Cardinal Rose (The Cardinal #5) - Mia Smantz Page 0,2

to me like I’m being irrational.”

Bryce arched an aristocratic eyebrow. “But you kinda are.”

I spluttered in shock at his blunt, bold response that put me at a loss for words.

“That’s it,” Aleks growled in Russian and stepped forward. “I’m taking you with us, even if I have to ‘man-hands’ you.”

I backed up, knowing that if he got even one of those dinner plate sized paws on me I’d be carted out of here kicking and screaming. And scream I would, though I doubted Aleks would care.

My back bumped into Andrea, who’d finished wiring the explosives and stood to watch the argument.

With Aleks standing not ten feet from me, and Andrea’s chest butted up snug from behind, I had flashes of the Norfolk International Airport where Andrea, still disguising himself at the time, had faced off against both the Emerson and Tate teams. He’d lost that battle because Aleks had been armed and more than willing to use it.

I doubted this would be any different since there were thirteen Delta members versus us three. Not only that, but it’d kill me if anyone, Delta or not, got hurt or killed.

I turned to Natasia. She’d always understood me the best. Plus, she had the most practicality out of anybody here. If anyone would understand my reasoning, it’d be her. “Natasia, please!”

Her icy eyes met mine, cool and collected. She studied me before nodding. “As you wish, we’ll trust you on this.”

My breath escaped me. “Thank you.”

Andrea cleared his throat. “I hate to cut any moment off between you guys. Far be it from me to rain on your parade, but I kind of set the bombs to auto-destruct. A lead wire to a detonator is pointless since I doubt that we would get reception twenty thousand leagues below the ground, so a remote activation is out of the question too with what I packed.” He shrugged his broad shoulders. “So, if you girls are done with your cute little discussion, how about we focus on getting out alive? We have about, oh, I don’t know—” He glanced at the interface on his device. “Less than twelve minutes to vamoose.”

I nodded, not taking my eyes off the Delta members in front of me. Natasia would be hard pressed to convince them, and I wouldn’t put it past them to pull a sneak and grab.

Andrea cleared his throat again. “And did I mention that Veseli took off after him already?”

I jerked in surprise and spun around. “What?”

Sure enough, Veseli was nowhere to be seen. I frowned, mentally cursing him, and bolted, not even bothering to see if the Delta teams left or followed.

“Go ahead, tech girl, I’ll catch up to you!” Andrea called out.

He must have seen the others trying to give chase and decided to help Natasia hold them off.

The move was risky considering how little time remained on the bomb’s clock, but I didn’t argue. Andrea could take care of himself, and I preferred that he help convince Delta to leave.

I had two goals—reach Veseli and make sure he stayed alive. He’d only returned to my life recently after years of thinking he’d died. Losing him again might destroy me.

My feet pounded the concrete, carrying me deeper in search of Tarasovich or Veseli. With bombs primed to blow, every precious second counted. I had to trust that Andrea would stay true to his word and catch up.

As I ran through corridors that blurred together, I glimpsed flashes of pale blond. At first, I believed Natasia had followed me, but the person wasn’t nearly tall enough to match the long and svelte Russian. Anytime I glanced, empty rooms and doorways stared back, so I convinced myself that my mind had made it up.

With the clock steadily ticking down, I had no time to investigate anyway, so I ignored any real or perceived short blond figures trailing after me just inside the shadows.

That didn’t stop the goosebumps or hairs on the back of my neck from standing on end at the eerie situation I found myself in.

I attempted to reach Veseli over the comms, but he must’ve turned his off because he never responded. Andrea did though. He signaled that he was on his way to catch up to me. I tried to explain the turns and paths I’d taken, but my stuttering gave way to how lost I’d become.

He shrugged it off good-naturedly. “Ah, don’t worry about it, tech girl. I’ll find you.”

“Okay,” I replied in a tremulous voice before I had to