Page 31 of The Allure of Ruins

“Oh dear God!” she shouted, sitting down hard across from us as the driver put the van in gear and peeled away from the curb.

“What the hell is going on?” Colton barked at her.

“I’m Special Agent Veda Walker, and we’ve been keeping an eye on Gen Antonov since Sergei Csokas was released from prison two weeks ago.”

“I don’t know who Csokas is, and I would have thought Gen was in jail because—fuck!” I shrieked as the van was hit on the side Colton and I were on, sending us both tumbling onto the floor.

“For fuck’s sake, Gabe!” Walker shouted at the driver.

“Fuck off, Veda,” he roared back. “I have no idea where to go to get us—I thought you said we had goddamn backup!”

Colton crawled on his hands and knees to the driver and unclipped the guy’s seat belt. “Hold the wheel until I have it and then dive over there,” he ordered, pointing at the passenger seat.

“Are you kidding me? You’re gonna get us killed.”

“No, you’re gonna get us killed,” he bellowed. “Now move!”

Gabe did as directed, holding on to the steering wheel until Colton had a grip on it, and then dove toward the passenger side as Colton took his seat.

“Grab something!” he yelled at us as he hit the brakes hard.

Through the front window, I saw the other SUV blow by us through the intersection, other cars barely missing it, and then flip a U-turn farther down the street. Colton immediately backed us up and took a hard left, accelerating fast.

“Speak!” he commanded Walker.

She was taking shaky breaths in and out to try and calm herself, and Gabe clipped himself in as I did the same.

“Give her a second,” I pleaded.

“Fuck that,” he retorted as bullets hit the back of the van. “We’ll be dead before she tells us what the fuck is going on.”

“What was that?” I called up to him.

“That’s an AK-47,” he replied, taking a right that tipped the van a bit before it righted itself. “And we’re gonna die if I can’t lose these assholes.”

“They can’t afford to kill us,” Walker stated. “At least not Paxton. With him dead, Csokas will not be getting any intel about his diamonds.”

“Could you please explain all this?” I asked her.

She took a nervous breath. “Diamonds went missing the day you and nine others escaped from Gen Antonov. We know he made sex slaves out of the ten of you, but you’re the only one anyone can find.”

That made me terribly happy, and there was a warmth in my stomach thinking about everyone else out there free. I hoped they were all happy.

“Basically, they all got off the planes at their destination and disappeared. None of them had families, all foster kids like you, Paxton, and so they all went poof into the ether.”

“That’s good.”

“You’re the one who kept your name. You’re the one who could be tracked. Why did you do that?”

“Because I had too much time and schooling put into my life to disappear.”

“Well, Agent Lattimer should have kept you there, or at least examined that drive you gave him before he let you get on a plane.”

“Why is that?”

“Because Antonov is a very untrusting man who recorded every horrific detail of the crimes he committed and planned for his boss, Sergei Csokas.”

“As I said, I have no idea who that is.”