I’m bait?
He smiled at the outrage in her voice. He doesn’t have a gun.
How do you know? What happened to me being so important?
You saddled me with four kids. I’m not certain your worth outweighs that particular transgression.
Cahill rounded the long line of pipes and came to a halt, his mouth open, staring at Airiana. Before he could move, or make a sound, Maxim came up behind him and pressed a gun into the back of his neck.
“You’ve seen me before, Cahill,” Maxim said softly, keeping the thread of sound between them. “You know I have no problem ending you. Call your friend. Be very careful what you say. I killed the Swede and his buddy, so no one’s going to rescue you. Just keep your temper in check and you’ll come out of this alive.”
Cahill swallowed hard several times. His face had gone bright red and his fingers curled into two tight fists. “Lance.” He raised his voice. “Lance, I need a little help over here.”
“Can’t you do anything yourself?” Lance called back. “I’m on a coffee break, like the Swede.” He laughed heartily at his joke.
Cahill swung around, going for the gun, hoping to shove it away from his neck, shouting as he did so. Maxim shot him through the temple, muffling the silencer he used so that no sound escaped. His body fell hard, and Maxim didn’t block that sound.
Open your eyes and get into that dark alcove right behind you, he instructed Airiana. She looked a little shell-shocked.
She obeyed quickly, her face very pale. From his position he could see she was distressed, but her hands were rock steady on the MP-5.
It’s going to be all right, honey. Hang in there with me. He couldn’t resist reassuring her.
Lance moved around the long row and stopped abruptly when he saw Cahill’s fallen body. Blood seeped out around his head, creating a halo of red.
“What the hell?”
Lance ran to the fallen man, crouching down, or he started to. Recognizing the wound for what it was, he pulled out a gun and looked wildly around.
“Drop it, Lance. Right now. I tried to give Cahill his chance, but he didn’t listen. Make your choice.”
Lance dropped his gun.
“Put your hands behind your head and lock your fingers together.”
Lance complied, and Maxim stepped behind and used a zip tie to secure his hands.
I’m taking him to the cargo hold. Stay right where you are. No one should come down here, but that doesn’t mean they won’t.
Maxim could feel her reluctance to be left alone, but she didn’t object. He shoved Lance ahead of him, already regretting not killing him. He didn’t like leaving Airiana alone either, but it would only take a couple of minutes to get Lance secured in the container the children had been locked in. He shoved Lance toward the stairs. The man was solid, although not particularly large, but clearly he was all muscle. A small alarm went off in Maxim’s head.
Lance had indicated that the Swede was useless in the engine room—implying he was most likely a hired gun—but the Swede had been easy to dispose of. Too easy. He was no highly skilled mercenary, but Lance . . .
Maxim indicated the stairs and Lance went down them without question. The moment he hit the bottom, he crouched and swung around, using his head to butt Maxim in the chest with a hard blow. Prepared for the attack, Maxim moved his body back just inches enough to escape the assault.
Lance kept spinning around, hooking his ankle in Maxim’s, his momentum pulling Maxim’s foot out from under him. Maxim leapt over the man, kicking him hard in the head as he went down, somersaulting and coming back up on his feet. Lance’s head hit the metal railing hard and he slumped down, shaken.
Maxim reached for his shoulder to yank him up and Lance came up fast, a knife in his bound hands, ripping up Maxim’s belly to his chest. The burn was fierce, but it was a shallow wound. He leapt back away from the grinning man. Lance spat on the floor and flicked the blade of the knife through the zip tie.
“Amateur hour,” he snapped.
Maxim smiled. “Nice move.”
Lance circled to the left, forcing Maxim to circle with him. He kept the knife in close, indicating he knew what he was doing. Maxim lifted his gun and shot him right through the middle of his forehead. Lance actually looked a little startled, as if he’d forgotten Maxim had a gun, not a knife. He toppled slowly to the floor.
Maxim sighed. The body count was climbing higher than he expected. He glanced at his watch again. He needed to disable the engine, forcing the crew to drop anchor. He still had to figure out what to do with the rest of the crew.
He made his way back to the engine room. As soon as he entered, he held his hand out to Airiana. She came to him instantly and he wrapped his arm around her, pulling her in close to him. It astonished him just how much she had taken over his thoughts. She’d found a way inside of him, creeping in when he wasn’t expecting it.
“You’re dangerous,” he said, his tone harsher than he intended. She was just so insidious, slipping into his soul when he was so certain his every defense was in place and no one could ever find that last piece of himself that belonged only to him. There was no running from her.
He’d known her less than twenty-four hours. What would it be like in her company for a lifetime? She’d be so tightly wound inside of him that there’d never be an escape. Would he even want to?
Abruptly he caught up his war bag and stalked through the engine room with Airiana following. She didn’t say anything at all and he kept his back to her, not wanting to see her face. He was giving too much of himself away. He wasn’t a man to be out in the open, naked and vulnerable to a woman. He lived in the shadows and slipped easily from one skin to another. No one could know him. Not even Airiana.
