To Hell And Back_A Kurtherian Gambit Series

by Natalie Grey

  “And we do not want to be allied with a madman,” Ruslan added.

  Ruslan would not have admitted as much to Aibek, but he was relieved. He had not liked the subtle suggestion of debt that Sidonie had made—that their pack would always be indebted to Emeric Carre. It was true, but to remind them of it suggested that they would be asked to go above and beyond any reasonable call of loyalty.

  Whatever Emeric had been planning to ask of them, Ruslan had been quite sure that he wanted no part of it.

  But, like Aibek, he had seen no recourse.

  Now they had a new ally.

  “What of our promise to Emeric?” Ruslan asked quietly.

  “I will deal with Emeric,” Stephen assured them. “But first, let us find your family and get them out.”

  Sofia, Bulgaria

  By early afternoon, Dedov was annoyed, and still no closer to finding anything about Arisha.

  He had started at the hotel. Aside from some gossip amongst the bell boys about several abrupt departures from the highest-end suites in the place, there didn’t seem to be much information to be had. The woman at the front desk refused to confirm whether Arisha had even stayed in the hotel, citing confidentiality rules, and though she was clearly there to serve as eye candy, both her tone and her manner said that she was intended for higher-end people than him.

  In the end, she reverted to Bulgarian instead of Russian or English, and he was forced to withdraw to the bar, sulking.

  He wandered through a few streets and markets, asking after his friend who had “disappeared from home.” He got a few sympathetic looks, but no one seemed to have seen her. Once or twice, he thought he might have been being followed, but when he looked around, no one was there.

  Finally, he had an idea.

  He strolled around, looking in the windows of the bars until he found one that seemed to be a good mix of completely run-down and almost empty.

  A few old men were playing darts in the corner, slurring their words. Another two men argued around the far corner of the bar. They slapped the bar regularly for emphasis.

  The seats were disgusting, but Dedov sat on one of them anyway and caught the bartender’s attention with a lift of his chin.

  “Vodka,” he ordered simply. He waited for the pour and wrinkled his nose. The generosity of it suggested that the vodka wasn’t very good.

  However, he had been raised properly. He drank the first vodka down and asked for another, trying not to wince at the unusual burn in the back of his throat. What was this stuff made of?

  He drank the second one down, too—to show that the first was not bad—and asked for a third. This one, he cradled in one hand and took a tiny sip.

  “I’m looking for something,” he told the bartender.

  “Ah?” The bartender gave a leisurely look around the bar as if checking on his patrons and then leaned in to wipe down the bar near Dedov. “Drugs? A girl?…A boy?”

  Dedov shook his head. “No, nothing so…nothing like that.” He took another sip of the vodka and kept himself from wincing. “Information. Anything strange that has been occurring lately.”

  The bartender looked wary. “I’m sure I don’t know anything.” He forced a smile. “Tell me if you need another drink.”

  He vanished, and Dedov cursed under his breath.

  A voice spoke from behind him. “I could tell you some strange things.”

  Dedov turned sharply. A man stood there, with pale eyes and light brown hair. His soccer jersey was familiar—Dedov had seen him earlier in the day. Now that he thought of it, he had seen the man more than once.

  “Were you following me?”

  “I heard someone was asking questions.” The man took a seat beside him and raised two fingers to the bartender to indicate two more drinks.

  They did not speak until the bartender had brought the drinks back, and then disappeared with almost unseemly haste.

  “You see...” The man clinked his glass against Dedov’s and took a long pull of his beer. “I have also been asking questions. And I have heard some answers that mention a woman. A Russian woman who was here not too long ago, asking questions of her own.”

  “Arisha?” Dedov asked sharply.

  “Yes. Your friend, then?”

  “Coworker.” Dedov took a gulp of his drink. “We’re reporters, and she found something big. I don’t know what, but I’m not going to let her take the payout and run. I want in.”

  “Interesting.” The man took a sip of his beer.

  “What were you asking questions about?” Dedov asked.

  “My friend. He worked as a…connector.” The man shrugged. “He found people whatever they wanted, da? He went missing from here not too long ago, and I wanted to find him. Not long before he died, he called in some guys he’d used as muscle once or twice before. He said he had some information that would impress a girl. He was seen once more, coming out of a building on the night of the bombing—and then never again.”

  “Bombing?” Dedov’s eyes widened.

  “Ah, yes. Some very strange things have been happening lately.” The man smiled. “We could find the truth together, you and I.”

  “Deal.” Dedov held out his hand. “I’m Dedov.”

  “Milen.” The man shook his hand and drank down his beer. “Now, come with me.”

  Dedov left some money on the bar and followed the man out into the fresh air.

  “What did you say your friend’s name was?” he asked, as they walked.

  “Filip,” Milen told him.

  13

  Naftalan, Azerbaijan

  The facility near Naftalan was shielded not by trees but by mountains. It lay nestled in a valley, relatively far from the city. Boulders littered the area, and Jennifer’s boots crunched as she climbed up the steep incline with Irina and Hsu following her.

  On the one hand, they would have the high ground as they approached the facility. On the other hand, they would be entirely exposed, with only bushes and rocks as occasional cover.

