Page 78 of No Going Back

Maddie bit her lower lip. The submissive in her found it difficult to refuse the frowning Domme, but she had no other choice. “I can’t.”

“Guy will give you shit if you don’t, and rightly so,” Alex weighed in.

As if she didn’t know. “I can’t leave him, or the others. I know this place better than any of them, and like it or not, he needs me to cover his back.”

Puzzled expressions met her gaze, but Beth was the one who asked the question. “Who are you, Maddie? Really?”

Maddie glanced at Beth’s husband. Alex was studying her carefully, making Maddie painfully aware that she hadn’t yet given him her answer regarding his job offer. She turned back to Beth. “I haven’t always been an events manager. I used to work for the intelligence services, and I can still handle myself in a fight.

“Look, we’re wasting time. Just go, all of you, and get help. I’m staying. Besides, someone has to be on this side of the door to make it look as if no one’s gone this way, just in case they find their way down here. It’ll be fine. Go.”

Maddie ushered her charges through the door and locked it again. She tossed the key in the corner, behind a pile of supplies. Now to find Guy, Cam and Ryan.

She retraced her steps until she reached the door to the public areas of the hotel. What would Guy have done? He’d want to find out as much as possible about the enemy, their numbers and weapons. It could be useful to know how many remained outside the hotel. She ran up the stairs to the next floor, so she could take a look at the car park.

The nearest of the menacing black Land Rovers was parked close enough for her to make out the features of the man standing by it and dishing out orders. Recognition triggered an overwhelming wave of nausea. Though he didn’t deserve it, the years had treated Dmitry Kuznetsov well since she’d last seen him in Moscow.

Things had just got a whole lot more personal. Kuznetsov himself had overseen the torture sessions aimed at extracting the names of her contacts in Moscow. The man was an expert in brutality. The news that his boss had been sent to take over the London operation had almost made her physically sick. Kuznetsov’s presence now could mean only one thing—he remained Viktor Srenko’s brigadier, a fact that spoke of a lethal combination of loyalty and ruthlessness that chilled her to the bone.

She had to find Guy. The first body, dressed in black like Kuznetsov, confirmed she was heading in the right direction. She recognised the signs of an expertly snapped neck. Any of the three men she’d left behind could have done it. A lack of weapons on the body gave her hope they at least had a means of shooting back now.

But one dead thug didn’t mean this was over. The price of freedom and survival for the innocent might still be her life. Thank God she’d taken the precaution of leaving instructions on how to contact Yana back at Stonehaven.

The main entrance and reception area was the obvious place to head for, and as she made her way in that direction, Maddie became aware of the silence. Tempting though it was to interpret that as the end of the attack, realistically it was unlikely to be the case. Her back to the wall, she inched towards the corner where the corridor ended and the lobby began. As she did so, she heard the heart-breaking sound of muted sobbing from multiple sources.

Just as she was about to drop to the floor to commando-crawl to the shelter of the concierge desk, a masculine hand clamped over her mouth. Adrenaline flooded her body. She thrashed and struggled, but it was no good. An arm with the strength of steel dragged her back against a rock-hard body, and without ceremony, she was manhandled back into the corridor.