Page 151 of Blood & Snow
"You want her back?"
Arkady laughs bitterly.
"Then come and get her. Trade yourself for her. Your life for hers. That's the deal."
My jaw tightens.
"Where?"
I’m not stupid enough to believe he'll uphold that bargain but I have to try.
"I'll send you the location. Come alone. No weapons. No backup. If I see anyone else, I will put a bullet in her head before you reach the door."
The line goes dead and I sit in the car, staring at the phone.
My hand is shaking.
My breathing is choppy.
And inside of me, something is tearing apart.
I knew this was coming.
They sent their message and I didn't heed it.
This is the trap I thought I prepared for.
The one I toldmyself I could avoid if I stayed focused, if I kept my head down and did my job quickly.
Now she's gone, and the Brotherhood has her.
I start the car and pull into traffic and the rage that courses through me feels like a supercharger on full blast.
My guess is that she's close to where I sent her to do the clean up, so I head that way.
And when my phone buzzes with a text message, I glance at the screen and see I’m right.
Unknown Number: 11:00 PM: Warehouse on Prospekt Mira. Come alone or she dies.
And of course, I'm right.
It's less than a quarter mile from the place we decimated tonight.
They had to have been lying in wait.
As soon as we pulled out their secondary forces moved in to see the damage and they took her.
Sokolov is going to pay because I'm a man with nothing to lose, and his death is already on my to do list.
He doesn't realize he's made it that much easier for me to kill him.
26
NADYA
The cold seeps into my bones.
It lives in the concrete beneath me, in the metal shelves that line the walls, in the air itself.
