Page 100 of Shadow Blind

“An alert for an unidentified aircraft just went out through Rybachiy. They’re scrambling stealth checkmates. We need to get airborne.”

O’Neill disappeared from the door. Wolf pivoted. The rest of their questions for the Russian would have to wait. He glanced at Samuel. “Get him dressed.”

The aggress had gone perfectly so far, which prickled at the back of his neck. Perfect aggresses often ended in catastrophe. He sensed they were headed in that direction.

“Prepare for evac,” he barked into the comm and through the neural net.

“I need my jewelry and money.” The woman’s voice broke as sobs struck again. Tears slid faster down her cheeks. “Please. I need them to pay for my way home. They will be stolen if I leave them behind.”

Wolf grabbed the cell phone from the nightstand on the side of the bed that Kuznetsov had been sleeping on, then leaned across the bed to grab the phone off the woman’s side of the bed.

“Lady, stop the damn crying. You can grab your things after we leave,” he growled as he slipped the phones beneath the webbing of his equipment belt.

The sobbing stopped like someone had turned off a faucet. He turned to stare at her. Her skin had turned ashen. Horror swam in her eyes.

“You can’t leave me here with them, with Grigory’s guards.” She shuddered, her arms tightening so hard around her dog, Muffy squealed and squirmed. A queasy look settled over her face. “They’re awful…rapists and murderers. They constantly watch me with the most disgusting, lewd expressions. The minute you leave, they’ll be on me like a pack of animals. The only thing that’s kept me safe from them is that they knew Grigory would kill anyone who touched me.” Her voice dropped to a thin whisper. “But once you take Grigory …”

Wolf tilted his head back and glared up at the ceiling.

Fuck…fuck…fuck.

Sometimes the woohanta’s favorite word was the only thing that described the situation. He ground his teeth.

The woman was right. After the Thunderbird took to the sky with Kuznetsov and the guards were discovered and freed, they’d turn on her. Gang rape was a certainty, and something he could not allow. Not when he could prevent it.

Lowering his head, he sighed and scrubbed a weary hand down his face. “Fine. You will come with us…for now. We will drop you off somewhere safe.”

Where that would be, he knew not. Shadow Mountain intel would have to locate a safe place to offload her, one that wouldn’t risk their chances of making it safely home. His gaze fell to her ridiculous shoes.

Those she could not wear outside this house. He did not want to explain how One Bird had healed her broken ankle with only his hands.

Women. They complicated everything.

Chapter thirty-nine

Day 17

Petropavlovsk, Russia

Eloise Carmichael added a round of blubbery sniffles to her whinging as she clutched her bulging satchel to her belly and watched the hard-faced fucker across the room stuff Grigory into his clothes.

Muffy was relaxing in her doggie backpack, which was strapped to Eloise’s chest beneath her coat. Her theatrical performance—which was ongoing—had accomplished exactly what she intended and handed her the advantage. Although the soldiers surrounding her didn’t realize it yet. Men were so easy to manipulate. Mostly through sex. But if sex wasn’t achievable, sobs and screams worked almost as well.

Real men, those that defined themselves as heroic, cowered before sobbing, screaming, terrified women.

Her sobbing and screaming had served their purpose. They’d shielded her from a closer look. They’d manipulated the big, tough asshole who led these soldiers into granting her a satchel full of jewelry, cash, and her special six-inch stilettos. They’d even given her the opportunity to engineer an excuse to climb onboard their aircraft, thus granting her the opportunity to kill Grigory with her lipstick syringe before he told them anything important.

So far, these assholes didn’t know enough about her operation to cause her trouble. To keep them in the dark, Grigory had to die.

She suspected the soldiers who’d stormed her sanctuary were a yank Special Ops team. Maybe SEALs, like the ones they’d tested the nanobots on in Karaveht. They wore similar uniforms and helmets, complete with night vision goggles and communication mics.

With an exaggerated shiver, Eloise hugged the satchel harder against her belly and flipped up the collar of her cashmere coat. Muffy squirmed against her chest in protest. Eloise loosened her arms. Her baby didn’t like being squished.

The leader of this band of soldiers had allowed her to change into a warm pair of trackies, along with her warmest coat and Muffy’s pup pack. But the boots she was wearing had come from him. One of his soldiers had appeared in the bedroom and dropped them at her feet.

The boots were another sign this team was military. A mercenary wouldn’t be so accommodating. Rather than seeing to her comfort and protecting her from Grigory’s guards, he would have stolen her jewelry and money, then taken her for himself before sharing her with his men.

Of course, her screaming and crying didn’t account for all the leader’s goodwill. Some of his kindness was undoubtedly because of her divulging the location and combination of the safe. He’d been pleased with that information.

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