Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 121310 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 607(@200wpm)___ 485(@250wpm)___ 404(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121310 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 607(@200wpm)___ 485(@250wpm)___ 404(@300wpm)
“Where are you?” I ask again, though I know she won’t tell me.
“Somewhere safe,” she says vaguely. “For now. But we’ll be moving soon. We always keep moving.”
“For how long?”
Red shrugs. “Until it’s finished. Until everyone who might hurt you is dead.” She says it so casually, like she’s discussing grocery shopping.
“You can’t just kill everyone who might be a threat,” I say desperately. “There are too many—”
“Are there?” Red tilts her head thoughtfully. “I’ve always found that most people are cowards at heart. Remove a few key pieces, and the rest scatter like roaches when the lights come on.”
She moves closer to the camera again, and I can see my reflection in her eyes—small, distant, helpless.
“Don’t look for us, Donny,” she says softly. “Don’t try to find us. Don’t try to save us. We’re beyond saving now.”
“No,” I say firmly. “I don’t accept that. I won’t accept that.”
Red smiles one last time, sad and terrible and beautiful. “You don’t have a choice. None of us do anymore.”
Her finger hovers over the screen, about to end the call.
“Wait!” I shout. “I found your safehouse. The hidden server room you’ve been hiding this whole time. Whatever you’re doing, you’ll need me. Let me be your eyes and ears.” I’m talking fast, but I see the hesitation on Red’s face that’s stopped her from hanging up, so I keep going. “You need me. I have connections. I can access satellite imagery. You know I’m good on the dark web. Whatever you need, I can get you.”
Red bites her bottom lip—exactly like Anna does when she’s considering something.
Then the screen goes black.
“Fuck!” I slam my thumb against the callback button, but it just rings and rings, each tone another nail in the coffin of my composure. After the tenth ring, it goes to a generic voicemail message.
I try again. And again. Nothing.
“Sir?” Carlos approaches cautiously, probably recognizing the look of a man about to lose his shit completely.
I ignore him, staring at the black screen for a long moment, my hands shaking with fury and helplessness and grief. Then I hurl the phone across the room, watching it shatter against the wall.
But even as the pieces scatter across the floor, I’m already reaching for my laptop, fingers flying over the keys as I start tracing the call, mapping connections, following digital breadcrumbs.
She thinks she’s protecting me by keeping me in the dark.
She’s wrong.
I’ve been playing defense for too long, reacting instead of acting, letting fear make my decisions for me. But not anymore.
We were always playing chess, weren’t we? And she’s been a step ahead of me the entire time.
If Red wants to clear the board, fine. But this time, I won’t stop until I find her. Until I bring her home. Until I prove that whatever she thinks she needs to do alone, we can do together.
THIRTY-NINE
July
ANNA
I’m weak and give in. I call Domhnall again, setting the phone up in the shower as I wash off all the blood from yet another mission. Always so much blood when Red is in control.
But at least I’m getting a stretch at the helm. Red can’t keep us back all the time, though she certainly wants to.
“It’s so good to hear your voice.” I can hear the choke in his voice. How strained and restrained he’s sounded on the calls lately. I know it’s because he’s learned I’ll hang up if he shouts for me to tell him where I am.
“Thank you for the intel. It helped.”
“How?” He sounds frustrated. “What on earth could a South American diplomat’s offshore accounts have to do with any of what you’re doing in Europe?”
I smile. “Who said I’m in Europe?”
He scoffs. “Obviously, you’re in Europe. Doing god knows what, but I’ve managed to figure out that much.”
“Don’t, Domhn. Don’t hunt for me, or I won’t be able to call you anymore.”
We finally gave in several weeks ago and called Domhn in on his offer of help. We couldn’t risk staying in one place long enough to build the kind of servers we needed to stay truly off-grid, and it was the safest choice. Okay, that’s a lie.
The truth was, we missed Domhn’s voice.
But it does help having him track down some of the financials I don’t have time or patience for.
“Did something happen tonight?” Domhn growls over the phone.
Before Pavel died, he gave me a name. An image of his terrified, bloody face as he pled for his life before Red dispatched him flashes in my mind, and I lean my face into the hot spray of the shower water for several long seconds.
Pavel had whispered a single name before the last of the blood gurgled up out of his throat—not to give me information, but to inspire terror in me: Kozlov.
The Kozlov Bratva was the only syndicate that had ever intimidated The Librarian, and monsters like my father didn’t scare easy. He’d gotten on their bad side with some deal, and one of the reasons we’d stayed on the run my entire childhood was so we could stay one step ahead of the Kozlovs.