Chapter 39
THIRTY-NINE
July
ANNA
I’m weak and give in. I call Domhnall again, setting the phone up in the shower as I wash off all the blood from yet another mission. Always so much blood when Red is in control.
But at least I’m getting a stretch at the helm. Red can’t keep us back all the time, though she certainly wants to.
“It’s so good to hear your voice.” I can hear the choke in his voice. How strained and restrained he’s sounded on the calls lately. I know it’s because he’s learned I’ll hang up if he shouts for me to tell him where I am.
“Thank you for the intel. It helped.”
“How?” He sounds frustrated. “What on earth could a South American diplomat’s offshore accounts have to do with any of what you’re doing in Europe?”
I smile. “Who said I’m in Europe?”
He scoffs. “Obviously, you’re in Europe. Doing god knows what, but I’ve managed to figure out that much.”
“Don’t, Domhn. Don’t hunt for me, or I won’t be able to call you anymore.”
We finally gave in several weeks ago and called Domhn in on his offer of help. We couldn’t risk staying in one place long enough to build the kind of servers we needed to stay truly off-grid, and it was the safest choice. Okay, that’s a lie.
The truth was, we missed Domhn’s voice.
But it does help having him track down some of the financials I don’t have time or patience for.
“Did something happen tonight?” Domhn growls over the phone.
Before Pavel died, he gave me a name. An image of his terrified, bloody face as he pled for his life before Red dispatched him flashes in my mind, and I lean my face into the hot spray of the shower water for several long seconds.
Pavel had whispered a single name before the last of the blood gurgled up out of his throat—not to give me information, but to inspire terror in me: Kozlov.
The Kozlov Bratva was the only syndicate that had ever intimidated The Librarian, and monsters like my father didn’t scare easy. He’d gotten on their bad side with some deal, and one of the reasons we’d stayed on the run my entire childhood was so we could stay one step ahead of the Kozlovs.
I was still several rungs away from Kozlov himself, but tonight Red took out another of his lieutenants.
“Red took out another cell tonight, and Mads got copies of everything before Red set the place on fire. We’ll be uploading it all to the secure server tomorrow at our next location.”
“Tell me where you are,” Domhn demands. “Or where you’re going. I can meet you. You shouldn’t be out there alone like this.”
He’s right. It’s insane, the little quest we’re on. If it were just me, I’d totally wimp out and go drop myself in a hole somewhere, praying no one ever found me again.
I pump floral-smelling bodywash into a cloth and scrub down my arms, breasts, and belly, my breath expelling in surprise like it does every time I touch there.
Because this isn’t just about me anymore, is it?
No, we have to finish this.
“Mads?” Domhnall calls over the phone.
“It’s Anna, actually.”
“Anna.” I can hear the surprise in his voice.
“I know, can you believe they actually let me out of the cage sometimes?”
“Anna, thank god I’ve finally got you on the line. Tell me where you are.”
I sigh and lean against the cool tile wall while the hot water blasts my front. “You know I can’t, honey. Mads and Red would be furious. And we’ve been… ah… trying to work together lately.”
“You… have?” I can hear his skepticism.
I know, I wouldn’t have believed it either.
I turn the hot water off, a small smile crossing my face.
“Right? Wonders never cease.”
“Where are you?”
“I told you I can’t—”
“No, I mean, are you in the kitchen? I heard water turn off.”
“I brought you in the shower with me.”
“So does that mean you’re still… naked?”
I gulp a little, then laugh at him. I can’t believe it was just an hour ago that I walked into this hotel in a long, dark coat to cover all the blood I was covered in.
The fucking Kozlov Bratva. That was the tattoo I couldn’t identify on the man who attacked me at the house all those months ago.
I uncovered that little connection today.
I’ve been moving up the chain, and recognized the same tattoo on his last lieutenant Red killed a few hours ago.
It’s been him hunting me from the beginning.
Kozlov must’ve realized The Librarian was finally gone and moved in to take over his client list. But that wasn’t enough.
This is the kind of brutal syndicate that sees blood feuds all the way through to the end.
Which means they’ll never stop until I’m dead dead.
I step out of the shower, goosebumps rising as I towel off. “Not for long, big boy. It’s cold.”
“Ah. So you’re somewhere cold? The Alps?”
He’s smart enough to have figured out I’m in Europe.
I tell him as little as possible and keep the phone calls short.
I never ask for his help on anything that could identify where I am or who exactly I’m going after next.
I’m sure his background programs are working overtime to triangulate this call.
That’s all right. I’ve networked the call to rewire through a million more backchannel VPNs to jump every time right before he’s caught me.
“I miss you,” I say, turning sideways. I wipe off the mirror to stare at my body.
There, undeniably, is me.
And there, even more undeniably, is the smallest bump protruding from my lower belly.
Finding out I was pregnant in the middle of a revenge-murder spree was not exactly what I would have predicted on this year’s bingo card.
But hey, at least it freaked the fuck out of Red too. She’s not much for maternal instincts, and I get to take the reins sometimes now.
“Not for much longer,” Dohmn growls with so much intensity I’m so, so tempted to believe him. I haven’t dared tell him about the pregnancy. I don’t dare believe it myself most days.
“Open the door, Anna,” he suddenly says.
Right then, a knock sounds at my door.
My mouth drops open, and I swivel the towel around my body.
“You didn’t!” I gasp into the phone.
I run over, thinking oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck.
If he’s found me, that means others could have, too.
I must’ve made a mistake when I thought I made every effort to be so, so careful.
We’ll have to run, and god knows if we’ll even make it out of the city alive.
What if I put Domhn’s life in jeopardy again just because I don’t have the fucking patience to go no-contact for a little while?
But when I shove my face to the door to look out the peephole, there’s no Domhn.
“What are you going on about?” I ask Domhn through the phone, out of breath, simply at the possibility of seeing him again.
“Open the door. Let me in. I need to hold you.”
That’s when I glance down and see the takeout I ordered before I got in the shower, and my forehead plonks against the door. I have been perfectly careful.
Whatever door Domhn is standing outside of, it’s not mine.
“Goodnight, my love,” I whisper. “Stop looking for me.”
Then I hang up the phone, open the door without ever unlatching the chain, and snatch my dinner inside before locking the several heavy deadbolts again, heart pounding.