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This boat might be the fastest we own, but behind me is an army of very angry fucking soldiers, pissed that their principal, the person every single one of them was tasked to protect above all others, was taken from under our noses while we were distracted by amateurs in rubber suits.
It’s been forty-five minutes since the attack on the beach, twenty minutes since we left the dock and started chasing, but so far there’s been no sight of her and I know time is running out. It’ll be much harder to find her if she gets into a bigger, faster boat, or worse an airplane or helicopter.
I spot the small speedboat on the horizon, almost at the same time that I see the helicopter coming in from the east.
“There,” I shout, pointing to the smaller vessel. Grabbing the sat phone, I dial Dimi. “That better be you above her, else we have a fucking problem.”
“It’s us. Now how are we doing this?”
CHAPTER 37
alabama
I heard the sound of something, but the slapping of the boat hitting the waves as Orlov pushes the engine to its limits drowns it out until it’s almost overhead. It’s high in the sky, but I see it, a helicopter.
More sound and then a boat flies past us, going so fast I barely glimpse it.
“Fuck,” Orlov curses, throwing the boat to the right and causing me to roll across the floor, hitting the side and then bouncing back as we straighten again.
The loud boat zooms past again, and a wall of water is left in its wake as it goes out of view.
Orlov spins the boat again, sending me sprawling as he tries and fails to outmaneuver the boat that’s chasing us.
My heart swells with hope that it’s my guys. If I could speak, I’d be screaming their names, calling for them to help me, but my voice is as paralyzed as my body, heavy and stolen by the drugs he injected into me.
The fast boat corrals Orlov, cutting his attempt to flee off at every turn until we’re forced to stop. “Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Orlov screams. “You stupid fucking cunt, this is all your fault,” he cries, grabbing me by the hair and hauling my immobile body upward.
“I’ll kill her,” he yells, almost dropping my dead weight to the floor as he waves a gun around erratically.
“Let her go and we’ll kill you quickly,” I hear Lev shout and then I see him. He’s standing on the front of a boat, his eyes frantically searching me for injury, his brow furrowing when he notices my limbs hanging, unmoving.
“You can’t kill me.” He cackles, shaking me like a rag doll. “I’m the Pakhan, I’m the ruler. I’m the fucking king.”
“No, you were the king’s lapdog. The impotent little puppy he fed scraps to while he feasted. You’re nothing, Orlov. Look how easily we destroyed your little empire, we barely worked up a sweat,” Dimi says, his voice steely and cold.
Orlov whirls around, dragging me with him, his gun waving manically while he tries to decide who the biggest threat is.
I don’t know how they got here, but both Dimi and Vik are on the other end of the boat, water dripping from them, their expressions furious and intense, arms raised, guns pointing straight at us.
Before I know what’s happening, I’m airborne. Flying through the air and hitting the water like a stone. Without the use of my arms and legs, I sink, water filling my mouth and nose as I start to drown, unable to even try and save myself.
Keeping my eyes open the silence wraps me up, cocooning me and protecting me as I prepare to die. I feel more than see when one of my men dives in after me, strong arms wrapping around me and pulling us both toward the surface.
My lungs are burning when my head breaches the surface, sweet oxygen battling to push the water out as I cough and splutter, willing my tongue back to life so I could spit out the disgusting taste of the saltwater.
I hear the gunshot as I’m passed to another set of hands and dragged onto another boat, my heart racing, and fear pulsing through my numb nerve endings.
“Malishka, talk to me. Alabama, tell me you’re okay. Please, please. You have to be okay. What the fuck did he do to you?” Dimi screams, his body coming over me, his face only inches from mine, his hands shaking as he reaches down and cups my face.
“What’s wrong with her. What the fuck is wrong with her?”
“He drugged her,” I hear someone shout. “It’s a paralytic, she’s conscious, but she can’t move.”
“That fucking bastard,” Dimi screams before focusing back on me again. “It’s going to be okay, Malishka. You’ll be okay, it’s going to be okay. Blink if you can understand me.”
It takes so much effort, but I force my eyes to close, then open again.
Tears spill from his eyes. “Thank fuck. Oh, thank fuck. Malishka, I thought I’d lost you. I can’t lose you; we can’t lose you.”
