Page 77 of Desperate Victory

“C’mon.” I tugged her arm lightly. “Let’s take a walk across the river. We only have an hour before our first meeting” We didn’t make it five whole feet onto the stone bridge before there was an actual bounce to her step.

“This bridge was built in the 1300s,” Em said, doing a little dance before linking her arm with mine again. I sipped my coffee. They were still hot which was welcome against the briskness of the wind over the river. “It’s older than the U.S. It’s older than a few countries now… It’s historical and permanent, and I love this bridge.”

I chuckled. “I can see that. Should I be glad this isn’t tall enough to bungee jump off of?”

Her snort was indelicate and amused. “I like bungee jumping when we get the time. The guys are hilarious about it.” She flashed a look over her shoulder.

“That’s because you’re pretty damn fearless.” I wish I could say the same. The sense of urgency, to find Andrea, was like a constant itch between my shoulder blades. We were here, no more delays. Tactically, we’d left our rear guard as clear as possible. Now, we needed to find my sister. Find Pretty Boy’s and Bodhi’s siblings.

We had names. We had rough locations. We had… we had leads. I hoped the guys turned something up this morning. Hans had also sent word that he would be in Prague directly. So hopefully that meant he also had more leads. For now, we had to stick with the plan.

That plan involved getting Em to the theater and meeting with two of the largest contributors to the fund that brought her to the country. They were patrons of the arts. One, Em said she remembered. The other was new.

It was the new one that I wanted a good look at. I had some familiarity with Valentin Zhukovsky. He was a longtime fan of Em’s, and had served as a patron on her previous visits. The theater was owned by him, if I recalled correctly. He had definitely leapt at the chance to sponsor her return visit.

I tossed a glance over my shoulder. Bodhi moved easily, his head on a swivel. When he caught my look, he just nodded. We were fine.

The whole point of this walk, in addition to stretching our legs, was to make sure Em was seen. Hours in the air had left me stiff and a little cranky. Walking to the venue was the fastest way to get noticed.

As much as I wanted to hurry, I kept my steps steady and even. If we rushed, we chanced missing something. Em was putting herself out as bait. I hadn’t missed the looks the guys exchanged or how her security precautions in the past had been about keeping her from being stolen.

Dangled like chum…

So many people should have died far sooner. But that was the past. As much as I wished we could go back, we couldn’t. Dealing with the present was where we needed to be, especially since tomorrow was not promised.

“You look very fierce,” Em murmured as we angled toward the boulevard that would lead to the theater. I’d memorized the route. “I thought you wanted me to be approachable?”

I snorted. “I wanted them to see you. Not come anywhere near you.” At the same time, if someone tried to make a move, we were in place to make sure they didn’t. We wanted to lure out our targets, but I would not trade Em to get Andrea back.

We would get Andrea back and keep Em, thank you very much.

“Besides, I should have a good frown of disapproval as your chaperone.” I made a face at her and she burst out laughing. “You know I’m right,” I reminded her. “Granted, I may not be able to do battle axe…”

“Ball Cracker, you don’t need to do battle axe.” Freddie’s cheerful observation pulled fresh laughter out of Em. “Besides, axes are more Jasper’s thing.”

I didn’t ask. At the same time… “That seems oddly fitting,” I admitted.

Em winked.

Then we were there. The mile walk seemed suddenly far too short. Though it was early in the day, there was a lot of movement at the theater. Bodhi narrowed the distance between us, falling into step on my right as Freddie took Em’s left.

“It’s fine,” she said. “Those are our people.”

That relaxed one worry, but not all of them. Their crew. Their staff. All vetted by them. But we were still in a city we didn’t know, dealing with enemies we hadn’t fully identified, and far from the resources we were all used to having.

Crossing the street, Em moved ahead with Freddie while I hung back a little with Bodhi.

“It’s fine,” he said, his tone downright soothing and I grinned at him.

“I know, I just wanted to check if we’ve heard from Hans yet?”

He shook his head once. There were greetings being called out to Emersyn and she’d paused to chat with some of the techs.

“He’ll be here,” Bodhi assured me, the lightness of his hand gliding down my back. The touch almost ephemeral and yet it steadied me. “Trust me?”

“Of course,” I murmured. Then we were with Em and resumed playing our parts as Emersyn headed inside.

“I won’t be here long,” she told me, embracing the roles we were playing. Although, in her case, she was just being herself. “But I like to get a feel for the space.”