Heart of the Devil (The Forge Trilogy #3)(15)

From the corner of my eye, I can see my father staring at Goliath, and it’s clear from his clenched hands and stiffened posture that he doesn’t speak the language either and hates being at a disadvantage.

The conversation is short, and Goliath hands the phone back to me only thirty seconds later.

“Ace?”

“I’m here.” My heart swells with joy just hearing his voice, but I try to tamp it down. I need to see him. Touch him. Hug him. Then I’ll believe he’s really okay.

“Goliath is going to have your father bring you to the private air strip where we landed. Stick close to him. Don’t leave his side. We’re getting the hell out of Prague.”

“Okay,” I say, my voice shaking enough that there’s no way Jericho misses it.

“I’ll see you soon. I promise. Everything’s going to be okay, Ace.” His voice is filled with confidence, and I want to believe him.

The words I love you hover on my lips, but I can’t get them out, because something in me wants to say them to him in person and watch his face as he hears. Not in a room full of men staring at me on the phone. As soon as I hang up, I regret that I didn’t say them.

What if I never get the chance?

I won’t think about that. Not now. The only thing that matters is getting to him.

I shoot to my feet and meet my father’s gaze. “We need a ride.”





11





Forge





Hearing Indy’s voice isn’t enough. I need to have her in my arms on the plane home before I’ll be able to breathe easy. I punch in the address of the airport in the GPS on the phone I stole from Yuri Pallovich, if the name on the license in the wallet I stole off the dead guy is real.

I’ve spent time in Prague, but I don’t know this maze of streets well enough to navigate them without assistance. The airport is only thirty minutes away, and according to Goliath, it shouldn’t take them much longer to get there, if he’s right about where they are. I would put money on Goliath being right, because the man has an uncanny sense of direction and can navigate a ship without radar through a narrow channel in the densest fog known to man. I would trust him with my life, and right now, I’m trusting him with Indy’s.

“Get her to me. No matter what it takes,” I told him in Afrikaans. It’s the language of his homeland, and over the years, he taught me enough to get by with the basics. It had been vital more than once when we had to speak in front of others without being understood.

I turn left, backtracking my way through the city. I drove in a circle while I was talking to Indy and Goliath, in part because I took a wrong turn, and also because I wanted to make sure I wasn’t being followed.

Thirty minutes. That’s all that stands between me and seeing her safe again.

In the back of my mind, one name rumbles over and over.

Bastien de Vere. Bastien de Vere.

If he was behind this, my death by a thousand cuts is going to be reduced to one slice.

Across his throat.





12





India





“This is not a good idea,” my father says after I repeat the instructions Jericho gave Goliath and me.

I march to the door. “No disrespect, but I wasn’t asking for your opinion. We need a ride to the airport.”

My father’s lips settle into a hard line, but I don’t care if he’s not used to being contradicted. The only thing that matters to me is getting to the airport as fast as humanly possible.

Silence hangs between us, and part of me expects him to say no, purely based on his stiff posture. But I refuse to back down. I didn’t grow up on the streets, fending for myself and my sister, just to be cowed by any man, even if he is my father. I don’t trust him, and if he ever wants to see me again, he needs to realize his actions right now will trump all his stories of regret.

“We’re wasting time. Forge will be there. He expects his wife to be there as well,” Goliath says, unable to bear the silence any longer.

“Forge—” Federov says, and I interrupt.

“Is my husband, and I’m going to him.” I cross my arms over my chest. “We’ll get there with or without you.”

My father rises and walks toward me. “I should have known you would be as stubborn as me. Fine. We will go, and I will speak to Forge directly about my concerns for your safety.”

Knock yourself out, I think. Because I don’t care what he says once we get there. I just need to see Jericho in one piece.

“Thank you.”

Federov’s two security people flank him as he walks toward the door. The blond, Kostya, reaches it first, and I step aside so he can unlock and unbolt it before swinging it open.

The ride to the airport passes as slowly as hundred-year-old honey working its way down the side of a jar. Goliath flips between a text with someone I assume is Jericho and the GPS on the screen of his phone the entire time.

Does he expect them to try to take us somewhere else? As much as I want to be able to trust my father as he asks me question after question about my life, it’s not an easy thing to do.

I just want to get back to Jericho and get the hell out of here.

That’s when it hits me—I’m the reason Donnigan, Bates, and Koba are dead. I’m the reason Jericho was kidnapped. If I hadn’t insisted on playing this grand prix, we wouldn’t have been in such a vulnerable position.