Til Death Do Us Part (Spy Series #2)

Chapter Eighteen

A/N: It's my birthday today. Huh. I 'm not really celebrating it this year but I thought it would be cool to put here as a way to mark the time.  I literally turned 18 in the middle of writing this chapter lmaoo #priorities 

-----

In all the time we'd been attacking this base, I hadn't even thought once to question the whereabouts of Andrei Bulgakov. The man that was leading this all. 

Thankfully, I didn't have to play hide and seek to locate him.

The downside was that he was holding a gun to my head. 

It only took Eric the blink of a second to draw his own weapon as an automatic defense, but he immediately paused at the sight of Andrei pressing the gun harder against my forehead. 

"Drop it," he sneered at Eric. 

Eric briefly looked me in the eye before slowly raising his arms up. The gun dropped from his hands and fell to the ground in an instant. 

"Done. Now I'm not a threat." 

Andrei laughed from beside me. A loud, chilling sound filling the room. "Nice try kid, I know exactly what you're capable of. The other gun too."

Eric tensed before giving a look of defeat and pulling out the other gun he had stored out from under his vest. It hit the ground and he kicked it away from him with a pained expression on his face. It wasn't like him to give up this easily. He would have kept his gun and shot back at Andrei - even if it meant killing the person being used as bait. But that was where things changed. The bait was me. 

I suddenly realized why Eric had done so much to keep away from me and not form a relationship. 

It was because of this. 

Because now we were in this situation. He wasn't going to risk me for a stack of RFI files. I was standing in the way of him doing what he was trained to do.

"Don't look so sad," Andrei teased, his eyes drifted to the bodies lying on the floor. "You certainly had a good run. But unfortunately, all things must come to an end." 

Eric's eyes glowered in rage, not looking the slightest bit amused at Andre's dark sense of humor. 

"Let her go," he said through his gritted teeth. 

Andrei's grip on me tightened, obviously another attempt by him to anger Eric even more. He was enjoying keeping us both in this torturous state and was going to bask in the moment for as long as he wanted.  

"Here's what I want from you loverboy," he began playfully twirling his gun next to my ear. "Since torturing you for answers didn't seem to work, I'm going to torture your girlfriend here instead." 

The gun was back on my forehead. Its cold touch made my heart skip a beat but I refused to flinch.  

"It works simple. Either you tell me what I need to know, or I put a bullet in her brain." He explained in a light tone. 

"Eric," I spoke calmly, focusing only on him. "It's fine."

My chest panged at my words because I was already confirming what I felt inside. I would die if it meant he got out okay. I wanted him to know it too. The last thing he needed was guilt over my death. 

Any information he gave them about the RUA could compromise everyone. Captain, Turner, Cassie, Mackenzie, and every other agent. Not to mention all the people they protected. 

I couldn't stand in the way of that. 

"Don't tell him anything," I continued. I could feel my eyes watering and my breathing became harder to do. "I'm not worth it."