Maddie’s hands were starting to tingle. Maybe it was nerves. Or the cold. Or maybe it was just what happened when you had to walk down a mountain and across a wide, snow-covered beach toward a wolf, all while keeping your hands on top of your head. All without trying to look back at the man who had the gun pointed directly at your spine.
She felt silly, really, in spite of everything. Sure, Stefan was taller and stronger and older. And he had a gun. But Maddie should have been able to take him. She would have been embarrassed if this ever got back to her friends.
But that was the upside to not having friends, Maddie realized. There wasn’t a soul around to judge her, so Maddie walked on.
“Don’t stop.”
Stefan poked her in the back with the gun, pushing her slightly. She stumbled a little. Holding her hands that way made her shoulder ache and messed with her balance, but she absolutely refused to fall.
Stefan spoke again, but this time the words were in Russian and under his breath.
Logan could have interpreted, if he’d been there. But he wasn’t. Logan was safe on the other side of the mountain. The Secret Service might have even found him already. She liked the thought of him in a helicopter with a heavy blanket over his shoulders, a hot drink in his hands.
Maddie would have given anything for a hot drink. But it was enough for her, the idea that maybe one of them might have already made it out of this ordeal alive.
Her arms dropped a little, fatigue settling in.
“Keep them up!” Stefan shouted with another push at her back. She took two large steps, stumbling forward and struggling to right herself.
And that was when she saw them.
The men appeared on the edges of her vision, assault rifles in their hands.
Stefan leveled his gun at her, but she stopped, looked back.
Something like pride glistened in his eyes as he said, “Tell the Wolf I’ve brought him something.”
Not someone, Maddie realized. She was a thing, a piece of leverage.
One of the men laughed and the other joined in. When the second man spoke, it was in Russian, but Stefan sneered at the words. Then he answered, in English.
“She’s better than the boy. Trust me. The Wolf will want to see this for himself.”
The two guards must have been convinced because they gestured them toward the center of the camp.
“My sister?” Stefan asked.
One of the men nodded. “Alive” was his reply.
The two men fell into step on either side of Stefan. They kept their rifles pointed at the ground, but ready. Like one gunman might not be enough against a teenage girl. Maddie might have smiled, told herself that her reputation preceded her, but her shoulder hurt and her stomach growled. And she really had to go to the bathroom.
When they neared the tents, there was a rustling, and a moment later a man was standing before them, silhouetted by the smoke.
He was taller than she’d thought he’d be. Younger. Stronger. But when Maddie was finally close enough to see his eyes, she knew the mistake she’d just made.
“Where’s the Wolf?” Stefan snapped at the man.
“Behind you,” came a voice.
Slowly, Maddie turned. And she knew. It wasn’t just that he was older. No. His eyes were cold and gray, but there was a fire inside of them. With one glance, Maddie feared she might get burned. They were the eyes of an animal, one dangerous and trapped. And right then Maddie understood the rumors and the nickname. She could believe that this man had been abandoned in a forest and raised by the wolves. He wasn’t a man. He was a feral beast, and Maddie shivered a little in spite of herself.
For a moment, she stood in the cold wind, hands fisted overhead, letting the man look his fill. Then he glanced at one of the guards. “Take his sister to the woods and shoot her.”
The man turned for one of the tents, but Stefan was lunging forward.
“No! Wait!”
“We had a deal, Stefan,” the Wolf told him. “Your sister for the boy. This is no boy.”
“She’s better,” Stefan shouted, but the Wolf spun. It was like no one had dared to raise their voice to him in sixty years. And no one had, Maddie was certain.
“Kill him, too,” the Wolf told the gunmen.
Stefan raised his gun, but he was too slow. The butt of an assault rifle was already slicing through the air, clipping him on the back of the head.
He went down hard and Maddie jerked free. She dropped her arms and started to run, but the second guard had already taken hold of her. He spat something in Russian, and the Wolf looked her over once again.
“Kill them all.”
He turned and started toward the tent like he hadn’t just ordered the deaths of three people. Like this was just another day, and nothing could surprise him—not anymore.
Well … nothing except the small, female voice behind him, saying, “Well, that would just be silly.”
When the Wolf turned back to Maddie, it was like he was surprised she could speak. Or at the very least, like she’d have the good sense to sound terrified. But she didn’t. If anything, she sounded … bored.
“You need better sources, Mr. Wolf Man,” she told the most dangerous man in Russia.
“Why is that?” he asked her, honestly curious.
Maddie looked up at the cloudy sky then back to him, like she had all the time in the world.
“Well, because, (A) the Secret Service agent you’ve been obsessed with for six years doesn’t have a dead daughter. He has an awesome daughter. And (B) I’m more than a little offended you didn’t recognize the grade A hostage material that you have in front of you. I mean, if you’re in the vengeance business I am a way better catch than Logan, who is an idiot, by the way.”
“And C?” The Wolf almost smiled.
Behind him, Maddie could see a guard dragging a girl from one of the tents. She was weak and filthy, her face puffy with too many tears. But she was still alive and that was all that mattered.
“Stefan!” the girl shouted, but her voice was weak.
“C is easy, Boris.” The Wolf turned back to Maddie, clearly confused by her smile. “You should have never let me get this close.”
When Maddie pulled back her fist, the men didn’t lunge, they didn’t stop her. How hard can she hit? they all seemed to think in unison, but Maddie wasn’t swinging at them. Instead, she was spinning, arm swirling through the air until she opened her fist and gray dust hurled toward the flames.
Stefan was diving toward his sister, tucking her into his arms and rolling away.
Maddie saw it, knew the girl was safe.
It was her last thought before the world caught fire.