The backgrounds for their dream trysts were growing more and more risque, taking place in spots Beth would never consider in real life. She wasn't choosing the locales. Scotty was. Sort of. Last night she'd been dreaming she was at the shopping mall, trying to figure out what to buy Drina for her coming birthday. Beth had wandered through various stores, trying to find something, and had been in the bookstore when Scotty had appeared in her dream. She'd actually been in the fiction section when he found her, but he'd looked around, caught her hand and dragged her to the nearest display table, which happened to be in the cooking section.
In the past, Scotty would have taken her from the more public spot to a more private spot for their dream sex, but now he wasn't. And she understood exactly why. While their dream sex had always seemed hot and satisfying before, now--after having experienced the incredible, passionate, almost violent need inspired in true life mate sex--the dream sex was somewhat disappointing. It simply couldn't compare, and they were both yearning for that explosive union they'd had in the garage. At least, Beth knew she was, and could only assume that was the reason their private moments were taking place in more public spaces. Scotty was trying to replicate or boost the passion they'd experienced during real sex.
Kira's shifting restlessly beside her forced Beth back to the matter at hand--the dilapidated old barn and the coffin that was supposed to be inside.
After eyeing the building for a moment more, trying to figure out what bothered her about it, Beth gave it up. "I'm going to go see if I can get a look inside. The rest of you wait here."
"Nyet," Kira said at once. "We are team. I go with you."
Beth considered her stubborn expression, and then nodded reluctantly. "Fine. You come. The rest of you stay here," she ordered.
"Where she goes, we go," Oksana announced with a shrug that said there would be no argument on the matter.
"Whatever," Beth said with exasperation and moved out of the bushes in a crouch. Honestly, she was beginning to understand why everybody at the university had seemed to dislike Kira. It wasn't just her attitude, and she did at times have some serious attitude, although there seemed to be less of that every day since she'd come to Toronto. The real problem was the women who guarded her. All but one of them were stubborn, sullen and miserable, and seemed to want to make everyone around them miserable as well.
Beth crept along the edge of the woods toward the barn, very aware that she was being followed by a parade of Kira, Oksana, Nika, Liliya, and Marta. Liliya was the only bodyguard Beth liked. The petite woman, unlike her larger compatriots, was quiet, efficient and easy to get along with. If Beth had a choice, Liliya would have been the only one with them.
Pausing at the edge of the woods adjacent to the corner of the barn, Beth took a moment to survey the building, and then ran lightly across the open area to reach it. Once there, she put her back to the wall of the barn and watched the others follow. The moment they were all standing like her, with their dart guns out and their backs against the building, Beth turned and began to move along the wall.
She hadn't gone far before a nail caught on the material at the shoulder of her long-sleeved black shirt. Beth paused to unhook herself, and then continued. Another nail caught at her at the same place several more feet along, and she paused again, this time taking note that the nail was bright silver and shiny-new . . . and Beth wasn't positive, but she thought the first one might have been too.
She considered that briefly, and then continued on much more slowly, scanning the wall as she went. Three boards later, Beth found the tip of another shiny silver nail poking out of the wood at her shoulder level. She examined that nail briefly and then the wood itself, noting that the board wasn't as thick as the ones on either side of it.
Glancing along the length of wall ahead, Beth saw that every third or fourth slat was recessed a bit. Whoever had built the barn hadn't bought the wood at a Home Depot or some other big-box store where the planks would have been a standard width, depth, and length. Heck, for all she knew, the barn had been built before big-box stores. Whatever the case, the nails were showing only on the slats that weren't as deep as the others. But they were all new and at the same height.
"Those nails are new," Kira whispered by her ear.
Beth turned to nod at her. She almost wanted to pat her on the head and say "good girl" for paying attention and using her brain, but managed to quell the urge. Kira might think she was being condescending or something, so Beth merely whispered, "Something doesn't feel right. Stay alert, remain at least a step behind me, and keep your eyes open. Tell the others."
Kira nodded and turned to pass along the message to Oksana.
Beth watched the Amazon stiffen and narrow her eyes, and knew at once that the woman didn't appreciate orders from her. As far as Oksana was concerned, Beth was a nobody, with no say about anything she did. Fortunately, Kira seemed to realize that too and stepped past the woman to pass the message to the others herself.
Beth waited patiently until Kira'd finished, ignoring the glowering looks Oksana was giving her as she did, but once Kira returned to her side, she continued along the building. This time, Beth didn't stop until she reached the barn doors. Dropping into a crouch just to the side of where the two doors met, she glanced back to see that the others were doing the same . . . all but Oksana.
"You are so slow," the Russian growled with disgust, standing out in the open. "Why you not just walk in there and shoot up rogue if he there? Is no good you skulk around like big English, Spanish, American coward!"
Well, Beth thought wryly, at least the woman had got it mostly right and hit on every continent where she'd lived. Deciding the element of surprise was definitely over now, and stealth and caution were wasted, Beth turned away from the angry woman and eased the far door open enough to poke her head through and glance around.
