I've come to the unfortunate conclusion that nothing short of a bullet is going to prevent Agent Ryder Asshole Stevenson from following me and forcefully dragging me back to wherever he deems fit.

Too bad my aim with a gun sucks.

Too bad I don't have a gun . . . but I do know where to get one.

I'd like to say that we resolved some of our differences during the plane ride, but that would be a lie. Of course, something had changed. A sort of understanding between the two of us. That's not to say he stopped with the stupid nicknames and that I had completely given up trying to get away from him.

First chance I get, I'm gone. I've just got to be smarter about it and take my time.

I step out of the airport with Ryder close behind me and come to a dead stop in my tracks.

Agent Damien North is leaning up against a car right outside the airport. Waiting for us.

How in the hell did he get here before us?

Ryder puts his hand in the small of my back and pushes me forward to the car. He waves to Damien.

"Since you're so full of fun facts, tell me, how fast do airplanes travel?" He asks me as he stares at the look of utter confusion on my face.

"Eight-hundred eighty-five kilometers an hour. On average," I mutter in reply, barely aware I've even answered.

"I don't even care to know why you actually have an answer to that question." He holds open the door for me and I climb into the back seat. He gets into the passenger seat and Damien gets into the driver's seat.

Ryder turns around in his seat to look at me. "Now, what's the average a private jet travels at? Specifically, a Gulfstream."

"Nine-hundred eighty-two kilometers an hour." I narrow my eyes at him. "So Damien came here on a private jet? How is that possible?"

Ryder smiles back at me as he slides his sunglasses on over his eyes. "Damien's family comes from old money."

Damien shrugs. "I inherited everything after my parents passed. Only child."

"Now," Ryder starts. "I'd like to know why in flaming hell you thought it would be a great idea to take a plane to Scotland of all places."

"It was conveniently far away from you."

"Stupid as you may seem," He says and I feel my anger at being called stupid flare up. Any understanding we reached on the flight has gone up in flames. "You usually have some kind of plan before you do these things. As a matter of fact, you had hours to pick your destination."

"I'm losing brain cells the more I talk to you."

"That's not very nice."

"Neither is calling me stupid."

"If the shoe fits . . ."

"I'm going to strangle you."

"Then I'll be forced to arrest you for assaulting a federal agent. Shame."

"You can't arrest me if you're dead."

"Keep talking. Keep threatening me, I dare you," His tone is deadly and his jaw is clenched.

And I feel like pressing my luck.

"I will. I'm going-"

"I'm going to intervene before this goes too far and Ryder throws you out of the car. He's done that kind of thing before. Now, I'd like to know where I'm supposed to be heading because right now I'm just driving around passing time," Damien interrupts.

My glare is fixated on Ryder. I don't bother looking in Damien's direction as I respond to him. "I don't know. I don't have any place in mind."

Ryder stays turned around in his seat, his gaze on me. Well, at least, I think his gaze is on me. I can't tell, he's got those mirrored sunglasses on again.

"I'm calling bullshit," He says finally. "You knew where you were going, you just don't want us to know now."

"Wow. Great observation. You should go into law enforcement."

My sarcasm doesn't seem to be appreciated by Ryder. Damien however, disguises his laugh as a cough and tries desperately to hide the smile on his face.

"I'll find a hotel for the night," Damien says.

Ryder finally turns around in his seat so he's actually sitting in it properly. "Please do," He says. "And schedule a flight for tomorrow morning. I want to get out of here and back to the states."

Personally, I wasn't in any hurry to get back there. This is the most dangerous gang in the world, yes. Which means they've got people literally all over the globe, but mostly they operated out of America. So, in the interest of self-preservation, I wanted to stay the hell away from the states.

Plus, I actually had a place I could hide out here. A place that no one and I mean no one could ever trace back to me. But there was no way I was walking two FBI agents up to the doorstep. That just wasn't happening.

I cross my arms over my chest and begin cursing Ryder out under my breath.

Ryder turns to look back at me. "What are you doing? It sounds like you're summoning the dead."

Oh yes, because cursing in French sounds like summoning the dead.

I give him a flat look followed closely by a glare. "Summoning a portal of demons to come forth and drag your ass back to hell."

"Let me know how that works out for you."

"Puissiez-vous brûler en enfer pour toute l'éternité," I mutter.

He turns to look at me once more. "What did you say?"

I feign innocence and widen my eyes, shaking my head. "I didn't say anything."

He turns away again and I glare at the back of his head, hoping to burn a hole straight through it.

"Trou du cul," I mutter.

Ryder removes his sunglasses and turns around once more to glare at me. "What?" He questions through clenched teeth.

It seems someone's grating on his nerves. What a crying shame.

I stare back at him defiantly, arms crossed over my chest. "It's not my fault you clearly never took French in high school."

Damien clearly did though, because he's biting his lip to keep from laughing. His eyes sparkling in amusement and a wide smile is on his face.

Ryder opens his mouth to say something pretty nasty if the look on his face is any indication, but he's interrupted by Damien. "Oh look, we're here," He says, his voice over enthusiastic. He mutters something else under his breath that I don't catch.

I shove open the door and jump out of the car, pulling my backpack over my shoulder as I do so. Ryder angrily slams his door as he gets out of the car.

"I'll get us checked in," He says. He turns to Damien. "Keep an eye on her."

Damien nods. "I doubt she's planning on running off right away."

Ryder looks from Damien to me.

"Well," He says as he reaches into his pocket. "Just to be safe." He slaps one cuff onto my wrist and the other on to Damien's.