He went to work, losing himself in the familiar process of building his devices and setting his timers. He took his time, not wanting to make a mistake. Everything depended on the ship stopping on time.
Airiana waited quietly until he straightened up and looked at her. “What next?” she asked, her voice quiet.
“Everything depends on stopping the ship. We’ve got a few hours before the engines start to go. The ship will slow and then they’ll drop anchor. We’ll suit up and get out of here. I’ll call for help to rescue the kids. These couple of hours, waiting until dark, is our most dangerous time.”
She made a face. “You know they landed that helicopter on the deck. It’s still there. Why don’t we just use the helicopter to get out of here? You can do everything else, I can’t imagine that you don’t pilot a helicopter as well.”
He couldn’t help but smile. “As a matter of fact, I can fly a copter, but that’s not the plan. You’re doing your best not to set foot in the ocean, aren’t you?”
“It makes sense to fly.”
He shook his head. “We’re disabling the helicopter. I don’t want it used for anyone’s escape. Come on, we have a lot to do to keep those children safe.”
8
AIRIANA made a face at Maxim’s back. He was determined that she was going in the sea, with scuba gear no less. She didn’t know how to breathe with a tank, and she didn’t swim. Taking a chance with the helicopter seemed a much better idea.
“You’re stubborn and bossy, did you know that?” she asked, exasperated with him. “I’ve done everything you’ve said, and given you the courtesy of listening to you. I can’t swim. I’ll drown in the ocean.”
He moved up the stairs, past the deck with the empty luxury cabins and continuing toward the upper deck. “I always listen to you, Airiana,” he said, over his shoulder. “The problem is, you keep repeating yourself. We have no choice, we have to use the water. I’ve gotten you this far; why don’t you believe I’ll get you the rest of the way?”
He sounded so reasonable she had an unexpected urge to kick him. His back was to her and she could probably get
away with it, although she wouldn’t be surprised if he had eyes in the back of his head.
“Maxim.” She bit out his name between her clenched teeth. “I’m terrified of the water. I can’t swim. What part of that don’t you understand? I suppose you’ve never been afraid a day in your life, of anything, but I actually am a human being and the thought of water closing over my head and swimming in the dark is sheer madness. I don’t think I can do it.”
Maxim stopped abruptly and she found herself blinking up at him, a little ashamed that she couldn’t conquer her fear when he was so omnipotent. He caught her chin in his hand and leaned down, his eyes drifting over her face with a kind of hard possession. No one had ever looked at her like that before. She found herself holding her breath, wishing he’d bend his head closer.
“Nothing is going to happen to you, Airiana. Not as long as I’m alive. We’ve gotten this far together, and I’ll get you through the rest of it.”
She understood why the children had clung to him so fast and so fiercely. Maxim seemed invincible. She knew he wasn’t. There was a thin line of blood staining his shirt from his belly to this chest, but he hadn’t said a word to her of how it had gotten there.
“You really don’t like me very much, do you?” Airiana asked.
He was the most reluctant of heroes. He didn’t want to tow the kids around, and she doubted if he was happy with being in her company. In spite of being physically attracted to her, there were times when he seemed annoyed with her presence. Still, he had something reliable and steady in him, an absolute conviction that he could get through anything—and take her with him.
“You’re very unexpected, Airiana,” he said softly. “I’ve never met a woman like you. It doesn’t seem to matter how frightened you are, you’re still ready for business. I find myself intrigued—and distracted by you. Neither is a good thing for either of us.”
She rubbed her palm down her thigh. “You marked me. I’ve seen Rikki and Judith rubbing their palms just the way I am right now, so I know you’ve somehow connected us. But the reality is, you don’t really want to have anything to do with me.”
To his credit, he didn’t back away from the conversation—or deny it. “I have a difficult time trusting something I don’t understand. The way you make me feel—I don’t understand. I’ve never wanted a woman the way I want you. I’ve never kissed a woman and then couldn’t get the taste and feel of her out of my mouth. You’re like a drug in my system, and the craving just gets worse the longer we spend time together. I made you a promise to keep you safe. Now I have to wonder if your greatest threat is me.”
Airiana frowned. She could hear the ring of honesty in his voice. “Maxim, I’m not afraid of you.” She touched his mouth with the pads of her fingers. “I’m just as drawn to you, just as vulnerable. It could be because we’re both air elements, or that you’re incredible and you’re saving my life, but I can’t help it either.”
“We’re not alike, Airiana. Never make the mistake of thinking we are. I’m utterly ruthless when I have to be. If you belonged to me . . .” He broke off, shaking his head. “I’m not doing that to you . . . I hope.”
“I’m just saying that you don’t have to be afraid of me either. Or for me when it comes to you. I make my own decisions regarding my life. I have since I was about fourteen. I make my own choices and my own mistakes. Don’t think I’m so easily pushed around that you can walk on me. We’re in life-or-death circumstances and this isn’t the way life is on a daily basis . . .”
“That’s where you’re wrong, Airiana. I live in a life-or-death reality every day. I have for most of my life. I don’t want that for you.”
“Then walk away from it. Don’t tell me it isn’t possible. I know a couple of people who have managed.”
