Chapter 14
FOURTEEN
Somewhere in Syria
The woman gripped the steering wheel with both hands and hit the gas, spraying gravel as she turned into the compound and pulled up between two other vehicles. Heart still pounding. But it was only a physical reaction to the reality of having many foes.
Today she had succeeded, and they had not.
One of the men turned and headed her way over the dirt, holding his rifle across his front. Looking like a local, even though he was in fact a Polish mercenary. Thankfully, they were an inexhaustible resource. One she was happy to use, so long as the money to buy replacements didn’t run out.
She shoved the door open, grabbing the stuffed pillowcase with her.
More than ready to strip off these stifling clothes.
In the back seat, both of the kids sat silent and still.
Exactly the way she’d ordered them to before she’d warned them she would torch the car—with them in it—if they so much as whimpered.
Until the boy said, “Are you going to pay us now?”
She shouldn’t be surprised that a male in this part of the world didn’t hesitate to defy a woman, even as young as he was.
Vesper dug between the folds of her clothes and pulled out a folded wad of US dollars. “Here.” She tossed the money at the boy, then turned to the man who’d approached. “Drive them to the nearest refugee camp and get rid of them.”
She passed him before he could respond, not caring what he thought about that order. “And radio Ramirez!” she yelled back over her shoulder. “Tell him I want coffee.”
The structure ahead of her was only a temporary base. In this part of the world, everything was temporary—especially people. Money and suffering were the only constants. One you never had enough of, and the other there was far too much of.
Thankfully, the entity bankrolling them had plenty of resources. So long as they succeeded.
“I need to get out of here,” she muttered, carrying the pillowcase bundle to the door. She shoved her way in, ignoring the men playing cards at a small table. “Wheels up in thirty. We have what we came for.”
Chairs scraped across the floor in her wake. She headed for the stairs and found the room she’d claimed a second before she’d ordered them all to stay out of it, or she would kill them.
With the door shut, Vesper peeled off the heavy black fabric and the head covering until she was standing there in her leggings and a sports bra, breathing hard.
Trying to get rid of the feeling of being trapped the same way she had rid herself of the outer layers meant to keep her modest—and inconspicuous.
She dumped the contents of the pillowcase on the bare mattress and sat on the edge, turning the mechanism in her hands.
Taking the entire drone would’ve been far too conspicuous, so she had simply followed the instructions given to her and removed the guidance chip, rendering the drone itself useless without it.
A smirk slid across her face.
The door opened, and Vesper grabbed the blade off the bed. She held it up toward the man as he closed the door.
“Going to cut me?”
She set the knife aside. “Maybe. The day is still young.”
“Not nearly enough time for that. Wheels up in thirty?” His dark features were as deadly as hers, and so similar that many had mistaken them for siblings over the years they had been together.
Despite growing up on the same streets, in the same hellish neighborhood, they weren’t related by blood—only by the shared experience of having to fight for survival every second.
Of living and breathing pain and realizing you had another breath in you when you’d thought it was over.
Finding a common cause had set them both free, and now their lives were dedicated to preserving the beliefs they held dear.
She raised up the chip that held the drone’s guidance system. “We have it.”
His lips curled into a smile. “I knew you would succeed.”
“After what happened in Argentina—”
He shook his head, reached out and touched a finger to her lips. “We ensured they would not succeed again.”
She waved his hand away. “I should have killed them for what they did to that team, and the helicopter. Killed them all and taken what we wanted. Instead, I had to let them escort me to the vehicle.”
A chuckle left his lips.
Vesper studied the chip, turning it over in her fingers. “Will this really work?”
“Once we get home, we will ensure it does.”
He sounded so certain, but this time she couldn’t cast her blind faith in his direction. For the first time in her life, she doubted him. Doubted the plan. Needed the reassurance of being so close she could taste it.
Closer than they had ever been before.
“The book is out there.” He settled beside her on the bed, turning her chin so she had to look at him. “We will find it.”
She tried to push away the doubt so it didn’t register on her face.
His grip on her chin was just a little too tight.
“I believe.”
He touched his lips to hers, but all she felt was the pinch of his fingers on her chin. Until he let go and those fingers slid down her throat, enveloping her neck in a loose hold.
“Enough games.” She pushed against his chest, trying to shove him away. They needed to leave. There was no time for—
His fingers tightened around her throat.
She couldn’t draw a breath. Couldn’t bring in the air she needed. Panic she didn’t understand flashed in her mind. All she saw in his expression was a cold resolve that had been on the face of so many who had come at her over the years. She had killed them all.
Vesper pushed against his chest. Clawed his arms. She couldn’t even scratch him through the thick protective clothing. Not you. She fought him with every ounce of strength she had.
He ignored it. “That’s twice now they’ve seen you.”
Her strength started to fade, but she refused to quit fighting. Betrayal hardened like metal that cooled and solidified into a core of steel inside her.
“If this is going to work, which it will, we can’t have you exposing our operation.”
His expression swam in front of her as she fought for air—for consciousness. For the knife. She swept her hands across her lap and around her on the mattress. Finally, her fingers slid across the blade.
She grabbed the hilt, swung it around, and shoved it into his side with as much strength as she could muster.
He roared, and his grip on her throat loosened and fell away. She tried to get up but lost her balance, landing on her hands and knees. Gasping for air. He slammed into her back. Her chin smacked the floor, and she cried out.
He scratched and clawed at her wrist, trying to get the knife.
Vesper got enough momentum to flip him off her and scrambled up. He came at her again with a loud cry and met her knife edge first.
She gritted her teeth, her mind screaming for her to hold.
The blade embedded in his chest. His gaze danced about, and she watched realization ignite in his features. That’s right. I win this round.
“Rest assured, I’ll finish this. In your memory.”
He gasped, blood dampening his lips. “Ves—”
She slid the knife out and stepped back, refusing to entertain his last words. He crumpled to the floor, and she leaned down to wipe the knife blade clean on the fabric of his trousers.
“I will find the book. Alone.”