Left For Dead (The Guarded Secrets Series Book 3) (14 page)

When I turned around to grab Natasha so we could make a break for it, I was greeted by a team of fifteen men with their weapons pointed at me. All except one, who had one hand over Natasha’s mouth and the other latched onto her shoulder so she couldn’t break free. Whoever he was, he was the one who spoke up.

“I see we are rejoined by Nikolai’s flame. He’ll be pleased to see her,” one man commented, the laughter in his voice evident. It reminded me of Raider, arrogant and rude. “Let’s take them both to Volodya. Don’t be too rough, he wants them alive. For now.”

Chapter 23

Natasha and I sat side to side, bound to the chairs we were forced into in an otherwise empty side room to the compound. I couldn’t be sure, but judging from the lack of windows and other escape routes, I guess that this is where Volodya preferred to do his dirty work. With only four men protecting him, in case I decided to put up another fight, he tried to keep these dealings as private as possible.

I could understand why, there were fewer people to question any orders handed out. Though I’m sure a little murder didn’t affect any of the people in this building, maybe they had something against harming his family and didn’t know he tried to kill his own daughter. I liked to think I had caused a few to back out.

I smiled, causing a few of Volodya’s men to flinch. The last smile they had seen only brought back bad memories for them. After two men had grabbed me, so they could lead me away peacefully, or so they thought, I reacted violently. I slammed my elbow into the man who had the tightest grip on me, causing him to double over. Without hesitating I forced my hand into a tight fist and landed a blow to his partner’s nose. When he doubled over, I kicked him where it counted, and delivered a final blow to the first man. It was a blur from there, filled with fists flying, a few stray blows, and cries of pain. After knocking out two men and coming close to killing another one, someone held a gun to my head, while others surrounded me, and gave me two options: either be killed now or prolong the inevitable. I always went with the one that kept me alive to make an escape later, no matter how bleak the situation.

“If Ash had done his job while he was alive, I wouldn’t have to do this now,” Volodya said, pulling me back to my current situation, one I didn’t see a way out of any time soon. “I wouldn’t have to tell my lovely daughter that her sister and mother betrayed us and I can no longer trust her.”

I glanced over at Natasha, who seemed unmoved by the news. I took that as two things, being a dictator’s daughter and expecting one day that something similar to this could happen and that Katya probably got some of the information into the letter she had sent me to give her. Either way, Natasha was unfazed by her father’s confession.

“And I hear from a rather reliable source that you are the one who killed him,” Volodya said, turning his attention back toward me. His dark eyes gleamed, pleased with the fact he held information over me, but I remained calm, unfazed, just like Natasha.

I couldn’t prevent the natural reaction to narrow my eyes and glare at him however, as I realized Camden had already given out more information than we thought, and for what? What did Camden get out of this? He would still rot in a jail cell. Could there be something more? I may never know, but I believed it was as simple as revenge. Revenge had pushed Renegade and I into tight spots, now Camden was using it for a bargaining chip. If Spit Fire didn’t kill him, I would.

“I hear from that same source you and the imposter, Marco,” he spat the word as if it was acid on his tongue and it hurt to even say it aloud, “are rather close. I’m sure he’ll come running when he hears that I have his precious girlfriend in my possession.”

A tight smile once again formed on my lips, trying desperately to hold back the laughter threatening to erupt from deep in my chest. I failed.

The laughter echoed through the room, causing everyone including Natasha to look at me as if I was certifiable. I couldn’t help it though. The sheer notion that Renegade would come to my rescue after leaving me in Mexico was hilarious, but in the back of my mind I knew he was determined to make it up to me. Now just wasn’t the right time, not the right way.

Once my laughter subsided, I took in Volodya’s confused look and cleared the air for him. “Marco,” I said, careful not to give away his code name or real name. “Won’t come for me. He left me alone before. He follows orders given to him, and he will be told to leave me behind. You’re wasting your time trying to bait him to come back here.”

The smile didn’t fade as the words left my mouth. It should hurt knowing he wouldn’t come to save me, but Demon wouldn’t come this time either. That’s why I had forced him to promise to leave me behind if needed; something always went wrong on a mission. Nothing was ever perfect. Though Demon may come back, he had to take Katya to safety first and I could almost guarantee I’d be dead before he could make the return trip, not that it would stop him from trying. I couldn’t imagine him giving up on me now if he didn’t when I disobeyed orders and went rogue. He’d come; I just had to survive.

