Page 118 of Little Blue

I gasp in through my nose as terror carves through my consciousness. The black dots swell.

It doesn’t seem to matter how I cling desperately to awareness. I slide into the darkness yet again.

Forty-Nine

Ilya

We’re surrounding the compound. A swirl of light falls from a black, starless sky. I watch as the flakes dance in the bright spotlights cast by the high, white lights that have been wired into the warehouses.

Beside me, Luka plays with a remote that is attached to a screen. Overhead, a drone flies. His eyes scan the screen as mine move back to the compound where a vehicle rolls up to the gate. It slides open and a car crawls over fresh white snow.

“Got her.” Luka says quietly. My eyes shift to the screen where two heat forms have been sensed. One appears to be much lower, as though it is sitting. And it’s small. The other is large and standing—towering over her.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

I relay the coordinates to Misha through the communication wire.

“Copy that,” Misha’s voice fills my earpiece. “Almost in place.”

I don’t respond. My eyes are scanning the building where my heart sits, beaten and abused.

My fingers curl into fists in my black tactical gloves.

Does she trust I’m coming for her? Does she know the ways I would set this world to flame and destruction for her?

Does she know the monster I’m capable of becoming in my quest to possess her again?

Inside the fence topped with razor wire, there are three old warehouses. Driving by no one would suspect anything about the fenced-in set-up. But if one were to take to the trees as I have, under the cover of night, they would find the guards that walk the property ominous.

So far, I’ve counted five. Two walk the fence-line and three circle a warehouse. All are armed.

They’re not just armed. They’re trained.

“In position,” Misha says.

“Give me another five,” Pavel responds, his breaths measured even as he trudges through snow. Heading the security, I keep around my own home, my trust in Pavel speaks for itself. But we know how easily the trusted can become the enemy.

Just look at Boris. I’d had him guarding the most precious being in my life. The woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. The woman I want to become the mother of my children and bear the weight of my last name.

His betrayal is of the worst kind. He will pay painfully for it. Excruciatingly.

Gritting my teeth, I continue to study the lay of the land. The two guards who walk the fence cross paths close to the gate and in the back of the property, every time. I know. I’ve watched them connect three times.

I speak low into the mic pinned to my vest. “We take out the perimeter guards first.”

“Last sniper is in place.” Pavel’s voice comes through the line. His breaths are still measured, even though I sense he and his team are now running. He wants this over and done. Like the rest of us, Pavel is struggling with the guilt of not seeing the disloyal truth within one of our own. Now, an innocent has been taken.

We all know what Popov does to the innocent. Death would be a mercy.

The perimeter fence isn’t only manned, it’s armed. Live with enough voltage to kill a man in just one touch during the nighttime hours. The control panel that powers the entire system is in the warehouse at the far east side of the lot, which is why Pavel, my security expert, is headed that way.

It’s also the building that holds her.

But I’m not the one with the expertise to disable the fence and all the alarms that might sound when the electricity to the fence is cut.

It feels fucking wrong not to be there, close to her.

---