Page 133 of Brutal Reign
“Good. We need to know exactly where they’re going.”
“Vehicles are waiting out front,” Maxim instructs. “We need to move now if we’re going to catch them.”
I take one last look at the empty sky where Hope disappeared, then turn toward the door.
We thunder down the stairs, my mind already racing through possibilities. Roman, Maxim, and I pile into the first SUV while Vadim and Niko take the second with a team of soldiers. The engines roar to life, and we tear through Moscow’s streets.
“Helicopter is maintaining a steady course toward the southeast,” Eva updates. “Based on the current trajectory, they’re heading for a private airstrip about twenty kilometers outside the city.”
“Confirmed.” Dinara’s voice joins the channel. “I’m tracking flight patterns and airport manifests. There’s a private jet registered to a shell company that’s been on standby at that airstrip for the past six hours. They’re planning to leave the country.”
Fuck me.
“How long until they reach the airstrip?” Roman asks, his knuckles white where they grip the door handle.
“Helicopter will touch down in fifteen minutes,” Eva responds. “But at your current speed, you’re twenty minutes out.”
“Faster,” I bark to the driver. He can break every speed limit in the city, but I won’t miss that aircraft.
My phone buzzes with an incoming message from an unknown number. When I open it, my world comes to a standstill.
It’s a photo of Kin curled up in what looks like an airplane seat, fast asleep, wearing the same pajamas he was wearingtonight. He looks so small, so vulnerable, that protective fury explodes in my chest.
The message below the photo reads:
The boy dies if you interfere. - Simon.
Simon’s on that plane with Kin.
“Fuck!” I roar, slamming my fist into the seat so hard the leather splits.
“What?” Maxim asks, but I can barely hear him over the roar of blood in my ears.
“They have Kin,” I snarl, showing him the photo. “They have him.”
The SUV goes silent except for the rumble of the engine. Roman stares at the image, his face draining of color. “How is that possible? Kin is back at the compou?—”
The implications hit us all at once. If Simon has Kin, his men breached the compound. Our families, our children, everyone we love could be in danger.
“Christ,” Maxim breathes, reaching for his phone. “Kira. The kids.”
Roman looks sick with terror as he dials Liza.
I feel as helpless as they both look.
My mind spirals through the possibilities. Are they taking Hope to where Kin is? Taking both of the people I love away from me? The photo burns into my vision. That little boy who means so much to me, who trusts me to keep him safe, and I failed him too.
I close my eyes, trying to think past the terror and fury warring in my chest.
“What do you see at the airstrip?” I ask Eva.
“Helicopter is about to touch down,” she reports. “There’s a jet waiting on the tarmac.”
“How long until that jet takes off?”
“Hard to say,” Dinara responds. “Could be five to ten minutes, depending on flight clearance and preflight checks.”
“Push that accelerator harder,” I tell the driver.
