4 The Lost Throne by Chris Kuzneski

Author:Chris Kuzneski [Kuzneski, Chris]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction:Suspense
ISBN: 9780425235393
Publisher: Berkley Pub Group
Published: 2010-10-14T23:00:00+00:00

Grizzly snatched Payne’s papers then studied them intently, searching for anything that might be missing or incorrect. Meanwhile, the other two soldiers ogled Allison as though she were dancing on stage at a local strip club. They whispered obscene remarks to each other, describing what they would like to do with her if they ever got her alone. One even made a slurping sound. Neither Payne nor Allison could understand Russian, but they had a pretty good idea what the soldiers were saying and who they were talking about.

And it sure as hell wasn’t Payne.

Remarkably, he managed to keep his cool. If the same situation had presented itself in an anonymous tavern, Payne would have fought the soldiers and anyone who tried to intervene. And the odds were pretty good that Payne would have won. His fighting skills were that extraordinary. But as things stood, he had nothing to gain by being aggressive. The last thing he wanted to do was bring any attention to himself, so he casually put his arm around Allison’s waist and pulled her close. It was his way of marking his territory.

“You no look Canada,” Grizzly declared without lifting his gaze from Payne’s paperwork. His accent was thick and slurred. His face was scarred. “You look Poland.”

Payne’s paternal ancestors were actually from a small town outside Warsaw. When his great-grandfather came to America, the guards at Ellis Island had been unable to pronounce his surname, which was Paynewski. So they gave him two choices: either shorten his name to Payne or get back on the boat and return to Europe. His family name had been Payne ever since.

But he wasn’t going to tell Grizzly that. The less the Russian knew, the better.

“Canadian, born and raised,” Payne claimed.

“What city?”

“Toronto.”

Grizzly glanced at Payne. He studied his face as intently as he had studied his paperwork. The two of them were roughly the same height, so Grizzly was able to look Payne directly in the eye. Man to man. After an uncomfortable silence, he asked, “You like the hockey?”

Payne nodded. “I’m Canadian. I love hockey.”

“You know Evgeni Malkin?”

“Of course I do. He’s a great NHL player. He’s Russian, right?”

“Da.” Grizzly paused for a moment, still holding Payne’s documents in his meaty grip. Then, with a hint of bravado, he claimed, “I play Malkin in Magnitogorsk.”

“Really? You must be pretty good. How did you do?”

Grizzly sneered, crinkling his oversized brow. “He win.”

“Sorry to hear that.”

He handed the papers back to Payne, then turned his attention to Allison. “Who is this?”

“That’s my girlfriend,” he said, trying to talk for her as much as possible. “She’s a big fan of history, so I wanted her to see Saint Petersburg. She loves the place.”

Grizzly stared at her with lust in his eyes. Starting with her legs, he slowly moved his gaze upward, lingering in all the inappropriate places, until he finally stopped on her face. “She does not look smart to me.”

Allison’s cheeks turned a light shade of pink.

“But she is,” Payne claimed.

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