His hand circled her throat. “Don’t put temptation in my path.” The pad of his thumb slid back and forth in a mesmerizing rhythm. “It was a mistake to put my claim on you—a compulsion I couldn’t resist—and that should tell you something right there. I have to be in control, and you somehow manage to throw all my discipline and control out the window. It isn’t safe for either of us.”
Airiana did her best not to be hurt, which was absolutely ridiculous. She knew nothing about this man, but at the same time, she’d never been so drawn to another human being. From what she’d witnessed with Rikki and Judith as well as Joley Drake, the Prakenskiis had practically thrown themselves at their women. If this particular Prakenskii was really the man who should have been hers, he wasn’t exactly chomping at the bit—and that hurt.
She blinked several times and pulled away from him. “I get it. Let’s just get this finished. I really want to go home.”
Maxim stood for a long moment staring down at her, not releasing her, and her heart pounded in spite of every effort not to be affected by him. She was close to the women on her farm, but she didn’t trust anyone else, and she couldn’t put her trust in this man, he’d just told her that. He was taking her to her father—if Theodotus Solovyov was her father. She had to step back from the situation she was in and stop relying on Maxim to save her. She had a brain. She was intelligent. She needed to think for herself.
Maxim knew the moment he told Airiana he’d made a mistake in connecting them together that he’d just blown it big-time. He watched her shut down and draw inward. Those beautiful trusting eyes became shuttered, and her aura changed. She used her air element to hide herself from him, changing who she was, what she was, in the blink of an eye.
Like Maxim, Airiana could be a chameleon, blending into her surroundings and hiding herself in plain sight. She looked amenable and even smiled at him, but it was empty and wrong. All wrong. He cursed under his breath and turned away from her, heading back up the stairs.
After all these years, why would she suddenly cross his path? Why would the other women on the farm be the women his brothers were connected to? What had drawn them all together?
When he was a child he understood very little about politics, but now his life was completely entangled with men who schemed for power and money. The man who had managed to make and then collect orphans for his special training schools had been overthrown, but his son was still very much in power—and he wanted all evidence of those schools buried. The Prakenskiis were part of that evidence.
Right now, Maxim was of use to his country, but the moment his assignment was over, he would be placed on the hit list along with the rest of his brothers. He was an embarrassment, a stain on their past. There was no place in his world for a woman. His brothers might think they were safe, appearing dead to the world, assuming new identities, but they had put every woman on that farm in jeopardy—including Airiana.
He wanted her. Maybe was becoming obsessed with her. When a man had nothing at all, no one at all, when he met that one person, regardless of how long he spent with her, he knew. Maxim knew. She was the one who could live with him. She fit. No matter how much he wanted her, he was not going to tie her life to his and watch his enemies kill her.
He heard the whisper of movement above him, on the upper deck. He needed to keep his mind on his business and not worry about a mythical relationship that could never happen. Kissing her was all he was ever going to have and that had to be enough.
He put his fist up and Airiana froze. Very slowly he put the war bag down and signaled to her to pick it up. It was heavy, but she could manage.
I need to stash you in a safe place while I do a little recon. We need intel.
What does that mean?
Her voice was tight with nerves, but she offered no objection. He almost wished she had. It was another indication that she’d accepted the limitations he had put on them. What had he expected? She might throw herself at him? Tell him she had to be with him or she couldn’t go on? He mentally shook his head at the idea, rejecting it. If she’d been that kind of woman, he wouldn’t be attracted to her.
<
br /> No, she’d go on all right. She’d live her life and she’d find a way to be happy. Just as she’d gone on after her mother’s murder. She was the kind of woman who protected her younger sister and offered to take four traumatized children into her home so they could stay together and get help.
Airiana Solovyov was a woman who would stand in a crisis, even if she was terrified. She wasn’t going to pine over a man who roamed the world at the whim of his puppet masters.
I’m going to talk to a few of the men.
You’re going to do what? Do you have a death wish? What if they know about Saeed and the other one?
At least she had genuine concern in her voice. He waited until he was certain they had a clear path to the lifeboats where he intended to stash her. Containers were stacked on the upper deck and he used them for cover. He went first, moving easily across the ship’s deck to the nearest container. He looked around the corner as well as up, just to be certain there were no roving guards. He beckoned Airiana to his side.
She was weighed down with the war bag and her assault rifle, but she moved almost as easily as he did, certainly as silent.
Are you ignoring my question on purpose?
If they knew, there would be much more activity than this. Men with guns would be rushing to the lower decks. My guess is the customers pay for privacy and no one goes there unless invited. I’m more worried about the men from the engine room being discovered than Saeed or Galati.
Maxim was considered one of Evan’s men. He’d been brought aboard because the “boss” insisted he come along to collect the package and personally deliver her unharmed. The “boss” owned the shipping company, and he had enough money to buy his way to one of the best mercenaries out of Russia he could get.
Evan Shackler-Gratsos had inherited billions from his brother as well as his empire of crime. He would claim, if challenged, of course, that he had no idea what his cargo ships were being used for, and he never gave orders personally.
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