“I suppose it would. That is, if you’re sure he’s still in Washington. Do you know for sure he didn’t come down here with the senator? Do you have someone with eyes on him in Washington right now?”
Shadow draws in a deep breath, straightening his back so that he towers over me even more.
“I’ll take your silence as a ‘no.’ I’ve been nothing but honest about my involvement in this since day one. I’ve told Silas everything remotely related to this. I’ve answered every question he’s asked of me with honesty, even to my own detriment. I’ve never lied to him.
“So, to address who can be trusted here and who can’t, let me ask you this one question. Does your wife know you’re working undercover with the CIA right now? Does she know that while you’re helping your friend with your right hand, you’re reporting his activities back to the Agency with your left? What happens to Silas when this is over—and how much blood will be on both of your hands that day?”
Chapter 20
Silas
The silence inside the truck we borrow from Noah is deafening, and the tension is stifling. The rapport we’ve developed over the last several weeks seems to have dissipated, along with all the trust we’d built between us. One seed of doubt planted in my mind by Shadow, and it’s almost as if the past several weeks with Kira never happened.
Well, not exactly Shadow, but being the bearer of bad news makes him guilty by association. Even though I know he was only sharing information he’d uncovered in the investigation I asked for, that doesn’t make it easier to swallow. The Russian government could’ve altered the mission information to cover their tracks after their agent went rogue, or she could be guilty of everything it said. She could’ve been playing me the entire time, keeping me from identifying their real endgame. One scenario is as likely to be the truth as the other.
“You know, you can’t keep shutting me out like this. When we get back to Noah’s house tonight, are you planning to sleep in the other room away from me?”
For once in my career, I honestly haven’t thought that far ahead. I’m just trying to get through the current minute before planning what I’ll do in the next one. My thoughts are still circling the drain, trying to maintain some semblance of professionalism through my internal battle. Do I follow my head or…that other organ that shouldn’t be involved at all?
“Great. That’s just fucking great, Silas. I’ll tell you what. Since you’re so unsure about me and can’t make a decision for yourself, I’ll make it for you. I won’t be in that bed tonight, so it’s all yours. Don’t bother looking for me either. If you show up anywhere near me, I’ll get up and move to another part of the house where you’re not. After all this time, you doubt me now. What happened to your fucking lie detector test? Do you think I can beat a system I don’t even know about?”
“Are you saying you’d be willing to take that test to prove you’re not lying?” The moment the words leave my mouth, I know they’re a mistake. I didn’t mean it the way it came across, but there’s no way I’ll convince her of that now.
She surprises me by not answering at all. I expected a smack upside my head. When I glance over at her, the crushed expression on her face and the tears glistening in her eyes do the talking for her. My regret is instantaneous. The sharp pain that shoots through my chest, clawing at my heart like a steel trap, is my own doing.
She swallows hard, regrouping and getting her emotions under control before speaking. Her voice is aloof and distant, not the warm and affectionate Kira I’ve grown to…know…over time. “No, I’m not willing to do that at all. Go ahead and turn me in. I have nothing left to prove to you.”
“Kira—”
“Don’t. Just don’t. Keep whatever lie you were about to tell me to yourself. It’s amazing you’re even wasting your time on this stakeout since I’m a complete liar and only diverting your attention to a nonexistent threat. But don’t worry. I’ll be gone after tonight, and you can drop this case completely. Of course, when it turns out I was telling the truth, you’ll look like an even bigger incompetent moron, but that won’t be my problem. You can be the one to explain it to Cristano.”
Thankfully, we aren’t far from the day spa building, and we’ll have time for a more rational conversation when I’m not driving and distracted by the road. I know she only lashed out at me because she’s hurt, but I don’t think she realizes I need time to process everything that’s transpired in such a short time. Admittedly, I could’ve avoided this entire confrontation if I’d just spilled my guts to her, but sharing my feelings never been my style. I’ve already spent more time with her than all my previous dates combined. Complicated feelings were never part of the equation before now.
But what I don’t want to admit is even I know that excuse is utter bullshit. I’m a grown man who can use big words and everything. I’m stopping shy of calling myself a pussy…but the voices in my head are screaming it loud enough anyway.
When I find a parking spot that gives us a line of sight to the back of the building, I put the truck into Park and turn off the engine. Just as I turn in the seat to face Kira and hash out this bullshit once and for all, she jumps out of the passenger door. There’s a stronger than usual breeze stirring today with a storm brewing just off the coast. Her long black hair whips around with a mind of its own when powerful gusts come up out of the blue. She takes a seat on a retaining wall in front of our parking spot, pulls a hair band out of her pocket, and pulls her hair into a low ponytail. With her sunglasses in place, she looks like a normal Floridian, enjoying the bright sun and mild late-February temperatures.
Only, I know who she really is.
Or do I?
“Fuck it.” I reach for the handle to climb out of the truck, but I stop when I see her perk up.