"What?" Damien starts to protest.

"Oh hell no," I say as I start to pull on the cuffs.

"Stop it," Damien tells me as the cuff cuts into his wrist. "Ryder what the hell?"

"Just until we get to our rooms," Ryder says as he pockets the handcuff key. "Since you seem to actually like hanging out with her."

"That doesn't mean I want to be handcuffed to her. As far as FBI assignments go, she's a nightmare."

I glare at Damien.

Ryder gives us both a mock salute before brushing past me and disappearing into the hotel.

Damien blows out a sigh and looks down at our wrists handcuffed together. He grumbles something about getting Ryder back for this.

I twirl the handcuff key around for him to see.

His eyes widen. "How did you-"

I don't respond as I unlock the cuff on my wrist and toss him the key so he can unlock the cuff on his.

Ryder comes out a short time later, holding room keys. He abruptly stops in his tracks as his gaze settles on both of us. Damien tosses his back his cuffs, and I hold up the handcuff key before tossing it to Ryder as well.

Ryder catches it and then pats at his pocket, where the key clearly no longer is. His eyes narrow suspiciously at me and I just cross my arms over my chest, glaring back at him.

I open my mouth to say something to him-not even I'm exactly sure of what-and the shrill ringing of a phone cuts through the silence. It takes a moment for me to identify that the ringing is coming from my phone.

I fumble through my backpack before I'm finally able to locate the phone, which earns another glare from Ryder.

"Where did you get that?" He questions, his jaw clenched.

I glare back at him before staring at the number on the screen. It's unfamiliar to me and I feel a flash of panic flow through me. I have a feeling I know who this is. I don't know how he got my number and at the moment I don't care to know. I'll figure that out later. Though, it wasn't as if I had a whole lot of time on my hands to make the phone completely untraceable, and it's not like it takes a genius of a hacker to trace a phone.

I hit answer and put the phone to my ear. I don't bother to say anything and I don't have to because he's already talking.

"And here I thought you wouldn't actually answer," His voice is controlled, smooth, and oh so terrifying to hear.

Ryder must read something in my expression, something I'd rather keep hidden from him because he loses the glare and his expression becomes very serious. He motions for me to put the phone on speaker. I shake my head. No way I want him to hear something he shouldn't.

And the glare is back ladies and gentlemen.

"What do you want Volkov?" I question, my voice steady and firm despite the fact I want to chuck the phone away and start screaming.

"At the moment, you."

"Gee, sorry I can't help you there."

"I don't know how you got away from me again but mark my words I will find out who's helping you and there will be hell to pay for them."

I glance back and Ryder and Damien. Contrary to what I say, I wouldn't want either one of them to die because of me.

Now if Ryder were to get a little maimed, well, that would be okay.

"You won't find anything," I tell him. As of two seconds ago I've decided that Agent Ryder Stevenson and Agent Damien North both need to disappear. To become as invisible as me. Just give me some time alone with a computer and this will be accomplished.

"Maybe," He says. "Maybe not. Though, if I recall correctly, there are other people we can go through to get to you."

I scoff. "No there's not. You won't find anyone."

"Really? Tell me Nicky, when was the last time you checked in with your beloved family?"

My grip on the phone tightens and I feel fear and panic flood through my body. Ryder takes a step toward me but then stops and just watches cautiously.

"You're bluffing," I state, my voice sounding so much more confident than I feel.

"Am I?" He asks. "Well, I suppose you could continue to believe that. Continue to believe they're safe and sound. In the meantime, I suppose I should go and get acquainted with them. After all, you and I were so close but I never had the pleasure of meeting them. Which one of them do you think will break first?"

I can't breathe.

Images of everything he's done, of everything I watched him do flood my vision. Blood, bone, screams.

"You're lying," I whisper, but my voice lacks the confidence it had before and he notices.

"Not so confident now, are you, Nicolette?" He mocks. "I'll be sure to make a call to you once I begin work on them. I think I'll start with your young brothers first." The call ends.

My hands are shaking as I pull the phone from my ear and stare down at it in my hands. In the next second the phone's flying through the air and shattering when it connects with the wall of the hotel.

He's lying. It's not true. It's not true. He's lying. He can't have found them. It's not possible. Not true.

I keep repeating this over and over in my head but it's not making me feel in the least bit better. Because he's right, I haven't checked in on my family in while.

Of course, he could just be trying to get me to lead him to them. There's no guarantee he doesn't know exactly where I am right now. I covered my tracks well, but Ryder had managed to find me pretty quickly.

I can look in on my family and confirm they're still safe. Possibly get them moved if I have to, but it's not enough. He's shaken me and made me doubt myself. Doubt my skills at hiding their tracks.

No, just checking on them through my computer isn't enough. I need to see them. To make absolutely sure they're okay. Anything can be faked with time and a computer. I would know.

My mind's made up as I take a deep breath and steady myself. I turn back to Ryder and Damien, hiding my emotions and thoughts.

"What was that?" He asks me.

I look blankly back at him. "Nothing," I reply coolly. His jaw clenches since he knows I'm lying, but he doesn't appear to want to press the issue right now. Fine by me.

No way I lead him to my family either. My whole cover story would be blown if I did that. No, I have to go alone. And I have to go soon.

Ryder hands Damien his key for his room before taking my arm and guiding me to the room he'll be sharing with me.

I barely pay attention to the room as I enter, my mind working overtime to come up with a plan. To get all the details down.

First thing's first though, I need to get away.

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