Left For Dead (The Guarded Secrets Series Book 3)

by Sara Schoen

  Once again I glanced around the corner cautiously to see Volodya and Natasha with the same men from before. At least I hadn’t lost them or anyone else in the group. I stayed as low to the ground as I could to prevent being seen. Everyone would look at their eye level, rarely up or down. If I stayed below their natural gaze, I should be safe. I couldn’t make out what was being said, and grew annoyed that I hadn’t spent more time studying Russian before coming here in the first place. Maybe then I wouldn’t be so useless when I could be eavesdropping. All I understood from the short exchange was that Volodya became upset as one guard reported news, eased slightly when the two men I had followed reported back to most likely say they didn’t see anything, and then once again become furious when someone interrupted the conversation.

  He pushed Natasha into one of the rooms and quickly gestured for the men to follow him. I wasn’t sure what happened, but I was pleased that it had gotten Natasha away from her father. I could grab her and be out of here before he came back to retrieve her. Waiting for the guards to move out of sight, I took a glance back. No one was behind me. Now would be the only time I had to get her, I couldn’t be sure she’d ever be alone again. I stood up and slowly made my way to the room. I took a deep breath and pushed open the door, praying that she would be alone. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case.

  A gun was quickly shoved into my face. I glanced down the barrel into a pair of green eyes that gave away the person’s true feeling; fear. He tried to seem powerful, in control, but his eyes said differently. He spoke to me in Russian, his voice shaking slightly, but what he said I couldn’t be sure. When I didn’t answer he pushed the barrel a little closer, too close. He should have known better. I grabbed the barrel of the gun and ripped it from his hands before turning his own weapon on him. It was heavy in my hands, and while I wasn’t a gun expert I knew this one was similar to the submachine gun Renegade had once showed me. I could do some real damage with it given a chance.

  “Hands up,” I ordered. Like a good soldier he did as he was told. I motioned for him to back up and he reluctantly did so. Once fully into the room, I could see he was alone except for Natasha, who looked unaffected by my presence.

  “So you’ve actually come,” she said, ignoring the guard I held at gunpoint. “Where is Katya? She said she would come with you.”

  “I wouldn’t let her,” I stated, refusing to let my gaze linger far from the man. I had been trained that if I raised a weapon to someone, I better intend to shoot if needed, and I would do just that if he forced me to. “I wasn’t sure I would make it this far on my own, to be honest. I didn’t want to bring someone else with me and we all get killed.”

  Natasha didn’t reply right away, but I heard her move toward me. I didn’t react until she was right beside me, and then I cast her a curious glance. She glanced between me and the guard, as if waiting for something to happen, whether him to take the gun back or me to shoot him. My assumption was only validated when she spoke up next. “If you want to leave, you’ll have to kill him. Otherwise he’ll sound the alarm, and I’m not sure how much time we have before Father comes back.”

  “And the gunshot won’t do the same thing?” I questioned.

  “It may, but at least at that point you have a gun,” she pointed out.

  “I’d still have the gun, and less attention drawn to me if I did this.” I slung the gun onto my shoulder with the shoulder strap and landed a quick jab to the man’s throat. From experience I knew it hurt. Raider had done it to me in a training session and I’d learned how to knock someone out with a few well-placed hits. I threw a punch, landing on the man’s jaw, before forcing my leg up and hitting him in the side of the head.

  He fell to the ground in a heap, and didn’t move a muscle once he collided with the floor. I pulled the gun off of my shoulder and smiled down at Natasha. She looked unimpressed, and I tried not to be insulted. Though it stung a little, normally I was at least complimented on the effort, not repaid with a blank stare and stoic expression.

  “You’ve done this before,” Natasha stated. Her tone held nothing other than fact, she didn’t question the insight I had in my field nor did she seem surprised by it.

  “You could say that.” I didn’t say much else as I moved toward the door and slowly opened it. Glancing around the corner, I noticed there were no people. I could move now and get her to the drop off location without any problems if I moved quickly enough. “Let’s go.” I grabbed her wrist and pulled her along behind me, every nerve in me alert as we made our way through the halls.

  I hated bringing someone who wasn’t trained with me. It had bad idea written all over it, but it was the only way I could be sure of her safety and mine—even if it meant taking more time than I would have liked to. I had to be cautious for the both of us, as Natasha was just blindly following me. She offered a few pieces of information, like where the cameras were and how to avoid them, but other than that she didn’t know much.

  “Wait,” she said. “There are two cameras down there—you won’t be able to avoid them. Go straight, then turn left, you’ll end up in the same spot.”

  I nodded and followed her directions. We were close to the drop off point, but just before I turned into the hallway I heard voices heading straight for us.

  “What are they saying?” I questioned when I believed they had stopped.

  “Father wanted them to continue looking for someone, I’m assuming that’s you. They are taking a break. They don’t think anyone could have gotten in here without being caught early on.”

  “Is there another way into that hallway?”

  Natasha shook her head. “I’m not sure where you wanted to go, but it may be best just to leave the building. If Father is ordering people to look for you it’s only a matter of time before all the hallways are covered and we are found.”