But she’s not paying attention to me. She lifts the pocket-size binoculars toward the spa building across the street. Her back remains straight as a rod, and her muscles are tensed and ready to pounce. I follow her line of sight and recognize a familiar form slinking around the back door. I move swiftly and silently to her side, keeping my gaze trained on the target.
“Isn’t that Viktor?”
“Yes, it is. Give me a gun, Silas.”
“No fucking way, Kira. You know I can’t do that. You’re not even supposed to be here.”
She lowers the binoculars momentarily to look at me. “But I am here. And so is Viktor. But your rules and laws won’t stop him. Obviously. There are laws against human trafficking in this country, right? But he’s a criminal, so he doesn’t care about your laws because what he’s doing makes him money. He’s willing to take the risk regardless of what your rule book says.” Flames flash in her eyes when she yanks her sunglasses off her face and glares at me.
Seems she’s genuinely upset with me, and this isn’t just a passing spat.
“I’m trained, licensed, and a US federal agent. I’ll subdue him while you help the victims get out of there safely.”
“You’re impossible. So, just in case you’ve read me wrong and this is a setup to take you out, you want me to walk into that devil’s den unarmed. Is that it?”
“I can’t take that chance, Kira.” Plain and simple, that’s what it boils down to.
“Even if you don’t believe I actually have feelings for you and also want to stop this monster, do you honestly believe I could betray my sister like that? She’d be the one who’d be left behind to take the fall for me.”
This is but one more reason why I shouldn’t have allowed any feelings to become involved in this affair. That thought never crossed my mind. I’ve been so focused on Kira betraying me, I didn’t stop to consider she’d never do that to Mira. I realized how strong their bond was after seeing them together the first time, and that has only amplified over the past several weeks of constant contact. Her sister is the only real family she has left. She’d die before she let Mira pay for her sins.
She turns her face away from me and lifts the binoculars again, hid
ing her own hurt and anger. But I can see she’s at the tipping point—even more so than before.
“It’s happening now. They’re on the move. Oh my god…that man just shook hands with Viktor, and now he’s dragging a little girl away. We have to stop him!”
Kira flings the binoculars to the side and takes off like a bullet, sprinting across the way without alerting the other team or waiting for backup. I race to catch up with her, calling Roman and Nick on my way to get them in place. Viktor rushes back inside the building. We can’t risk him escaping through any other door, so I order them to search the building while I follow Kira to the back. Roman cautions me to hang back since this could be the perfect setup to lure me into an ambush once and for all. Pretending a child is in danger definitely would be an effective trap, and the cost of not taking the risk is too high.
When I finally catch up with her, Kira grabs the little girl from the man’s grasp. “Hi, sweetheart. Do you know this man?”
The sheer terror on the little girl’s face when she looks up at the man in question is enough of an answer for me. Huge tears well up in her eyes as she nervously glances between him and Kira. She wants to answer, but she’s obviously been coached and coerced into staying silent. She can’t be more than five years old, and that alone is enough for me to empty the magazine into these fuckers.
“It’s okay, sweetie. You can tell me. If he’s not your daddy, I won’t let him take you anywhere. I’ll protect you. Have you ever seen him before today?”
The little girl finally shakes her head, indicating no.
“Has he hurt you, sweetie?” Kira’s voice is controlled and reassuring as she tries to soothe the little girl.
The heart I deny having shatters in my chest when she nods.
“You sick motherfucker. I should blow your fucking head off your shoulders right now so I can stuff it and mount it on my wall for target practice.” The sights at the end of my barrel are set directly between his eyes. With just a twitch of my finger, the leftover pieces wouldn’t even resemble a head.
“Who the hell are you?” He somehow thinks he can bluff and bluster his way out of this.
“CIA.”
“Then I know you’re full of shit. You can’t shoot me—I’m unarmed. You are required to arrest me and take me in. I’m entitled to a lawyer.” He puffs out his chest, thinking he’s won this round.
I laugh in his face, but it’s a humorless chuckle. “You obviously have no clue how we work. Get that little girl out of here. She doesn’t need to see this.”
Kira lifts the girl into her arms, holding the child tightly against her body, and walks briskly toward the truck. I keep my sights steady on him until they’re out of sight.
“I have rights. I’m an American citizen. You can’t just shoot an unarmed man and get away with it. I’m entitled to a lawyer and due process.” His bravado is waning, as it should be.
“Not today, you’re not. You’re a member of an undercover Russian terrorist cell, putting the lives of millions of Americans at stake. You’re a traitor, committing treason against the United States of America of the highest measure.”
“That’s not true. None of that is true.”
“Funny, that’s how my report will read. And that’s exactly what will be in your obituary.” The round leaves the chamber and strikes him before the meaning and weight of my words have time to fully register in his brain.
His is the most satisfying death of my career.
One less piece of shit running loose in the world, preying on innocent children while pretending to be a human being.
Roman and Nick rush through the door with their weapons drawn then quickly put them away when they realize the threat has been neutralized.
