Page 154

But here we are.War makes strange allies, I guess.

He turns to the guards who brought us here. “Are these girls the friends I asked for?”

One of the men nods. “These four are her closest friends, Señor. You are welcome to enjoy all of them, in any way you please. But as agreed, this time you will enjoy them all in our hotel here, at the compound.” His smile is white, hard, and doesn’t reach his eyes. “I’m sure you will find our luxury better than anything Beijing has to offer.” He gestures to a leather sofa close by. “If you will follow me?”

We follow Rodrigo obediently, not looking directly at him or each other, just keeping our eyes down the way we normally would in this situation.

Except that my heart isn’t normally pounding out a rap beat. Nor does the sound of a glass on a marble table normally make me jump a foot in the air.

“Relax,” Rodrigo murmurs as he leans over me, ostensibly to pour a drink. “You look like you’re about to rob a bank.”

Rodrigo offering any form of comfort is almost more unsettling than whatever is coming up. He is seated in the middle of us, Lucky and me on one side, Mary and Yrsa on the other. He takes a champagne bottle from a silver holder and pours us each a glass. The other girls look as pale and terrified as I feel.

“Don’t look so sad, ladies,” he says, loudly enough for those close to us to hear. “We’re going to have a little party.”

His words cause a ripple of laughter in the men closest to us.

“Four girls?” says a man nearby with a heavy Russian accent. “You’re becoming greedy, Cardeñas.”

Rodrigo raises his glass. “Jealous, Viktor? Since you managed to buy that racehorse out from beneath me in Dubaithis week, surely you can afford toys of your own to play with.”

The man guffaws into his glass. “I confess, thatwassatisfying.”

“Hmph.” Rodrigo turns back toward the stage, fingering my shoulder possessively. “Well, enjoy your victory. Tonight’s sale is mine,compañero.”

“We will see.” Viktor raises his glass and inclines his head toward Rodrigo. In the dim light, I see the flash of a calculated smile.

But not Jacey’s.I release a breath I didn’t know I was holding.

I have to find him.

“Si.”Rodrigo raises his own glass. “We will, indeed.”

He puts his head close to my ear. “I need a number,” he murmurs.

I suppress the urge to tell him to fuck off. “I’m trying.”

He smiles at another bidder passing our table. “Try fucking harder.”

I want to scream with frustration. Our position is behind most of the people in the room. Lucky is looking around with the same desperation.

How the fuck are we supposed to see anything from here?

The dim lights beneath the tables fade, making it even harder to make out anyone in the room. The low chatter subsides as the spotlight at the center of the dais grows, highlighting a lone box on a stand beside the auctioneer’s block. It’s covered by a black cloth.

Lucky’s hand slips into mine. “I cannot see him,” she breathes in my ear.

I grip her hand tightly. “Me either.”

Rodrigo’s arm still lies around my shoulders, his fingers pressing into my skin hard enough to leave marks, but foronce, I suspect the pressure has more to do with tension than an actual desire to inflict pain.

A man walks out onto the stage, and I feel a shock of recognition. I was expecting Leon.

Instead, the man on the stage is Pavel—Roman Stevanovsky’s chief cyber geek.

But this isn’t the same Pavel I’ve met before at Darya’s family gatherings or playing around on a laptop with Mickey. That Pavel was a rather plump tech geek, with thick glasses and a beard usually liberally splattered with pizza crumbs. He wore action hero T-shirts and loose track pants and was always spinning some gadget in his fingers.

This Pavel has clearly been spending some time training in the ring with Mickey. He’s lost at least fifty pounds, shaved his beard, and is wearing an impeccably cut tuxedo. His dark hair is swept back from his face, which is surprisingly handsome, and he’s swapped his glasses for contacts. He stares out over the room with an almost commanding air.