Adrik hollered and cursed what sounded like orders, and she caught sight of Dominick hurrying to a switch on the wall and flipping it.
Freaking seriously? That was all she had to do to stop the jammer?
Adrik snapped out more commands, and Grigory, Dominick, and one guard ran up to the deck.
She forced herself to stand, given they weren’t currently taking enemy fire. “That’s my team out there holding the Russians off. We need to get you somewhere safe,” she explained, but then the boat jerked another sharp turn, moving at what felt like maximum nautical speed, and she was thrown against a floor-to-ceiling glass case, which housed the liquor.
Static filled her ear as she pushed off the glass.
My comm. “This is Delta One,” she rushed out, motioning for Adrik to get a move on. “Come in, do you copy?”
Gunfire and static filled her ear.
“I want immunity,” Adrik demanded, gun outstretched when she joined him and the remaining guard in the galley.
“I can’t make that promise, and I won’t lie to you.” She braced against the fridge off to her left with both hands, trying not to lose her balance with the boat swaying hard in the water. “But protection in the U.S. has to be better than hiding out here. And if you care about your nephews, they might have a chance.” It all depended on the crimes they’d committed, and how valuable they’d be to the Bureau.
Adrik’s mouth tightened, but he nodded and headed for a set of stairs at the end of the galley.
Once they were below water level, in the primary stateroom, the sounds of war outside still exploded all around them, but no shots were being fired directly at their vessel.
“This is Delta One. Do you copy?” She did her best not to fall as the yacht began to slow down. Dominick or Grigory most likely got to the helm up top.
More static popped in her ear. “I need a gun.” She held her palm open to the guard who’d taken away her 9mm in the tunnels. “You two stay down here. I can’t get a signal. I need to move back to higher ground.”
Adrik opened a door to what looked like a safe room alongside a queen-sized bed. It might protect him from bullets if they took on more fire, but he’d drown if the boat went under, wouldn’t he? “Give it to her,” he said with reluctance, and the guard handed over her 9mm, then joined Adrik in the steel trap. Maybe he’d pull a Houdini and escape.
“I’ll be back.” She shut the door to the safe room, then hurried out of the stateroom and advanced back to the salon.
“Delta One, Delta One, do you copy?”
On the second step out of the salon, she halted with relief. “Copy. This is Delta One.”
“Thank fuck.” It was Wyatt.
“I think you already know, but we’re taking heavy fire,” she replied. “And pretty sure part of the boat is in flames.”
“The boys are about to dive to get to you,” Wyatt informed her. “Can you get the yacht to completely stop so they can board?”
“If you can get the battery of bullets to cool off.” Her gaze swung in the direction of the deck.
“Roger that. Air support is prepared to engage now.”
“Is she okay?” She heard A.J.’s voice in the background, the sound of terror and relief breaking through his tone upon learning she was on comms with Wyatt.
“She’s alive,” Wyatt told A.J.
Ana kept her body pinned to the steps as she listened and waited for what she needed—a machine gun from overhead. The FBI helo.
A roaring blast followed, and the boat was rocked hard by what she assumed was an explosion. Maybe the Russians were down for good.
“Delta . . . do . . . copy?”
She adjusted her comm in her ear. “I’m good,” she answered, breathless and prepared to go up top.
“You’re clear to move on deck. There were two Russian vessels. Both have been immobilized,” Wyatt said. “All guards on the deck of your boat appear to be down. Grigory is behind the helm. What’s the status below deck?”
“Adrik is in a safe room with his guard. I don’t think there is anyone else down here with me.”
“Roger,” Wyatt replied. “Be careful.”
Once on deck, she nearly slipped in a pool of blood. Oh, God.
She peered into the night sky just as the helo was turning away, and when she returned her focus to the river, there were two medium-sized yachts on fire thirty yards away.
She did a three-sixty to search for the FBI boat where Wyatt was located, but the Princess abruptly slowed, throwing her off-balance. As Ana regained her footing, she glanced toward the helm.
Grigory, shit.
And he spotted her, too. He raised his firearm her way, and she snapped off a round while throwing her weight to the left to duck for cover from his shot.
When the yacht took a sharp turn to the right, she slid across the deck and careened into a still body. The yacht was accelerating, which wasn’t the damn plan.
She pushed upright to see Grigory slumped over the wheel, and they were heading straight into the two burning boats.
There was no time to do anything else but jump.
“This is Delta One.” With wobbly legs, she clutched the side railing, trying not to fall backward. “Disembarking!” she yelled just as the yacht collided with the others.
She leaped into the air, glimpsing someone in a dive suit coming up out of the water in front of her as another crackling, explosive sound filled the air, and a whoosh of heat licked her back.
Ana went in feet first, the cold water a shock as it enveloped her entire body.
She was underwater a matter of seconds before strong arms encircled her and lifted her head and shoulders above water.
A.J. kept one arm around her while ripping his mask and snorkel off. “I’m sorry I couldn’t get to you sooner. Are you okay? Your head is bleeding.” His brows pulled together. “I was scared I lost you,” he added, his voice throaty with emotion.
“You’ll never lose me,” she promised. “Never.”
This wasn’t at all like their first kiss in the pond. They were in a river in Hungary kicking their legs to stay above water, but . . . they were alive and together, and so, she set a quick kiss to his lips before she broke the news to him they’d need to go back on that burning boat.
Wyatt wrapped a red blanket around Ana’s shoulders as she sat on the deck of the speedboat and eyed the three burning yachts fifty feet away. The fires had drawn crowds along the already busy riverbanks on each side of the Danube.
The FBI had to radio local law enforcement and alert them to stand down until they had the situation fully under control. And with any luck, they’d help push back the onlookers before the team docked.
A.J., Chris, Roman, and Finn were on board the Princess searching for survivors. Wyatt said Roman and Finn had ended up “commandeering” a small, glass-enclosed tourist vessel, probably scaring the shit out of the passengers before they kicked them out. But they’d arrived just in time for the “fireworks show” with the Russian yachts.
The buildings along the Danube were beautifully lit up, from Parliament to the Buda Castle, and then there was the illuminated chain-link bridge off in the distance from where she sat, but no one would be interested in landmarks when there was a spectacle on the river that would make national headlines.