“Carter Dominick?” the man asked straight away. “Is that really you?”
“Yuri,” Carter hissed. “Yeah, it’s me.”
“I’ve been waiting for this day for years.” Yuri’s accent weaved through his words.
“Let’s just get this over with,” Carter remarked in a steady tone, and Ella peeked at Zoey, who eyed the phone, her lip caught between her teeth as if resisting the urge to speak.
“I’m sure you know where I want to meet.” The line went quiet for a moment. “In thirty minutes, I’ll text you which entrance I want you to use. Nothing will happen to you or your people before you have the location of the bomb. And you have my word you’ll be allowed to send one man to defuse the bomb.” He paused again. “And you know my word is good, Dominick.”
“Don’t want to be considered a terrorist. That’s not your style,” Carter flippantly responded. “That’s why you’re not detonating the damn thing now to take us all out while we’re in the village, am I right?”
“I’d prefer not to kill a village of people, but you know I’ll do what needs to be done if I don’t get my way,” Yuri calmly answered. “It would have been easier to use the young girl instead, but your men were better than mine in Alabama—I’ll give you credit where credit is due.”
“You bastard,” Ella hissed, unable to stop herself. But McKenna was her family and . . .
Jesse grabbed hold of her and pinned her against his body, crushing her cheek to his chest as he held her tight, arms wrapped around her.
“Ella . . . did I strike a nerve?” Yuri’s words had Ella’s fingernails biting into Jesse’s back, and she had to remind herself he was playing mind games and that the better team would win tonight as they had in Alabama.
“Don’t say her name,” Jesse growled out in warning.
Yuri was quiet for a second before continuing, “You and I will fight the way we did last time, yes? Well, before you saved yourself and left your MI6 partner to die.”
“Do you think of me every time you look in the fucking mirror?” Carter asked, and his dark tone had the hairs on Ella’s arms standing. “Or did you finally find a plastic surgeon able to correct the damage from my knife?”
“I kept the scar on my cheek,” Yuri quickly replied. “It’s been beneficial in serving as a reminder to kill without remorse.”
“No,” Carter snapped. “That scar has kept you in hiding. You started sending errand boys to handle your business. Afraid you’d get hurt again.” He brought the phone closer to his face. “Afraid I’d find you and finish the job.”
“I guess we shall see who is truly the better man tonight, then.” Yuri’s voice cracked as though he were feeling the pressure of a confrontation with Carter.
Was Carter getting to him, and if so, was that good or bad?
“We will have our moment,” Yuri continued, his tone betraying a touch of something like . . . madness? “And I will take my time ending your life. But first, first, I will personally kill your friends.”
“You won’t touch her. I promise you that.” Ella felt a tremble roll through Jesse’s body as he tightened his hold on her.
“Promises are a fragile thing. They’re so often broken. But I keep my word. Always.” Yuri’s voice took on even more of that creep factor Ella was familiar with from serial killer crime shows, and it had her body tensing. “I heard you brought a friend along to play. Another MI6 friend you’ll let die. How are you, Zoey? Still searching for your revenge, my love?”
Oh God. An image of Hannibal Lecter and the disturbing sound of his voice saying, Good evening, Clarice popped into Ella’s head as chills fluttered across her skin reminding her that this wasn’t a movie. No, it was very, very real.
Ella turned her head to check on Zoey to see that she’d somehow managed to remain steady despite the conversation.
“Did you know the Nazis dumped valuables into the lake here when they learned they were going to lose? Blew up mine shafts where they hid their spoils of war as well. There’s a lot of history in this place. I can feel it all around. Some good. Some bad.”
Yuri babbling about the Nazis? That put him at a ten out of ten on Ella’s psychopath meter.
“The question will soon become, will the history books report about the entire devastation of one village,” the prick continued, “or the loss of a few lives that never belonged there in the first place?”
“And . . . the line’s dead.” Carter shook his head.
“He’s off his fucking rocker. Rails. Whatever it’s called,” Jack spoke up, and Ella nodded in agreement.
“You okay?” Carter focused on Zoey.
“No,” she replied. “He knows I’m here. And he knows I’ve been obsessed with finding him for years, so he’ll assume I’ll be able to predict his next moves, which means he’s going to fuck with us.” Her brows tightened as her gaze fell to the floor. “He’s going to change his MO.”
Jesse released Ella, and she watched the color drain from his face as he said, “The mine . . . it’s just a distraction, isn’t it? He’s not going to be there.”
Zoey’s lips parted to answer, but a quick rap at the door had everyone in the room on alert.
Gray went and checked the peephole. “We have a guest.” He faced the room, eyes on Jesse. “Are you ready to punch your old boss? Because Thatcher’s here.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
Jesse slammed Thatcher up against the wall inside the hotel room within a second of Gray opening the door. “Tell me right now why I shouldn’t end you?” The snarling, broody man was ready to rip his former boss apart if someone didn’t stop him soon.
“Jesse,” Ella called out sharply, hoping to draw his attention away from his target.
“Stand down,” Carter bit out while he and Jack grabbed hold of Jesse’s arms, urging him to let go of Thatcher, but he didn’t relent until Ella positioned herself practically right alongside Thatcher in order to garner Jesse’s attention.
Carter and Jack backed away when Jesse tossed his hands in the air in surrender. “Come here.” He offered his hand to Ella and then stepped away from Thatcher, pinning her to his side in the process.
“How long have you been following us?” Gray asked, moving to confront Thatcher as the man adjusted the collar of his black button-down shirt. He was dressed similarly to Carter, but he was probably thirty years older.
“You followed us from the B and B,” Jesse answered for Thatcher as he stroked Ella’s back. “You had to have been close to our place in France. Tailed Carter’s ride to Austria from the airport and to our hotel here.”
“I knew you’d find a way to lose our eyes in the sky and didn’t want to chance you slipping away.” Thatcher’s hands dipped into his slacks’ pockets as he eyed Jesse. “She’ll die if she goes into that mine. I’m here to help.”
“Yeah, you’ve been a great help so far,” Jesse hissed, shifting his hand around to her hip and giving it a squeeze, clearly restraining himself from going for Thatcher’s throat.