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“Maybe she—” Ben starts to say, but I glare at him.
“Shut up. She ran. Nothing else is going on.” I push the door open and dash down the stairs, gripping the donut box in my hands hard. They will look like shit when I present them to Jenya.
There is only one floor to go down, straight to the underground parking lot.
When the automatic doors open, I see two men loading something big into the trunk of a black SUV.
A shiver so cold runs down my spine, it’s like the blood freezes in my veins. A human-shaped something.
My monkey brain takes over and I throw the donuts to the ground, running toward the car. What am I going to do if I’m right? I don’t have any weapons. Damien took Valerie’s gun from me. I don’t have my taser with me. I can’t fight.
Vaguely, I register Ben running after me and then the world spins into action.
“Jenya! Jenya!” I’m shouting her name over and over again, while I watch the two men push their luggage deeper inside their car and close the trunk lid without rushing.
“Shut her up, will you?” one of the guys says loud enough to echo in the whole parking lot. He’s wearing a baseball cap low on his head, so I can’t make out his face. His voice grates on my memories, stirring some hidden terror deep inside me.
Ben pulls me back as the other guy swings his fist at me and misses. Am I in a fistfight? What the fuck do I do?
I’m afraid to take my eyes off the two men, afraid it will cost me my life. Ben’s life too. He can’t fight either. Unless he has some hidden bombs in his jacket, he’s going to be zero help.
My eyes are wide as saucers as I take another step back, bumping into Ben. His phone clatters to the ground. Shit, I hadn’t realized he was calling for help.
“Run, Firebird,” he shouts in my ear, just like he texted me those months ago at the docks before saving Damien’s and my life. He exploded a whole gang to protect me, but he had the advantage of surprise and preparation then. Now, we’re fucked.
“Jenya,” I say, but it doesn’t sound like a call. It sounds like a plea and an explanation. I abandoned her once before. I would have done it in a heartbeat two days ago.
But now? Now I’m doubting myself. Can I put my most ingrained talent to the test? Is she worth it? Can I survive a fight and help her survive too?
“Leave her,” the guy with the baseball cap shouts and his words are like a call to action. They sound like a taunt, despite the fact that I know they’re meant for his accomplice. He starts backing off.Now or never, Tanya.
“We will find her later. I got the car number,” Ben says so quickly that I barely understand him. He’s holding my wrist, pulling me back.
But I know how the world from my childhood works. There may not be ‘later.’
I break free from Ben’s grip and run toward the guy who dared turn his back on me. I jump on him and wrap my arms around him, upsetting his balance. We fall to the ground, both grunting. While I have the advantage, I bite down on the closest body part I see—an ear.
“What the fuck?” Baseball Cap guy shouts, his words muffled by the screams of the enemy writhing underneath me. I press my teeth harder, warm coppery liquid filling my mouth. I try not to swallow, but there’s little control left in me.
He can try to shake me off, but I’m not letting go. I’m surviving.
Chapter 23
Istagger on my feet when Tanya attacks the guy I saw buying jeans before. She’s like a grizzly bear and I rush to catch up to her, seeing her rip off the dude’s ear with her teeth, her whole face bloody.
My voice lodges in my throat from the shock of it all, but deep down, I know whose side I’m on. When Baseball Cap guy runs in with something dark in his hands and tries to get Tanya off his friend, I kick him in the head. He wobbles, then ignores me, swiping a black hood over Tanya’s head. There’s a tattoo of two crossed arrows on his hand.
I rush to tackle him, trying to remember what Ivo tried to teach me the one time we had a football match for team building.
Keep your head up, your eyes on the target. Keep your back straight.
I don’t get to do it properly because Jeans Guy has finally had enough of being the victim. He shakes Tanya off, violently throwing her to her back. She groans, then tries to breathe, the air knocked out of her lungs. I can only see her bloody mouth as she gasps, her hands going to her chest, ignoring the blindfold. I have to get it off.
But Baseball Cap switches targets and knees me in the gut. My world darkens and I join Tanya on the ground, fighting to breathe. He kicks me again and again, and I twist into a ball, a searing pain ripping through my midsection.
Fucking hell.I wasn’t fast enough. I couldn’t call for backup. I wasn’t strong enough to help Tanya’s insane assault. I wasn’t smart enough to foresee this.
No. I knew Jenya was in danger. I knew and ignored it because today was a perfect day and I got to be on a date with Tanya, even if she would die before she calls it that. I had to stay firm and refuse; take Jenya to the embassy and forget about this whole operation. Finish the fire tattoo and move on to the next thing.
