“Nice.”
“For now, anyway. We’re all kind of waiting for him to try again.”
“Who is this guy?”
“Arkady Ivanof, he’s a Russian—”
A chill that had nothing to do with the drizzle or her damp socks traveled down Briar’s spine.
“I know who Arkady Ivanof is.”
Arkady Ivanof was very bad news. Very Bad. Not only did Ivanof have deep ties to the international weapons trade, but there was circumstantial evidence he was also involved in human trafficking, bringing girls into the States from Russia and its satellites. Not Ivanof directly, of course, which was why the US government hadn’t been able to put him and his associates behind bars where they belonged. And Briar knew all this about him because his organization had ties to the Spiders. Again, nothing that would put him behind bars, just the faintest tendril.
“I should lock up.”
Briar turned to do just that when a cracking sound echoed out of the fog. The next thing she knew, she was lying face-first on the wet grass with Royce’s body covering hers.
“Is someone fucking shooting at us?” She knew she sounded outraged, but some motherfucker was shooting at them and she’d already had a long couple of days. “Get off me already.” Briar wiggled, trying to throw Royce off, but all the motion did was make her more aware of his… person. Seriously, what was wrong with her? It wasn’t as if she were a nun.
“Quit thrashing around. When I move, get in the house as fast as you can.”
He rolled off her.
“I am not a rookie here. I know how this goes.”
“Then quit fucking arguing,” Royce growled, “and go already.”
Hunching over, Briar darted through the hedge—with today’s events, the path was more defined now—to the relative safety of the house’s front porch. She didn’t want to be trapped inside there, either. She should have gone for Royce’s SUV instead since she still had the keys in her pocket.
“We should have gone for the car, we’re trapped here.”
“We could—” Whatever Royce had been about to say was interrupted by another shot and the sound of a bullet hitting his car, shattering the window. And another, and another.
“Motherfucker,” Royce whispered. “I just paid that car off.”
“I think that’s the least of our worries. Does anyone else live this far down here anymore?”
On the drive from town, Briar had noticed that not much had changed on Old Dodge Road. There were still mostly empty lots and abandoned farmhouses.
“Topher’s place is the closest, half a mile or so away. But he’s out of town.”
“Who is Topher and why do we care that he’s out of town?”