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He gripped the black cloth of the hood, but a voice behind him stayed his hand.
“She cannot see my face, or she dies with you.”
Teag stilled.
“I have kept my word, and it appears you have kept yours. She is free to go.”
Turning toward the face that featured prominently in his nightmares, Teag found a gun pointed at his head, the metal barrel glinting in the dim light.
Ivanovich kept the gun trained on Teag with one hand and tossed him a pair of handcuffs with the other. “Put them on and step away from the girl,” he ordered.
The cuffs dropped by Teag’s side with a clang, and Annabelle jumped at the sound. Teag rocked her in his arms like he’d done when she was little and skinned her knee, or lost her favorite stuffed animal, or dropped her ice cream cone.
“It’ll be okay,” he whispered, his voice catching.
“No it won’t,” Annabelle sobbed.
“Did he hurt you, honey?”
She shook her head, but Teag wasn’t sure he believed her.
“You are going to leave this place and go home to mum. You’re going to tell her I love her, and you are going to live a good life, Anna. Do you hear me?”
“Please, no, Teag. I don’t want to leave you.”
“You have to go, honey. And you have to do one more thing for me, okay?”
“What is it?” she asked.
“Do you remember Maria?”
“I do.”
“Tell her I love her. I didn’t get to say the words, and well, they’re true. I just need her to know.”
Annabelle’s body shook with the force of her sobs, and she gripped him tightly.
“Time to go,” Ivanovich said, still holding the gun steady.
Teag disentangled himself from Annabelle and picked up the handcuffs. Once he’d secured them around his wrists and moved a few feet back, Ivanovich pulled a knife from his pocket, flipped open the blade, and snipped through Annabelle’s zip ties.
Teag noted with interest that the assassin moved stiffly, hissing out a breath as he bent over to cut the ties around Annabelle’s ankles. When he hauled Annabelle to her feet, he grimaced. Maybe Maria had hit her mark after all.
When Annabelle stumbled, Teag moved to help her, only to find the gun pressed against his forehead.
“Spare your sister this, and do not move,” Ivanovich said.
Teag stepped away from his sister, who had now righted herself and stood on wobbling legs next to the Russian. Ivanovich fished a set of car keys from his pocket and shoved them into Annabelle’s hands. Then, he pushed her ahead of him, turned her toward the doorway, and ripped off her hood.
“If you turn around, I will shoot you. If you stop walking, I will shoot you. If you do not leave here in five minute’s time, you will hear me shoot your brother.”
“Please, don’t do this,” she begged, but she didn’t turn around.
“Walk,” Ivanovich said, nudging her in the back with the gun.
“Go Annabelle,” Teag pleaded.
“I love you, Teag. I love you,” she said, sobbing.
She took a shaking step, and then another. When she reached the door, she slipped through it and disappeared into the night.
