Page 80 of Caged
This rage is eating me from the inside out.
All these questions. And he wants me to just walk away from finding the answers?
Fine.
“If you go, you’ll be starting a whole new level of war with him. We may not survive another.” His bottle clinks against the glasses as he pours another round. “But, here’s to living this long.” Raising his drink, he pauses, then sets it back on the smooth surface of his desk.
“Talk to Enzo. See if you can dig anything up on her. He might find another way to get to her. The diamonds may be gone, but he might give you some of the answers you’re looking for.”
He has a way of looking at things that has kept us alive through the years.
“You’re right. Ivan may get the gems, but I might be able to get the girl.”
The real question is, what the hell am I going to do to her when I find her?
THIRTY-THREE
MILA
The chill in the air isn’t the first thing that reminds me I’m back in Russia.
There’s an emptiness to my bed, and a hollow in my heart that drives needles of loss into me with every breath.
I shouldn’t miss him.
He was just a mark. A target. A tool to be used.
Then why does this hurt so badly?
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Tyler asks me from the rock above me.
I give him a tight-lipped nod. We didn’t drive a hundred kilometers and hike through a mountain to cling to a cliff’s edge if I wasn’t sure.
This is the only way to get eyes on Ivan’s compound without being caught.
“A damn drone would have been easier,” he grumbles as he hands me my pack.
“We need to get an idea of the layout in case I need to get the fuck out fast.” Laying on the cold earth, I prop up on my elbows with my binoculars to start taking notes.
After several moments of pensive silence, I hear Tyler scoff. “This is a suicide mission, Mila. There’s no fucking way you’re making it in and out with Daniil.”
That can’t be true. I’ve broken into some of the most impenetrable places in Russia.
“Every safe has a weakness. I just need to find it,” I snap back without lowering my field glasses.
He curses under his breath, but diligently writes more things down.
“What if—” I begin, but let my thought trail off.
It probably won’t work.
“Tell me. Any plan is better than what we currently have.” He shakes his head and gestures to the jagged landscape around us.
“I still have the USB drive. Tatiana seemed to want it desperately. What if I ask her for help in exchange?” This might be a bad idea.
Out of the frying pan into the fire.
Tyler’s expression as he turns to me makes me think he feels the same.