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He twitched uncomfortably, glared at her and then got up, moving back to the same opened canvas bag across the cave.
Licking her lips, Lauren felt thirsty, her throat dry. Her heart was pounding. The urgency to try and convince Morozov that he should help her had never been as real as it was in this moment. He walked back, a bottle of water in each hand.
“Here, drink this.”
She took it. “Why are you helping me? If they’re coming back to kill me, why did you tape me up? Why are you feeding me? Giving me blankets to keep me warm? Tell me why, Nik?”
He sat down, considering her low, urgent questions. He opened one bottle of water and drank deeply, his adam’s apple bobbing. When he finished it off, he wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve. “It’s my duty. I’m a medic. I give comfort and help to friend and enemy alike.”
He sounded so much like Alex that it drove unexpected tears to Lauren’s eyes. She was embarrassed, quickly wiping them away. When she looked up, Morozov’s face was shockingly readable. He looked upset. Uncertain. He pushed his long fingers through his short hair in an aggravated motion. “You know Alex?”
She gave a bare nod, unsure of where this conversation was going to lead. Nik stared at her, as if trying to read her mind. Or at least, that is what it felt like. Lauren also didn’t want to give away any intel to him. Morozov was potentially her enemy despite his friendship with Alex. She knew he was undercover with the CIA. Would he protect her? Help her escape if she told him more?
“Alex and I grew up together,” he told her in a low tone, shaking his head. “He is… was… like a brother to me. We were best of friends. He always had my back when we worked together.” His mouth turned into a slash and he lifted his head, his voice roughening. “I deeply miss him to this day.”
The heart-rending emotion she heard in his raw voice startled Lauren. She folded her hands, feeling sympathy for the man. Nik’s eyes were alive with strife, indecision and grief. Taking a huge leap of faith, Lauren whispered, “He joined the Russian mafia to make money so his sister, Kira, could get psychological help after she’d been gang-raped, Nik. He didn’t like doing it, but he felt a love and loyalty to his sister. He did it for her.”
Jerking his chin up, Nik’s eyes widened. “How could you know this?”
Fear snaked through her. How much to say? Or not? But there was something about Nik that made Lauren believe he could help her escape. She strengthened her voice. “Because Alex told me.”
Blinking, Nik looked away, the silence deepening between them. He rubbed his wrinkled brow. “Then you know him?”
“Alex saved two of my best friends’ lives, Nik,” she told him quietly. “Do you remember a young, blond-haired woman named Sky?”
He reared back. “Why yes. She was an American! My commander, Vlad Alexandrov, was deeply in love with her. Or so he said. He had an obsession with her.”
Lauren tried to keep her face neutral. “Vlad captured her.”
“Yes, I was there later, at the village. Alex and I rescued her.”
“Then you know, after her capture, that Sky fell ill with malaria? Alex said you helped care for her.”
‘Yes, yes of course. I got the IV’s for Alex while he cared for Sky in that hut. I went and got him the chicken soup that he asked me to get for her. We tried to protect her from Vlad, who wanted to rape her whether she was sick or not. Alex stopped him from doing it.”
Her fingers tightened. “Alex said you played an equal part in helping care for Sky. You did a good thing, Nik. You’re a hero in my eyes.” She saw Nik’s eyes widen with disbelief. And then Lauren saw him grow confused.
With a curse, Nik leaped up, pacing the cave. His hands were behind his back, his head down.
Lauren felt shaky with urgency to turn Nik so he would help her escape. She wasn’t dizzy any longer. Watching him pace for a few minutes, she could see the struggle, the anger and questions in his face. Finally, Nik halted, and stared across the grayness of the cavern toward her. He stalked like a predator toward her, his eyes slit.
Lauren tensed, feeling the intensity in him as he came close, kneeling down on one knee, right up in her face. He was breathing unevenly.
“You tell me the TRUTH. Now! Don’t lie. If you do, I swear, I’ll stand aside and let Petrov have his way with you.”
“What do you want to know?” Lauren demanded, her voice husky with emotion.
“How could you know so much about Kira? I know Alex well. He told NO ONE about his sister being gang-raped! I had to pull the story out of him. He was that grief-stricken when he returned to our team.”
Lauren held his agitated gaze. “Because I love him, Nik. We love one another. He told me everything.” She waited, expecting him to curse once more. He froze, his eyes widening, the emotions flowing within them so many that she couldn’t possibly begin to interpret them. Then, slowly, he rocked back on his heels, covering his face, rubbing it savagely with his hands.
This information she’d just shared with him could damn her to certain death. Morozov could tell Petrov everything she’d just confided in him. It would make the Russians hate her even more, if that was possible. Nik knew about her hog’s tooth, that she was a sniper, and that she was part of a black ops team. And, with that last piece of information, her life was completely in his hands. Lauren had to risk it, had to hope Nik was still enough of a friend of Alex’s to help her.
“Tell me why,” Nik gritted out between clenched teeth, “that I should help you escape?”
Lauren didn’t waver her eye contact with him. “Because Alex is your best friend. He talks of you often, Nik. He knows you’re undercover with the DOD and the CIA. You were tired of your team raping women, hurting children, as he was. It sickened both of you, Nik. It would sicken anyone who had half a heart,don’t you think?” Lauren hurled the last three words in a low, emotional tone.
Morozov winced. He released a ragged sigh, hanging his head, looking down at his hands. “What is the truth here?” he muttered. He jerked his head up and stared at her. “You know things about Alex and myself that no one else but we know.”
