Page 88 of Lethal Game

But his gut told him this entire scene was just another ambush, a way to kill him and maybe his team. The real threat still loomed ahead.

Which meant that Alisa and her father were hopefully still alive.

The clock was ticking, and every minute heightened Alisa's fear. Novikov had promised to punish her if her father wasn't done by six-thirty, and it was minutes to that now. "Dad," she said, knowing he was doing his best. He'd been working nonstop for the last few hours, barely speaking to her except to say he had to get this done. There would be time to talk later.

"Almost there," he replied.

She tried to breathe through the panic that threatened to overwhelm her. Aside from being allowed to use the bathroom once, she'd been tied to the chair, with various guards coming in and out of the makeshift lab to check on her father's progress.

Novikov had not reappeared since his first visit, but she'd heard voices outside the room where they were being kept, and she suspected he was out there with at least three other men.

She had so many questions she wanted to ask her dad, but it had been difficult to have a private conversation, and her father had been focused on his task. It had been strange to watch him making a bomb. For her entire life, she had thought he was a scienceteacher and just a very ordinary, normal man. She'd certainly never imagined he was a brilliant Russian chemist who had defected to the US so that he wouldn't be forced to build chemical weapons.

A man came into the room, barking at her dad in Russian.

"Five minutes," her father said in reply to whatever question he'd been asked.

The man left the room, probably to give Novikov an update.

"Alisa, listen to me," her father said quickly. "I've set timers on these explosives, but they can also be stopped manually by putting in a code."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"In case you need to know. This is what will happen. Arseni will take me to the venue to plant the bombs. As I mentioned before, I have a remote in my pocket, and if I can find a way to detonate the explosives in a location that will only take out me and whoever else is with me, I will do it."

"No, Dad. You can't."

"I have to. I can't let him kill thousands of people."

"There has to be another way."

"There's not. Not unless we get a miracle."

She was starting to lose faith in a miracle. Jason would be looking for her and Novikov. Everyone on his team would be doing the same and probably every other agency they worked with. But how would they know where they were?

"There's something else you need to know," her father said. "I don't believe Arseni will take you with us. He'll keep you here alive until everything is complete. You must try to escape. If you see any opportunity, you must take it."

His words chilled her to the core. "I will."

"Hopefully, you will be rescued, and you will have a chance to tell someone how to disarm the devices before they go off at eight-thirty. I have created a code. It's your mother's birthdate followed by your birthdate, plus star, pound, ampersand." He rattled off the code, then said it again.

"I don't know if I can remember," she said, panic swamping her brain. "Is it pound and then star?"

He repeated it once more. "This is only if I can't stop everything myself. You're just a backup."

"Where are the explosives going to be set? Is it the convention center? They're amping up security for the conference tomorrow. How will you even get in?"

"It's the Kensington Hotel, which is attached to the new Wilshire Mall and two other office buildings. The complex is connected by ventilation systems, and when the bombs go off, the toxins will go everywhere, killing many people. I also believe the vice president is staying at the hotel tonight."

"It's happening tonight?" she asked in surprised. "I'm pretty sure the FBI thinks it's all happening tomorrow at the convention center."

"They would have been made to think that. Novikov likes to be unpredictable."

"But there will be Secret Service and other agencies at the hotel, too, right? How will you be able to get bombs into the hotel without anyone seeing you?"

"He will have someone on the inside helping. And there will be many rooms and many places to hide the devices."

"This is so sick."

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