Wish (2 page)

“
I thought he was supposed to be
their leader,” President Hartley says to me.

“
He was. But as you know,
terrorism is a messy business,” I say. “Mikhail was offered a job
working for the Russian government about five years ago, and he’s
been working on the inside trying to take down the group that he
helped create. Somebody must have figured it out. It seems a lot of
people in the group have turned on him.”

The information was something we were just
given last night. We were going to go after Mikhail, even though I
knew he wasn’t involved. Not with his daughter missing. I’ve seen
how much that man loves her. We were all shocked the hear it. Even
though I had seen how much Mikhail loves his daughter, I still
thought he was involved somehow.

The news about Mikhail no longer being a
terrorist will make Katerina happy once she finds out. Probably his
wife too, if she’s still alive. Elizabeth Vasin has been missing
for quite a while now.

“
And we’re offering him amnesty if
he helps us find the kid and continues helping take down the
group,” the president’s advisor says.

Good.

Mikhail has done a lot of bad things, but he’s
more than making up for them. Taking down a terrorist group from
the inside is a hard and messy job. One that he might not make it
out of alive. I know he can see that now. His wife and kids are
paying for his mistakes.

“
We’re almost to Moscow,” a woman
says. “It’s time to buckle up and get ready to land.”

All of us take a seat and buckle up. My heart
beats anxiously inside my chest as we make our descent into
Russia.

I have to find Katerina.

Worst of the
worst.

Katerina.

I can hear men talking from
upstairs.

They sound anxious.

Damon is asleep, so I slowly walk up the
stairs and put my ear to the door so I can hear what they’re
saying.

“
Kidnapping the boy was a mistake
.” I
know the voice. I am pretty sure it’s Matthews. Or at least, that
was his name as Damon’s bodyguard. I’m sure it’s not his real name.
He was with Damon the longest, so he’s grown to know, and possibly
care for Damon.

“
It’s too
late to back out now
,” another voice says.
I don’t recognize this guy at all.

“
The
Russian military and the United States military are now looking for
us
,” Matthews says. “
You know we can’t hide here forever. They are going to find
us. We should just leave them and save ourselves. We can
hide…
”

“
When did
you become such a chicken
?” I hear Rafael
ask him. His voice is very unkind and unforgiving.

Rafael is the one guy I am scared of. He could
murder me and not think twice about it. There is nothing good left
inside of him.

“
The girl
is just a kid
,” I hear a new voice. It
sounds like Salvador, though I can’t be sure.

“
Shut it,
Salvador
,” Rafael says.
“
Take them some food. Can’t let them die
just yet.
”

I hear them shuffling around, so I quickly,
and quietly as possible, run down the stairs. Right when I make it
to the bottom, the door opens and I see Salvador walking down with
a tray of food in his hands. I go sit by Damon, who is still
asleep.

In my mind, I count the voices. I heard four,
though there could definitely be more. But hope bubbles up inside
me, because Russia and the United States are looking for us. They
will find us. I know they will. Tristan will save me.

“
Hey
,” I say to Salvador, liking him
better after hearing that conversation. Maybe he’s not all bad.
“
Is Damon all right
?” Damon has been asleep way too much since we’ve been down
here.

“
It’s the
medicine in his system
,” Salvador says, in
an unkind tone.

He’s probably mad about getting yelled at by
Rafael. Not that I can blame him.

Salvador sits down the food on the floor in
front of me.

“
Why are
you working for these guys
?” I ask
him.

“
No
talking,
” he says, then walks back up the
stairs.

I sigh when he slams the door.

I guess getting on this good side is going to
be harder than I thought.

When the door shuts, I see Damon move. He sits
up, looking confused for a minute. Then he sees me.

“
I’m so tired,” he says. I can
hear how tired he is in his voice. “I don’t know how I can sleep
down here.”

“
Salvador told me it’s the
medicine,” I say. “He brought down food.”

“
I’m starving,” he says, looking
at the tray. “Do you think it’s safe to eat?”

I shrug. “I don’t think we have a choice. We
need to keep up our strength. I don’t have a lot after that stupid
shot they gave us.”

“
Okay,” he says, grabbing a piece
of bread.

“
I heard them talking up stairs.
Apparently Russia and the United States are working together to
find us,” I tell him, taking a bit of the bread. “I don’t think it
will take them long. Tristan is smart. And with the two countries
working together…”

“
Good,” he says, now smiling.
“They’ll find us.”

“
Yeah, they will.” I just hope
they don’t find us too late. I’m not saying that to Damon though.
He seems hopeful and I can’t take that away from him.

“
That Salvador kid is a creep,”
Damon says, taking a drink of the water.

“
I don’t think he’s so bad. He’s
just in a bad situation.”

Damon looks at me, maybe to see if
I’m serious. “Katerina,
we
are in a bad situation. Not him. He’s free to
come and go as he pleases.”

“
We don’t know that,” I say. “He’s
treated really bad. And I just get the feeling that he’s not really
so bad.”

“
Only you could think a man who
has kidnapped you and is holding you against your will is nice,” he
says.

“
He didn’t kidnap us,” I say. “And
you’re right. I’m not saying he’s a good guy. I’m just saying maybe
he’s not as bad as the other bad guys. He’s just a kid himself.
Maybe this isn’t his fault.”

“
Whatever you say,” Damon
says.

He thinks I’m crazy.

