Chapter 5 - Seventeen Languages
Emergency lights washed the room in red.
Mason moved toward the door.
“Backup power should have activated.”
Adrian grabbed Evelyn’s hand.
“Stay behind me.”
She pulled free.
“I can walk.”
“This isn’t the time.”
A voice came through the hotel speaker system.
Russian.
Evelyn froze.
Adrian looked at her.
“What is he saying?”
She listened.
Then translated.
“‘Send the woman to elevator four, and everyone else walks away.’”
Mason cursed.
Adrian looked toward Theo.
“You brought them here.”
“No.”
Theo sounded genuinely afraid.
“I came to warn you.”
The speaker crackled again.
This time Polish.
Evelyn listened.
“They know the emergency stairwells are blocked.”
Another voice.
Serbian.
“They’re watching the lobby.”
Adrian turned toward Mason.
“Service elevator?”
“Probably covered.”
Evelyn listened as another message came through.
Then she smiled.
Adrian noticed.
“What?”
“They made a mistake.”
“What mistake?”
“The Serbian speaker isn’t Serbian.”
Mason stared.
“You can tell that?”
“He’s Bosnian pretending to be Serbian. His vowels are wrong.”
“How does that help us?”
“He used a regional phrase.”
Evelyn grabbed the hotel map.
“Repeat what he said,” Adrian ordered.
“He said they’re waiting ‘beneath the iron river.’”
Theo frowned.
“That means nothing.”
“In Bosnia, maybe. In this building?”
Evelyn pointed at the map.
“The steel water lines run above the old laundry corridor.”
Mason leaned closer.
“There’s an exit there.”
“And they don't know we know about it.”
Adrian looked at Evelyn.
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
“Then we move.”
They entered the service corridor.
Halfway down, Theo stopped.
“Adrian.”
Everyone turned.
Theo looked defeated.
“I did betray you.”
Mason reached for him.
Adrian raised a hand.
“Why?”
Theo swallowed.
“My brother owed Sokolov money.”
“You could have come to me.”
“I was ashamed.”
“So you sold me instead?”
“No.”
Theo looked at Evelyn.
“I sold information. Routes. Schedules. Nothing that would get anyone killed.”
“Until tonight,” Evelyn said.
Theo lowered his eyes.
“Yes.”
Adrian stared at the man who had once been his friend.
“You’re done.”
“I know.”
“But you’re getting out alive.”
Theo looked surprised.
“So you can answer for what you did.”
They continued.
At the laundry corridor, Mason opened the emergency exit.
Cold air rushed inside.
Two black SUVs waited across the alley.
Adrian stopped.
“They found it.”
Evelyn listened.
A man outside shouted something in Russian.
Then another answered in Ukrainian.
Evelyn’s eyes narrowed.
“They’re arguing.”
“About what?”
“The orders.”
Adrian looked at her.
“What orders?”
“One group was told to take me alive.”
“And the other?”
Evelyn looked at him.
“To make sure nobody leaves.”
Mason smiled without humor.
“Sokolov hired two crews and lied to both.”
Evelyn nodded.
“So tell them.”
Adrian understood.
He looked at Theo.
“Phone.”
Theo handed it over.
Evelyn dialed the number Sokolov had used.
A man answered.
She spoke rapidly in Russian.
Then switched to Ukrainian.
Then Russian again.
Mason stared.
“What are you saying?”
“The truth.”
Outside, voices rose.
Doors slammed.
One SUV suddenly pulled away.
Then the other followed.
Adrian stared at Evelyn.
“What did you tell them?”
“That Sokolov promised each crew the full payment and ordered the other crew killed afterward.”
Theo blinked.
“Is that true?”
Evelyn smiled.
“No.”
Mason burst out laughing.
Adrian didn't.
He simply looked at her.
For four years, Evelyn had thought Adrian kept her around because she could translate words.
Tonight, she finally understood.
He trusted her to understand people.
Sirens appeared at the far end of the street.
Kara emerged from another doorway.
“Police are coming. Sokolov’s men are scattering.”
Adrian looked at Theo.
“Go with Mason.”
Theo nodded.
As everyone moved away, Evelyn remained beside Adrian.
Snow landed in his dark hair.
“You lied beautifully,” he said.
“I learned from criminals.”
“Should I be offended?”
“Probably.”
For the first time that night, Adrian smiled.
Then Evelyn remembered something.
“Adrian.”
“Yes?”
“My date.”
His smile vanished.
She almost laughed.
“We never finished our conversation.”
“Which conversation?”
“You know exactly which one.”
He stepped closer.
“You said you were tired of pretending.”
“I was.”
“Past tense?”
Evelyn looked at him.
May you like
“No.”
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