The Burial Society by Nina Sadowsky

Author:Nina Sadowsky
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2018-01-30T00:00:00+00:00

I kick off my shoes and close my front door behind me, firmly turning the lock.

My command center awaits; I have work to do. I press my thumbprint on the lock. Sink into my chair and roll between the two desks, firing up computers. I pull a bottle from a drawer and take just one healthy swig of tequila. I need to take the edge off, but can’t afford to get stupid.

Punching Delphine’s number into a phone, my stomach knots and twists. I’ve been trying to reach her unsuccessfully for hours.

I walk to the window and stare at the street below. The few people still out and about are raucously drunk. Or clinging furtively to the shadows. My call clicks over to a recorded message. Again.

Turning back to the monitors, I study the video feed from the exterior of the Stockholm safe house. The place is shrouded in darkness. Balint and Elena should’ve been there by now. So should Delphine.

My ears prick at the scratchy sound of a key entering a lock. I peer intently at the screens but see nothing. Was that the sound of a doorknob turning? My heart hammers in my chest as I realize the sound is not coming from any of my monitors.

Someone is in my apartment.

If it’s an emissary of the Russian, the intruder will no doubt be armed. From the cache of supplies I keep under my desk, I pull a can of Mace.

Footsteps echo on the wide plank floors. The intruder is heading toward my bedroom, assuming no doubt that I am snugly asleep, an easy target. A chill judders through me. Have they been in here before? In and gone without me ever being the wiser? Searching and planning while I was oblivious? How could I have missed that?

I don’t think the Russian will want to kill me just yet, not until he knows Elena’s whereabouts, but I’ve seen firsthand evidence of his taste for torture. I remember the bastard’s initials branded into Elena’s flesh.

My bare feet pad silently as I sneak down the hallway, avoiding the creaky floorboard that could give my presence away. My fingers tighten around the can of Mace.

A dark figure is poised at the entrance to my bedroom. A man. He hesitates at the threshold; perhaps he’s seen that the bed is empty. He turns. I cover the distance to him in three swift strides. As the Mace strikes him, he screams and drops to his knees.

Too late, I recognize the intruder. “Merde! What are you doing here?”

Gasping with pain, my lover Gerard grunts at me in French. “I wanted to surprise you.”

I curse myself for relenting to Gerard’s entreaties that I give him a key. I should have known better. People close to me get hurt. Sometimes it’s me that hurts them.

“Stay there,” I command.

Returning moments later, I kneel next to him with a bowl of cool water and a clean dishtowel. He moans as I dab his eyes and face with the wet cloth.

“Why would you do this to me?” he whines plaintively in French.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.