Page 86 of Shea's Hero

Watching their interaction only solidifies my plan. It’s clear Sergey is the weak link, so I’ll go after him second. Alexi is the more dangerous one, so I need to neutralize him first.

I won’t try it now, not while we’re traveling sixty miles an hour down a country road with forest on both sides. But as soon as we get to wherever Alexi plans on taking us,thenI’ll spring into action.

“This is all your fucking fault,” snarls Alexi, his eyes narrowed as he glances at me in the rearview mirror again. “This was supposed to be a quick job. Grab your girlfriend, force you to give up the traitor, and dump both your bodies in the Hudson River. I planned to be here for three days, max. But no. Your girlfriend decides to be a damn hero.”

He pauses. Smirks. Then, speculatively, “She is beautiful, isn’t she? I can see why you’ve been stuck on her for so long. Maybe I should try her out before I kill her.”

Thisfucker.

If he even touches Shea…

Sergey barks out a rough laugh. “How do you like that, Kingston? Would you like to watch us with your girl? I bet that would be motiv?—”

“As if I’d let you have a shot,” Alexi snaps. “Remember who you are, Sergey. I’m the boss here.Idecide. You don’t touch anyone unless I tell you to.”

Sergey scowls at him, looking more like a chastised child than a full-grown adult. Petulantly, he replies, “It was just an idea.”

An idea he won’t be acting on, because I’ll kill him if he does.

I may kill him anyway. And I won’t lose a second of sleep over it.

Alexi’s attention shifts back to the road, and after another half mile or so, the car begins to slow. A narrow road comes up on the right, and he flicks on the blinker—which is a bit ironic, given the circumstances—and turns onto it.

The road is rough, littered with potholes and cracks, and as we travel down it, the trees seem to be closing in on us. At my best guess, we’re headed towards Bald Mountain, or rather, one of the houses located at the base of it.

As we wind along the road, I make some quick calculations. We’ve been on the road for about twenty minutes now, and Shea triggered her alert just before that, so Blade and Arrow has to be well on the way already. At my best guess, they’re fifteen minutes behind us, which is helpful, but not enough to ensure Shea’s safety.

No.I’llhave to do that.

After just a few minutes on the road, Alexi signals to turn again, this time down a worn dirt driveway. There are wide ruts in the dirt, tire tracks from large trucks carrying heavy machinery, which makes me think we’re not headed to an ordinary house.

My suspicions are confirmed as we approach a construction site tucked deep in the woods, a house half-built, all framed out with walls and a roof but with the windows still missing. Ahead of us, the first car—the one transporting Shea—is parked close to the entrance of the house. I can’t see if she’s in there, not from this distance, and my heart leaps to my throat.

What if she’s already hurt? What if she’s unconscious in the back of the car? Just because Shea was okay when she was put in there doesn’t mean she is now.

What if she’s inside the house already, terribly injured? Tortured? Violated?

What if their plan is to torture Shea in front of me?

Fuck.

Now is not the time to panic.

This is when I need to keep it together.

As we come to a stop, a phone buzzes from the front seat. Alexi rummages in the middle console amid food and candy wrappers before he finds his phone and snatches it up. In Russian, he barks,“What?”

He goes quiet as he listens. Then he says briskly,“Good. Don’t touch her yet. We’ll be inside in a minute.”

Don’t touch her yet.

It’s not proof of Shea’s safety, but I’ll take it for now.

And it’s also the signal for me to move, while he’s still distracted.

No hesitation.

Nothing in my life has been more important than this.

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