“Well, that’s a pity,” Volodya stated, almost seeming to feel sorry about it. His tone changed quickly as he spoke quickly in Russian to the men around him. One pulled a bag from behind him and presented it to Volodya, who took it greedily. “We will be moving out, nonetheless. I’m sure you understand,” he directed to me as he dug through the bag. “I can’t have any of your friends coming and breaking apart what I have here, and I can’t trust you when you say someone won’t come to help you. For now, keep her alive. I want a bargaining chip in case they come before we have a chance to leave.”

Smart move, Volodya,
I silently complimented. At least he thought things through, unlike the Cardozas had. He wouldn’t underestimate me, while unfortunately in this case it meant I’d have to step up my game. He had given me a chance to get out, whether he wanted to or not. The order to keep me alive would come back to haunt him.

“When I return, I’ll be taking my daughter with me and leaving you in the capable hands of my men,” he said as he found a syringe in the bag and a glass bottle, which he handed off to Nikolai, who smiled devilishly. “Nikolai will take care of you both before I return. I hope to never see you again, Agent.” With that, Volodya turned and walked out of the room with two guards following after him.

“While he prepares for a short trip,” Nikolai stated, letting a darkness take over his voice as he dangled the now filled syringe in our faces, “this will just put you to sleep, making transportation a little easier. I would hate to fight the whole way.” He leaned down, forcing Natasha’s arm to be still as she struggled against him.

As the needle inched closer to her arm, Natasha fought as best as she could. I was helpless to assist her, still bound to my chair. I had gotten the knot around my wrists loose, but my feet remained tied down. I couldn’t help as the needle dug into her skin and she let out an ear-splitting scream.

“I should have mentioned it was going to hurt too.”

I fought back the gagging sensation as I watched the contents of the vial empty into Natasha’s arm. I couldn’t decide what was worse, being forced to watch or hear her cry out in pain. Nikolai just laughed while Natasha cried out, her voice shrill. It gave me a moment to pry myself free while Nikolai was distracted. I wasn’t sure what drug they had forced into her, but I knew she would be a goner if I didn’t find a way out of this soon. I didn’t want to think about what her father had planned for her once they got her alone again.

I yanked the bonds of my wrist free, catching the rope easily before it could fall to the floor and give away the game changer I had just initiated. There were only three men in this room, I took out five outside. Three would be no problem, especially with surprise on my side. While Nikolai leaned down to inspect the injection site, I pulled the knife from the sheath hidden below my belt and cut the bonds around my feet.

Nikolai seemed unfazed by my movement, but his counterparts reacted. They pointed their guns at me, and once again, I had brought a knife to a gun fight. I suppressed a groan as I threw the knife, landing the blade into one man’s shoulder before I took the short opportunity available and swung my leg up, making contact with the back of Nikolai’s neck as he looked over Natasha. A short cry escaped his lips before he slumped to the ground in a heap of body parts.

The two other men rushed toward me, discarding my knife out of their friend’s shoulder as they rushed forward. I forced myself out of my chair and stepped forward to face them, hoping Natasha would be fine for the few minutes I was preoccupied with these men. Without their weapons it would be as close to a fair fight as I would get; too bad for them I didn’t have to keep them alive. I didn’t enjoy killing people, but if it was the only way to finish this mission I would without a second thought, and they didn’t give me another choice.

Both men rushed at me, one intending to grab me and the other wanting to beat me to a pulp. I leapt out of their reach, but while they stumbled I ripped one of the weapons off their shoulder. I found a stable stance and took aim. When I first joined the agency, I hadn’t been able to hit the broad side of a barn, but now each shot is a kill shot. Two simple shots, that was all it took to end two lives. I forced the waves of emotion to subside before I turned back to Nikolai and Natasha. She nodded, seeming to understand that I did what I needed to even though the sound would surely attract attention. Though there was a clear distance in her eyes, she seemed out of it. Her eyes seemed clouded over and she seemed more confused as the seconds passed. The drug, whatever it had been, started to take effect on her. We had to move now or I’d be carrying dead weight. 

