Bastian stared at the smoldering debris in horror.

Brie.

No. Fucking God. No.

He was frozen in agony. In shock.

Brie.

In three weeks, he’d fallen crazy in love with her. Her wit. Her strength. Her passion. She was everything he hadn’t known he wanted, hadn’t known he needed.

She was gone. One instant. One flash of orange, and she was gone.

He hadn’t protected her.

One minute, maybe two minutes more, and he’d have found a way to stop the jet from taking off. She’d be alive.

With a primal roar of pain and rage, he turned on the man in the driver’s seat. The man who’d caused this. He had Ivan by the throat, and he would squeeze his life out. He would tear him apart.

Brie.

The look on her face as she’d straddled him in the hot tub last night and taken him deep. The way she’d kissed him as she told him she loved him, then showed him with her body exactly what those words meant to her.

She’d been regal. Beautiful. Passionate.

He’d wanted to give her children, a true family to love. To spend the rest of his life with her. To share her joy and her sorrow.

Gone.

Ivan gripped his fists, his face turning red, then blue. With leverage from his knee, he shifted Bastian’s weight and broke the grip on his throat. In a flash, Bastian was shoved through the shattered windshield, and they grappled on the hood of the car.

They rolled off the front, and Ivan pinned him to the tarmac.

The fight left Bastian. Ivan wasn’t the enemy here. Drugov was. But Drugov was dead. Killed with Brie and the pilot.

Brie.

“Sorry for this, but you leave me no choice,” Ivan said. A zip tie closed around Bastian’s wrists. “I didn’t know she’d be on the plane. If Drugov had the Ebola in the cargo hold, her death isn’t in vain. Odds are Lawiri was with them too.”

“Do you think I give a fuck about any of that?”

And in that moment, he didn’t. The big picture no longer mattered. He hadn’t been here to fight for his country, to stop a mad Russian oligarch. No, he’d signed on to this mission so he could protect Brie. He didn’t care about anything except the fact that the person who mattered to him most in the world had just ceased to exist.

In the worst moment of his life, he was stripped of everything that had previously defined him. He wasn’t a soldier. He wasn’t a Kalahwamish Indian. He wasn’t even a man.

He was a shattered shell that used to be human.

Brie was gone. Irrevocably gone.

He closed his eyes and relived their first kiss. And the second. The first time he’d made love to her. And the last. The moment she’d pleaded with him to ensure no opioids would be administered to ease her pain. The look on her face as she gripped his hand and watched jets take off from the aircraft carrier. The defiance in her eyes as she confessed she’d leaked information to her lover to crush the pipeline project that threatened air and water.

The shock and fear on her face when he walked into the hut in South Sudan and saw her chained by the throat.

He’d told her he loved her, but it wasn’t enough. Had she known how deep his feelings ran? That she’d become part of his soul, his reason for breathing? In three weeks, she’d upended his life to the degree that he now couldn’t fathom how to move forward from this moment.

The noise of a helicopter invaded his agonized thoughts.

“I can’t be here,” Ivan said. “I’m sorry, Bastian.”

And then he was alone in front of the shattered limousine. No fight in him for the chase. He let Ivan go. Part of him knew the Russian had been smart to ensure the virus didn’t leave Morocco, but he couldn’t face that basic truth just yet.

Bastian had no fucks left to give.

The helicopter landed on the airstrip and SEALs in full gear poured out. A small force circled Bastian, pummeling him with questions. He shook his head, mutely crying as he stared at the burning wreckage that was scattered across the runway and adjacent grassy field.

He was pulled to his feet. The zip tie around his wrists was cut.

“You’re certain she was on the plane?” a SEAL repeated, his words penetrating the fog and muted hearing that had followed the explosion.

“Where is the man you called Ivan?” another asked.

He shook his head. He hadn’t watched Ivan leave the scene. Didn’t know if he was on foot or if he’d taken a vehicle. He’d seen nothing but the embers of the jet.

Cardona was pulled from the back of the limousine. A medic checked over his wound. “Who did this, Chief Ford?” the man asked when Cardona was too drugged up to answer.

A layer of fog lifted, and Bastian answered. “Ivan. I think he’s GRU. But there’s no point in trying to get the prints Savvy wanted. He wore gloves. Always.” He looked toward the plane. “He was sent here to take out Drugov. He set the explosive as a failsafe should Drugov try to flee with his stockpile of Ebola.”

Cardona’s cell phone rang, and Bastian turned to see it on the hood of the limousine. He’d forgotten he’d tucked it in his breast pocket as they raced across town. It must’ve fallen out as he fought with Ivan. He glanced at the screen. Savvy’s number. The SEALs would have told SOCOM everything they found here. He flicked his thumb across the surface, but the voice he heard wasn’t the CIA operative. “Fuck, Bas,” was all Cal said.

Somehow, this was the voice Bastian had needed to hear. A friend. He took a deep breath. “I shouldn’t have let Drugov take her. It’s my fault.”

