the intel to his team. “You ready?” he asked, and she forced a nod. “Let’s do this.”
Her attention returned to the path, lit only by one tossed Chemlight ahead of them.
They rounded the corner to find the meeting space awash with a soft glow. Lanterns were scattered around the floor, circling the 4-sided fountain, which was covered in some weird greenery that couldn’t possibly be natural down there.
“I’m here,” Ana announced, dropping her bag down and holding her hands in the air.
Two armed men she didn’t recognize stood by the fountain but quickly turned her direction when she spoke.
“Who is with you?” Ana recognized the voice as Dominick, but was Grigory with him? Adrik?
“Someone who helped me get here,” she replied, her tone level. “You can trust him.”
“No outsiders. If you’re loyal to us, you will terminate him,” Dominick stated, and she glimpsed a shadowy figure at the secret tunnel entranceway. Was that Grigory?
“No. That’s not necessary.” She stepped forward, but the guards raised their sidearms. “He won’t say anything.”
“You have my word,” A.J. spoke up and set a hand to her back.
“He knows of us. Of this location,” Dominick bit out. “Prove your loyalty. Now.” Ana suppressed a shiver. His voice sounded like it had risen from the bottomless pits of hell.
“Please, this is—”
“Now,” Dominick demanded, cutting off her desperate plea.
“I am on your side. He is nothing to me. My loyalty is with you.” Ana’s chest tightened, and she fought for a deep breath in the humid space. She pulled her gun from her back and spun away from A.J. in one quick movement.
A.J.’s hands shot in the air, and he took several steps back. “Ana, please,” he murmured in protest, continuing to put space between them. “You don’t need to do this. I helped get you here. You need me,” he added, their one last-ditch effort to protect his life and keep him with her.
“Now,” Dominick commanded, ignoring A.J.
Ana backed up several more steps until she was alongside the two armed guards. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, then squeezed off a round.
But what choice did she have?
A.J. had to die.
Chapter Thirty-Three
“You good?”
A.J. groaned as Chris grabbed on to his wrist and pulled him upright from the ground. “As long as you’re real and not a ghost.” He missed Marcus, but he doubted that’d be the ghost haunting him down in the caves. “Damn, that hurts.”
“Better than killing ya.” Chris helped A.J. out of the shirt he’d changed into behind the bushes before entering the cave. He hadn’t wanted to wear a bulky bulletproof vest and chest plate while faking being a tourist.
Double protection and the motherfucking round still felt like a professional baseball player had taken a bat to his abdomen, making his insides nearly shoot out of him.
“It didn’t break the skin. Ana’s a damn good shot. One painful bruise, but—”
“Did the plan work?” That was all A.J. cared about. Was Ana safe?
The team knew the Volkovs would require Ana to prove her loyalty. To kill in cold blood at their command. Ana had clung to the hope she wouldn’t have to pull the trigger. Of course, if one of the Volkov guards had chosen to take an additional shot to ensure A.J. was down, A.J.’s people were waiting in the wings to take them out. Thankfully, that hadn’t happened.
“Yeah, Dominick and Grigory, plus two guards, left with Ana. She told them she had a translated copy of the ledger, and they no longer needed to look for the key in the tunnels.” Chris helped him to his feet. “We gave them a head start so they wouldn’t think they were being followed. You were unconscious for a few minutes, which we didn’t count on. The rest of the guys are on the move and filtering into their next positions. The FBI agents are on standby.”
A.J. took the clean shirt Chris handed him once he’d discarded his protective gear, groaning with each movement. But Ana needed his help, so screw the pain.
“The Volkovs are sending a cleanup team to take care of your body. They’ll be here soon.” Chris reached into his backpack for a pint of blood. He busied himself with staging the scene to make it look as though A.J. had been shot, but he’d escaped. Blood on the ground. Handprints smeared on the wall.
Chris hadn’t been thrilled about carting pig’s blood around with him in his backpack, him being an animal lover and all. Even pigs. And yet he wasn’t a vegetarian. Go figure.
“Unfortunately,”