I lifted the gun and killed Nikolai before he could come back to cause more trouble. For some reason that one hurt the worst; I had clearly become attached to a mark for some reason. Maybe it was just the idea that I could actually manage to gain his attention and keep it. Men should be wary; women had hidden agendas, especially women like me.

“Come on,” I said as I grabbed Natasha’s arm to hold her securely before cutting her bonds. “We need to move. I have a safe location for you to wait for a friend of mine.”

She absentmindedly nodded. I hoped that it meant she heard me, but judging from how limp she was once I lifted her from the chair, I couldn’t be sure she understood anything I said. I could relate it to seeing someone who had too much to drink at a bar. I saw it all the time on missions in the United States, the way they swayed, slurred, appeared glassy-eyed. Natasha wouldn’t make it on her own.

“Demon better be there waiting for us. I still have a few hours,” I growled, taking a quick glance at the watch on my wrist.

Chapter 24

I lifted Natasha’s arm over my shoulders and held most of her weight to me, making sure I had a firm hold on her before I left. She seemed sturdy, but the effects of the drug were definitely kicking in. Besides gradually becoming dead weight, her speech faltered, and when she managed to clumsily move, she usually wound up hurting me in some way. She slapped me lightly as I rose from my knees and brought her with me, unintelligibly speaking to me and probably asking what happened, though I didn’t have much time to fully explain to her. It’s only a matter of time before someone came to check on us, especially if they heard the gunshots. Soon we would be surrounded again if we didn’t move. The door leading out of the room could be surrounded at this very moment and we wouldn’t know until it was too late again. I took a deep breath to refocus before I started dragging her through the room. She weighed more than I anticipated.

It’s going to be a long walk to the drop off point
, I thought bitterly as I leaned her against me to listen outside the door.

I couldn’t hear anything. No hushed orders while they waited for me to show myself, no racing footsteps to get into position, not even the uneasy breathing of a new recruit about to have his first run in with an enemy. I couldn’t believe it, but I didn’t have time to question it much further either. I had to get Natasha to the drop off before anyone came looking for us or before Demon was found and caught.

I opened the door slowly, keeping Natasha out of the line of fire in case there were guards outside, but I didn’t have to. The hallway was empty, no sign of life, in either direction. The gunshots should have alerted someone. I knew we had been isolated from the rest of the compound in the far back portion of the building on the first floor. There had been dust on the boxes, even a fine layer on the floor. I had expected Volodya to leave at least one guard behind. He must never have expected me to escape or for three of their men to end up dead. Otherwise he would have taken extra precautions.

I silently thanked him for his over confidence as I pulled Natasha a little tighter and began to walk with her through the halls. I kept a watchful eye for shadows as we traveled, the gun level in case I needed to take action, and listened close to be prepared if someone approached us. We made it about halfway to our destination when I heard Russian coming from behind me. 

A chill raced up my spine as I realized they were close, too close. I glanced around for a good place to hide, my gaze falling onto a lone stack of crates. It wouldn’t provide much cover, but it was better than nothing. Quickly, I set Natasha down on the floor beside the crates, praying they wouldn’t look as they went by, but as I crouched in front of her I leveled the gun in case I needed to take action. Their footsteps got closer, slowly inching their way toward our hiding place. Their voices were light, airy, as if talking among old friends, though it didn’t ease my racing thoughts.

What if they saw us? What if someone heard the gunshots? Would it be better to use a knife and end them quietly? Maybe quickly was better. What did it matter if the gunshots were heard? I’d have to fight my way out anyway. I couldn’t simply follow Demon out the same way.

As the voices got closer I tensed, prepared to fight if needed. Suddenly I was glad Volodya had knocked out Natasha, otherwise she would be terrified and likely to give away our position. If we remained silent and low to the ground, we had the advantage. Having Natasha awake, however, would enable her to tell me what the guards were talking about, and then further question me on Katya and what happened to their mother. The more I thought about it the more the pros of having her incapacitated made my job easier for me, or at least less of a headache.

