Page 97 of My Crazy Killers
“I’m sorry,” I mumble against him.
I hear Sly growl, and I release Pete and turn to face him.
I can’t quite pin down the expression on his face, like it’s a mix of anger and relief. “Sly?” I ask warily, taking a nervous step toward him. “Are you upset with me?”
His face flickers with pain, as if he’s been hit and is trying to hold it in. “Sly?” I ask, growing more worried as I reach upand grab his forearms that are banded over his chest. “I’m sorry, I?—”
“No,” he snaps, cutting me off. He uncrosses his arms, then gently cups my neck. “Don’t you dare apologize to me, Wren. I’m the one who failed you.”
“What?” I ask in shock. “Of course you didn’t. Why would you think that?”
“I told you to watch my back, on your own. I sent you straight to them.”
Remembering back to that day, I let out a deep breath and let my face relax, showing him how I really feel. “Sly, not once did that thought ever cross my mind. But I do think our plans need to always make sure we have someone watching our shooters’ backs.” I glance at Jagger as I add, “That’s why I left the warehouse. I saw two of them entering the one Jagger was in, and I didn’t want them to sneak up on him. When they came after me, I had to run the other way and, well, I ran right into another guard.”
“You were trying to save me?”Jagger signs, looking a little guilty himself now.
“Can we just all agree that it was none of our fault and move past this?” I ask, not wanting to rehash that day anymore.
“Good idea,” Harry suddenly pipes up, reminding me that he’s here. “We need to deal with the laundry guy, too.”
I frown, not knowing what he’s talking about, but Sly turns my face back to him as he tells me. “I love you, little bird. No more leaving us, okay?”
The corner of my mouth lifts in a smile as I nod. “Agreed.”
I hear a door open, and an unfamiliar man steps out, followed by Pete and Elias, as he rubs his wrists. Harry tossesthe keys to Elias, who speaks to the man in Russian. “As promised, you are free to go.” He holds out the keys, eyeing him with caution before he snatches them up and runs to the front of the laundry truck. He jumps in and takes off so quickly that gravel flies up from the wheels.
They must have cuffed him and taken his truck. It was a good plan.
“We gotta go before he reports where we are,” Elias says. Sly scoops me up bridal style, making me squeak in surprise, as everyone piles into our vehicle.
Sly sits me sideways on his lap, clearly not ready to let me go, and I am totally here for it. I feel touch-starved after going three weeks without them.
We’re all silent as Jagger drives us through the dark, snowy streets of Moscow. Much more snow has fallen since I was at the detention centre, but I’m no longer eager to go out and enjoy it. Instead, I find myself wanting to get out of this country as soon as possible.
We drop Harry off with a quick thanks for driving the laundry truck. Sly tells me it’s because the other three had been seen with Elias, and they didn’t want to risk being recognized.
We’re soon back on the road, and I sigh, not really wanting to discuss another plan when we’ve just gotten through the last one, but knowing it needs to be done. “I guess we should talk about how we’re going to get Ivan’s list of accomplices,” I say in the silence.
“No need,” Pete says, leaning forward from the seats behind us to look at me. “We already got it.”
It feels like my brain momentarily short-circuits as I register what he said. “What? What do you mean? How?”
“We got it the day after you were arrested,” Eliasexplains, turning from where he’s sitting in the passenger seat to look at me. “We thought if we had that, we could use it as leverage with the FBI to help get you out of there.”
“Guess that didn’t work,” I say angrily. Those FBI agents were becoming extremely annoying.
Elias shakes his head, looking not so pleased himself. “No, they said they don’t have jurisdiction here. Even if some of the names on the list were men running the very detention centre you were in, they wouldn’t act on anything outside the U.S.”
“Bullshit,” Pete says angrily. “Total bullshit.”
“That’s why what we plan to do in the future will be so important,” Sly says, his hand rubbing my arm soothingly. “We can take out the criminals the authorities can’t touch.”
I nod in agreement. Leaving things to the criminal system is definitely not my idea of a good plan. We help those who they refused to.
“Wait—Does that mean we can go home now? To the States?” I ask, hope suddenly filling me. Is this finally over?
Dex grins at me from the seat beside us. “Yep, we’re going home tomorrow.”