  If the guards at Naftalan decided to shoot first and ask questions later, there was going to be a problem.

  They were most of the way up the hill that led into the valley when the wind shifted and Irina and Jennifer caught the scent of another Wechselbalg.

  Their heads whipped around as the sound of growls filled the air, and a giant, silvery wolf slunk out from behind one of the boulders. There was no way it couldn’t know what they were, but it also did not look friendly in the least.

  Possibilities whirled in Jennifer’s head. Had the administrator of the Naftalan facility sent wolves out here with orders?

  That would mean their experiments had been successful, allowing for implanted orders without any further radio waves—for she did not sense any. And she was fairly sure that none of the facilities had been successful in their efforts.

  So who was this?

  “We do not mean to trespass.” Jennifer held up her hands and nodded to the wolf. “We are here to free the inhabitants of the facility.”

  Mentally, she prepared herself to transform and leap in front of Hsu. It was clear that the human was the weakest target of all of them, and the wolf would no doubt go there first.

  The wolf transformed back into a woman. It was difficult to tell her age—anywhere between forty and sixty would be Jennifer’s guess. Her grey-and-white hair fell over her shoulders, and though her face was relatively unlined, her eyes were watchful and wise.

  And unfriendly. Her face never cracked a smile as she retrieved some clothes and put them on. She crossed her arms and stared them down.

  “You’re with the vampire,” she said bluntly.

  “The Matriarch?” Jennifer deliberately misunderstood.

  “Or her servant. You reek of it.” The woman’s nose twitched in distaste. “We heard you would come here and tell us how to seek justice.”

  “So says Emeric Carre, who would bring the attention of the world down on you with no way to protect you from it,” J
ennifer spoke flatly. “He cannot be trusted. He is not your friend. He has been driven mad by his need for revenge.”

  “The fact that you are not mad for revenge means you are not trustworthy.” The woman glared. “Do you not understand what has happened here?”

  “I understand it,” Jennifer countered heatedly.

  “And I have lived it,” Irina chimed in. “But I do not seek to wander into towns and murder humans for the crime of not knowing that I was tortured. They did not even realize that I existed, and if you cannot save your kin, as my kin could not save me…how should the humans have saved us?”

  The woman wavered at that, but fury snapped back onto her face a moment later.

  “Do not try to trick me out of having my revenge. Every one of the humans in that facility deserves to die—followed by every human who knew of it and did nothing to stop it.”

  The sound of a rock clinking caught Jennifer’s attention, and she looked around and saw the rest of the pack emerging from the rocks some distance away. They walked up the hill toward her, forming a loose net to catch her and her companions.

  Nowhere to run—except the facility, itself.

  But Jennifer smiled. The woman was counting on her to back down, perhaps to be cowed into submission so she could be brought to Emeric. And that wasn’t going to happen.

  She waited until the pack was close enough to hear her, and then she struck. “So, you want to make sure that everyone involved in this is dead, and you do not trust me and mine to do that?”

  The woman looked briefly surprised that Jennifer was not backing down, but she nodded. “Yes.”

  “What is your name?” Jennifer asked.

  The woman glowered, then, “Zurya.”

  “Zurya, do you know who runs these facilities?” Jennifer asked, tilting her head toward the lab.

  “No one knows.”

  “I know.” Jennifer smiled. “His name is Hugo Marcari. Or…it was. I killed him.”

  There was a sharp intake of breath around the group, and a murmur started. Everyone quieted when the woman gave a look of warning.

  “A person and a claim we cannot verify,” Zurya pointed out.

  “Then how on earth do you expect to find out in the first place?” Jennifer asked her, raising an eyebrow. “If you admit that you have no way to find out if I’m telling the truth—which, by the way, I am—then you’re as good as admitting that you’ll never find out who’s behind all of this.”

  “Get off our land,” Zurya spat.

  “No,” Jennifer said flatly. “We have an AI hooked into the computer systems of that facility. We have access to badges. We have ways to shut down the automated systems that would kill the prisoners if the facility was stormed and someone pressed a panic button. We have the medical facilities to treat the Wechselbalg in there, and we have enough firepower to take out every single scientist and guard in that place. We know all of this because we did our research. We found out who was behind this and we hacked their system to find every facility.

  “But you don’t have any of that. You’re going to try to get in there unarmed, talking your way into a situation you’ve never seen before, and you’re going to try to get in and out without knowing what sort of defensive systems there are in place or how many guards there are. Explain to me why I should leave. I’m the one who’s going to save the people in there—and you’re the one who’s going to get them killed if you don’t work with me.”

  There was a stony silence. Then—

  “Are you challenging me?” Zurya demanded.

  Fury filled Jennifer’s chest. Lives were at stake, and all this woman cared about was rank.

  “Yes,” she told her curtly. “If I win, I will be the one who takes charge of this assault. Are we clear? And when this is all done, I will leave all of you here. I will have no more orders. And you can try to become alpha again.” She felt compelled to add. “I don’t like your chances, though.”

  “If I win,” the woman replied quietly, “you will leave and not interfere in something that is none of your business.”