The guard’s feet came into view, two of them walking side by side lost in their conversation. I barely moved as I looked up to notice two young looking men, weapons slung over their shoulders carelessly. I could steal the weapons off their backs and shoot them before they’d know what was going on. Luckily for me I didn’t have to prove that to them. They walked by, failing to notice us, and eventually turned down another hallway and escaped from view.

“That was lucky,” I said as I kneeled down once again to pick up Natasha. She came a little easier this time and let her weight fully rest on me as we walked through the hall. I followed as closely to the two guards as I could, knowing that another set wouldn’t be too close to them. We stayed in their blind spot, allowing the rest of the trip to go relatively easy. I veered off into the drop off room once the guards were out of earshot and shut the door behind me.

Cold air rushed over me, chilling me to the bone the moment I stepped into the room. I turned to see that the window was busted in, glass scattered over the floor, causing the light to refract around the room. The small bursts of illumination allowed me to see a dark figure standing in the corner, hiding in the shadows.

“Glad to see you made it in here without a problem,” I said, letting him know I saw him as I tried to find a place to set Natasha down. With very few furniture items around the room, even less that wasn’t currently covered in shards of glass, I didn’t have many options. I could choose between a desk and the floor, it would be impossible to clean all the shards off the seats that had been carelessly arranged in the room.

“Of course I’m here. It’s about time you showed up,” Demon stated, emerging from the shadows, slowly revealing the deep scowl on his features. “I thought you had been caught.”

“I was,” I replied as I set Natasha down. I didn’t miss the worried expression that had etched its way onto Demon’s features. “I don’t have time to explain other than to say you need to get her out of here now.”

“What happened to her?” he asked, crouching down to look over Natasha’s features. He took special notice of her eyes as I had done. I had no way of knowing what they put in her, but since she hadn’t responded much to stimuli, including me throwing her over my shoulder and pushing her behind a few boxes, I’d say it was a very heavy sedative.

“They drugged her. Volodya plans to take her with him in case more agents show up. I think he’s still planning to use her as a bargaining chip to get Katya to come out of hiding,” I explained as Demon examined Natasha before nodding, coming to the same conclusion I had. “Honestly, it’s working too. I want you to take her and get out of here as fast as you can.”

“What about you?” he asked as a loud voice boomed outside the room. Whatever the order was, I knew they had found out we were missing. Footsteps pounded outside, voices passed by, and from previous knowledge I knew weapons were locked and loaded.

“I’m going to stick around and cause some much needed noise to provide a distraction. We don’t have time to figure out how long the drug will be in her system or what it is. You’re going to have to carry her out of here, and that’s going to slow you down. If I don’t stay behind then we get caught and this whole thing goes up in flames. Get her to the car, and I’ll be out in ten minutes.”

“What if you aren’t?” he asked, his voice filled with dread.

I didn’t have time to let the feeling of dread fully work its way through my system. A voice stopped right outside the room and ordered a few men to go door to door looking for us. I heard a few more words, none of them were clear or translatable for me, but judging from the sudden movement, the guards were expecting the orders they had received. We were running out of time. 

“I’ll be there. Don’t worry about that.” My voice didn’t give away the fear that coursed through me as I stepped back toward the door to make my grand entrance into the swarm of armed guards looking for me. I noticed my hand trembled as it fell over the trigger of the gun as I prepared myself to risk everything. I knew I could cause a lot of damage in ten minutes, and it should be enough to get Demon out of here safely. Then if all went well, I’d see him again before Maverick could land his plane. “For now I need you to worry about her, not if I’m going to show up or not. If I don’t, then keep your promise. Leave and go to Maverick’s plane. Until then, let’s just try to end this and go home.”

Doubt etched onto his features, but I didn’t have anything else to say. I had offered him the only solace I could give him, an easy escape. He should take it and be grateful that he didn’t have to battle it out with the Russian mafia. He needed to safely get Natasha out of here. I didn’t see another way. He would just have to leave me and hope for the best like I was.

“Be careful,” he said as he kneeled down and picked up Natasha with ease.

I tried not to look annoyed that he hadn’t struggled as I did the first time, and nodded before I left the room. I waited a few more seconds until I was sure Demon had left before stepping into the center of the compound. The open area was perfect, and if I could distract the guards from noticing him then we still had a chance to get out of here.