Page 88 of The Pakhan

Luckily, the moment the building came into view, I could breathe a sigh of relief. It would appear that while still under some renovation, the location was decent enough, including a separate parking lot.

After parking, I glanced out the windshield, holding my breath briefly. He lived on the sixth floor. I sat back, trying to process what I was doing one last time before it was too late. At least if I could find something worthwhile, I could help Vadim catch the culprit.

You know this isn’t some television movie. Right?

After grabbing my phone and hiding my purse underneath the front seat, I opened the door, cautiously stepping out. My inner voice had been all over me that morning that what I was doing was stupid.

What was that old adage? No risk, no reward?

I was practically losing my mind by the point I headed to the set of side stairs Joshua had directed me to. By the time I entered the building, making it to his floor, I could tell the building was only partially occupied.

Panting, I glanced from one side to the other, hating just how quiet everything seemed. His apartment was at the end of the hall. By the time I reached the area, my armpits were soaked.

Just before I started to knock, it was if I’d been hit in the gut. The door was slightly ajar. Was it possible Joshua had left it open for me? I was right on time. I glanced over my shoulder. Right now, my gut told me to run, but this might be my single chance to find out who was behind the attack.

I knew Vadim thought there was a hell of a lot more going on behind the scenes as well. Holding my breath for the tenth time, I pushed open the door, waiting for a few seconds to see if I heard anything. There was music coming from somewhere else in the apartment, heavy metal of some kind. I knew nothing about Joshua. Not his age. Not his ethnicity. It hadn’t mattered. However, most geeks, and Joshua had described himself that way, were in their twenties or thirties as hackers. That much I’d done research on.

When I stepped inside, even with the music, there was an eerie sense of silence. The further I walked in, the stranger I felt and the worse the sense that something was wrong became. While the front room was nothing more than a cluttered living room, I had a sense something was off about it. A chair was definitely in the wrong position, a couple of books knocked onto the floor instead of being placed.

I was about ready to back out when my gaze caught something in the hallway leading to another room. Very cautiously, I walked closer, forced to slap my hands across my mouth to keep from screaming. Joshua’s body was on the floor, his eyes wide open.

While I was no expert by any means, the pool of blood under his head was a fairly good indication he was dead. Plus, his neck was twisted in a horrible direction, obviously broken. The poor guy had suffered tremendously before he’d died. I slammed back against the wall, taking gasping and extremely ragged breaths. Oh, God. Oh, God.

What was I supposed to do, call the police? Call Vadim? Breathe and think. Just breathe and think.

I’d come here for a reason. I needed to contact Vadim. He’d tell me what to do.

He could punish me later and I was perfectly fine with that. I couldn’t vomit. I couldn’t pass out. Joshua had also wanted me to learn something. Think. Just breathe and think.

The inner instructions weren’t doing me a lot of good.

But I could do this. As soon as I lifted my head, I realized the room where Joshua had kept his massive computer was trashed, every computer smashed. A trail of blood led from the room. He had been attacked inside his office and had likely tried to flee.

What did it matter?

Get in. Get out.

Finally, my inner voice gave me some smart advice, which pushed me out of the fog. Where had he told me he’d hidden the drive?

I had to jerk my phone from my pocket, maneuvering back to his text. Smart man. He’d hidden it in a baggie taped underneath one of the kitchen drawers.

My entire body was shaking from the fact I’d had to step over my handler. I couldn’t call him a friend, but goddamn it. As I headed into the kitchen, which was located just past a very nice entertainment room, crazy thoughts about the kitchen being all the way in the back of the apartment slithered into my mind.

Maybe it was my way of maintaining enough sanity to be able to get the hell out of here.

You can do it. You can do it. You can do it…

By the point I began attempting to find the right drawer, I was sick as a dog, my stomach lurching every few seconds. Maybe I was imagining things, but I could swear the stench of Joshua’s blood reached all the way back to the kitchen. Ignoring as much as I could was tough but by the time I opened the sixth drawer, I found it. Gasping, I held the baggie to my chest.

Still shaking all over, I knew I had to admit what I’d done to Vadim. He would be very angry with me but at this point, I was relieved at least I’d found the drive. As soon as I started to dial the number, a creaking noise caught my attention.

“Thank you for helping me locate the drive.” His voice shoved me into a vacuum but only a split second before he kicked the phone from my hand. The voice was different, the man taking another accent but there was no doubt it was the same as I’d heard before.

A scream erupted from my lips, my instinct for survival kicking in. I had to get out of here.

But it was too late, too late.

As I turned around, the attacker lunged toward me.

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