Page 50 of Croatia Collateral

“Wait,” Dax said.

She stopped and turned toward him. They didn’t need the flashlight in here. The room was equipped with motion-sensor lighting. As soon as she’d stepped inside, lights had blinked on.

Dax peered into the huge room, noting the conference table with the built-in raised-relief map.

“I know where we are.”

“Good,” Giva said. “I was worried we were lost. Can you get us out of here?”

Dax nodded. “I can get us to an exterior exit,” he paused and met her gaze. “I can also get us to the command center.”

Her brow furrowed. “We’re outnumbered back at the command center. We need to take the information we have to the team.”

“If we leave now, will we get back to Dmytro in time for him to stop what’s about to happen?” Dax stared into her eyes. “Or will it be too late?”

Her brow twisted, and her eyes narrowed. “If we go back, we’re outnumbered,” she repeated. “They won’t let us go again. Then, who will tell the team about the entity behind the EMP attacks? If they succeed with Shanghai, they could target other cities.”

“But what if we can stop Shanghai?” Dax asked.

“What if we can’t?” Giva shook her head. “We have to get this information to the team. Dmytro could stop it. He’s smart. He knows how to hack into systems. Surely, he can get into whatever Maas has developed and shut it down.”

“I’m afraid that if we don’t stop the attack on Shanghai, the world will implode into something even worse than World War III. Too many countries are sitting on nuclear weapons just waiting for someone to pull the first trigger.” He captured her hands in his. “We could end up wiping out humankind.”

She stared up into his eyes and sighed. “You want to go back to the command center, don’t you?”

He nodded. “But I want you to get out and bring back the team, the police and anyone else who’ll believe you that the whole world hangs in the balance.”

She was shaking her head before he finished. “I’m not leaving you down here to handle it all on your own.”

“You just said we have to get word back to the team. One of us has to do that.”

Giva lifted her chin. “Then let me take down the command center, and you get out and contact the team.”

Dax shook his head. “I know the way; you don’t. I’ll take you to the exit and get you out, then I’ll go back while you rally the team.”

“No way,” Giva said. “It would be suicide for you to go back alone.”

“It would be suicide for both of us to go, and you know it.” Dax pulled her into his arms. “I’m not going in with suicide in mind. I have a rain check to claim on one king-sized bed in a fancy hotel with a beautiful woman. You think I’d let that deal slip through my fingers?” He shook his head. “No way. Now, let’s get you out of here and me back to see what I can do to break more of Maas’s toys.”

Though Giva wore a mutinous look on her face, she allowed him to usher her across the room.

They’d only made it halfway when the door behind them creaked and started to open.

Dax grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the conference table.

She dove beneath the dark tabletop and hid behind the decorative skirting that hid the electrical cables and the legs.

Dax dropped to all fours and crawled in behind her. There was barely enough room for one person. Two was nearly impossible.

Giva scooted as close as she could bet to the faux-wood skirting. Dax spooned her body, pressing his front to her back, drawing his legs into the shadows.

As soon as the door had opened wide enough, four Russian guards slipped through, carrying what appeared to be AK-47 rifles. They searched all four corners of the room and shined a flashlight beneath the table, the beam missing the little shadowed area that barely concealed two grown adults.

They didn’t stay long, exiting through the door at the opposite end of the big room.

Once they were gone, Giva stirred. “We should go.”

Dax shook his head. “We can’t.”

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