Daniel’s arm tightens around my waist, noticing my fright. “He’s not going to get you. I promise that.”
“So,” Vasily says, “we leave her here, and you and I pay Hudson a visit. We retrieve this hacker and we find out more information about your sister. Everyone is happy.”
“Wait, no,” I cry out and cling to Daniel. This time, I’m smashing his face against my breasts, but I don’t care. “You can’t leave me here. You have to take me with you.”
Daniel’s voice is muffled against my breasts. “Fighter baby, you know I wouldn’t ask you to stay behind if it wasn’t safe, but—”
“No! You’re not abandoning me.”
“Regan—”
“I’m going with you.” Vasily being here has made me all edgy again, and I have a feeling I’m going to be clinging to Daniel harder than normal. Even the thought of Daniel leaving the room for five minutes and being here alone with Vasily is enough to make my skin prickle with gooseflesh. “You can’t leave me behind. You can’t. You promised.”
Daniel sighs. “I know. I know. We’ll think of something. It’s . . . fuck. It’s not safe, okay?”
“When has any of this been safe?” I ask him.
Vasily snorts.
“I’m going,” I say stubbornly.
“You are not invited,” Vasily says to me.
“If you leave me here, I’ll follow you,” I say, fighting the panic that’s rising. He can’t leave me behind. Not after all this. He can’t. If he does, I know I’m going to turn a corner and see Mr. Freeze lurking there, waiting for me.
“You heard the lady,” Daniel says. “She goes.”
Vasily spits out another phrase in Russian, and Daniel flips him the bird. They look ready to come to blows, staring down each other. After a tense moment though, Vasily throws his hands up, conceding.
DANIEL PEERS DOWN THE SCOPE of his rifle, scanning the compound far below. “That’s thirty-one,” he says. “Which means there will be more inside.”
The three of us are perched inside one of the hovels in Monkey Hill. We stopped by Luiz’s place, picked up our papers, and then headed back to the slums. Or at least, we did after both men tried to talk me out of going again.
I refused. I’m not leaving Daniel’s side. I won’t feel safe until he delivers me back to my doorstep in Minneapolis, so why does it matter that we’re heading to someplace dangerous? Everywhere is dangerous.
Once in the slums, Daniel paid someone to let us make use of his place for a few hours. Vasily guards the door, an enormous handgun held high as he scans the hallway. I’m crouching next to Daniel by the window, a piece of scratch-paper in hand as I mark an X onto my sketch of Hudson’s compound. I have an X every place that Daniel has found a soldier.
My paper is littered with Xs.
“Thirty-two,” Daniel murmurs. “One hiding in the stairwell. Fuck, the man has an army with him. Paranoid son of a bitch.”
I make a mark on my paper and look over at Daniel. He’s still squinting down the scope of his rifle, monitoring things. “So what does this mean?”
“It means we’re not going anywhere near him.”
I frown and peek out the window, gazing down at the walls of the place. It’s not exactly pretty—nor is it inconspicuous. The walls are made of enormous concrete blocks, and the double doors only open to allow the occasional truck in. The tops of the walls are curling with barbed wire, and Daniel has even said they have a sniper on the rooftop, like us.
“So why don’t we start shooting? Take as many out as we can and then charge in once we’ve picked off a bunch of their guys?”
Vasily mutters something derisive in Russian behind me, and I’m pretty sure he’s calling me stupid.
“No can do, fighter,” Daniel says, finally putting down his rifle and looking over at me. “I could pick off one or two before they notice, but then they’d figure out where we’re coming from and swarm up this hill. It’s too dangerous.”
“Why don’t we sneak in at night, then? We could get a few blankets and some ladders, toss a blanket over the barbed wire and climb our way over. I saw that in a movie once.”
“If he has thirty men outside, he will have thirty more inside,” Vasily bites out. “He is expecting us. He is ready. We need a new plan.”
Daniel rubs a hand down his face, looking as frustrated as I feel. I want us to go in there, guns blazing, and shoot Mr. Freeze in his ugly, pale face until he can’t come after me ever again. But if two assassins are saying it’s too dangerous, then maybe it is.
“So what do we do?” I ask.
“Tears of God,” Vasily says.
“Fuck. No way,” Daniel retorts. “I’m not taking Regan there.”
“What’s Tears of God?” I ask, my gaze moving between Vasily and Daniel. “What?”
“Remember I told you about the favela that’s controlled by the mercenaries? The one that no one fucks with?”
“That’s Tears of God?”
“They owe me favor,” Vasily says curtly. “This can be the favor.”
“Goddamn it, no, Vasily.”
“Why?” I ask again.
Daniel shoots me a dark look, and he seems rather upset. “No one goes into Tears of God without being checked over first. They take your guns, they take your clothes, and they search you. All of you. I’m not putting you through that. Fuck that. We’ll figure something else out.”
Vasily barks something harsh to Daniel.
I swallow, trying to imagine being patted down by a bunch of mercenaries. Walking into a place like the one below, naked and vulnerable. But there are two people being held in that compound— Daniel’s sister is —and the hacker. Daniel’s told me that wherever we find the hacker, we’ll find Naomi. I can’t stop thinking about that. Maybe she’s suffering the same things I went through. Hudson likes them broken. I try to picture a girl like Daniel but broken, and I shudder internally then force a calm look on my face. “I can do it.”
“No, fighter—”
“No, Daniel. I said I’d go with you. I have to take the good with the bad. I can stand to be patted down by a few guys, I promise.”
His jaw clenches, and I can tell that he doesn’t like it. That it’s vulnerable, and we’ll be naked and at their mercy if they try anything. If they decide to get rid of us, we’re fucked.