Page 119 of Ford

What if he told her that she’d changed him. And that protecting her—what little he did—was the first thing he’d done in three years that felt like it mattered.

Was worth dying for.

And that yes, if he managed to find Gustov, maybe he would look her up in the States. Just to see how she was doing.

Oh brother.

The corridor, with its painted cement floor and exposed wire, had all the charm of a warehouse, but at least they’d given Kat a private room. Next door was a communal room, some twenty beds jammed together—post-op patients who received daily visits from their families bringing food and medicines.

He walked by it, and a green light under one of the cots caught his eye.

A laptop.

Sitting right there, for his use.

He crept into the room. Stood above the man for a moment, just in case he stirred. A young man—it looked like he’d gotten his appendix out, perhaps, the way he was sleeping, favoring his side.

York swept the laptop out from under the bed and strode from the room.

He just needed the internet.

He returned to Kat’s room, sat on the squeaky sofa next to her bed, and fired it up.

Password.

“Where’d you get the laptop?”

Kat had woken and was pulling the mask to the side.

“A fellow patient. But it has a password, so—”

“Don’t be an idiot. Give it here.”

“I don’t think—”

“Trust me, I’ll feel better if I can hack into something.” She looked up at him. “Sort of like how you’d like to hit something.”

“I don’t want to hit anything.”

She cocked her head.

Okay, maybe a little, but, “I’d rather eat something. I’m starved.”

He helped her sit up. She moaned, but swallowed it down. Took the laptop. “Does my father know I’m here?”

“The general? Not yet.”

She drew in a breath. “If we don’t show up in Vladivostok, he’ll come looking for us.”

“Maybe he should. You were shot.”

“But then he’ll imprison me at his house to keep me safe. He’s already worried—imagine what he’s going to be like when he hears I was shot.” She looked up at York. “And you’ll be in trouble.”

He hadn’t thought about that. “So, what if we go to Vladivostok, try and get you out of the country as planned?”

She nodded. “Wait until I’m off morphine, and then we’ll have this conversation. Here. You’re in.”

He took the computer from her and sat back on the sofa, bringing up the internet. “It’s a bad connection.”