“There is a restaurant called Lime Garden in Terminal A of the Hong Kong airport. I’ll be waiting there for you alone.”
“I’ll be there.”
I hung up.
Viktor, with his clenched jaw and tight mouth, looked like he wanted to hit something. Something hot flashed in his dark eyes.
I put my hand on his forearm. “We can trust him.”
“I can’t.”
“Please trust me. I can do this for us.”
“I fucking hate this plan.”
“Do you have a better plan?”
He took his time answering. “No.”
“I need to get a flight to Hong Kong and arrive before 7 p.m. tomorrow night.”
He looked at the surrounding chaos. “That I can arrange.”
Almost a day later, we stood outside Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City. Waves of emotion were rolling off Viktor like hot, angry steam. He had been sour since we had left the hospital, barely speaking to me. I wanted to push him and find out what was going on in his mind, but the circumstances were wrong for that kind of talk. We had dealt with nonstop chaos and trauma, and now we were about to part ways.
“Don’t be mad,” I told him.
He avoided my gaze. “I’m not.”
“You’re something.”
He met my gaze, but only for a second. “You should head in there.”
I reached out and grabbed his thick wrist. “Viktor, I’m coming back.”
He let out a controlled breath. “I’ll understand if you don’t.”
I stared at him in disbelief, stunned that he seemed to think I was capable of throwing in the towel. “I told you, I’ll be back in ten hours. Try to get some sleep.”
He stared over my head.
I gave him a little shove. “You’d better be here when I get back, or I’ll be pissed.”
His gaze clashed with mine. “I’ll be here.”
“As will I.”
He gave me another stiff, short nod. He didn’t believe a word I was saying.
“See you soon,” I said before awkwardly turning around and walking toward the airport doors. When I turned around, he was still standing near the taxi depot, watching me.
I gave him a quick wave. His only response was to turn around and disappear behind some buses.
Four hours later, I walked through the Hong Kong international airport toward the Lime Garden restaurant. I gave a squeak when someone grabbed me and yanked me into a clothing store.
It was Pierre.
“What are you doing?” I whispered to him.
He lowered his voice as he dragged me out of the opposite exit. “We need to talk.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Ten hours later
VIKTOR
It was almost midnight, and I stood across the street from the airport. I was in the shadows behind a service vehicle, a concealed position from which to watch the entrance. The sliding glass doors opened, and from where I stood, I had to wait a few seconds before I saw a couple move out onto the sidewalk.
It had absolutely crushed me to watch Blaire disappear into the airport. The odds were high that Pierre would whisk Blaire to the safety of the Canadian embassy, but that was mostly why I let her go.
This mission was doomed. I knew it. I think Drake knew it. And it would probably result in my death and the deaths of Andrusha and Olivia. It had gone against the grain of every cell in my body to let Blaire walk out of my sight, but I had knowingly sent her into the arms of another man in hopes that there might still be a chance to save her. Even if the rest of us were royally fucked.
The ten aimless hours that I waited for her return felt like sick hope. It was the kind of hope that you’re pretty sure isn’t going to pan out, but you hang onto it anyway because it’s all you’ve got.
Now I was looking for anomalies, signs that the local authorities were searching for me, but either they were very good at stealth or no one was on my tail.
The sliding glass doors opened, and another three seconds passed before two uniformed pilots exited, pulling their functional airline-issued travel bags behind them.
She’s ten minutes late. I ignored the accusing voice in my mind and focused on my next steps.
I assumed for the moment that she had been captured and taken back to Canada. That meant I would need to get to Singapore on my own. Since I didn’t have enough money to smuggle myself out of the country, I would have to come up with an alternative payment to get my passport finished. Would Hiroto let me pay him with stolen goods? Tonko would have let me, but I doubted this guy would be that hospitable.
Almost fifteen minutes late.
I didn’t have time for this shit. I could hold up Tonko’s replacement at gunpoint, but I didn’t want to risk killing the one person who could finish my passport.
The sliding glass doors opened, and I waited three agonizing seconds before some American-looking backpackers traipsed outside. They stood, studying their phones before heading toward the bus station. None of them looked in my direction. None of them seemed capable of lifting their gaze from their screen.
There was a slim chance that I could save Andrusha and Olivia if I managed to get to Singapore, board that ship, find the USB drive, get off the ship alive, and then get back to Canada. That would be my plan of action—it was the only way forward, and even if it was a suicide mission, it was our last hope. Why did I have the urge to head to Hong Kong? Did I think I could waltz into that airport undetected, without a passport? And what would I do if I caught up to her? Save her?
I was the one who’d dragged her out of her bed and into this nightmare. I was the one who had been hauling her deep into this dangerous world. I was the person she needed saving from.
Is she safe? Will they take good care of her?
Time was of the essence, and I should have been focusing on how I was going to get to Singapore, but instead I waited.
How long would I wait?
All night.
I knew I was being completely irrational, but I couldn’t seem to fight my way back to being smart about this. I knew she wasn’t coming back. But I couldn’t seem to rip my eyes from those doors.
Hong Kong or Singapore? That was my only question now.
The sliding glass doors opened, and she shot out of the airport doors and stopped short, looking both ways. Looking for me. It shouldn’t have surprised me that she appeared exactly like she had ten hours ago, but her familiarity felt both foreign and sweet.
I forced myself to walk, not run, toward her. She stood off to the side, looking worried. She wrapped her arms around herself and looked in all directions.
When she saw me, she gave a little squeak of joy and then pitched herself toward me. My arms, without my permission, grabbed her and lifted her off her feet in a big bear hug. Her arms wrapped around my neck and we embraced for only seconds before I reluctantly set her down.
I cupped her face with both hands and tilted her face to mine so I could selfishly get a better look at her face. “Are you okay?”
“I’m okay.”
Since I hadn’t believed she would return, I had no plan in place. We stood there. “How did it go?”
“It went well, because I have the money,” she murmured. I was drowning in her gaze.