Page 44 of Croatia Collateral

Evan walked up to where Dax lay on the floor. “You thought this man was me?” He shook his head. “He looks nothing like me at all.”

Giva wanted to tell the man he was full of shit but kept her mouth shut. The less they said, the better.

“Who do you work for?” Evan demanded.

Dax said nothing.

Evan cocked his leg and swung hard toward Dax’s ribs.

Dax rolled away, catching only a whiff of Evan’s shoe against his side. He inched his way around, positioning his feet between himself and Evan.

“What do you want done with them?” Yamaguchi asked.

Evan spit on the floor near Dax. “I’d have you kill them, but I want to know who they are and who sent them to take my place before we dispose of their bodies.”

“Grab the girl,” Maas said.

The effects of the stun gun were wearing off. She could move all her fingers and toes and was working on her arms and legs when two of the Russian guards bent over her and hoisted her onto her feet.

Maas grabbed her hair, yanked her head back, and stared down into her eyes. “What’s your name?”

Giva bit down on her tongue, her gaze holding his steadily. She didn’t answer.

Maas slapped her hard.

Her head jerked to the right, her face stinging. She blinked several times and then turned to face the man again, her face poker straight.

“What is your name, woman?” Maas said through gritted teeth.

When she refused to speak, he slapped her again, nearly knocking her off her feet.

“Leave her alone,” Dax said.

“I will when I get answers,” Maas said. “Either she tells me who you are, or I keep hitting her.” He raised his hand. “Unless you want to spare her and tell me what I want to know.”

Dax’s eyes narrowed, but he didn’t say anything.

Maas hit Giva with enough force to break her lip. Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth. Still, she remained silent.

“We don’t have time for this,” Yamaguchi hissed. “We need to test the device.”

“We had a plan,” Maas said. “Why are we deviating?”

Yamaguchi lifted her chin toward Dax and Giva. “Word is getting out. How else would these two have known about our group and the meeting?” She glared at Dax.

Maas nodded. “I want answers before we dispose of them.”

“If they were able to discover we had something in the works, how many others know?” Yamaguchi said. “We must initiate our plan now. Once it’s underway, we can dismantle or destroy this operations center and all proof of our involvement, including these two conspirators.”

Maas nodded, his gaze on Dax. “Is everything ready according to my precise instructions?”

Yamaguchi nodded and then shook her head. “Everything was ready until the imposter attempted to gain entry using the biometric scanner.”

“You can’t unleash an EMP on Shanghai,” Dax said.

Giva swallowed hard. She still couldn’t believe they planned on hitting Shanghai with an EMP.

“There are twenty-five million people who live there,” Dax said. “Shutting off power and transportation to that many people at once would be catastrophic. People will die.”

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