Page 16 of Enemy Within

Finally, the first jeep made it across, sliding between the two LEDs and rocking up the snowy embankment. Turning, they parked and shined their headlights across the ice, trying to penetrate the snow-filled gloom.

“Next!” Scott waved for the next jeep to roll out, shouting at them to hurry their asses. He slapped the hood, and the Russian at the wheel gave him the finger and blew him a kiss as he slid onto the ice.

And on it went. One jeep after another, slowly, through the night.

After the first two, Ethan turned to Jack. “You should wait inside the vehicle. Stay warm.” He called out to Sergey. “You too, Mr. President. You both need to keep safe and warm.”

Sergey nodded once and headed for his jeep, keeping his gaze on the ice and their fellow drivers.

Jack watched Sergey go. “I’m going to talk to him.”

Ethan nodded, but before Jack left his side, he reached out, stopping him with a squeeze to his elbow. “Good luck. I’ll come get you when it’s time.” He dropped a kiss to Jack’s balaclava-covered forehead, and, even though most of Jack’s face was completely covered, he could see Jack’s smile by the crinkle of his eyes.

SERGEY SLAMMED SHUT THE driver’s door, shutting out the snapping wind and the blowing snow. The cold remained, the jeep as frigid as the night, and his breath puffed before him, a great billowing cloud obscuring his vision for a moment.

Leaning back, Sergey’s eyes slid closed.

The pain—the wrenching, aching agony that lived in the center of his chest—twisted, sending a punch to his soul. He tried to breathe through it, but his eyes tightened behind his eyelids, and the sob that always threatened to burst from his lungs crawled too high, too fast, lodging in his throat.

Shakily, he exhaled. “God, Sasha,” he whispered, his voice trembling. “This ismadness. If you were here—” His throat closed, and he swallowed, breathing slowly. “You wouldhatethis. You would be just like Ethan, trying to control everything. Try to make everything safe, as if you could tame the storm and the ice. I can see your scowl…” He tipped his head forward, and his eyes opened, blurring when he looked into this lap.

“You should be here,” he whispered again. “Why did you—” He licked his lips and breathed in again. Anguish twisted the knife within him, and he imagined his blood pouring down his insides, sliding down his ribs, his heart crying the tears he could not shed. “Why did you notsayanything?”

Squeaking hinges made him look up suddenly, made his eyes freeze dry as snow-sharp air slipped inside the jeep. A moment later, Jack climbed inside, sitting in the passenger seat and shaking off a layer of snow that had built on his shoulders.

Sergey looked away. He sniffed, trying to wipe his nose and pass it off like it was the weather.

Jack stared at him. Sergey felt it, felt the weight of his friend’s gaze digging into the side of his face.

He kept staring into the darkness and tried to count the snowflakes that blew past. Anything to not think about Sasha, or imagine that it was him sitting beside him in the jeep.

ETHAN BLINKED HARD, TRYING to dampen his aching eyes. The cold seemed to sap away everything. Blinking was like closing his eyes over sandpaper.

Snow built up around the edges of his balaclava. Scott had ice hanging from the chin of his balaclava, where he exhaled and the moisture of his breath froze.

This was ball-shrivelingly cold. Colder than Ethan had been in a long time.

The jeeps kept moving, one after another. Most had made it across, their trips slow and uneventful. Even the creaking ice had become almost normal, the sounds of the frozen river and their drive almost like music. He could hear the dips and groans, the cadence of the crossing. It was almost predictable.

Until the sounds changed.

A crack, like the snap of a heavy whip, shot through the air. In an instant, he was alert, eyes peeled, spine ramrod straight. At the bank, he and Scott stared through their binos, watching the third to last jeep move over the ice.

“Ice is bad, very bad!” the driver shouted over the radio. “Is cracking!”

“Don’t accelerate!” Scott shouted back. “Don’t make waves beneath the ice! You’ll make it worse!”

Tires revving, the jeep shot ahead, skipping over the ice. Behind them, a crack appeared, snaking almost to the riverbank. The ice groaned like an old wooden ship rocking on the ocean.

“Fuck!” Ethan shouted. Scott spewed into the radio, cursing the driver and his intelligence. Blistering Russian spat back.

Sighing, Scott glared at the dark crack in the ice, and then at Ethan. “Now what?”

“SERGEY. LOOK AT ME”

Flinching, Sergey shook his head, still staring out of the side window. Jack’s voice was hard, like it had been the first time they’d spoken, testing each other’s waters back in Prague.

“After all this time. After everything we’ve been through. Whythis? Why now?”