Codename: Nightshade (Deadly Seven Strike Force) (43 page)
Read Codename: Nightshade (Deadly Seven Strike Force) Online
Authors: S Anderson
I continue to stare at Hassan’s plane. “I don’t know. Probably get buried under all of this. The Army’s been looking for a reason to burn my ass for years now.”
“Really?” The disbelief in his voice draws my attention back to him. He’s smirking. All this shit the bastard’s been through, and he finds the fact that I piss the Army off funny?
I nod. “Apparently, I’m a hotheaded showoff.”
He laughs.
Laughs
. Somehow, I really did get through to him back there. He’s more like Nikolai than he’s been since he tried to run Marko and me off the road.
“You find something funny about that, General?”
“I find it comforting that some things never change, Agent Vincent.”
A second set of jet engines start, and the hangar is echoing with so much noise people have to yell.
“Go with him,” Nikolai shouts. I follow the direction he points and see Hassan nearing his stairs.
I shake my head. “Hell no.”
“His plane is a sovereign nation. His home is protected by diplomatic sanctions. They can’t lock you up if you’re with him.”
That’s twice now that I’ve been given a clue about what I should do with my future. Both point to going with Hassan.
I don’t know what to make of that.
“Do it, Poppy,” he says. “Please. Save yourself.”
I look around. Everyone is busy with the job of leaving. Even Secretary Williams is preoccupied enough that he’s out of sight.
“How fast can you run in those?” I shout, pointing to his leg shackles.
“No.”
I roll my eyes. “Nick, we watched
Butch and Sundance
a few times together. You know damn well I’m not running if you’re not running.”
I gauge the distance from where we are to the stairs, realizing I have the perfect cover in the fact that the U.S. jet is
past
Hassan’s.
I’m just going to escort the prisoner to the plane.
He resists for a second but gives in. “This is a bad idea.”
“Those are usually the only kind I get."
No one pays us any mind as we stroll through the bunker. Hassan notices when we get closer, and I wave to him to stop. He’s only four steps up on the stairs. He climbs back down as we stop next to him.
“Agent Vincent,” Secretary Williams shouts. He and Ace rush toward us.
“I’ll go with you if you give diplomatic immunity to him, too,” I say to Hassan.
Hassan smirks as he looks at Nikolai. He nods.
“Penelope,” Ace shouts. He stops a foot away from us.
I shove myself between him and Nikolai.
“What are you doing?” Ace says.
“I’m making sure we get the right care that we need without the risks,” I tell him.
“There are no risks, Penelope,” Secretary Williams says. “Neither of you will be tried as criminals.”
“I know, sir, but that’s not what worries me.”
“What then?”
I don’t know how to explain it. Maybe it is just paranoia. Dr. Stevens told me I couldn’t process reality just right anymore. But I have a bad feeling at the thought of leaving Nikolai alone. I let him go once.
I’m not doing that again.
“I’m claiming sovereignty, sir. For myself and for General Zolkov.”
Secretary Williams looks ready to tear my head off. I’ve never seen the man this upset. “What?
Where
?”
I shove Nikolai back and we both step on to the stairs. I take a deep breath, swallowing hard. I can’t believe I’m about to say this. “With my
father
.”
I can hear Hassan’s exclamation of triumph over the jet engines. It doesn’t bother me half as much as the pure rage I see on Ace’s face.
“Don’t do this,” he warns. “You can’t come back if you do.”
“It’s already done,” I say.
I help Nikolai up the stairs and ask Hassan’s guard for a knife to pick the locks on Nikolai's restraints. Hassan gives me space, taking a seat at the back of the plane. Nikolai and I sit on opposite sides, facing each other. It reminds me of the first time we flew together.
He doesn’t like to fly. I remember that.
I stare down at my hand, reliving the highlights of what we just went through at that place. Without much thought, I slice the knife through my palm—amazed to watch my skin heal itself instantly.
I’m goddamn Wolverine now too. So, now there’s that to deal with. Wonderful.
I toss the knife in the seat next to me and sit with my head between my knees until I feel that shift in the air that tells me we’ve left the ground.
What have I done?
“I love you.”
My heart stops dead in my chest when I hear those words. My head pops up so fast I get dizzy. Nikolai stares at me with the kind of intensity that can light my skin on fire.
“What?” I stammer, pretty sure I’ve gone insane.
“I love you.”
Two days ago, he was set on the certainty that I wasn’t even me, and now he’s telling me he loves me?
“I don’t—”
“I should’ve told you,” he says. “I’ve loved you almost the entire time I’ve known you. I should’ve told you. When I woke up in that cell and realized I’d never see you again…” He bites down so hard I see his muscles flex in his jaw. “It’s the only thing I’ve ever regretted.”
I have so many thoughts that all I can say is, “Seriously?”
He leans back in his seat, an easy smile on his lips. “Seriously.”
Typical Nikolai Zolkov.
I just undermined the international agency we both pledged our lives to, gave into a life-long battle of control with Hassan, and survived three weeks of the most brutal mental torture I’ve ever encountered, and this bastard one-ups me by telling me he loves me.
“Well, then,” I say, flopping back against the cushion. “Gold star for you.”
Acknowledgements:
Thanks and much love to my writing buddy, Jessica Darhower. You wear more hats than the Mad Hatter—editor, cover maker extraordinaire, and many other jobs in between. Thanks for pushing me to write this idea into a novel. You deserve a medal for fielding all of my “that’s it, I’m just gonna go live in a cave 'cause this shit is too hard” texts. You, my dear friend, are a total Mimka. Thank you so much again and again for all that you do and all of your hard work! I couldn’t do this without you!
Thanks and love to my family for always having my back.
Thanks, Mom, for everything—especially all of those NCIS marathons. I love you.
Thanks and much love to the Winnett clan- Shannon, Damon, and Wanda. Your support means everything to me.
Thanks and love to my amazing friends: Julie Pullinger, thanks for being there forever and for all of your support. Celeste Gonzales-Ramirez, thanks for love from afar and positive thoughts always. Sarah Patrick, thanks for being my bestie and for always making me laugh. And to all my other friends: Bobbi Gilbert, Michelle Lambel, Jessica Bryan, Nicole Assante, Karina Villa, and Val Orta. Y’all keep me going with all of your support. Thanks also to the Muir crew for sending me so much love and support on this endeavor!
Can’t really put this book out there without thanking the Winter Soldier and Black Widow for being awesome lil' bundles of inspiration.
Last, but not least, thanks to the organizers of NaNoWriMo and all other writing support groups, websites, forums, and all the wonderful online communities out there. It’s amazing how words of encouragement and support from total strangers can help you stick to your goals. Thank you to everyone out there that I’ve met, and will potentially meet, through these mediums. We’re all in this together! I wrote this book for my NaNoWriMo November 2014 novel. It’s proof positive that a few words every day can add up. Don’t ever give up.
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