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He smiles serenely. “I’m nothing if not thorough. Now—can I trust you?”
Play the good little hostage,advises the little voice in my head.Do what Ziva would do.
I nod and only then does he hand me my phone. I’m trying to figure out how to send Elle a text that will tip her off without being obvious on the surface of it when his shadow engulfs me.
“Seriously?” I growl, craning my neck towards him. “You’re going to stand over my shoulder and watch? What about returning the favor and trustingme?”
“I don’t trust anyone.”
“Yeah, I’m starting to think that’s the right way to go.”
I end up writing three relatively short texts; one to my parents, one to a publication that I have ongoing work with, and one to Elle.
“Good,” Uri says from over my shoulder. That scotch-cinnamon scent of his is really making me want to step away. “Just add that you’ll be gone for a few weeks.”
“Fewweeks?!” I shriek, nearly dropping my phone in the process. “You’ve got to be kidding me!”
He’s completely unmoved. “These things take time.”
“You can’t expect me to stay herethatlong.”
I swivel around on the bar stool to glare at him. That turns out to be abigmistake, because now, I’m face to face with those smoldering aquamarine eyes and he’s got the full force of them aimed directly at me.
“Would you rather be killed in broad daylight?” he demands. “Would you rather walk around looking over your shoulder every time you step out of the house? Would you rather duck and run every time you see a white van pass by? Shadows can kill you before you even realize they’re hiding people inside of them,narushitel.You can let me protect you—my way—or you can fend for yourself against killers you’ll never hear coming.”
Sighing deeply, I close my eyes for a moment. Mostly because I need to get my bearings, but also because I want to escape his gaze. When I open them again, I type what he wants me to type and hand the phone over forcefully.
“There.”
“Thank you.”
I follow him awkwardly back to the door. I can see a huge duffel bag of my things sitting by the foot of the bed.
“That should keep you occupied,” he says, opening the door and putting himself in the threshold. “But just in case you need a little extra entertainment…” He picks up something from the other side of the door. “This should help.”
Uri deposits the package into my hands and I realize a second later why it looks so familiar.
Eve’s Garden.
“Enjoy,” he says with a straight face while my face burns red.
Then he leaves.
18
URI
“We got an ID on the finger.”
I can tell by Nikolai’s grim tone that it is exactly what we suspected it was. “Igor?”
“Igor,” he confirms.
His breathing sounds heavy but I don’t have to ask him what’s going on to know he’s in the gym, working out his frustrations. The year after I took the mantel ofpakhan,he practically lived there.
“Can you stop lifting weights and sit still so we can talk?”
I hear something heavy drop and then a second later, his voice comes through loud and clear. “Just for the record, I was doing pull-ups,” he says shortly. “This move has Sobakin written all over it. We have to do something, Uri. We need to go in and get Igor back.”
