No way was that A.J. or his team.
“You!” Adrik shoved Ana to the floor as the guards grabbed hold of Adrik to shield him. “You are with the SVR!”
“I’m not.” She sat up but remained on the floor and kept her head low. Bullets hadn’t penetrated the room yet, but a moment later—the boat took a sharp right, and their speed increased. Shit, what happened to the captain? The vessel moved wildly. “But I can help you.” She shifted to her knees, eyes on Adrik now standing in the doorway of the galley. Dominick and Grigory had advanced to the steps leading to the deck but hadn’t exited yet.
Round after round continued to pop-pop-pop.
“Turn off your frequency jammer so I can get word to my people. To the Feds. Let them help.” A.J. and his team were on their way regardless, but if she could communicate with them, it’d be a hell of a lot safer. “Make a deal,” she pleaded. “Grigory and Dominick were my age when the SVR began murdering your family. They don’t need to shoulder the burden of your family’s crimes. There’s still a chance for them.” She slowly crawled closer to where the guards remained blocking Adrik in the doorway. “Work with the FBI, and we can protect you from the SVR. Surely the Russians want you dead more than they want the ledger. Your testimony to the FBI would be damaging to them. If you willingly turn yourself over to the U.S., that’d give you your revenge against Russia. I promise.” Maybe Winters and Porter had not only used Ana to get to the ledger and key, but to find Adrik as well.
Adrik’s eyes thinned at her words. Contempt flashed in his gaze. But the desire to live was there, too.
“Give me my gun and turn off the fucking jammer! Let me help. We’ll all die if you don’t!” she yelled out when there was a lull in shots.
How many Russians were out there? A small army?
The barrage of bullets suddenly ceased its assault on the Princess, but the sound of gunfire hadn’t stopped. It shifted in a different direction, away from the yacht. A.J. and his team were drawing the Russians’ fire, weren’t they?
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