Page 53 of The Harbinger
“It’s one of the best hospitals inMoskva.”
The car stopped at the entrance, the back door opened, and a man I recognized from the plane rushed to Sacha’s side.
Dmitri and Ivan stepped out, and the man jumped into the driver’s seat. As if every move had been scripted and rehearsed, Ivan opened my door as Dmitri escorted Sacha to my side with perfect synchronization.
“I don’t think I need to remind you to behave?” he said with a low warning tone. He slipped his hand to the small of my back as I adjusted my skirt.
“No.”
“Good.”
Sacha pressed his hand into my back, led me through the sliding doors, and veered off to the left, stopping at a box hanging on the wall. He grabbed two blue plastic bags and placed them over his shoes before handing me two of my own. “Put them on.”
“What are these for?” I slipped the bags over my boots, as did Dmitri, Ivan, and the other guards.
“Sanitation.”
He walked away before I’d finished my last shoe, forcing me to hobble to catch up the short distance to the elevator. Dmitri pressed the button, and the doors swung open, allowing us to pile in with Sacha dragging me to the back, his men like fodder in the front as the elevator brought us to the third floor.
The elevator doors opened, and the two men in front split left and right. I stepped forward, but Sacha’s arm cut off my path, the back of his hand brushing my hip bone. “Wait.”
Dmitri and Ivan followed the other men, splitting off in the same fashion. Only when Dmitri nodded toward Sacha did we step off the elevator.
“Why do you need so much security?”
From what I’d seen in America, he bought drugs, and not even a large quantity, but that didn’t warrant this amount of protection.
“Not now.”
We followed them into a waiting room, where Ivan took my arm and steered me toward the chairs. “Stay.”
I glared at him and jerked my arm away, and then he took his seat across from me while Sacha and Dmitri stood at the counter, Dmitri’s head on a swivel as Sacha spoke to the woman behind the low counter.
The two other men stood at the entrance of the empty waiting room as if blocking anyone from entering. The tall man with a buzzed head stood closest to the mural of a giant snowy mountain. It wrapped around the walls with purple skies and crisp snow on the ground. The number of hours someone put into it…
Sacha stepped away from the counter and took a seat beside me. “Sergei will take care of you when you go back.”
My stomach sank like a boat that took on water amid a hurricane. “You’re not coming with?”
Sacha shot a fleeting glance at Dmitri before returning his gaze to me. “Do I need to?”
The thought that Sacha might expect me to stay docile and not fight back against him was arrogant and almost naive. But then again, he did have Dr. Sergei as his personal physician.
I shook my head, pressing my lips together as I furrowed my brows in thought. “No,” I said quietly. “I’m just surprised, that’s all.”
Or perhaps it was because the thought of walking back there alone without Sacha by my side terrified me. What would they do to me? What tests would they have me undergo? Would they probe and prod inside my head with some sort of apparatus until my memories returned, or would they ask me more questions that I had no answer for?
“What if I wanted you to go with me?”
The door to my right opened, and a tall woman stepped out, her face framed by a neat bob of light brown hair. Her sea-foam scrubs were the same color as her comfortable shoes, and she held a black tablet in her hand, her index finger moving over the screen as she flicked through whatever data it contained. Her gaze shifted up toward where we sat, and she smiled warmly. “Mia Primack?”
Primack?
Sacha leaned into me. “That’s you.”
My stomach churned with nerves as we stood in the echoing waiting room. Sacha adjusted the button on his suit jacket before capturing my elbow, his eyes searching mine. He leaned in, his warm breath brushing my cheek, and pressed his lips to it in a gentle kiss. “Udachi,” he said softly. “Good luck.”
His sudden display of affection threw me off balance, my mind reeling with confusion.