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Dimayev dragged me out of the car by a fistful of hair. My scalp was on fire and my heels slid in a puddle of blood. Several men lay on the ground. None of them looked like they were breathing. My gaze found Tanner’s truck blocking the access to the bridge. It looked like a giant colander. Nothing moved under the light of the moon. I wasn’t sure any human being could’ve survived in that truck. I swallowed the sob in mythroat.
Cold metal kissed my skin. Dimayev pressed a big black gun against my temple. His surviving men surrounded us. The back of my shaking legs pressed against the low guardrail. I peeked over the edge. The river ran swiftly under the bridge, but Dimayev didn’t look like a cornered man or particularly stressed about his situation. On the contrary. Surrounded by his men, he looked calm, confident and impervious to the destructionaroundus.
“Gentlemen,” he called out into the night. “I believe I hold the better negotiating position. There’s the woman, of course. If you’re here to plead for her life, by all means, step out where I can see you, so we can have a civilizeddiscussion.”
Not even the crickets made asound.
“Not in a hurry?” Without warning, Dimayev landed a punch in my stomach, a blow that bent me over and made me wheeze forbreath.
A low voice rumbled in the night. “If you touch her again, you die.” Zar was a black shadow standing across the Suburban’s crumpled hood, not six feet from us, weapon aimed, eyes glittering in thedarkness.
“Stay back,” Dimayev barked, pressing the gun harder against my head. Dimayev’s gaze bounced wildly between his startled men and Zar. “If you come any closer, I’llkillher.”
“You touched her,” another voice echoed from the opposite direction, cracking like gunfire. “You’re gonna die anyway.” Aiden rose from behind a concrete pylon, gun trained on the group. His mouth twisted into a vicious expression I’d never seen onhisface.
Dimayev’s men shifted their weapons between Aiden and Zar. Dimayev’s finger twitched on thetrigger.
“Where’s number three?” he demanded. “I’ve been told there’s three of you. Come out, come out, wherever you are. Or else she dies, here,tonight.”
“Over here, asshole.” Tanner leapt down from the truck bed and stood by his vehicle, hugging hisrifle.
They were alive. The three of them. At least for the moment. I didn’t dare take abreath.
“Last warning,” Zar said at a growl. “Lethergo.”
“Here’s what’s going to happen,” Dimayev said. “The three of you are going to put down your weapons. My men will restrain you. Once you’re secured, I’ll let thegirlgo.”
Zar beamed his icy glare. “And I should believeyou…why?”
“Because she is of little use to me if I’ve got you,” Dimayev said. “Because the real prize is Ulysses and he’s hiddenamongyou.”
It pissed me off that Dimayev didn’t think I was a threat just because I was a woman. After all, I was the one who’d first hacked his servers, not to mention his TV. But this was not about me. It was about keeping my guysalive.
“Wanna tell me more about this Ulysses fellow?” Zar kept his weapon trained on Dimayev, his gaze alert as he tracked his thugsaswell.
“Playing coy, are we now?” Dimayev’s smirk was a show of contempt. “You set a trap for me. I fell for it, but I learned a lot in federal custody. Federal employees are so poorly remunerated. That’s when I figured out I had a unique opportunity to catch and defeat Ulysses in his territory. Calamity’s place will be assured in cyber history as the mastermind who eliminated Ulysses from the face of the earth. So my proposal is simple. Her life for Ulysses. Which begs the question: Which one of you isUlysses?”
At that moment, I could’ve laughed in Dimayev’s face. He believed Ulysses was the handle for one master hacker, as I’d believed once. But I was too terrified to laugh. My guys’ lives were atstake.
“I’m running out of patience.” Dimayev tugged on a fistful of my hair, wrenched my head back and dug his gun in my skull. “I wantUlysses.Now.”
“I’m Ulysses,” Tanner said from his perch beside his truck. “Take me in tradeforher.”
“I’m Ulysses.” Aiden swung his long legs over the railing and landed on the bridge. “Lethergo.”
Dimayev’s stare jumped from one man to the other. He couldn’t decide who was telling the truth. Zar surprised everybody by throwing his head back andlaughing.
Dimayev barked. “What’s sofunny?”
“Surely your sources told you the most vital piece of information,” Zar said. “They’re just pulling your leg. They’re all decoys.I’mUlysses.”
Dimayev’s gaze shifted between Zar, Aiden, and Tanner, but his gun stayedonme.
“Three for one,” Dimayev said. “I won’t take any chances. Lay down your weapons. Now. Orshedies.”
Zar’s face was completely blank, but his eyes were alight and focused. Dimayev’s thugs had their guns on Zar, Aiden, and Tanner. I knew they’d be dead the minute they surrendered. Calamity was a killer. He had already given his orders. He’d come to killUlysses.
Zar squeezed his weapon against his chest as if he was saying goodbye to his dearest lover. Aiden slowly put down his gun and lifted his hands in the air. Tanner set his rifle on the pickup’s hood and, bracing on his crutches, started toward us.No, no, no. I wanted him to turn around, and together with Zar and Aiden, runfromhere.
