She was compliant as the man escorted her down the long hallway. There was no good reason to put up a fight— the men were bigger, stronger. She stood no chance against them physically. Instead, she took in every detail of the building as they walked further from the room where she and Jay were being held… The number of doors, where the air vents were located, and the placement of the staircases.
When they turned a corner, she nearly tripped over her own feet as she craned her neck to get a glimpse of the two men knelt down by the double doors at the other end of the hall.
The man escorting her grabbed at her arm, pulling her forward, but not before she realized what they were doing. Homemade explosives were being placed, lining the doorway with undetectable IEDs.
Her stomach dropped.
Fingers pressed into her back, pushing her into a room.
Andrey smiled when he saw her. "Elizabeth." He snapped his fingers and with one motion of his hand, she was being shoved down into a chair. "You'd think that your own President would have sent a team for you by now."
She stared up into his eyes. "Maybe he wants to get rid of me."
Her mind raced… A SEAL team would be sent, and with this group's MO, there'd no doubt be causalities.
Andrey leaned down, getting into her face.
"And why would that be?"
She pressed her lips together, thinking. "Because…" She let out a breath, deciding to take the chance. If she was caught in a lie, she was caught in the lie. "Because my president is dirty. He's a liar, a cheat, and a war criminal."
His eyebrows popped up, inched closer to his hairline.
"How do you know?"
She held his eyes. "Because I'm his mistress."
He laughed. "Sure."
She cocked a brow. "You don't believe me?"
He crossed his arms over his chest. "You'd say anything to try to save yourself."
"Ask him about our time in Iraq. Summer of '03. Ask him about our night under the stars."
Andrey eyed her before he turned to the man standing along the back wall and began barking orders in Russian.
She swallowed, hoping Conrad remembered.