Page 46 of Croatia Collateral

The lock clicked easily enough for an old lock and an equally old key, and the metal barred door swung inward.

So far, the guards had worked under the orders of their Russian leader, Rabinovich. He’d translated every order into Russian. It would be reasonable to think they couldn’t speak much, if any English. And maybe Rabinovich wanted it that way to keep them from learning or understanding what was going on beyond what they needed to know.

Dax had to be planning to make a break for it. If they were dumped into the dungeon and the door locked, they’d be helpless to get word to anyone who had half a chance of stopping what the Nexus Collective had planned.

Giva couldn’t let that happen without a fight. Before they carried Dax through the door, she sang a verse from one of her father’s favorite songs, “It’s now or never.”

In front of her, Giva saw Dax buck and twist.

Giva did the same, jerking her ankles out of the Russian’s grip. Her feet dropped to the ground.

The man holding her under her armpits tipped forward with her full weight. She bent her knees, bringing him further forward and then pushed to the ground, slamming her head into his chin.

He lost his hold under her arms.

Giva dropped to the ground. With her arms secured behind her, she couldn’t break her fall. Her shoulder hit the stone floor, pain shooting through her, but she couldn’t let it stop her. She rolled to the side, pulled her feet beneath her and pushed to her feet.

Scuffling and grunting sounds came from behind her. Giva bunched her muscles, ready to make a dive past the Russian she’d hit in the chin. She’d only moved a step when something pressed into her back and a bolt of electricity shot through her.

Giva dropped to the floor, unable to move, her muscles completely useless.

She was dragged into Maas’s dungeon and unceremoniously dropped beside Dax’s still body.

A moment later, the click of a key turning in the lock made Giva’s heart sink. She’d failed.

Now, twenty-five million people would suffer the consequences.

Chapter 10

Dax cursed himself for not getting free of the two men holding him soon enough to put distance between himself and their leader.

If not for that damned stun gun, Dax and Giva might have had a chance to warn the world of what was about to happen.

Now, they were unmoving blobs, lying on the stone floor of an ancient dungeon, the only light shining from the flashlight one of the guards held in the passage outside the dungeon.

Granted, the effects of the stun gun wouldn’t last for long. His toes tingled, and he could already move his fingertips.

“Hey,” he managed to push air past his vocal cords in more of a grunt than a word. With his face and chest pressed to the cold stone, he was lucky to get that much out.

“Mmm,” was her response.

It was enough to give him hope. At least she hadn’t cracked her skull on the stone floor when they’d dropped her.

He tried to move his feet. Okay...his toes.

Yes, he could move his toes, and he was able to curl his fingers into a loose fist.

More and more functionality returned with each passing minute. It just didn’t seem fast enough. Not when they needed to stop the Nexus Collective from executing their plan before so many people were left stranded and starving.

If Shanghai was hit, the Chinese might attempt to handle the disaster on their own. They’d rather allow millions to die than accept help from other countries. They’d done it before during the Chinese Famine between 1959 and 1961. Forty-three million Chinese had died of starvation. It would be harder to hide such an event with modern technology and satellite imagery. But people would suffer and die before they could receive help, no matter who provided it.

“I can move my legs,” Giva said.

Dax flexed his knee. “Me, too.” He bent his knee, twisted his torso and rolled onto his side. Muscle control was quickly returning. Having his wrists secured behind his back made it difficult to sit up, but he finally managed.

Movement behind him indicated Giva was regaining muscle control.

Dax butt-crawled toward the sound until his thigh connected with some part of her body. “Are you all right?”

---