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“Step out and show me your hands,” one of the agents yelled.
I raised my hands high in the air and got on my feet. In a matter of seconds, I was surrounded by FBI agents. Quickly, one of the agents came over and cuffed my hands behind my back. Then he placed a hand on my shoulder and marched me forward to a van that was used for prisoner transport. Everything happened so fast.
I got into the vehicle and blinked out of the window at the body of Marcello Russo on the staircase. It was a perfect shot. It was from a closer range, but it was still a great shot, nonetheless. I hadn’t trained for years in vain. There was something soothing and uplifting about knowing that the tormentor of my woman and many others had stopped breathing. Forever.
I rested my head on the seat and waited for the vehicle to move. I could predict how things would go from here on.
I would be handed over to the CIA and they would torture me for information they could use. They would find out soon that I wouldn't talk, which then would only make me a liability.
They would then consider killing me or shipping me off to a prison for enemies of the state, one of those the military ran and used as a kill facility for terrorists.
I took a deep breath and watched as they rushed Marcello’s dead body into an ambulance. The vehicle I was in started too, and two officers came to sit by my side. Then they dropped a hood over my face.
So the CIA was already here...
Chapter 23
Elise
Iflung the phone on the couch and walked out of the building straight to the sea. I felt physically sick with worry about Andrei. Nancy had told me that Andrei had abandoned the mission to kill the CIA’s target and that she was now waiting for more information as much as I was. That’s all she would give me, although I knew that wasn’t all she knew.
Nancy came to join me after a while. She stood beside me, barefoot in the sand, her pants rolled up, hands in her pockets. She looked at the water rushing toward us.
“You know you should trust him. If what I know about the Eagle is true, he’ll find a way,” she offered after a moment, trying to soothe me.
I didn’t respond, and we stood there for a few minutes longer before we headed back inside. I tried to busy myself with things, cooking and cleaning, even fixing the broken door handle that Andrei didn’t get to. I worked throughout the day. My hands moving made me think less about Andrei, even if it was temporary.
We heard nothing that night, and I couldn’t sleep in my bedroom. The smell of his soap was practically tattooed on the mattress, so I brought my things into the living room and curled up on one of the couches. But I couldn’t sleep there either. The past few days had been tougher than all the years of Marcello’s abuse combined. I loved Andrei like no other man ever before, and when a man like that leaves you, it’s like he takes you with him. And now that he could be in trouble, my heart kept pounding harder every second. I knew only one thing was guaranteed to stop it. The sound of his voice. The confirmation that he was safe wherever he was.
Nancy sat on the other couch, and we watched TV in silence. Each of us was consumed by her own thoughts.
I fell asleep late and, when I opened my eyes, the sun was already up. I picked up my phone first and checked the call logs, but neither Luck nor Andrei had called.
With a painful knot in my throat that made it hard to breathe, I sat up on the couch and just stared at the floor. I went to the bathroom once to brush my teeth but then returned to the living room and sat back down, feeling broken all over again. Nancy brought a plate with eggs and bacon to me and asked me to eat it even though I wasn’t hungry. I forced it down for the baby, just like she reminded me, but the food just made me feel nauseous.
Sometime that evening, after another horrific day of pain and worry, my phone finally beeped, I almost tripped when I bolted over to the table to check it. It wasn’t a text like I had expected. It was a video. From Andrei.
My legs completely gave in, and I had to grab onto the table to avoid a fall. Sweat was forming on my forehead as my heart started racing against my chest. Something deep down told me that this video was not a sweet goodnight message. That same something also told me that this video would be his last.
Chapter 24
Andrei
They put me in a chair that smelled of new plastic. The mask was still on, so I couldn’t tell where I was exactly or what the room looked like. It was hot, though, and it smelled like the inside of a load-carrying truck. My hands were tied behind the chair, and I wondered if these idiots really thought I would talk.
I shut my eyes and did the only thing that came to mind. I thought of Elise. I hoped she wouldn’t break when the video got to her. I hoped she would move on quickly. She was bearing the fruit of our spicy nights, and I could rest happily knowing she and the child would be okay.
A door opened somewhere close by, then I heard footsteps step inside the room I was in. The same door closed again, and a person moved closer and closer to me. I could hear him breathing behind me for a few seconds before he removed my hood. My eyes blinked as I adjusted to the brightness of the long office light above me. There was a simple plastic table and chair across from me, the only objects in the concrete-walled room. I was in some prison, no doubt. Most likely an unofficial one for spies and terrorists.
In silence, the person walked around me and sat on the chair across from me. I wasn’t surprised when I saw him. Didn’t even blink.
Luck Murphy.
He looked different. He was dressed in a suit today and was staring straight at me. He placed his hands on the table and looked at me, his CIA tag attached to his suit for identification.
I looked around the room again. The door had a window, and beyond it, I could see guards. There also was a large mirror covering the wall behind Murphy. One of those interrogation mirrors you could see through from the other side.
“Luck,” I greeted him in a cool tone. “Nice of you to stop by. Did you remember to get the vegan doughnuts?”
