Page 75 of Inconvenient Honor
“I heard nothing until the attack,” she said. He heard her gulp. When she spoke again, her voice sounded thick. “I turned on a sound and saw the guard—that poor man—they cut his throat. My fault. I insisted on coming even though Sahin warned me.”
“Hush, hush.” Time for recrimination later. “What next?”
“I tried to run, but they grabbed at me from behind, and more of them attacked—” She swallowed convulsively. “Oh God! They killed Ahmet. He was my friend.”
He could hear rising panic from the memories she voiced.
“Concentrate on details.” He tightened his arm around her.
“Attackers wore black, but you must know that. I saw you. You ran down the passage like a madman.”
Like a fool right into their hands. If he had stopped to think hemight have been able to—what? He didn’t know. “It was not my finest hour,” he said.
“You were magnificent.”
Her praise gave him courage.I have to get Lily out of here.
“I don’t feel magnificent. What else do you remember? Did you hear their voices?”
“Not well. The hood muffled sound. Some Turkish and something else—Arabic perhaps. I heard an odd word or two of Russian, ‘woman’ and ‘money.’”
“Volkov.”
“Perhaps. They didn’t talk to me. They just put me here. I called for help. I called for light. I called to demand their names. I heard nothing until they brought you in.”
“What did you see when the door opened?”
“Not much. This space is tiny. I think it is a storage closet.”
No room. No weapons. No light. Richard let out a groan of frustration. No strength either. He cursed loudly.
The door swung open.
“Such language in front of a lady!” A disembodied voice mocked him in heavily accented English. Light from a lantern in the hands of the man in the doorway blinded Richard.
“The lady and the marquess also. What a delightful, unexpected bonus.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Volkov stepped into the room and lowered the lantern. Lily saw his face illuminated from below, a leering mask of pure evil. When she began to shake, Richard’s arm tightened on her shoulder, and she moved closer.
Other figures huddled in the doorway. She could just make out two or three faces, avid and alive with curiosity.
“What a disgusting little family tableau,” Volkov sneered. “You’ve disappointed me, Lilias.”
Disappointed?
“I had so looked forward to renewing our intimate acquaintance.” He tilted his head as if considering her. Lily gagged back her rising gorge. “I thought if you pleased me particularly well we might postpone your punishment.”
Richard lunged forward. A brutal kick to his shoulder pushed him back against Lily.
“Do control the marquess, Lilias. My ‘assistants’ aren’t particularly careful, and I would much prefer that he die slowly.”
“You want me, Konstantin, not Glenaire. Let him go.”
“Touching. I presume he is responsible for your interesting condition? He really ought to pay for that. What will your dear Papa think of all this? Perhaps I should act in his stead since he is nowhere to be found.” He put a finger to his lips as if considering something.
“I owe him for your papa’s disappearance also, don’t I? My men tracked him to Copenhagen but lost him. Did you know that?”