  I tried to hide my disappointment, but she was right. It would be better to get her out. I just hadn’t been planning on somehow getting two of us out. It would be hard enough to get just me out; two people would be pure luck.

  “Okay, tell me how to get out and I’ll lead the way. Just follow my orders; don’t be like your sister.”

  Natasha smiled, but nodded eventually, before pointing me in the right direction. I followed her directions, keeping us well hidden from anyone who passed by. We made it close to the exit when someone came over the intercom. The speaker only spoke in Russian, but from what I could understand they had an intruder and a command went out.

  “What are they saying?” I asked, looking to Natasha for a translation as the speaker continued. She held up a finger to tell me to wait a moment. I waited until the announcement ended and asked her again. “What did they say?”

  “We need to get out of here now,” she said, her eyes wide with fear. Her pupils covered most of her green irises, and her breathing had picked up. Whatever the order had been, it terrified her. “They’re going to kill us. They know you have my sister, and my father has called us traitors for working with you. We need to leave.”

  I nodded, grabbed her wrist, and immediately starting racing toward the first exit I could think of, unfortunately away from the drop off point I had set up with Demon in case something went wrong. Well, something had certainly gone wrong, and by now Demon would know about it. I could hear the commands exchanged between the guards, their footsteps racing through the compound, and at times their breath when they got too close to us for my comfort. They were all trying to find me, converging on a single point and determined to eliminate the threat.

  My heart was pounding, sweat forming on my forehead, fear pulsing through my veins. If I didn’t know any better I would say I felt scared, trapped, on the verge of death, but I refused to think like that. Though I couldn’t fight the chills that went down my spine every time I felt Natasha breath down my neck, fearing we had been found and caught.

  I could see the door, similar to the one I had followed them through. The only problem, besides being hunted by gu
ards, was I couldn’t see through metal. I had no way of knowing who or how many were out there waiting for us.

  At least I have a gun, I thought. If needed I could go out fighting, maybe somehow still save Natasha if I got really lucky.

  “They are coming,” Natasha whispered as voices once again met my ears. “We don’t have much time.”

  “I know. I’m trying to think.”

  “You don’t have time for that either.”

  I glared at her, but once again she remained stoic. “Fine, let’s go.” I pushed her toward the door, guarding her back as we made our way. I could hear the other guards racing around us, but so far didn’t see one.

  Once at the door, I took the lead again. I pushed it open as quietly as possible so as to not alert anyone close by and let Natasha out. She slipped out easily and I followed after her, letting a smile take over my features. Though the celebration was premature; I should have known it wouldn’t be that easy.

  When I turned around to grab Natasha so we could make a break for it, I was greeted by a team of fifteen men with their weapons pointed at me. All except one, who had one hand over Natasha’s mouth and the other latched onto her shoulder so she couldn’t break free. Whoever he was, he was the one who spoke up.

  “I see we are rejoined by Nikolai’s flame. He’ll be pleased to see her,” one man commented, the laughter in his voice evident. It reminded me of Raider, arrogant and rude. “Let’s take them both to Volodya. Don’t be too rough, he wants them alive. For now.”

  Chapter 23

  Natasha and I sat side to side, bound to the chairs we were forced into in an otherwise empty side room to the compound. I couldn’t be sure, but judging from the lack of windows and other escape routes, I guess that this is where Volodya preferred to do his dirty work. With only four men protecting him, in case I decided to put up another fight, he tried to keep these dealings as private as possible.

  I could understand why, there were fewer people to question any orders handed out. Though I’m sure a little murder didn’t affect any of the people in this building, maybe they had something against harming his family and didn’t know he tried to kill his own daughter. I liked to think I had caused a few to back out.

  I smiled, causing a few of Volodya’s men to flinch. The last smile they had seen only brought back bad memories for them. After two men had grabbed me, so they could lead me away peacefully, or so they thought, I reacted violently. I slammed my elbow into the man who had the tightest grip on me, causing him to double over. Without hesitating I forced my hand into a tight fist and landed a blow to his partner’s nose. When he doubled over, I kicked him where it counted, and delivered a final blow to the first man. It was a blur from there, filled with fists flying, a few stray blows, and cries of pain. After knocking out two men and coming close to killing another one, someone held a gun to my head, while others surrounded me, and gave me two options: either be killed now or prolong the inevitable. I always went with the one that kept me alive to make an escape later, no matter how bleak the situation.

  “If Ash had done his job while he was alive, I wouldn’t have to do this now,” Volodya said, pulling me back to my current situation, one I didn’t see a way out of any time soon. “I wouldn’t have to tell my lovely daughter that her sister and mother betrayed us and I can no longer trust her.”

  I glanced over at Natasha, who seemed unmoved by the news. I took that as two things, being a dictator’s daughter and expecting one day that something similar to this could happen and that Katya probably got some of the information into the letter she had sent me to give her. Either way, Natasha was unfazed by her father’s confession.

  “And I hear from a rather reliable source that you are the one who killed him,” Volodya said, turning his attention back toward me. His dark eyes gleamed, pleased with the fact he held information over me, but I remained calm, unfazed, just like Natasha.