“No, man. This isn’t on you. Blame Drugov. Blame Lawiri. Blame SOCOM and Savvy for sending a civilian in in the first place.”

Bastian searched for white-hot anger he could direct at SOCOM or Savvy, but that well was dry. “No. everyone was just doing their jobs. Going after Drugov was the right thing. He weaponized fucking Ebola.”

Sirens surrounded the runway. A fire truck came careening across the tarmac.

Strange that he couldn’t muster anger at Savvy or his commanders. But the truth was the only person he blamed was himself.

He never should have let Brie go.

He never should have delved deeper into the basement lab with Ivan.

He never should have agreed to the lab excursion at all.

So many nevers.

So many mistakes.

All his. And Brie was gone.

“What the—?” Cal’s voice cut off, and Bastian knew he’d hit the mute button.

A moment later, the phone was unmuted, and Savvy’s voice came on the line. “Bastian, Brie’s tracker went off a few minutes ago, it took some time to be certain it wasn’t somehow triggered in the explosion. But we’re certain it’s her, and it’s red hot and moving fast across Casablanca.”

“What?” Bastian couldn’t breathe through the surge of hope.

“Brie triggered her tracker. She wasn’t on the jet. She’s alive and in trouble.”

Brie kept her face blank as she feverishly rubbed at the tracker embedded in her arm. She’d passed out after Nikolai choked her, and woke who knew how long later, rocking with the motion of… It had taken her a moment to recognize she was inside a helicopter, and a loud noise had roused her. Her brain was foggy as she’d tried to figure out how she got there.

Next to her, Lawiri screamed something, his words lost to the noise of the copter.

She took in the situation. This was Nikolai’s helicopter. She was crammed in the tiny rear seat with Lawiri while Nicolai was up front with the pilot. The helicopter meant his megayacht must be nearby. That had to be where they were headed, because there was no helipad at his villa.

He was taking her away from Casablanca. To his yacht.

As soon as this became clear, she’d pressed on the tracker. SEALs were nearby. Her best hope was to trigger the tracker now. They would find her quickly, before the yacht could set out to sea. Nikolai couldn’t expect them to arrive so fast. He’d be caught off guard.

Lawiri cursed as he stared at something on the ground behind him, but the noise of the helicopter drowned out his words. Only Nikolai wore headphones. There would be no conversation until they landed.

They sped over the top of the city, passing the marina and heading out over the Atlantic.

Fuck.

The boat was already at sea? Would the tracker work on the yacht? She could only hope Nikolai had installed the system that extended cellular service to thirty miles from land, or she was dead.

And if the yacht was more than thirty miles out?

Then she’d submit to his torture and find a way to kill him in his sleep.

This was the same choice she’d faced in the market. There was no shame in not fighting. She would bide her time.

Thank goodness she’d initiated the tracker while they were still over land. If she’d waited…she couldn’t think about that. She had triggered it. She would be rescued.

And just like he had in the market, Bastian would come.

She knew in her gut he’d escaped from the chemical plant. He would find her.

A dot in the ocean up ahead became clear, and the helicopter began its descent. The boat couldn’t be more than three miles from shore.

They landed on the deck, and Brie twisted to open the door with her bound hands, but Lawiri grabbed her, preventing her easy escape. Nikolai exited from his seat, then snatched her from Lawiri, pulling her out onto the deck as the rotor blades slowed.

Nikolai dragged her toward stairs leading to a lower deck. She was gratified when he took out his cell phone and began speaking in Russian.

They still had cell service.

Lawiri chased after them, following as Nikolai pushed her through a door that led to the upper salon.

“You fool!” Lawiri shouted as he yanked on Nikolai, breaking the oligarch’s hold on her arm. She scooted back and away, twisting to watch the confrontation.

What the hell?

“The Ebola is gone! You idiot!”

Ebola?

That was what he’d infected the pads with?

The man wasn’t just crazy, his heart was pure evil. She’d never believed in evil before. But this was so much more than a lack of empathy combined with greed and avarice.

And what did Lawiri mean it was gone? What had happened while she was unconscious?

“You crazy shit!” Lawiri continued. “You stupid—”

Nikolai backhanded Lawiri. Underscoring that he really didn’t like being called crazy.

Lawiri struck back, nailing Nikolai in the face and pinning him to the wall, his forearm across the oligarch’s neck. “Don’t fuck with me, Drugov. I’m not a soft little man like your Russian friends. You don’t scare me.”

Nikolai’s eyes hardened, but he looked at Lawiri with fear he couldn’t quite hide. “The crates were full of diapers. Nothing more. They were on the cargo plane to fool Ivan. The real supply is being trucked to the White Nile refugee camp along with aid generously donated by Prime Energy.”

“Why did you need to fool your accountant?” Lawiri asked, leaning into Nikolai, maintaining the power position.

“He’s not my accountant.” Nicolai’s voice was thin as Lawiri controlled his air supply. “He was sent by the Kremlin to check up on me. I think he’s an assassin known as the Hammer, and his true purpose was to kill me.”

Lawiri leaned back, allowing Nikolai more air.

