Page 94 of Poison Evidence

Sometimes all you could rely on was gut feeling. Dimitri might be the Hammer, but he was also the man who’d been ready to sacrifice his life to save thousands of others.

Luke believed Ivy and trusted Dimitri.

He swam to the ladder and prepared to lie to the DIA.

Ian kicked at the door as the shot echoed. Inside, Ivy let out a low yell; the dock shook. He kicked again. On the fifth kick, the lock snapped. He entered, gun drawn, to see Ivy throw a wrench she must’ve grabbed from the workbench at a man he’d never seen before.

The man ducked. “Chill out, Ivy! We’re on the same side!”

“Bullshit!” She grabbed another wrench and threw it. “You set me up for this!” The man stepped backward, his eyes darting to the edge of the dock, where a Sig hovered on the brink of falling into the water.

He dove for the weapon, and Ian dove for him.

He didn’t know what was going on, but he’d been hired to protect Ivy. They fought for the gun, rolling on the dock. The gun landed in the water, and the stranger landed a blow to Ian’s jaw.

He grunted and clipped the man on the chin just as a wrench hit the man’s temple.

The man slumped backward, out cold. Ivy stood above them both, breathing heavily, holding a wrench in her good hand. “God, I hope I didn’t kill him. We need to know who Rudy’s working for, and for him to tell his boss that Dimitri is dead.”

Ivy stood to her full height. She nodded toward the unconscious man. “Rudy Fredrickson killed Ulai—” She dropped the wrench and turned to the pilot. “Dimitri was helping him breathe. He said he still had a pulse. Maybe there’s still time.”

From the look of the wound, Ian suspected it was too late.

Ivy dropped to her knees at Ulai’s side and placed her fingers on his neck, while Ian did the same for the man she’d called Rudy Fredrickson. Fredrickson’s pulse was steady, as was his breathing.

“No pulse, not breathing,” she said of Ulai. Her gaze dropped to her cast. “I can’t do CPR.” She turned her desperate eyes on Ian.

“It’s too late, Ivy.” But he dropped to his knees just the same and started chest compressions.

Ivy plucked his phone from his pocket as Luke entered the hangar.

“We need an ambulance,” she said into the phone. “A man is down. No pulse and unresponsive. CPR is being administered.” She gave the location, described the injury, then hung up. To Luke and Ian, she said, “Agent Palea needs to investigate. Rudy did this, not Dimitri.”

Her gaze fixed on the dead man Ian was trying to revive. “He’ll get away with everything because Dimitri is the Hammer. But Dimitri isn’t who you think he is.”

“You know about the Hammer?” Luke asked as he positioned himself at Ulai’s head.

She nodded. “But that’s notwhohe is.”

“I’ll do the breaths at the next interval,” Luke said.

Ian nodded, counting compressions as sweat dripped down his brow. “Where is Veselov?” he managed to ask, then said, “Twenty-nine, thirty,” to signal Luke to breathe for Ulai.

Luke gave Ulai two breaths. His chest rose with the infusion of air into the lungs. No blockage.

Ian resumed chest compressions.

Luke looked toward the unconscious man several feet away. “He’s out?”

“Yes,” Ian said. “Ivy hit him with a wrench.”

“When he comes to, we can convince him it was a mistake and give Agent Palea time to investigate,” Ivy said. “Ian thought he was a threat to me. Rudy is involved. He attacked Ulai. We can’t let Dimitri take the fall.”

“Twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty,” Ian said.

Luke breathed for Ulai again.

When Luke was done, Ivy asked, “Is Dimitri okay?”