She stiffened. “Where?”
“I’m weighing our options. I’m making a few calls and I’ll have a decision for you by tonight.”
“What if I don’t accept your decision?”
“Then we might have problems,” Tanner said. “But we won’t borrow trouble until we have to.” He smiled wryly. “Though I haven’t allowed myself much time to persuade you that I’m almost always right, since I want to get you out of here as soon as possible. I have an idea that might be as much a difficulty as it proved in Avgar Forest.”
“You didn’t find it that difficult,” she said quietly. “We both know that. But it was only because I wasn’t prepared. I’d make sure it wouldn’t happen like that again.”
“I’m quite certain you would. So I’d better change the subject to keep you from deciding you should try to prove yourself,” he said. “I got a report from the man I left in Avgar Forest. Volkov and your endearing father found the bodies of Gregor and Razov, and they weren’t pleased. There was a minor explosion between them when they found Razov. Volkov knew you hadn’t taken him down.”
“Of course he did,” she said between set teeth. “I wouldn’t have been able to kill him from behind with a hold like that. I don’t have the height or the strength. I’d even considered it, and then I discarded it. Volkov has studied everything about me and would realize that. That’s why I was so frantic when I woke up and found out you’d done it. If you wanted Kaskov’s money that bad, you should have just waited and let me kill Razov. It might have given us more time.”
“I humbly apologize. You’ll have to forgive me if I didn’t want to waste the time waiting around to watch you dispose of a man I thought was probably a dangerous killer. Particularly when I wasn’t sure that you were capable of doing it.”
“Then you should have known. Mallory said Kaskov hadn’t let you go into it blind. Research is everything. I found that out during my first year doing the Trials. You have to know what to expect.”
“The first year…” He tilted his head. “That was when they sent you out in that speedboat to distract a smuggler who was trying to interfere with Volkov’s heroin traffic. It was one of your failures.” His expression hardened. “A broken leg and a concussion. I suppose you deserved that?”
“It doesn’t matter what I deserved. You have to accept whatever happens if you don’t do whatever you must to succeed. I was too scared, and I hadn’t researched that speedboat to find out what it would do if I pushed it too hard. I got too close to Dimitri and he swung a boat hook at me. I didn’t know anything about boats. I’d never been out of the village except for that trip to Moscow. My father had just given me a few lessons before they sent me out there in the ocean with my orders.” She smiled bitterly. “I had to go on a few other trips after that and I failed one more, but then I started doing my research and I learned how to win. Volkov didn’t like that, so they switched me to something that would be more challenging. I wasn’t being entertaining enough.”
“Not enough broken bones or concussions?”
“I got the broken bone from that smuggler, Dimitri. But the concussion was from my father. He doesn’t like to lose.” She smiled crookedly. “Volkov wasn’t pleased, he said my father was lucky that I hadn’t been permanently damaged and then what would they have done?”
“Yes, there’s always that to consider. No kid to beat up on? No wonder Volkov was upset.”
“I didn’t tell you that to make you feel sorry for me. I don’t want your pity. But it was important that I learned the value of research.” She frowned. “Which you should have done.”
He nodded slowly. “You’re probably right. I believe in research. I use it in my business constantly. There were just a few things about this job that made me more careless than usual about applying it. I’d already had to move too quickly, and I wanted to get you out of there.”
She gazed at him. “You’re apologizing?”
“I’m explaining. There’s a difference.”
“But you said I was right.” She smiled. “So there’s not much difference.”
He held up his hands. “I surrender.”
Her smile faded. “But it’s not because you were feeling sorry for me? I don’t need that.”
“Would I dare?” He shook his head. “No one needs pity less than you, Lara.” He paused. “But I should tell you that your father and Volkov were in a rage. Volkov appeared particularly angry about losing his favorite punching bag. They tried to get hold of your mother, and that’s when they realized that you’d done a flit. Volkov sent off your father with orders to bring you back.”
“That’s all right as long as they can’t get hold of Maria.” Her gaze flew to his face. “You told me the truth? She’ll be there when we land?”
“I told you the truth. Not everyone lies, Lara.”
“Most people I know do.” She rubbed her temple. “And I’m confused, and I don’t know why Kaskov would do this when I’ve hardly said more than a few sentences to him all the times he visited me. It bothers me. I don’t want to trade a Volkov for a Kaskov.”
“That won’t happen. Kaskov’s in a different league. That doesn’t mean he’s less dangerous, but he operates out of his own playbook. He didn’t confide in me why he wanted you out of Russia except that he didn’t want you killed in that forest.” He met her eyes. “And he knows how I operate, and he realized when I took the job that I’d be in complete control. So it doesn’t matter what he wants from now on. The only one you have to worry about is me. I’ll call all the shots.”
“Complete control,” she repeated. “I don’t think so, Tanner.”
“Then you’ll have to argue with me later,” he said coolly. “But haven’t I removed Kaskov from your current list of those you need to worry about? I can only eliminate so many threats at one time.” He tapped his chest. “Better the devil you know.”
Her searching gaze had not left his own. “Are you a devil, Tanner?”
“It depends on who you ask. I’ve been called worse. I like my own way and I don’t stop until I get it. That doesn’t make me popular.” He smiled crookedly. “Certainly not with you, Lara. The only thing I can promise you is that I’m nothing like the devils you’ve been accustomed to all your life. Completely different breed.”
She didn’t speak for a moment. “That might be enough,” she said slowly. “You can’t be worse. I’ll just have to research you to know how to get what I want from you.”
He chuckled. “You really shouldn’t be so frank about your intentions. Deception is the way to go when you’re dealing with an adversary. You’ll never win the game that way.”
“I told you, I don’t play games. You said I had to deal with the devil I know. But I don’t know you well enough. I can’t win unless I research you and find your faults and strengths.” She nodded. “So that’s what I’ll do.” She added, “But I’ve already found that you don’t like lies or deceptions. Whenever we speak, you keep digging and probing until everything is clear and on the table between us. So that advice you just gave me was exactly how not to get what I want. You’d only fight me.”