Page 128 of The Payback

“Nik,” I sob. “Stop. You’re going to be fine.”

“Not if we hang around here much longer,” Zach says as he pulls up a new contact on his phone and announces he’ll be there in five minutes.

“Come on.” Zach hauls Nik up by the arm and then turns towards me. “Get your shit done and get to the island. Little Thief misses you.”

I nod and watch as Zach slings Nik’s arm around his shoulders and hauls him down the tunnel, following a map Roark sent him.

Pulling my agency phone from my bustier, I open the contacts.

“Where are you?” Agent Kim barks. “I’m looking at a fucking ambulance on fire and a traffic system blinking out the beat to ‘Thriller!’”

With tears of relief in my eyes, I answer. “I’m under the ambulance, in the sewer with Dimitri. Did you guys wrap up the gala? Don’t forget to grab the two following the ambulance in the Escalade!”

“We got them as they pulled the bodies from the back of the bus, which we need to discuss. As for the gala, it’s underway. Hold tight; let me get the map and send you where to go for a pickup. You did good, Agent Carmichael.”

“It’s Agent Aslanov now,” Dimitri says from beside me, obviously hearing every word of the conversation. He touches the ring on my finger as if reminding himself of our union.

“And Nikita Lenkov?” Agent Kim asks. “He was with you, and at least six agents here are demanding he’s delivered to their doorsteps for questioning.”

“Dead,” I answer. “He was still in the ambulance. Oksana poisoned him, and he died en route.”

“Shame. We’re right outside the cathedral where this all started. It would have been nice to wrap this up where it began.”

I look at Dimitri, and he nods, confirming our location.

“We’ll await your directions. Let me know,” I say into the phone and hang up.

I bury my head against Dimitri’s chest, the Kevlar making it uncomfortable, but it’s where I want to be. “He’ll be okay, right?”

“That depends. Will Zach kill him for being a pain in the ass?”

I nod.

“Then it’s up in the air.”

I snort a laugh, grateful for the levity. “What about you? I know you said you’ve been having small doses of things for years, but do you feel okay?”

“A little nauseated, but I’ll survive.”

A text dings on my phone, and it’s directions from Agent Kim. “There’s an opening under the cathedral,” I read out.

“Then let’s go. Maybe we can renew our vows while we’re in there,” Dimitri teases.

I let out a small laugh and let him pull me in the direction Agent Kim suggested.

We’ve got a long few days ahead of us with debriefs. The last thing I want to do is go over all the information collected again, but it will get us one step closer to reuniting.

I just hope Nik is okay and waiting for us at the end.

CHAPTERFORTY-SIX

Nikita

Three daysof expellingeverythingin some doctor’s office in New York, a private flight—wherein I sat next to the world’s worst conversationalist—and nearly a week on an island in a concrete room with a tiny window with “a view” has me ready to pull my damned hair out.

The view is the dilapidated wall of the opposite building, and the only thing I can see is a penis graffitied onto the façade. All I can think about at this point is that it’s missing a vein along the shaft.That’show bored I am.

I don’t know who the fuck this Zach guy thinks he is, but I haven’t seen him in two days, and my food rations are running out. At this point, I’m almost desperate to see his nonemotional ugly mug, so long as he brings me a decent meal.

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