Kat winced when the weapon clattered on the cave floor. Then Vadeem looked at her, full in the eyes, his sorrowful gaze communicating every thing she’d dreaded. I was just trying to keep you safe.
Somehow, she found comfort in those unspoken words. She knew them now for what they were.
I love you.
She would have to be blind not to recognize the truth. Emotion piled in his gaze, spilling out as he stepped forward, his hand outstretched, holding the necklace. As he did it, she knew….
He was betraying his country to save the life of the woman he loved.
She saw it on his agonized expression, and it rocked her to her bones.
She couldn’t let him do it. He would live branded as a traitor for the rest of his life—something, she had a feeling, he already wrestled with. She ignored Grazovich’s threat and let desperation drive adrenaline into her veins.
“No!”
Her outcry startled Grazovich. The kidnapper loosened his grip.
Kat found flesh and bit, hard.
Grazovich cursed. Kat jerked away and stomped on his foot. She lunged toward the man who wanted so desperately to protect her. “No, Vadeem!”
Grazovich caught up fast and cuffed her, connecting with the back of her head. Kat slammed against the lip of the cave entrance. Pain exploded in her shoulder, then down her neck as the General pulled her up by her hair. “Good try.”
Tears burned her eyes as Kat scrambled for footing. Grazovich yanked her head back, and jammed his pistol under her jaw.
“Not a step closer, Spasonov.”
Vadeem froze in mid leap. She saw fury gather on his face and bunch his muscles. He didn’t look at her, and the icy glare he leveled at Grazovich turned her cold.
“One move and she’s dead.” Grazovich screwed the gun into her jaw for emphasis. Kat denied him a whimper, choosing instead to ball her fists against the pain.
“Now, you’re going to put that necklace down. Gently, over there.” Grazovich jerked his head toward the clearing behind them, where the moon turned the grass an eerie yellow. “And then you’re going back, good and far away. When I’m tucked in my car, snug as a bug, I’ll let her go.”
Kat winced as Grazovich shuffled backwards, out toward the light, his hand wound into her hair.
Vadeem spoke through clenched teeth. “You’re not going to get out of Russia. Every FSB agent from here to Kiev will hunt you down.”
Grazovich laughed. “Right. Ryslan wasn’t the only one who understood our cause.”
Vadeem’s eyes narrowed. “Ryslan didn’t believe in your cause. He believed in cold American greenbacks.”
“Well, so do I. Now move.”
Kat cried out as Grazovich let go of her hair and twisted her arm behind her back. Vadeem’s face contorted with her pain. He didn’t hesitate. She watched in agony as Vadeem paced out and set down the necklace in the puddle of moonlight.
Then he backed away, his eyes holding hers with every step.
“C’mon Miss Moore, I have a plane to catch.” Grazovich pulled her toward the necklace, keeping her wrenched arm tight as he scooped up the precious relic and let it drop around her neck. It hit her skin, and made her shiver.
She had no doubt now that Grazovich had every intention of killing her. She’d seen the lecherous look in his eyes, and knew, as that weight of the crest hung on her neck, she’d never see Vadeem again. Grazovich inched away, his hand now fisted in her hair, towing her like a savage.
No, this was not happening. She’d lived her life around men bossing her around, taking charge of her life, making her feel helpless. She wasn’t going to let this terrorist steal everything she’d come to Russia to find, and more. She wasn’t going to let him kill the future she’d once seen written on the now agonized face of her would-be protector, the FSB captain who’d captured her heart. She didn’t care that the muscles in her neck bunched around the death end of a gun, or that her scalp burned from Grazovich’s grip.
God had never left her before. He wasn’t going to do it now, regardless of what happened.
God, give me courage!
Kat erupted in fury. She slammed her boot into Grazovich’s loafer, fell to her knees, and jerked away. She stifled a scream as she left a wad of hair in the terrorist’s hand.
Vadeem leaped like a panther.
The two men hit the dirt with a grunt. Grazovich let go of her as Vadeem wrestled with his gun hand. Kat rolled away, not sure if she should run, or get in a lick.
“Run, Kat!” Vadeem yelled between grunts.
That decided it. Vadeem didn’t need her help, obvious from the way he shook the gun out of Grazovich’s grip, and followed with a one-two punch that made even Kat’s teeth rattle.
Her legs took control. The last thing Vadeem needed in a sudden reversal of fortune would be to have her near enough for Grazovich to threaten.
She sped out toward the road, gulping chilly air into her burning lungs, not daring a look back. One thought drove her—dive into the car, lock it, and wait for Vadeem to show up, her hero.
She never made it.
A bulky figure moved out from beside the car, tall and dark and arrowing straight for her. She veered away, and a scream left her ravaged lungs a second before two timber-lick arms crushed her to a solid, unforgiving chest.
Vadeem heard Kat’s scream just as Grazovich pulled out Ryslan’s pistol from some well inside his coat. He shoved it in Vadeem’s face and Vadeem backpedaled, fast. Grazovich, ghost white and bleeding from the mouth and nose, struggled to his feet. A smile creased his face. “I should have done this a long time ago.”
Vadeem heaved in hot breaths, wondering how fast it would take to dig up the pistol Grazovich had dumped in the tall grass.
The moonlight waxed Grazovich’s twisted face a bone-chilling yellow. The thug smiled and leveled his gun. “With you out of the way, just think how much fun your girlfriend and I will have.”
Rage poured into Vadeem’s muscles as he hurtled himself toward the Abkhazian terrorist.
Shock washed Grazovich’s face. He pulled the trigger.
The shot sent Vadeem wheeling back as the bullet grazed across his arm, burning like a branding iron. He landed in a splash of pain, braced himself for the fatal follow-through shot.
In a blur of motion, Grazovich slammed into the dirt. He swore loudly, dazed and knocked silly by the bear of a man straddling him.
Vadeem blinked, his heart in his mouth.
“Sorry I’m late,” Pyotr said, as he drove his knee into Grazovich’s spine. He easily jerked the weapon from his hand. “I had a hard time finding the place.”
Vadeem gulped back relief. He had never been so happy to see a pastor in his entire life. “No problem. You’re timing is perfect.”
Grazovich suddenly roared in fury. Pyotr shoved his face into the dirt. Vadeem quickly snapped a set of cuffs on the man, ignoring a barrage of Abkhazian curses.
“You okay?” Pyotr asked as he hauled Grazovich to his feet.
Vadeem clutched his arm, exploring the shredded leather where the bullet had grazed him. His hand came back sticky with blood. “Good thing his aim was off. He almost got me in the chest.”
Pyotr grinned even as he wrestled Grazovich into a submissive position. “I don’t know, Pal. I’d say you got a direct hit right in the heart. ” The pastor looked past him, grinning.
Vadeem followed his gaze, and saw Kat, face white, her hair a tousled nest, her amber eyes wide and glistening, holding her breath in with a cupped hand over her mouth.
“Direct hit,” he echoed. He didn’t even have the chance to climb to his feet before she barreled into his arms, burying her face in his neck, sobbing.
He soothed her, crushing her to his chest. “Are you hurt?”