Page 54 of The Blonde Who Came in from the Cold (The Blonde Identity #2)

One Year Ago

The Middle of the Mediterranean

Alex

It was the middle of the night in the middle of the Mediterranean, and a woman just woke up a ton of bad guys.

Alex didn’t know whether she was lucky (there were only so many “constantly moving” locations for Kozlov to keep his backups

and she’d guessed it on her very first try). Or supremely cursed. (Since when do Russian thugs not finish the whole bottle of vodka?)

She’d sprung for the good stuff and you couldn’t even taste the tranquilizers, but then the morons had to go and drop the

bottle and waste half, so now—instead of taking her good sweet time—Alex was running across the deck of Kozlov’s megayacht,

Russian curses flying on the air along with the bullets.

So. Many. Bullets.

She was almost to the aft, though. Arms pumping. Wind in her hair. There was no way she was going to make it to her lifeboat

in time, but Alex told herself it didn’t matter.

Even if she died... even if all she managed to do was destroy Kozlov’s backup... then that would be enough.

The flash drive was already safe. There was only one other person in the world who could access it, and she was far away and

blissfully innocent. She was going to stay that way too. Because Alex hadn’t talked to her sister in years. With very few

exceptions, no one even knew Zoe existed.

And it wouldn’t matter anyway because time was almost out.

The clock in her head was ticking down.

Five.

Four.

More shots. More curses.

Three.

Two.

And then Alex leapt into the air, diving deep as the goons fired overhead, bullets piercing the water like falling stars until—

One.

Flames filled the sky, and Alex dove deeper beneath the waves, hiding from the heat and the debris that fell like rain.

She gasped when she finally surfaced, but all she saw were floating pieces of smoldering rubble and smoke so thick, it blocked

the stars. The dark waters of the sea lapped against her, and Alex’s mind grew foggy from the smoke and the trauma and the

knowledge that she was a long, long way from shore.

Maybe someone would see the flames. Maybe someone heard the explosion. Or maybe it was all too late, but that didn’t matter.

The flash drive was safe.

The backup was gone.

Even if Alex didn’t make it out of this, it wouldn’t all be for nothing. People would know that her good heart and her strong

body hadn’t been wasted. She wasn’t just the girl who had almost killed her sister; she was also the woman who had taken down

Viktor Kozlov, so a deep sense of peace came over Alex as she floated on the inky black water and watched the smoke swirl

across the sky.

She crawled onto a piece of debris and closed her eyes. She was starting to drift—on the waves and in and out of consciousness,

when—

“ If you need me, press the stone and I’ll find you. I’ll always find you... ”

The voice filled her mind as Alex reached for the bracelet and pressed against the emerald. She felt the click and watched it start to glow—a green light flashing in the dark. Beating like a pulse, the only thing keeping her alive as

the stars grew brighter and the night grew later—

And later—

And later—

Until a low distant hum filled the air, and, suddenly, the moon was too bright—too close—beaming down on Alex like a spotlight

as the water got rougher and the sound got louder and—

There was a shadow in the moonlight, falling from the sky and getting closer. And closer.

And closer.

Strong arms wrapped around her. Lips pressed against her skin. And a familiar voice said, “I have you. I have you. I have

you.”

Alex felt her body start to rise as the arms squeezed tighter.

“You’re safe now,” the voice said, and for the first time in a long time, it was true.