  So, not a fight to the death, then. It was all Jennifer could think.

  Despite her words, despite the traditional use of “if,” she did not even think of what would happen if she lost. She could not afford failure. Therefore, she would not fail.

  They shed their clothes without another word, and Irina drew Hsu away to the edge of the circle that had formed. When Jennifer and the alpha transformed and began to circle, there was a quiet murmur.

  Jennifer had always been a strong fighter. It had been both a blessing and a curse, condemning her to difficult jobs as a lowly member of the pack and tending to make the men afraid of her.

  She curled her lip in amusement at the thought of what those men would think now. She had been a strong fighter, yes, but she had never truly been tried in battle. She had never gone up against Nathan or Pete. She had never known what it was to really fight with everything she had.

  Over months of fighting and having the rest of Bethany Anne’s team absolutely wipe the floor with her, she became stronger. She’d gotten quicker, and she’d learned to push past the point of exhaustion. She’d determined that neither enhancements nor technology was a substitute for tactics and practice.

  Now, as Zurya leaped, Jennifer’s body moved without thought. She leaped uphill and out of the way. It was a harder move, something that cost strength and stamina—not something she would have spent her energy on at the beginning of the fight.

  Now she knew that when the dust settled, she would have the high ground, and Zurya would be easily pinned against one of the boulders.

  Even as she landed, Jennifer was turning to leap again. Her jaws found the other wolf’s scruff as the alpha tried to turn, and Jennifer slammed her opponent into the rock with a snarl.

  End the fight now, decisively, or prove over a longer period of time that she was the true victor and not just the recipient of a lucky break? Jaws still locked on, Jennifer dragged Zurya into the circle, pinning her until she yipped in defeat.

  Jennifer changed back and donned her clothes, looking away courteously until the other woman was also dressed.

  When she turned back, however, she did not pull any punches. “I didn’t come here to get mixed up in your pack. I came here to save your families. If you want to help me, you’re welcome to—although there will not be any torture. This time spent positioning for power was additional time your families remain inside.

  “So do you want to help me, or do you want to stand in the way?”

  Zurya did not look at her. “I will help.”

  “Good.” Jennifer nodded. “Now, here’s the deal. Each facility so far, we’ve had our AI intercept communications and give authorization that we’re the team being sent to close down the facility. So far, there hasn’t been much trouble. But things might go sideways. If they do... Go to the second and third floors of the facility and get your family members out. My team can shut down any poison or other defensive systems, and Irina and I will handle taking out the guards. So far, none of them have had silver bullets.”

  “There’s something, at least,” Zurya murmured.

  “Yes.” Jennifer allowed herself a small smile. “So let’s get in there and see what we can make happen.”

  Sofia, Bulgaria

  Dedov followed Milen through the underbrush, swearing as branches flicked back to slap him across the face.

  Milen looked back, half amused and half annoyed. “Be quieter.”

  “You didn’t tell me we were going to be going to the middle of nowhere,” Dedov complained. “What’s out here that we can’t find out about in the city?”

  “The bombed facility,” Milen called over his shoulder. “Stop complaining.”

  As soon as they had left the bar, Milen had led Dedov to a run-down shop at the edge of town with surprisingly durable cold weather gear. A few words, a discreet handshake, and they’d been on their way out into the forests outside the tow
n.

  But the cold got in any way. It seeped into the boots and lashed against their faces, and Dedov was slowly getting more and more annoyed.

  Wasn’t this the sort of thing you hired other people to do, instead of doing it yourself?

  “What’s at the facility?” He called, after a few more minutes of struggling across snow and tripping over hidden branches.

  Milen sighed and turned. “We don’t know,” he explained patiently. “If we knew, we wouldn’t have to come out. But I know your precious Arisha was asking questions about wolves, and I know wolf howls were heard around here, and I know Filip was trying to get answers out of some American to give to Arisha, and I know that the American was interested in this place. Are you done with the questions?”

  Dedov stared at him. His head was spinning from the influx of information. It was all tangled up, but damned if he could see how it all fit together.

  As he followed Milen, his head began to churn. He had read over every folder he’d seen Arisha sneaking peeks at, and although he’d never found anything like secret government activity or bribery scandals, he had seen a few articles about wolf sightings.

  Now he tried to remember everything he could.

  Why the hell was Arisha so interested in wolves? Wolves were a nuisance, nothing more—certainly, it wasn’t worth traveling to find stories about wolves in other countries.

  Was it?

  But suddenly, Dedov remembered something from one of the articles and his blood ran cold.

  It had been one of those stories that showed up in tabloids or local news. A farmer had seen a wolf, but not just any wolf—a wolf he claimed was as tall at its crest as a man’s shoulder, silhouetted against the moon.

  It was too fantastical a story to be believed, but the farmer had not been drunk and, even after being laughed out of the police station and off the television, he stuck stubbornly to his story. I saw it, Dedov remembered reading. I saw it, and I’m not going to say I didn’t. I don’t know how it’s real—it just is.

  Now he swallowed with fear, suddenly terrified.

  What if the wolf had been real?