“May I take your car today, sir?” he says, his accent softer than I’ve ever heard it, head dipped low.
The man doesn’t even glance in Yuri’s direction as he drops the keys to his car in Yuri’s hand and then brushes past him to get inside. Instantly, Yuri runs away to the driver’s side of the car and waves for me to follow. I glance back to see the two men in black moving faster across the lobby now, nearing the doors, hands reaching inside jackets for what I can only assume are weapons. So I run for the passenger door, reaching it just as Yuri unlocks the car.
I hear a scuffle behind us, a man shouts for someone to be careful, and a few other bystanders grumble about rudeness, and I can only assume the two men following us are growing desperate. They’re probably running through the hotel now. Maybe they even have their guns out. But I don’t look back to see.
Instead, I slam the door behind me and beat on the dash for Yuri to drive. He obliges, and we peel out.
Chapter Fourteen
Bella
I watch through the back window for the first fifteen minutes before I accept no one is following us. Not yet, anyway.
“Where are we going?”
Yuri’s knuckles are white on the steering wheel, and he glances in the rearview mirror before sighing. “I’m not sure, but we need to ditch this car. The man will report it stolen soon enough and police will only make everything more complicated.”
I nod. I have no idea how to steal a car. Technically, I helped Yuri steal this one, but not really. So far, I’ve been more of a liability than an asset in this whole shootout and chase. I want to help, but I don’t know how. Probably because I’m still not sure what is going on.
“You tried to leave me back at the hotel.”
Yuri looks over at me, eyebrows drawn together, ashamed. “I know.”
“If you’d left a few minutes sooner, I would have died,” I say.
“I know.” It sounds like his teeth are grinding together now. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry,” I say. And I mean it. “Just help me be useful. Tell me what is going on.”
He shakes his head. “Knowing too much is dangerous.”
“So is not knowing enough,” I argue. “I don’t care how you feel about it; we’re in this together, and I need to know what is going on.”
“We’re being hunted,” he says. “What more do you need to know?”
I think about it for a moment, and decide to start from the beginning. “The first night we were in the hotel, at the restaurant—what were those numbers for?”
“The numbers were attached to a Swiss bank account used by The Society to fund its operations.”
“And who was the man who fed me the numbers?”
Yuri glances at me quickly before looking back to the road. “He works for the CIA.”
“He what?” I twist towards him, eyes wide. “I thought you were a criminal. What are you doing talking to the CIA? Has it all been a ruse? Are you actually working for the government?”
He chuckles once and shakes his head. “No, I’m still on the wrong side of the law. Don’t worry, not that much has changed. But my family has been working with the CIA to bring The Society down.”
“Why would the CIA want to work with criminals to bring down other criminals?”
“Have you never heard of a plea deal?” he asks. “The government uses criminals to ferret out other criminals all the time. Justice is hardly as simple as most people think.”
I’m beginning to think nothing is as simple as I thought. A few days ago, my life was simple. My biggest problem was where to order dinner. Now, the world feels like it has been tipped on its axis and one wrong move will send everything tumbling into space.
“So, why was the CIA giving the numbers to you instead of the other way around?” I ask.
Yuri turns off the main road onto a side street. I can see him scanning parking lots and driveways as we go, scoping out the next car we’ll take. “Because they need proof The Society is shady, and as long as The Society has an endless supply of money, their business partners won’t talk. But, if we can take out those accounts, suddenly people aren’t getting paid.”
“And they’ll turn their backs on The Society?” I ask.
“My family operates on loyalty. Everyone else,” he said, “they speak in money. Your father included.”
I know my father isn’t the man I thought, but it still feels strange to let Yuri say anything bad about him. Especially because, until I can talk to my father face-to-face, I don’t think I’ll ever really believe he’s as bad as the finance records made him look.
“Sorry,” Yuri says, as though he can read my mind. “Your father was working with us, as you saw on the reports. But the reports didn’t show you that he was helping us take down The Society. He wore wires to meetings and was supposed to make them all believe he was on their side so he could turn vital information over to us. And then, in turn, we would turn it over to the CIA.”
“Wait a minute,” I say, holding up a hand to stop him. “Why did you and your dad look so freaked when I mentioned the men with The Society pins in my dad’s office? You already knew he was meeting with them.”
“We didn’t know about those meetings. It meant your father was working with them on his own terms and everything he knew about us—our hiding places, our defenses—couldn’t be trusted. It’s why we had to run.” Yuri turns down an alley