There wasn't much to see. A couple of moldy old bales of hay were stacked at the far end of the barn, but other than that it appeared to be empty. Frowning, Beth straightened and pulled open first one door and then the other. She then moved cautiously to stand in the opening to survey the interior of the building again, but now with the aid of the day's dying light coming through the open doors.
"There is nothing," Kira whispered a step back on her left, and Beth was pleased to hear concern in her voice rather than confusion. It told her that the girl seemed to understand that that was wrong. There was supposed to be--
"Where is the coffin?" Liliya asked just as quietly from a step back on her right.
Beth was as proud as a teacher on graduation day. Liliya and Kira would make good hunters in the not-too-distant future.
Not so much Oksana, though, she acknowledged as the woman stomped forward into the seemingly empty building, snapping, "Why you whisper? There is no one here."
"Oksana, get back here," Beth growled, her inner alarm going from a mild blip of warning to a shriek as she took another look around the building. This time she noted the wooden slats with metal in the middle that had been nailed to the walls and ran down each side of the building.
"I no take orders from you," Oksana growled, continuing forward to the middle of the barn. "I no take orders from cowards. Athanasios will be disgusted when I tell how you--"
Beth heard the hissing sound just before Oksana's words died. She instinctively grabbed the arm of each woman on either side of her and dragged them backward out of the barn a good half a dozen steps, nearly tripping over Marta as she did. The woman had obeyed her instructions and stayed behind her. Nika, however, hadn't, and Beth wasn't able to grab her. The woman also didn't immediately follow. Instead, she stayed just inside the door, seeming transfixed.
"Nika?" Beth said worriedly when a moment passed with no sound from Oksana and no movement from Nika. Gesturing for the other women to stay where they were, Beth moved quickly up beside Nika, but stopped just inside the doors when she felt something bump the top of her shoulder. Spotting the razor-thin wire, she reached ou
t to touch it and then noted that it stretched completely across the opening, and in fact from one wall inside the barn to the other. It was attached to what turned out to be a track, which was the metal strip in the middle of the slats she'd noticed stretching nearly to the back of the barn. Something had set it off, sending it shooting forward to the end of the tracks on this end of the barn, slicing through anything in its path . . . like Oksana, she saw, peering into the barn at the woman on the ground . . . in pieces.
Sighing, Beth turned back to Nika and saw that the wire was presently embedded in the taller woman's upper arms and her chest just above her breasts . . . and her heart.
"Yeah, that's gotta hurt," she muttered.
"Da," Nika agreed in a trembling voice, and Beth glanced to her face with surprise. She'd thought the woman unconscious, which she supposed was stupid since she was standing upright and stiff as a board. Must have been wishful thinking, she decided, because getting the woman off the wire was going to be a painful exercise, and she really would have rather had the woman unconscious for it.
"What is it?" Kira called with concern and started to move forward.
"Stay back," Beth ordered.
"But what--"
"It was a trap," she explained. "A wire was rigged to slice through anyone who entered."
"What?" Kira squawked.
"Yeah, that's how I feel," Beth muttered, ducking under the wire to move in front of Nika. As she did, she spared a glance for Oksana, her mouth tightening as she peered at the woman lying on the ground about twenty-five feet in. Her body was in two pieces. Well, four, she corrected herself. Oksana was the same height as Nika, and the wire had cut through her chest and upper arms too. Only it had gone all the way through.
Now that was seriously going to hurt during the healing, Beth thought, and then felt bad because she was glad that if it had had to happen to one of them, Oksana was the one.
Bad Beth, she told herself as she turned to peer at Nika and the wire. There was a slight lip at the door of the barn where she'd been standing a moment ago. Beth had stepped down perhaps two inches when she'd ducked under the wire, and now found that while the wire was at a level just under Nika's armpits, it would have hit her at about the middle of her throat. Unlike the taller Oksana, Beth would have been beheaded and would now be in only two pieces rather than four, she thought absently as she looked over where the wire was embedded in Nika.
There wasn't much to see. The wire was paper-thin, and the nanos had already stopped the bleeding so that there was just a thin red line to show where the wire had cut in. It had gone almost halfway through before being stopped by the end of the track, she noted.
"Nika," she said with a frown. "We have to get you off this wire before the nanos heal your body with it inside."
"What? Heal?" she gasped with alarm, trying to look down at herself.
"If they haven't already started," Beth added under her breath and then grasped the wire on either side of the bodyguard's arms and said, "Just don't move for a minute."
"Da. Nyet," Nika said weakly, apparently confused. Although, really, who wouldn't be in this situation?
"I'm sorry," Beth said sincerely. "This might hurt."
"Just do it fast, da?" Nika said, trying to be brave.
"Da," Beth responded. "On the count of three. One, two--" She yanked the wire toward herself, concentrating on keeping it level, and was amazed when it came right out.
"Back up," she instructed Nika. "Back--Oh!" Beth said with surprise when the woman toppled backward like a felled tree. Releasing the wire, she ducked under it, grabbed Nika's wrist and quickly dragged her away from the building to rest by Kira, Liliya, and Marta.
"Call Mortimer and have him send out blood," Beth barked as she straightened. "Lots of it. And some backup, and a cleanup crew or something. Christ, just tell him to send everyone," she added, turning to hurry back to the barn.
