Page 14 of Covert Vengeance

Chapter Five

Amber Brown was here in Damascus. She’d been in the business district this afternoon.

But now she was gone, and Yury had no idea where she was headed next.

Rage flooded his system as he holstered his pistol and packed up his rifle in the small hotel room he’d stayed in last night. Another sleepless night in another fleabag hotel while he waited and searched for a solid lead that would give him Amber’s location.

Putting on his sunglasses, he pushed aside the exhaustion and stepped out into the hot afternoon sunshine as he made a call to his contact. A situation had unfolded today that might have far reaching consequences for his mission. “It’s me,” he said in Russian. “What have you heard?”

“He’s dead. Died on the operating table an hour ago.”

Yury let out an irritated growl. Dammit. He’d received reports that one of the men he’d hired had been involved in a gun battle with Amber outside a government building earlier. Last Yury had heard, the man had been severely wounded and transported to the hospital via ambulance. Now only one hitter remained to bring him Amber Brown.

Cordova.

Yury got into his rental car and cranked the air conditioning. He hated it here. The heat. The dust. It reminded him too much of the hellholes he’d fought in and lost friends in before. “Are all the bullets from the same weapon?”

“The autopsy won’t be done for days yet. Ballistics reports won’t be available for a week or more after that. Does it matter?”

“No.” The hitter was dead. Whether it was by Amber’s weapon or someone else’s was irrelevant. Though it interested him to know if anyone else had shot him as well. For instance, the man reportedly chasing Amber on another motorcycle when the shooting happened. “Have there been any sightings of her?”

“She was spotted heading northwest out of the city. Nothing else since.”

“What about the guy chasing her?” Had to be Jesse Cordova.

They had never met in person. Yury only knew him by reputation, and it was a formidable one. If anyone could capture Amber for him, it was Cordova.

“Haven’t heard anything about him,” his contact said. Yury could hear others talking and laughing in the background. A team of Russian special operators at a secure base inside Damascus. Then the man lowered his voice. “But I did hear a rumor from our Syrian friends concerning a group they do business with. He said they’ve got female captives. Americans.”

His attention sharpened. “Is she one of them?”

“Might be. Apparently these women both put up one hell of a fight when they were taken. Killed three of their best guys before being captured. They’re saying the women are government spies. Assassins, even.”

Valkyries? It was possible. But was one of them Amber? It didn’t make sense. What was she even doing here?

Unless…

Of course.The captives.

He sucked in a quiet breath as everything clicked into place. They could be Valkyries. It would explain so much, and why Amber had risked everything to come back here.

“See if you can find out where they’re being held. If you give me good intel on this, I’ll double your fee.” Yury had already been paying him good money for the intel. That offer should get him immediate results. “If you hear anything else, you know where to reach me.”

He hung up and drove west toward the outskirts of the city to meet with another contact—a low-level government official who might know something about the captive women. If those captives were Valkyries, Yury’s gut said Amber was here to rescue them. And she was now on the run, with Cordova right on her tail.

Given Cordova’s relentless reputation, there was a chance he might already have captured her. Yury didn’t think so, because if Cordova had, Yury would have been notified by now. According to the terms of their contract, Cordova wasn’t required to contact him with updates. He wouldn’t report back unless he’d captured or killed her.

Cordova was good, but Yury was too, and this time he wasn’t leaving anything to chance. He was going after Amber Brown himself.

He had eyes and ears all over this city now. Money made things so much easier. If she reappeared in the city again, it was only a matter of time before he found out.

Didn’t matter how long it took. He would find her. Pay her back double for all his and Zoya’s pain.

A life for a life. Even though it didn’t seem enough.

****

“You’re a freaking Valkyrie. It’s ridiculous to worry about whether you killed that guy back there,” Amber muttered under her breath.

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