And maybe I am.

I’d like to think that everybody in the world
has some good in them. Even the worst of the worst.

But maybe not Rafael.

I don’t like
this.

Tristan.

Mikhail Vasin is really, really mad at me. He
says it’s my fault that Katerina was kidnapped. Well, mine and
Alik’s fault.

Mikhail knows now that I am Katerina’s
bodyguard. There was no way around it. But now that I know he’s no
longer a terrorist, I feel better about the whole thing. I
should’ve believed Katerina. She believed in him. I should have
too. I trust her judgment. She knew her dad wasn’t a bad
guy.

My chest hurts, thinking about her. I wonder
where she is and if she’s doing okay. She’s a strong person—a great
fighter. I know that she will be all right. She has to be. I’m glad
Damon is with her. At least she isn’t alone.

I’m also glad Damon is with her, because it
means a lot more people are looking for them. I know that sounds
selfish, but if he wasn’t with her, we wouldn’t have the United
States helping us. The president doesn’t care about some Russian
girl. And I’m not sure any of this would be possible without their
help. I definitely wouldn’t have access to the technology that we
do without their help.

We have been all over Moscow, looking at
security footage from the airport, and trying to track where they
went. It’s harder than I thought it would be. I guess I had hoped
that we would find them right when we got to Russia. I am impatient
when it comes to Katerina. I can’t let anything happen to her. I
want her back. I want her safe.

My own family was torn apart because of this
terrorist group. My mom and dad was so close to bringing them down.
In the end, knowledge is why they are dead. But I am going to
finish their work for them. I am going to bring this to a final
end. Maybe then, I can have my family back.

I understand why my siblings don’t want
anything to do with me. I chose this lifestyle, even after seeing
what happened to our parents, my older brother and younger sister.
They made a choice to do nothing. They wanted out of the lifestyle.
But I couldn’t do that.

“
Got anything?” I ask the guy who
has been looking through video footage for the past five hours. He
has a couple empty cans of Red Bull sitting in front of him, and I
saw him grab a third one just a few minutes ago.

He pushes something on his keyboard and brings
up a clip. Katerina and Damon are both being carried and put into
the back of a van. They aren’t moving at all.

“
We believe they were drugged,”
the guy says. “They have to be. They’d be fighting if
not.”

“
Is that Matthews?” I
ask.

I know Matthews well. He’s been Damon’s
bodyguard for over a year now. He’s good at what he does and he’s
never once done anything to make me question him. This can’t be
Matthews.

“
Yes and no,” he answers. “That is
Gaidar. Born in Moscow. Was recruited to Mikhail’s Vasin’s group
right out of high school. His loyalties changed about a year and a
half ago. He’s working on taking down Mikhail Vasin. His coverup
was a good one. He passed all our security checks.”

“Why would he want to be Damon’s
bodyguard? That doesn’t make sense. Katerina wasn’t going to
New Hope Academy
back
then.”

“
No. But Dean Bello was there,” he
explains.

“
Right.” Dean Bello is Elizabeth
Vasin’s sister. I let out a sigh. “What are we going to
do?”

“
We’ve got Gaidar and Rafael’s
faces everywhere in Russia. There isn’t a person here who hasn’t
seen their face and everybody is looking for them,” the says. “Now,
we just wait. They can’t hide forever.”

No, they can’t.

But they can hide a while.

“
I don’t like this,” I say, hating
that I can’t do anything right now. “I’m going out to help the
search parties. I have to do something.”

“
All right,” the guy says. “I’m
going to keep looking.”

I grab my jacket before heading
outside.

I will find Katerina.

TWO

Can’t blame a girl for
trying.

Katerina.

I wake up when the sun shines through the
small window and right into my eyes. Damon is still asleep. He’s
slept a lot. I hope he’s okay. Maybe the medicine just affected him
more than it did me. I hope that’s it. I hope they find us soon so
a doctor can check him out. I will feel better if a medical expert
says he’s okay.

Today, I am feeling almost back to normal. My
muscles are sore and I’ve got a headache, but I have a feeling
that’s from lack of water. Well, that and sleeping on a concrete
floor. My neck is stiff and hurting.

I get up from the floor and walk around the
small space, needing to move. I hate being stuck down here. I want
to get out and run. Moving helps my stiff muscles a little. I wish
there was more room down here.

“
Katerina,” I hear Damon
say.

“
Good morning,” I say to him, as I
pace back and forth.

“
What are you going?”

“
Walking.”

“
My body hurts,” he
says.

“
Me too.”

“
I was really hoping they would
find us by now,” he says.

I can tell he’s scared.

“
Don’t worry, Damon,” I tell him.
“They’ll find us. Until then, we just have to make the most of
this.”

“
How do we make the most of being
locked in a basement?” he asks.

I look at the small window. “Do you think I
can fit through there?”

“
Maybe.”

“
Want to give me a boost?” I
ask.

“
I guess it’s worth a
shot.”

Damon gets off the floor and come over to me.
He holds on his hands to boost me up and I step into his cupped
hands. He lifts me up, but I can feel him wobbling. I don’t feel
safe. I put some of my weight against the window frame.

“
You’re heavier than you look,” he
says, his voice strained.

I laugh, knowing he’s just weak because of the
medicine in his system. I unlock the window and it pushes open, and
I feel excitement bubble up inside me. Maybe, just maybe we can get
out of here.