Beth heard Kira bark, "Do it!" but didn't glance back, so was surprised when she stopped just before the wire and Kira whispered, "What do we do now?"
Giving a start, Beth scowled at the girl. "I told you to stay back."
"You cannot do everything yourself. We are team. I will help," Kira said firmly, and then turned to peer into the barn.
"You are worried there is another trap," Liliya said, and Beth's head shot around to where the other woman now stood a step back on her right. Apparently, no one felt they had to listen to her.
"I told you to call Mortimer," Kira snapped at the girl.
"Marta is calling," Liliya assured her and then looked inside the building and pointed out, "If they planned to kill and not just maim, there will be another trap. It will probably be fire."
"Yes. That's what I'm worried about," Beth said on a sigh.
"You think there is another trap?" Kira asked with concern. "Obviously this is trap. There is tip about coffin, yet no coffin here, the cutting wire instead. Maybe that is all."
"I don't know," Beth admitted. "But a secondary trap is a possibility that has to be taken into account."
"Da, but we must get Oksana out soon or she will die," Kira murmured with concern, and then frowned. "How long before blood dies when cut off from heart? They tell us in biology class, but I no remember."
"The nanos will keep Oksana's heart pumping for a little while even without directions from the brain, and the nanos can repair or replace the dead brain cells once the head and shoulders are reattached," Beth said solemnly, her gaze sliding slowly around the barn in search of anything that might hint at another trap. A big sign reading Explosives! TNT! or Incendiary Device! might have been nice. Sadly, there was nothing that helpful.
"How long nanos keep heart pumping without head and shoulders attached?" Kira asked.
Beth shrugged. "No one knows."
"Well, they should find out. We should know these things," Kira said with irritation.
"Da," Liliya agreed.
Beth eyed them with exasperation. "To find out, you'd have to decapitate immortals and keep the head away from the body so it couldn't heal for increasing lengths of time. Who the hell would volunteer for that?"
Neither woman responded. Presumably, they wouldn't volunteer.
"Okay," Beth said and took a deep breath. "You two stay here and I will run in, grab Oksana and run right back."
"What if there is another wire?" Liliya asked.
Beth glanced at her uncertainly. "Another wire?"
"Well, it would be smart. If one was injured by first wire, the natural instinct is for others to rush in to help. A second wire would take the rest out."
"Damn," Beth breathed and thought she should have considered that herself. Heaving out a sigh now, she said, "Right. I will crawl in, throw the arms out and then drag the upper and lower body quickly back out as fast as I can and pray there isn't a fire trap."
"You cannot crawl and carry both parts of Oksana," Kira said with exasperation. "I will crawl in with you and take the upper, while you take the lower."
"Forgive me, Kira," Liliya murmured. "But I think you should wait here for us while I go in with Beth. Because," she continued firmly when Kira tried to protest, "were you to die in there, your father would have me beheaded anyway. At least this way, if I die it is with honor for having saved you. Da?"
Kira hesitated, but then sighed and waved them away. "Very well, I will wait here . . . unless you need my help."
"Good." Beth dropped to her hands and knees and began to crawl forward. A moment later, she spotted movement out of the corner of her eye and knew it was Liliya following her. Beth tried to keep her focus on the ground in front of her as well as scan the area as she went. She was still hoping to spot any potential threat before it became a deadly one.
Her gaze shifted over the track on one side of the barn, and she thought that must be the reason for the new nails poking through the wooden walls. In the next moment, though, Beth frowned as she realized that the track ran along the sides of the building. The nails she'd enco
untered had been along the front as they'd approached the door. They hadn't gone anywhere near the side of the building.
That realization made Beth stop. She suddenly had a bad feeling creeping along the back of her neck.
"Should I throw the arms to Kira?" Liliya asked uncertainly after a moment when Beth didn't move.
She glanced to the woman, and then down to see that she was just inches from Oksana. Instead of answering, Beth turned her head to glance back the way they'd come. For a moment, she didn't understand what she was looking at. There was, in fact, a set of tracks along the front wall on either side of the doors. There was also a wire running from the end of each track to the outer edge of each door.
Beth stared at the setup silently for a moment and then considered it logically. If the wire was supposed to move on the tracks, and the wire was now hanging loose along the door, then the track must pull the wire back rather than snap it forward . . . which would pull the doors closed.
"Huh," Beth muttered. Why pull the doors closed? To lock them in. But why? Turning her head slowly, she examined as much of the building as she could again. Beth still didn't see anything to raise alarm, but she couldn't see behind the broken bales of hay.
"Liliya," she said solemnly, "I think you should back slowly out the way you came."
"What do you see?" Liliya asked quietly.
"There are wire tracks leading up to the doors. I think they're rigged to pull the doors shut and keep them shut," she admitted.
Liliya was silent for a minute, considering, and then said, "Fire. To prevent escaping fire."
"That would be my guess," Beth agreed and then glanced back to the woman waiting in the doorway. "Kira, I think you should move away from the doors."
"Why?" she asked at once, stepping right up to the wire that had sliced into Nika.