“You know why. You don’t need me to say it.”
“You couldn’t pull the trigger.”
“It wasn’t because of Petrov.”
“I know. It was because he had Ava.”
Raketa nodded. “It’s only the second time in my life I didn’t fire when I should have. Wait, that’s wrong. I didn’t fire when I was supposed to.”
“I appreciate the differentiation.”
“I told myself I didn’t have a clean shot.”
He understood and suddenly wished he could force her to stay here, keep her out of harm’s way.
“Do you want to meet her?”
Raketa shook her head. “Too dangerous now. Wait until Petrov is dead.”
—:—
“No!” she screamed just as Petrov pulled the trigger and her mother’s body fell to the ground. As she charged at him, wanting to kill him with her bare hands, she felt a bullet strike her from behind. Topor shot her, and now she was dead too.
When she opened her eyes and tried to bolt upright, Gunner was leaning over her.
“You were having a nightmare,” he said, pulling her into his arms. “You’re shaking.”
Raketa buried her face in his chest, wishing she could wipe the horrific images she’d dreamed from her memory. “He killed her.”
Gunner nodded. “We’re not going to let that happen.”
“And Topor killed me.”
“I’m not going to let that happen either.”
Raketa shuddered, fearing he might not be able to stop it, and praying she was wrong.
—:—
It was three days before Gunner heard from Doc, and then he had nothing new to report.
“He’s deep, wherever the hell he is,” Doc told him.
“There’s no intel at all?”
“Nothing. I’ve asked Merrigan to get in touch with Rivet to see if there is any other angle she could be working.”
“I thought Rivet was retiring.”
Sir Ranald “Rivet” Caird was a career British intelligence officer and chief of the Secret Intelligence Service. Doc’s wife had once been next in line for his job, but now rumor was that Shiver would be taking over when Riv decided to leave MI6.
“Honestly, I think that’s a long way off.”
“How’s Shiver feel about that?”
“Same as I would if I wasn’t ready for a desk job.”
That made sense. A man like Shiv would likely never be happy doing anything but work on the ground.