Page 49 of Born into Darkness

Volodya shrugs. “It’s a beautiful tree.” He laughs and adds, “And very resilient. Besides, my daughter loves her name, and I’m sure she would’ve loved Spruce as a middle name.”

“Uh-huh,” Valeri says with a laugh.

Sasha goes back to his dog, but I can tell he’s still thinking about what they’d said. I have too many things to worry about right now, so I push my nephew’s piqued interest in primal play from my mind and start texting Simona again. While I fill her in on everything that’s happened, I hear Vitaly say, “Is there a meal on this flight? Did anyone bring snacks?”

“Jesus,” Vitya groans and pulls out a couple of packages of fruit snacks before tossing them to his father-in-law.

Vitaly catches them with a grin while Valeri looks at his two brothers. “Why don’t you carry snacks for me?”

Vasily groans, and Volodya just laughs at his younger brother and says, “I’m sorry I didn’t think to bring you some animal crackers for when you got the munchies on our rescue mission to Colombia.”

Valeri shrugs a shoulder and motions towards my family. “I mean, they remembered.”

Vitaly laughs and tosses one of the bags to Valeri. “They’re a good source of Vitamin C,” he tells him. “It’s important to keep your stamina up on missions like this. Plus,” he adds with a laugh, “they all know I get hangry.”

“It’s easier to just carry snacks than to deal with him when he’s hungry,” Lev tells them.

Vitaly takes zero offense and pops another gummy in his mouth while Valeri rips open his bag and does the same. “Thanks, man,” he says, grinning at my brother.

“We’re never going to hear the end of this,” Vasily mutters.

“We’re going to have to start carrying snacks now,” Volodya agrees. “He’ll never stop bitching until we do.”

“I can hear you,” Valeri says.

Volodya grins. “We know.”

Putting my focus back on my phone, I tell my wife that we’re headed home.

Chapter10

Maxim

When I open my eyes, the darkness causes my whole body to freeze. I whisper Talia’s name, but my head is no longer in her lap, and her hands aren’t lightly stroking my hair and face like she loves to do. I try to sit, letting out a groan when pain shoots through my hand and up my arm. It’s not nearly as intense as it has been, and it takes me a second to realize I’m on a soft bed and not the hard cement floor.

“Max?”

I turn at the sound of my mom’s voice right before the light comes on and she throws her arms around me, hugging me tightly while also being careful of my hand. She sobs and kisses my head, and soon my dad and brother are on my other side, and I’m surrounded by the family I was convinced I’d never see again.

“I was so scared,” my mom whispers as she tries to get control of herself. She cups my face, running her eyes over me, convincing herself that I really am okay.

I look up at my dad and brother. “How did I get here?”

My dad ruffles Niki’s hair and gives him a proud grin. “We went to Colombia and got you.”

“Niki, you went, too?” I ask.

My younger brother tries to hide his smile, but I can see how proud he is. “I just stayed on the boat.”

“He did a lot more than that,” our dad says. “We couldn’t have done it without him.”

I look around at the hospital room I’m in, trying not to show how disoriented I still am. “Where’s Talia?”

“Tony’s taking care of her at Dominic’s,” my dad says.

My chest feels tight at not having her with me. This is the first time we’ve been apart in weeks, and it doesn’t feel right. I look down at my hand, but it’s bandaged, and I can’t see how bad it is. My mom grabs my good hand and squeezes it.

“We have the best orthopedic surgeon in the state on his way to see you. They’ve already done x-rays, but they’re waiting for the specialist before they do anything else.”

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