Page 124 of Lethal Alliance

“Vera’s upstairs,” Anton adds. “She’s hysterical.”

I’m not ready to deal with Vera. Not yet.

I swallow, bracing myself.

“Roman,” I whisper, clutching my throat. “The children?”

“Safe.” Anton grips my shoulder, staring into my eyes so I can see the truth in his. “Safe, and about to board a plane as we speak. You can call them before they take off if you like.”

“Oh, thank God.” I bury my face in my hands, my legs finally giving way beneath me, and slide down the wall until I’m sitting on the floor, heedless of the blood smeared across it. “Thank God.”

38

OFELIA

I’m lying on the floor of the hangar on a makeshift stretcher, the doctor bent over my broken leg. Masha sits on one side of me, clinging to my hand, Mickey on the other.

The tall man Roman introduced to us as Mak strides across the floor of the warehouse, holding up his phone. “She’s okay. Darya’s okay.”

Roman slumps to the concrete floor beside Mickey, his face white. “Thank Christ for that.”

Dimitry grips his shoulder in silent comfort.

Mickey puts his head in his hands.

Masha turns into me, burying her face in my neck, her breath hot and rapid against my skin. “It’s okay,myshka,” I murmur, kissing her forehead as Mak talks in a fast undertone with Roman. “It’s all going to be okay.”

I watch Alexei over her shoulder. He’s standing at a distance to our small group, watching Roman and Mak talk, as still and unmoving as he was in the cell. His jaw is hard as glass, his lips pressed together in a hard line, but the long hours we spent locked in that cell together have taught me to read the small changes in his expression. I can see the passionate relief beneath the cold mask he wears, can feel how hard he’s fighting not to show any emotion at the news. When there’s a break in the conversation, he speaks for the first time since our arrival.

“Fedorov?” His rasped word is a question.

Roman glares at him. “Dead,” he says curtly. “Your father shot him, apparently.”

Alexei doesn’t say a word. But I don’t miss the way his hands spasm into fists, or the fleeting expression of savage triumph that blazes in his face before he assumes his customary deadpan expression. By the way Roman’s eyes narrow, he hasn’t missed it either.

He and Alexei have yet to talk. Both of them waved the doctor away when we arrived, insisting he examine me instead. They’ve stayed at opposite sides of the warehouse, both patching themselves up rather than submitting to medical attention. But where Roman pulled his shirt off immediately to wash out his wounds, I can’t help but notice the way Alexei turned away from the others and patched himself beneath his clothes. Knowing what I do of Orlov’s work, I can only imagine the scars he carries. I understand he’d rather not advertise them.

I wince as the doctor presses my leg.

“Her tibia is broken.” The doctor frowns as he looks up at Roman. “She really shouldn’t be flying.”

An airport crew is going through last-minute plane checks. There are so many men with guns surrounding us it feels like a war zone.

We just came from a war zone.

I shiver, trying not to look at where Vilnus Orlov, bloodied and unconscious, is lying bound and gagged in the far corner, out of earshot.

The doctor is still telling Roman why I should stay in Miami.

“I’m fine.” I interrupt him and meet Roman’s eyes. “They can drug me, can’t they? I want to come with you.”

He turns to the doctor, who nods reluctantly. “Yes, I can drug her. But only to London. Then she needs to stay there until the swelling goes down and we can operate.”

“Fine.” Roman nods curtly. “Do it.”

“Wait.” I push away the doctor’s needle and look at Mickey. “What about Alexei? Is he coming with us?”

“For Chrissakes,” Roman answers before Mickey can even open his mouth. He looks ready to explode. “That bastard kidnapped you, kept you captive for days, and used his knife on you too, from what Orlov said. He got off two shots that saved my life, which is the only reason I didn’t put a bullet through him back at the shoreline, but that doesn’t make up for what he’s done. Now let the doctor give you that injection.”

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