  I couldn’t prevent the natural reaction to narrow my eyes and glare at him however, as I realized Camden had already given out more information than we thought, and for what? What did Camden get out of this? He would still rot in a jail cell. Could there be something more? I may never know, but I believed it was as simple as revenge. Revenge had pushed Renegade and I into tight spots, now Camden was using it for a bargaining chip. If Spit Fire didn’t kill him, I would.

  “I hear from that same source you and the imposter, Marco,” he spat the word as if it was acid on his tongue and it hurt to even say it aloud, “are rather close. I’m sure he’ll come running when he hears that I have his precious girlfriend in my possession.”

  A tight smile once again formed on my lips, trying desperately to hold back the laughter threatening to erupt from deep in my chest. I failed.

  The laughter echoed through the room, causing everyone including Natasha to look at me as if I was certifiable. I couldn’t help it though. The sheer notion that Renegade would come to my rescue after leaving me in Mexico was hilarious, but in the back of my mind I knew he was determined to make it up to me. Now just wasn’t the right time, not the right way.

  Once my laughter subsided, I took in Volodya’s confused look and cleared the air for him. “Marco,” I said, careful not to give away his code name or real name. “Won’t come for me. He left me alone before. He follows orders given to him, and he will be told to leave me behind. You’re wasting your time trying to bait him to come back here.”

  The smile didn’t fade as the words left my mouth. It should hurt knowing he wouldn’t come to save me, but Demon wouldn’t come this time either. That’s why I had forced him to promise to leave me behind if needed; something always went wrong on a mission. Nothing was ever perfect. Though Demon may come back, he had to take Katya to safety first and I could almost guarantee I’d be dead before he could make the return trip, not that it would stop him from trying. I couldn’t imagine him giving up on me now if he didn’t when I disobeyed orders and went rogue. He’d come; I just had to survive.

  “Well, that’s a pity,” Volodya stated, almost seeming to feel sorry about it. His tone changed quickly as he spoke quickly in Russian to the men around him. One pulled a bag from behind him and presented it to Volodya, who took it greedily. “We will be moving out, nonetheless. I’m sure you understand,” he directed to me as he dug through the bag. “I can’t have any of your friends coming and breaking apart what I have here, and I can’t trust you when you say someone won’t come to help you. For now, keep her alive. I want a bargaining chip in case they come before we have a chance to leave.”

  Smart move, Volodya, I silently complimented. At least he thought things through, unlike the Cardozas had. He wouldn’t underestimate me, while unfortunately in this case it meant I’d have to step up my game. He had given me a chance to get out, whether he wanted to or not. The order to keep me alive would come back to haunt him.

  “When I return, I’ll be taking my daughter with me and leaving you in the capable hands of my men,” he said as he found a syringe in the bag and a glass bottle, which he handed off to Nikolai, who smiled devilishly. “Nikolai will take care of you both before I return. I hope to never see you again, Agent.” With that, Volodya turned and walked out of the room with two guards following after him.

  “While he prepares for a short trip,” Nikolai stated, letting a darkness take over his voice as he dangled the now filled syringe in our faces, “this will just put you to sleep, making transportation a little easier. I would hate to fight the whole way.” He leaned down, forcing Natasha’s arm to be still as she struggled against him.

  As the needle inched closer to her arm, Natasha fought as best as she could. I was helpless to assist her, still bound to my chair. I had gotten the knot around my wrists loose, but my feet remained tied down. I couldn’t help as the needle dug into her skin and she let out an ear-splitting scream.

  “I should have mentioned it was going to hurt too.”

  I fought back the gagging sensation as I watched the contents of the v
ial empty into Natasha’s arm. I couldn’t decide what was worse, being forced to watch or hear her cry out in pain. Nikolai just laughed while Natasha cried out, her voice shrill. It gave me a moment to pry myself free while Nikolai was distracted. I wasn’t sure what drug they had forced into her, but I knew she would be a goner if I didn’t find a way out of this soon. I didn’t want to think about what her father had planned for her once they got her alone again.

  I yanked the bonds of my wrist free, catching the rope easily before it could fall to the floor and give away the game changer I had just initiated. There were only three men in this room, I took out five outside. Three would be no problem, especially with surprise on my side. While Nikolai leaned down to inspect the injection site, I pulled the knife from the sheath hidden below my belt and cut the bonds around my feet.

  Nikolai seemed unfazed by my movement, but his counterparts reacted. They pointed their guns at me, and once again, I had brought a knife to a gun fight. I suppressed a groan as I threw the knife, landing the blade into one man’s shoulder before I took the short opportunity available and swung my leg up, making contact with the back of Nikolai’s neck as he looked over Natasha. A short cry escaped his lips before he slumped to the ground in a heap of body parts.

  The two other men rushed toward me, discarding my knife out of their friend’s shoulder as they rushed forward. I forced myself out of my chair and stepped forward to face them, hoping Natasha would be fine for the few minutes I was preoccupied with these men. Without their weapons it would be as close to a fair fight as I would get; too bad for them I didn’t have to keep them alive. I didn’t enjoy killing people, but if it was the only way to finish this mission I would without a second thought, and they didn’t give me another choice.