“All clear inside, Silas. Viktor got away somehow. There must’ve been another exit we didn’t know about because Roman and I checked every room, every closet, and under every massage table. He gave us the slip.”
“What?” I can’t believe my ears. We combed over the blueprints and checked the interior ourselves.
“I’m sorry, man. We’re thoroughly pissed too. Let’s go track him down. He couldn’t have gotten far. We’ll ground every plane and shut down every mode of transportation out of the county.” Roman begins to walk away, ready to be in hot pursuit.
But my feet are rooted to the concrete beneath me. I can’t breathe. It feels as if my lungs are filled with water, preventing me from inhaling the oxygen I need to survive. I’ve never experienced a full-blown panic attack before—nothing even remotely close to it. But I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the exact transportation Viktor will use to leave the area.
Because I drove here in it. And I sent Kira and that little girl to wait for me in it.
“He’s already gone, Roman. And he took Kira and a victim she rescued with him as bargaining collateral—or human shields—whichever comes first.”
We rush back to the parking area, and my worst fears are confirmed.
The truck is gone, along with the two people I should’ve been protecting.
Approaching sirens grow louder until many different organizations surround us, including my brother and his team. When Shadow and I explain our involvement to the FBI Special Agent in Charge, we’re immediately released with his promise to ground all commercial and private flights out of the area. Even though this only took mere minutes from start to finish, I know we’re too late. Grounding other flights will only be a nuisance and inconvenience to innocent travelers.
That fucker is a trained GRU agent. His emergency credentials will list him as a visiting dignitary with diplomatic immunity, resourcefully putting him out of our reach. Along with Kira. He’ll take her back to Russia to be executed for helping us. God only knows what he’s done with that little lost girl.
“Who has my security camera videos? Traffic cameras, ATMs, local businesses. I want them all on my computer in the next thirty seconds!” the special agent in charge bellows to his team, looking for immediate answers.
“I need to see those too.” I’m not asking.
The first available footage shows Viktor emerging from a small window at ground level. He must’ve made had his exit planned ahead of time and climbed out before Nick or Roman found him. When we’re finally able to see him from a different angle, I have the perfect view of him running toward the truck, climbing inside with Kira, and holding a gun to the little girl’s head to make Kira cooperate.
If any lingering doubt remained, it is completely squashed now. Kira was right about one more fact as well. I absolutely am an incompetent moron, and I’ve left no room for doubt or debate.
Chapter 21
Kira
“Viktor, take me but let the little girl go. I can stop and let her out at a hospital or something. She’s been through enough. Besides, she’ll only slow you down.” I don’t bother keeping up the “David” charade. We both know who he really is.
“You know, this whole situation is pretty amusing when you think about it.”
“I don’t think any of this is funny.”
“Oh, but it is. I’ve lived in the DC area for years. Decades. I’ve worked my way into the office of one of the most powerful senators ever elected. I have access to everything the Intelligence Committee sees. Do you know how important my role is to our government? But everything I accomplished wasn’t enough to quiet the storm inside me.
“No one in DC seems to question whatever Senator Hunt wants—he’s just trusted implicitly. So, I had one of the senator’s CIA contacts locate Silas Steele and share all the information that could be found on him. It’s amazing to have that kind of power, so I used it to my advantage to find the one man whose name is still on my list. Do you know what it’s like to have the person you’re closest to suddenly ripped out of your life?”
“I know exactly what that’s like, and you know very well I do.”
“Yeah, I guess that was a stupid question to ask you. Anyway, even though we were thirteen years apart in age, my br
other and I were very close. When he was murdered, it changed me in ways I never realized until I matured more. I tried to push past the need for vengeance, I really did. But I’ve accepted that’s just not in my DNA. At first, I planned to kill his siblings and be done with it. That would’ve made us even.
“But while I was watching him one day, I realized he was watching you. Then you started working me, and I realized you had no idea about my true identity. I’ve never believed in the whole ‘it was fate’ bullshit. Until that night. There was no other explanation for it. Silas’s attention was so laser-focused on you that he never even noticed me. I could’ve picked him off with a single shot to the head, and he never would’ve seen it coming.
“That’s when I realized just watching him die wouldn’t be enough. He would’ve been a hero, a martyr, and I would’ve had to hear about it for years to come. No, he has to know he’s been beaten, but more importantly, who beat him. The great Silas Steele will be blamed, shamed, and convicted while I have a front row seat to watch all his hard work unravel around him. It’s the perfect scenario.”
“I don’t understand. What do you mean exactly?”
He turns his head and meets my gaze with a sadistic smile. “This may sound odd coming from me, considering I’m not only going to ruin the man but annihilate him completely. I respect you for trying to protect him regardless of what you’re facing yourself. But you can stop recording me with your phone now. Where you’re going, you’ll never be given an opportunity to get it to him. To address your earlier request about the little girl, the answer is no. She’ll prove useful to my overall goal. She comes with us.”
“Where are you taking us?” He’s too forthcoming with information. That’s never a good sign. We’re trained to be uncrackable vaults, but he’s singing like a canary.
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