Air Bound (Sea Haven/Sisters of the Heart 3)

Saving your ass. After all, you saved mine.

"There was a man, Dennet Laurent, he was French. He had an amazing mind, astounding in his abilities and thinking. He disappeared some years ago. Of course, we all thought him dead, but he definitely was one who could have completed the weapon, or taken it near to completion. He may have defected."

"Or was kidnapped," Airiana ventured.

She stepped close to the bar, her bare foot coming down right in the middle of the shards of glass. Blood spurted. She gave a little, startled cry. Theodotus whirled around and gave a shout for the men waiting behind the door.

11

MAXIM moved with blurring speed, clearing the couch to catch Airiana up, holding her body in front of his as a shield as he whipped out his pistol. He aimed it at Theodotus's head.

"Wait! Wait!" the Russian yelled as three men burst into the room.

Maxim gestured with his gun at the physicist. Theodotus reluctantly took the few steps to stand squarely in front of them.

"You don't understand," he said. "I had no choice. I had to cooperate." He glared at the three men. "Put your weapons down. You can't chance hitting my daughter or me. Russia needs us."

He sounded so pompous, Maxim wanted to hit him with the barrel of his weapon, but the three members of the security team--and Maxim was certain they were agents loyal to Sorbacov--obeyed.

"Step away from the door and get around behind the chairs. Kneel and put your hands behind your heads. Lock your fingers together. Do it fast."

Can you walk on your feet? Crazy woman, he added affectionately.

Yes. She hoped there would be time to take the glass out, but she wasn't going to mention that to him.

Maxim set her down and pulled several zip ties from his pocket. "Start with dear old dad. Bind his hands behind his back and then the others. They'd better be tight," he added for effect.

Airiana took the ties and pushed air beneath the soles of her feet to cushion them as she took the few steps necessary to get to Theodotus. She slid the ties over Theodotus's wrists and pulled them tight before making her way gingerly to the three men.

Stay out of the line of fire, Maxim cautioned.

She had been concentrating on not cringing when her feet touched the carpet, driving the glass deeper. She walked on the outside edges of her feet and kept the air flowing beneath them so that the glass couldn't push deeper into her flesh as she took the quickest route to the three men.

Damn it, Airiana, look what you did to yourself.

She glanced behind her and saw the bloody trail of her footprints on the carpet. Let's just get these men taken care of and then you can pull the glass out of my feet.

Maxim swore in Russian, a blistering attack on just what he thought of her diversion. She ignored him and used the zip ties on the three men.

"Pick up their weapons and step away from them," Maxim instructed next. Clearly he didn't want her walking around on her cut feet, but he kept the others thinking she was as much a prisoner as they were.

Maxim stalked across the room and slammed his gun into each man's head, sending him slumping to the floor. He wasn't gentle about it. Bending down, he patted down each man and removed several other weapons before taping their mouths closed. He turned his attention to Theodotus.

The physicist trembled visibly as Maxim approached him. "Don't hit my head. I'm not going to give you any trouble."

"I need to know how many soldiers you have on board. How large of a security force did you bring with you? Don't be stupid and lie. I'll come back and kill. You know me. You know my brother. When I say something I mean it."

"I had no choice," Theodotus blurted out. "I'm telling the truth."

"How many, Solovyov?" Maxim was relentless.

"Eight altogether. But I'm telling you, I had no choice. You have to believe me. Uri Sorbacov approached me and told me he knew I was in touch with Gavriil Prakenskii. He wants Gavriil dead. He lent me this yacht. The men are under his orders. I'm as much a prisoner as you are."

Uri Sorbacov is the son of Kostya Sorbacov, the man who murdered my parents and forced us into the schools, Maxim told her.

"Who knew Gavriil passed on the tip that your daughter was in danger?" Maxim persisted. He lifted Airiana to the desktop and set her there, right in front of her father. Grasping her ankle, he lifted her left foot in order to see the sole.

Damn it, honey, this is a big chunk of glass and several small ones. Did you have to be so thorough?

It wasn't like I had time to figure out the best place to step.

"No one. The message came in by my phone. A text message. In code."

"So your phone is being monitored," Maxim said.

"They wouldn't dare." Theodotus scowled at him. "No one would dare."

"It's either that or you're lying to me. And if the message was in code, who wrote the code?"

"I did, of course. I use it for my work. No one knows it."

"Someone does. My guess would be Uri Sorbacov. He's having your phone monitored, and he knows your code. Is he the one that told you about the terrorist threat?"

Theodotus nodded his head slowly. "I knew Gavriil would send someone, but I didn't know it would be his brother. I thought I could have whoever he sent get my daughter for me, and then if he was killed and his body buried at sea, Sorbacov would be satisfied that Gavriil was dead and Gavriil could slip away and live out his life somewhere. That's the truth."

"You were going to have the man who helped you killed?" Airiana asked.

Maxim extracted the largest chunk of glass from the bottom of her foot. She gasped and clutched at his shoulder.

Ouch. A very big ouch.

Serves you right. There will be no more of this. With bloody fingers he put the chunk of glass on the table and turned her foot up to the light to get the rest of the smaller pieces.

"You don't understand the politics in my country, Airiana. Uri Sorbacov wields a tremendous amount of power. It's rumored his father did some disgraceful, shameful things, and those rumors are true. Uri wants the presidency, and he has to clean up his father's image.

"I don't understand how this person wanting the presidency could possibly be a threat to a man of your stature, Theodotus," Airiana said and jerked her foot away from Maxim--or tried to. His fingers shackled her ankle, refusing to budge. That hurts, you cretin, she hissed at him.

"Those of us who remember such things about his father have to prove our loyalty to him. No matter how important we are, we could disappear just as easily as anyone else. He has assassins at his fingertips, men trained in schools . . ." He trailed off, looking at Maxim, his eyes going wide. "Of course. That's why he wants Gavriil dead. Gavriil was part of that program."

"In case you're wondering, and you're thinking of double-crossing me, so was I," Maxim said. "Trained in those schools. You don't want me coming after you." He picked two more small pieces of glass out of Airiana's foot.

"Ow." She glared at him. "Is that the last piece?"

"I hope so. I have to take a look at your other foot."

"I was trying to save your brother's life," Theodotus said. "You didn't introduce yourself as a Prakenskii. You said your name was Maxim Kamenev. I had no idea you were Gavriil's brother. Not," he added truthfully, "that I could have done anything to save you. Uri Sorbacov wanted a body and I had to give him one. If I didn't, I would be dead and so would my daughter."

"Not if the terrorist threat is real," Maxim said mildly, inspecting Airiana's right foot. "There's two more shards of glass that I can see," he added.

"No, he wouldn't have killed us outright, but we'd be imprisoned, still working for him, and we'd never see the light of day again. You know how ruthless his father was. Uri is every bit as much or more. He's as brutal behind closed doors as he is charming in his television interviews."