs, but I push the pain into the back of my mind. I check my gun and move into the treeline, keeping low and using the trunks of the massive oaks and the dense underbrush for cover. My boots sink silently into the wet moss, leaving barely a trace as I close the distance toward the clearing.

Through the drifting mist, the outline of the cabin appears like a dark shadow against the gray sky. I stop behind a wide tree fifty yards out and scan the perimeter. Two black, unmarked SUVs are parked at an angle behind the weathered barn, completely hidden from the main access road. I count three men in dark windbreakers standing near the treeline on the eastern side with rifles, scanning the area as well. Another agent is stationed near the rear porch, cigarette glowing faintly in the gloom.

And I catch a glimpse of Oksana through the front window. My heart stutters in my chest.

She's sitting on the edge of the wooden table, head bowed, her light blonde hair falling forward over her face. She looks small and fragile, wrapped in her cardigan with her hands clasped tightly over her stomach. Special Agent Reyes is standing over her, one hand on her hip, leaning down, saying something with sharp, aggressive gestures.

Seeing her alive sends a violent surge of relief crashing through me, so intense my knees almost buckle. She's safe. The baby is safe.

For now.

I need to try to slip in through the back cellar doors. It's probably the only way I might get in without being seen. I drop to a crouch, keeping the thick undergrowth between the agents and me, and begin to circle around. I reach the corner and see the agent standing there, his back to me as he watches the trail going into the back woods. If I can take him down silently, I'll have a clear path to get down into the cellar, and from there sneak into the house until they leave Oksana alone long enough for me to get to her.

I slide my knife out and shift my weight forward to make my move.

Click.

The cold, unmistakable circle of a gun barrel presses firmly into the soft skin just behind my left ear.

"Don't twitch, Murphy," a low voice whispers from my blind spot. "Hands up, or you're going to hit the dirt before you know what happened to you."

From the brush ten yards to my right, two more officers emerge, their assault rifles raised, dots snapping instantly onto the center of my chest.

"Drop the blade," the agent behind me growls, the gun pressing against my skull. "Slow. Do it now."

I stand completely still, frozen. In my peripheral vision, I see a door swing open, and Reyes step out. Behind her, I catch a glimpse of Oksana.

"Cormac!" she screams, her voice shattering the quiet woods.

"Shut her up," Reyes snaps.

I open my fingers. The heavy knife slips from my hand, falling with a dull, wet thud into the moss at my feet.