Page 56 of Scarred Sunrise

“She needs a hospital, now.” Smithy lifted her body into his arms as Zin made a call to someone. They passed the shocked faces of Rykov’s men as Smithy placed her in the back of the car, causing a moan to escape her.

“Rykov will meet us at the corner. He has a doctor standing by to help her.”

Smithy wanted to argue that a hospital was best for her but knew it would be useless. Things worked differently here, and Zin knew it better than anyone.

Pulling up behind Rykov, he saw the other man run towards them.

Rykov swore when he saw Nazareli and gently lifted her into his arms. “Follow me.”

Smithy didn’t argue, just put the car in gear and followed him into a vast estate on the outskirts of St Petersburg. He had no time to admire the architecture, he selfishly needed Nazareli to live so he could find out what information she had that had almost gotten her killed.

Rykov carried Nazareli into a bedroom where a man with a doctor’s bag was waiting, drips with blood and fluid were already set up waiting for her.

“He will take care of her, please wait in the parlour and I’ll update you as soon as we know anything.”

“I need the location of Rhea Winslow. Ask her.”

“I’ll ask her as soon as she is stable and not before.”

Smithy saw the cold calculation in the man’s eyes, but he wasn’t afraid because if they didn’t get what they needed, millions would die, and that was even more terrifying. “Ask her.”

Smithy was pulled away by Zin, who for once was the calm one of the two of them. “Calm the fuck down before you get us both killed. His hospitality will only go so far.”

Smithy shrugged off the hand Zin had placed on him and instead called Zack, who was understandably angry, but Will soon found the footage which showed what had happened.

“She met with John in a train station and handed him something, but as she was walking back, an unknown assailant shoved her. It looks like that was when she was stabbed. She made it back to her room, probably thinking she could call someone, but the blood loss got to her first.”

“Can you track John?”

“Will’s on it now, but John has had years of practice avoiding being seen, so it won’t be easy.”

“Just let me know.” He hung up, resisting the urge to hurl the phone at the wall. They were so close, and yet it felt as if they were always on the back foot chasing a ghost.

A few hours later, Rykov emerged from the room where Nazareli had been taken, his shirt covered in her blood. Smithy and Zin jumped to their feet as he held up a hand. “She’s resting, but I did ask, and she said Sabetta. That’s where this woman is going.”

“Sabetta?”

“Yes, it’s a port thirty minutes from here. There is an oil rig not far offshore.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Go take care of this. I’ll see the man who did this is taken care of.”

Smithy had no idea how he knew who’d stabbed Nazareli or why, but he had no time to wonder.

Calling Zack again, he filled him in as he headed back to their base to gear up. It was time to go hunting.

An hour later he had on his Osprey body armour, bulletproof trousers, a shirt, and as many weapons as he could safely wear on his body. They’d agreed, albeit after a heated discussion, that Zin would stay at the port with Will which was as close as he needed to be to hack the mainframe on the computer Rhea would be carrying. Zack would drop Smithy off on the rig then cover his back.

Smithy didn’t like it, but Zack was the boss, and the only person that told him no was his wife.

At the port, Zin secured them a boat and set Will up in a disused warehouse. He quickly found footage of Rhea entering the port thirty minutes earlier and boarding a speedboat with two large suitcases—one he presumed had the drug, the other the computer. She had five guards with her.

Zin pointed at the screen as they watched John Smith board a fisherman’s skiff ten minutes later. “Look.”

“Looks like Nazareli gave him the location.”

“Once we take out the five guards, you head back to the boat and wait. As soon as Rhea is dead, I’ll bring the cases on board, and we get the hell out of there.”

“I don’t like the idea of leaving one of my men alone to face her.”

“Don’t doubt I’ll kill her, Zack. I have no intention of letting her live, and I need the boat ready in case she has a fail-safe on the rig.”

“You think she’d risk her life and blow it?” Zin’s accent had thickened in the short time they’d been there.

“Yes, I do, which is why I need an exfil ready.”

“Fine,” Zack bit out.

As he and Zack boarded the boat to head out to the oil well off the Sabetta Coast, his mind turned to home and the people he loved.

“Have we heard from Jack and Roz?” Smithy needed to go into this knowing Liz was safe.

“Yes, they have control of the Norwegian Rigs, and Roz has all our families safe.”

“Guess it’s time to end this then.”