“He put a tracker in my car, so I led him to the plane full of diapers. No one fucks with me or my enterprise, not even the Kremlin.”

Lawiri stepped back, fully releasing him.

Nikolai straightened his collar, then held up his phone, reminding Brie of the call he’d made a minute ago. “I just got word the man who ordered the hit against me has collapsed.” He flashed a feral smile. “My pilot was a spy for the Kremlin, and now the Hammer has eliminated him for me.”

Ivan wasn’t GRU? He was an assassin? Her head was spinning. From the blows she’d taken, the fast, bouncy flight, and everything else that had happened today. It was all too much.

“Ivan rigged the plane to explode. I made sure it would go off and he’d believe his job was done.”

The cargo plane had exploded?

She felt the blood drain from her face. That must have been the sound that jolted her to consciousness.

Nikolai gave her a nasty grin. “Yes, my sweet. If anyone knew you were with me, they now believe you are dead. Which means no one will come looking for us.”

She wobbled on her feet. If the tracker hadn’t worked, then Nikolai’s words were certainly true. Bastian—and everyone—would believe she was dead. “They’ll realize when they don’t find my remains.”

“I’m afraid the hold was packed with C4. The Hammer is nothing if not thorough. They won’t guess none of us were on the plane until it’s far too late.”

The tracker is working. They know I’m still alive. They’re already planning a mission to save me.

The engines on the giant boat came to life. They were leaving. How long would it take a boat this size to go thirty miles? How long would they be in tracker range?

“Bastian knows I’m with you. As does Armando.”

“Armando will never talk, and Bastian is dead. My man just confirmed it.”

She felt the blood drain from her body as she stared at the phone in his hand. He’d been speaking in Russian. She hadn’t understood his words. Could he be lying?

She wobbled on her feet.

He had to be lying.

Bastian couldn’t be dead. She covered her mouth with the back of her hand, holding back a heave. She glared at the monster before her. “If the Kremlin wants you dead, nothing will save you.”

“Oh no, my dear. I have taken on the Hammer and won. I have even bested a Green Beret. My power is solidified. The traitor who ordered my death has been taken care of. I have multiple US senators in my pocket, including your ‘Uncle’ Al, who intends to run for president. We will ensure he wins. I also have an alliance with the CEO of Prime Energy. I’m a gateway to the US economy and government. Next to the Russian president, I’m the most powerful man in my country. No Russian will dare cross me again.”

“Rafe isn’t in your pocket.” She believed that. She had to.

But beneath it all, her heart pounded as she inwardly sobbed.

Bastian.

“Rafe is of no consequence. He will be dead within the week, and JJ will seize control.”

“But you were going to kill JJ.”

“I only gave the order to kill your lover. Your brother was to be freed once you and I escaped to the boat.” Again he held up his phone. “He’s being released as we speak. He will convince Rafe that the men who abducted you in South Sudan followed you here. They took you hostage and tried to escape on a stolen cargo jet. Alas, there were no survivors.”

He flashed his teeth. “You and I can enjoy many months together on my boat, and no one will ever look for you. That was the deal I made with your brother. He will cover up your disappearance, and your family business will get sympathetic press. The poor family suffering the loss of father and Good Samaritan daughter in the same week. When Rafe goes, it will be all the more shocking.”

She cleared her dry throat. “What do you have on him? On JJ? What did he do?”

Nikolai smiled. “When we’re in my stateroom I can show you the recording of him fucking a whore in a Moscow hotel room.”

“So?” Getting caught with a prostitute wasn’t enough to buy someone’s soul, especially not someone like JJ, who probably arranged for prostitutes to share his hotel room on every business trip.

“Your brother wanted a special kind of whore. One who allowed autoerotic asphyxiation.”

Oh shit.

“Unfortunately, we pumped your brother full of drugs, so he wasn’t…as careful as he should have been. The poor girl died. She was fourteen. He then paid my men to dispose of the body.”

Her heart cracked. Her brother had raped and murdered a child. Odds were the girl had been sold into sexual slavery like the girls at the market in South Sudan.

She leaned forward like she was going to puke, but then she kicked Nikolai in the balls.

He doubled over, then staggered forward and took a swing, but she was ready for him this time and blocked it. She spun and made a break for the door. In a flash, she was on the deck, Nikolai on her heels.

She’d have to kick him harder next time.

She ran for stairs that led down. If she could get to the rail, she could jump into the ocean.

Could the tracker transmit from the water? Definitely not if the boat was speeding away, taking the booster antenna with it. Plus, with her hands bound, she’d likely drown.

Nikolai had been one step ahead all along. He’d manipulated everyone and even evaded a hit ordered by the Kremlin. He really might be invincible.

She nearly tripped on the steep steps several times but managed to catch the rail with her bound hands before she pitched forward. She made it all the way to the lowest deck before Nikolai caught her by the throat and pulled her back to his chest.

“Leaving so soon, my sweet? But you haven’t even seen my stateroom yet. I’ve been preparing it for you for months. One might even say for years.”