Page 95 of Ford

She gritted her teeth and nodded.

For some reason, he remembered what she said about her brother. About not letting him go for help because she was too afraid. “You were very brave.”

“I was very stupid.” She stepped back. “I’m so sorry, York. You’re going to get killed because of me.” A tear dripped onto her cheek.

Oh. He stood up and pulled her against himself, one arm around her shoulders.

She leaned into him, her arms around his waist. Let her breath shudder out.

“We’re going to be okay.” He kissed the top of her head, not caring that Kat was watching. Then he let her go. “Get your stuff. Like I said, we need to get off this train.”

“We can’t jump off a moving train in the dark!” Kat’s voice raised, and he lifted his hand.

“Shh. Of course not. We’re going to work our way down the cars, just in case they know where we are—”

“Who’s ‘they’?” Kat said.

“I don’t know. This guy had skills, but he wasn’t polished, so he wasn’t military. Or at least not Spetsnaz. He could be with the Bratva.”

“The mafia? What—why?”

“I don’t know. It was dark, but I thought I saw a star tattoo on his neck.”

“Can you check?” Kat said. “Take a picture—they all have different tattoos.”

“I threw him off the train.”

Silence. Kat raised her eyebrows.

RJ’s eyes widened.

“We can’t wait around. We’ll get to the last car, and when we pull into Yekaterinburg, we’ll get off. It’ll be after midnight, so we’ll hide in town until morning. Then we’ll get on another train, maybe going south.”

He looked at RJ. “Just trust me a little longer. I’ll get you out of the country, I promise.”

“I’ve trusted you from the beginning. I’m not going to stop.”

He didn’t kiss her again. But, he wanted to.

They gathered their bags, and he slung his over his shoulder. “Stay behind me. And if I say run…”

“Yes,” RJ said. She had hold of his shirttail.

He opened the compartment door and looked out, surveying the dark hallway, then motioned them to follow him.

RJ stayed right on his tail. Good girl.

He was still on edge from the fight, his arm pulsing with pain that he tried to ignore, as they reached the end of the car. Opening the door, he stepped out between trains, then grabbed the railing of the opposite car and hopped over the coupling. He glanced behind him and saw that RJ and Kat were doing the same.

They entered the next car and walked swiftly down that corridor, changed cars at the end, and kept going all the way to the final car. Only the caboose trailed them. He stood just inside the door of the final car.

They’d entered the city of Yekaterinburg, edging toward the center of the city. As in every other Russian city, the ancient Soviet-era buildings mixed with the new, street lamps illuminating the wide streets, the stately buildings. Somewhere in the darkness, the Iset River dissected the town, but he’d only read about it in his research of Russia. That and something about the town being the place where the Romanov family, the last of the ruling czars, was executed.

He hoped to not find a similar end.

The train was slowing, pulling into the station with its bright overhead lights and numerous platforms. He turned to RJ and Kat. “Listen. We’re going to get off as soon as the train slows enough. I want to get away from these lights and out into the city. There will be plenty of places to hide.”

He wasn’t exactly sure where, but he’d hunker them down in an alley if he had to.