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“She’s coming with us,” Nojus’s second-in-command says. He’s tall, he’s stupid, and his Latvian is terrible. He usually keeps things pretty short, which is his best quality.

“She’s definitely not.” Leonid glances back at me. “They’re with you? Really?”

I shake my head. “I don’t like them. They’re here to kill me too, though, so maybe you have more in common than you think.”

“You want to kill her?” Leonid’s eyebrows rise. “Really?”

The men glare. About half of them don’t speak Latvian. Lithuanian’s similar, but I can only catch snatches of it here and there. I’m guessing it’s the same for them.

“You’re talking too fast, and your accent is too heavy. They don’t understand you,” I say.

“You’re positive they want you dead?” Leonid asks.

I nod.

He sighs. “This is tedious, and I hate doing things out in the open like this.” He glances around slowly, starting in the east. There’s a popping sound and sparks fall from a camera mounted on the side of the brick building. Then he looks to the west, and the same thing happens to a traffic camera on a light post. Again, and again, ten little rounds of pops and sparks, all of them disabling recording devices.

“What are you doing?” I ask.

“Do you really not know?” Leonid looks even more annoyed now.

“She comes with us,” Nojus’s cousin says. He’s smaller, but he’s covered in tattoos from head to toe. I’ve always thought he was one of the scarier lackeys. He’s also really handy with a switchblade.

“Yes, you’ve said,” Leonid says. “And now that I’ve made sure—” He cuts off with a grimace and there’s a spark and a shout from a man standing on the closest corner. “Move along, loser!” Leonid waves, and the man actually scampers away.

“Okay, now that we’re finally not being filmed, I can eliminate one more nuisance.” He lifts his hands, and all twelve men are suddenly engulfed in flames.

I can barely believe what I’m seeing.

They’re screaming and stumbling and the smell. I do retch, right over the side of the bench.

“Burning people alive is so messy and disgusting, but honestly, I did not expect this of Aleksandr.” He sighs. “So what’s his plan, then? He just sent you here like a sacrificial lamb to be roasted?”

“No,” I say. “I’m not a lamb.”

“Oh, no?” Leonid smiles.

There are a dozen men who are literally burning into piles of ash behind him, and he looks like he’s forgotten all about them.

“Tell me, then. Why was he okay with sending you here alone like this, with just a few helpless, walking firewood sticks as company?”

“Those men weren’t sent by Aleks,” I say. “They were coming to kill me, because I owe a very bad man a lot of money.”

“Wait.” Leonid looks truly baffled. “If you owe someone money, why hasn’t Aleks taken care of it?”

“For someone who seems to think he knows everything,” I say, “you’re not very smart.”

When his eyes flash, it occurs to me that I should not be baiting him. What’s wrong with me? Why do I always take swings at lions?

“I’m not even Kristiana, you idiot.” Hopefully it’s been long enough that Mirdza’s safe. I think about telling them that I’m Mirdza’s criminal sister, but then I realize that doing that would just lead them right back to Mirdza. The longer it takes them to figure out who I am, the better her chance of actually escaping. “I’m just a patsy she paid to show up today.” I glance around. “And judging from what I’m seeing? She didn’t pay me nearly enough.”

Leonid does not look pleased, but he says, “Come with me.”

And I do.

My options appear to be following him or becoming a pile of ashes. Not much in the way of robust choices.

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