Page 127 of The Lazarus Protocol

Steph realized then that she would never change her sister’s mind. Right or wrong, Vesper would go to her grave believing that technology was the biggest threat in the world. Adam had learned that the real threat was human nature, and all its twisted schemes, but she had barely begun to comprehend what her life meant. Or whether what her sister told her was true. If her father really had been dead for so long…

Freedom would be something she’d spend the rest of her life trying to figure out.

FORTY-THREE

Milan, Italy

Ice stumbled down the sidewalk, one hand across his abs. Mostly to hold his jacket over the wound so no one saw him and decided to call the police. He finally spotted the bar a quarter mile down this busy street.

Tourists. Locals. Folks going to work. He weaved through them all, clipped a stroller wheel with his boot and nearly fell, caught himself and stumbled on.

His entire shirt drenched was in sweat. But he was in better shape than the men he had left back in that warehouse. The ones who had come in after Vesper hit him with a taser. Shrugging off the aftereffects only left him angrier than he would’ve been otherwise over the fact that Earthnet sent a team of men to capture him and take him…wherever.

It wasn’t lost on him that he’d be with the rest of the team if he allowed himself to get captured. But being recently tased didn’t exactly help a guy think straight. Even now, angry Russian played like a litany in his head—some part of him that sounded an awful lot like his father, raging at the audacity that they even came at him to try.

He needed the fire of that anger to keep him upright for the moment, so he let it continue. Keeping pace with the rhythm of the words that played in his mind, and even spilled onto his lips so that he was stumbling toward the bar, muttering in Russian.

The guy on the door wore jeans and boots, a faded T-shirt, and a leather vest with plenty of emblems and pins. His hair had been shaved, and he had a scar above his left ear.

Ice shifted his arm from his front and used his other hand to raise his T-shirt between the sides of his jacket.

The guy got a look at the nasty wound on Ice’s abdomen spilling blood all over him. He was pretty sure the bleeding had slowed—yeah, he was gonna go with that. Bouncer Guy didn’t even blink.

Until Ice lifted the shirt high enough he got a look at the tattoo on Ice’s pectoral.

Then he blinked.

The bouncer unlocked his phone and held it to his mouth, barking an order to whoever was on the other end of the voice messaging app.

Ice’s head swam, and he started to sway.

The front door opened, and a guy came out. The two of them slung his arms over their shoulders and walked him in so quick his feet dragged behind him on the floor. No one turned to watch them, and there were plenty of men and women in the bar. Music played from the corner, a song his sister had liked. Played so much he knew all the words.

They took him to an office, where a woman in a tiny denim skirt and a tank top swiped everything off the desk onto the floor.

Ice landed on his back on the desk, his knees at the end and his boots hanging down against the side. Air expelled from his lungs in a rush, and he groaned to disguise where his hand went—and what he found. The T-shirt was cut away, and someone started to drag his arms from the jacket. “Nyet!”

The jacket was left where it was. Ice tucked the items he’d lifted up into his sleeve.

His consciousness drifted in and out, leaving him only partially aware that someone was stitching up his abdomen. Making him think about Adam and the state he’d been in when Ice last saw him, in the lab on that boat. Then he’d tussled with Steph. Then her sister. Then those guys in that warehouse.

He only had limited options left for what to do next.

And unfortunately, none of them involved eating a T-bone steak and taking a nap.

Slender fingers traced their way across his tattoo.

Ice grabbed her wrist, and she flinched. He stared at her and she met his gaze for a second before her chin dipped and she looked away. He let her go then. Someone handed him a bottle with no label. Ice figured he’d regret tasting whatever was inside, but took a heavy swig anyway and swallowed before his mouth could register the flavor.

He blew a breath out that tasted like fire.

A door shut, and he was finally left alone. Ice glanced at the clock on the wall and noted the time. He would have less than an hour before he had to be on the move again. After that, family members would show up. Angry ones, who would demand an explanation he didn’t want to give. Plus, he didn’t have time anyway.

Ice dug in his pocket and pulled out Steph’s necklace.

He forced his body up, not quite sitting upright and sort of rolling off the side of the desk at the same time. Trying not to groan so loud he drew attention. The computer and phone remained on the desk, behind his head.

He got his feet under him and sank into the chair. Someone had left a phone charger plugged into the computer. Ice checked the desk phone had a dial tone and fired up the computer, bypassing the password and going to the Bluetooth settings.