“I’m Sasha’s half-sister,” she says calmly. “I’ve known of her existence for some time, but I was unaware that my father was trying to hunt her down. I was aware of her mother, too–she moved in similar circles as my family. When I discovered my father had Sasha in his custody and planned to kill her, I had to do something about it.” She lets out a long breath.
“He’s already tried once, and I managed to cause enough of a scene to stop him from shooting her and send her back to her cell before it was too late.”
“He’s keeping her in a cell?” A sharp bolt of anger spears through me, hot and furious.
“Well, he’s not accustomed to keeping his prey in luxurious accommodations.” Natalia shakes her head. “That’s the least of her worries. She’s sick, and I managed to get her antibiotics, but my father isn’t going to get her medical treatment. He’ll leave her down there until he remembers to kill her, and then he’ll do it quickly. I won’t be able to stop him twice.”
She glances between the two of us. “My father’s compound isn’t easy to get into–except for me. He trusts me, and I have a–shall we say, rapport with some of the guards.” She winks. “I flirt, and they look the other way. Whatever spies you’ve had looking for a way in, whatever information you’ve dug up, it likely wouldn’t help you. My father keeps his cells well-guarded, without an easy entrance. But I–”
Natalia shrugs, a small, triumphant smile flickering at the corners of her mouth. “I can walk in the front door and leave it open for you, as it were.”
“Why didn’t you just get Sasha out already?” I narrow my eyes angrily at her. “Why wait to find us? Is this about a reward?”
Natalia snorts. “Of course not. I’m Konstantin Obelensky’s only legitimate child. Do you think I want for money? I needed firepower. I needed backup to get Sasha out of there. And you two–” she jabs a manicured finger in our direction. “Are going to be that for me. I’ll get us in, and the two of you get us out.”
I glance at Levin. “Will it work?”
Levin presses his lips together, looking at Natalia with clear suspicion. “It might–if she’s telling the truth.”
Natalia shrugs. “Why wouldn’t I? What do I have to gain from lying?”
“You could be spying for your father.” Levin narrows his eyes. “Trying to lure me in.”
She laughs, a delicate, almost musical sound. “I don’t mean to be rude, Levin Volkov, because I wouldn’t have come to you if Sasha hadn’t told me you were the one who could save her–you or your now-employer, Viktor. But I did a little digging, and I know who you are–or rather, who you used to be. You are no longer a member of the Syndicate. I can’t see what use my father would have for you, or what interest.”
Levin raises an eyebrow. “You’re either too smart or too curious for your own good,printsessa.”
Natalia flashes him another of those brilliant smiles, easily a match for his. “Well, if I wasn’t, I wouldn’t have found Sasha in time, now would I?”
“That’s fair.” Levin’s tone is decidedly irritable. “Well then. So that’s our plan? Obelensky’s other daughter opens the door for us, and we walk in?”
“I have a key to her cell hidden.” Natalia reaches into her purse, pulling out a folded sheet of paper, which she hands to Levin. “This is a map of the floor with the cells on it. I’ll go first, opening doors. You make your way down the stairwells. There are times marked here–that’s when the guards rotate and change. You’ll need to make sure you’re exactly on time, or you’ll run into someone you don’t want to–and if so much as a shot is fired, they’ll all come down on us. If you have to disable or kill someone, make sure you have a means that is silent.”
“No problem there.” Levin shrugs, looking over the map. “I can manage that.”
“Once you’re on the cell floor, I’ll get the door open and get Sasha. The two of you can back us up as I get her out of there.” Natalia pauses. “The guards won’t bat an eye at seeing me down there, but they won’t let me leave with Sasha–even I can’t flirt that well. We have to move quickly once we have her.”
Levin nods, but I look at her, feeling unease coil in my gut. “Why are you doing this?” I ask her quietly, leaning forward. “This will ruin your life. You’re Obelensky’s daughter. He might forgive you a lot, but I doubt he’ll forgive you this. You’ll be hunted, too. So what do you want from us?”
Natalia’s face goes very serious. “Wherever you’re taking Sasha when we leave, I want to go, too. I want out. I want my freedom.”
A flicker of a smile appears again as she looks at us both. “You’re my ticket out.”
17
SASHA
Hope is a terrible thing.
I’d given up on getting out, on living, and a strange sort of peace had come with that. Now that Natalia has given me fresh hope, I feel sick, not just with the flu that is slowly abating thanks to the antibiotics, but also with anxiety. Every step, every movement, has me jumping and my heart racing, thinking that it’s a guard coming to take me to Obelensky before Natalia can succeed at finding a way to get me out.
I can hardly believe that it’s possible. Even if she could get in touch with Viktor and Levin, they’re in New York. I don’t know if Viktor could mount a rescue in time–or even if he will. That thought always remains, the reminder of why Natalia’s optimism is likely misplaced. He won’t risk a war with Obelensky, and I’m a liability.
It feels as if I go back and forth hourly, swinging on a pendulum from hopeful to distraught, my every nerve torn to shreds. I wantsomethingto happen, just so I can stop wondering, fearing, and living on a knife’s edge of waiting for the hammer to come down.
When something does finally happen, it’s not what I want.
I’m sitting cross-legged on the cot, forcing spoonfuls of the thin oatmeal down, when I hear Obelensky’s voice down the hall. I know it’s his–I can’t forget it now, the terrifying, deep rasp of it.