Page 85 of Lethal Game

"I won't ever work for them again." He looked over his shoulder to make sure they were alone. "I've implanted a secondary timer in the two devices. They'll think the bombs will go off at eight-thirty, but I can trigger them with the remote in my pocket. I'll wait until we're in the van on the way to the venue. I'll try to do it where there will be the least amount of collateral damage. The van will blow up with them in it."

"Them? Will they leave you here?"

He didn't answer her question, and she knew the answer. "Oh, my God! You're going on a suicide mission."

"It's the only way to stop them. They need me to go with them. I've made them believe only I can set off the toxin within the device. If it was an ordinary explosive, they could do it themselves, but they want the maximum damage, and that requires my assistance. That will work in my favor. They'll have to take me along."

"There has to be another way. The FBI will find us. Jason will find us."

"Jason?"

"Jason Colter. He's an FBI agent; he's been protecting me. I know he'll come. He hates Novikov. The man killed his father."

"Colter?" her father echoed. "Is he related to Drew Colter?"

"If that was his father's name, yes," she said. "Did you know him?"

"Drew Colter helped get me out of Russia, along with someone from the CIA."

Her stomach flipped over. What were the odds that Jason's dad had helped her father reinvent his life? It was as if the two of them had been connected a very long time ago.

"I hope the FBI will find us," her father continued. "But Novikov has already moved me twice. He doesn't stay in one place for long, and he always covers his tracks."

"How did you get involved with him?"

"I knew him when I was young. I knew them all. Arseni Novikov, Dominic Ilyin, Tatiana Guseva. We were unformed teenagers. We had dreams that would take us in very different directions. I always knew Arseni was cold, but never that he was as cruel as he turned out to be. Unfortunately, by the time I found out, I was in his clutches. He forced me to work with him."

"How did he force you?"

"He threatened my mother. I couldn't let him hurt her."

"I have a grandmother?" she asked in wonder. "Is she still alive?"

"No. She died many years ago. Long after I disappeared from her life. She believed I was dead. Everyone in my family was told that. The CIA faked my death when I defected. I thought I was safe, especially after so many years had passed. But I made a mistake. I wanted to help Henry with his cancer treatment. I took a gamble and told him about my past. It was a poor decision."

"Even worse for Henry. Novikov's men tortured your location out of him. He's in critical condition."

"God! Poor Henry. He didn't deserve that. He's trying to do good things. He wants so badly to cure people. He inspired me. I wanted to help him achieve his goals. But I put him in danger."

"What happened at the lab? How did Novikov know you were in LA?"

"I ran into someone who had known me in Russia. I wasn't sure she'd recognized me; it had been many years. Then a week later, your mother got sick, and I got a call from someone who called me by my former name. That’s when I took your mother to the hospital. I thought she would be safe there, and if I disappeared, you would be safe, too."

"What about the house? Did you burn it down?"

"No." He shook his head. "But I was afraid that something might happen at the house, so I moved some of our things with me when I left. I don't know if they're still at the motel."

"They appeared to be," she told him. "So, you knew the house burned down?"

"I went by there, and I saw the destruction. I'm so sorry, Alisa. I made a lot of mistakes."

She drew in a shaky breath. "You did make mistakes, and I don't need apologies; I need an action plan. You're brilliant, right? You have a plan for the bombs, but what about now? Is there any way out of here?" She yanked on her arms, but she could barely move them, and already her shoulders were cramping.

"No, there isn't," he said, stiffening as they heard voices. "Pretend you're still unconscious."

As the door opened, she shut her eyes, hearing a spate of words in a language she didn't recognize, but it was probably Russian. There were also heavy footsteps, and then someone kicked her leg. She couldn't help but flinch.

"Leave her alone," her dad said. "She's not part of this."

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