Free Oceans of Fire by Christine Feehan Page B

you?”
    “None of your business.”
    “I’ve lost my partner, Abbey. I nearly killed you. I just had an encounter with a very dangerous man who tried to kill me outside your house. More than anything I’m worried about you because when he goes hunting, he doesn’t miss.” And it didn’t make sense to him. If Prakenskii had been ordered to kill Abigail Drake he would have done so with no hesitation. What other reason could he have for being there? Aleksandr squashed the urge to go after the man. He had learned a hard lesson about acting without all the facts and he wasn’t about to make another, perhaps fatal mistake.
    “Tell me more about him,” Abigail urged.
    “His name is Ilya Prakenskii. We were raised in a state-run home together and we watched each other’s back. It had to be that way. Even there, when we were young and they were training us for our work, there were always power plays going on. It’s a way of life where I come from.”
    “You know him?”
    “Probably better than anyone else,” he confirmed. “If there’s one man I respect and even like, it’s Ilya, but our handlers didn’t encourage friendship. He went one way and I went another. But Ilya doesn’t miss. I don’t know why he’s here, but he said he didn’t know Danilov and I believe him. He’s reputed to work for Sergei Nikitin and Nikitin is mafia, a very violent man who likes to solve his problems in extreme ways.”
    Abigail’s heart jumped into her throat. “You said there was a hit out on you. Is he here for you?”
    “He says not.”
    “But he was here, and he knows you would come here. Why else would he be watching this house and me unless it had something to do with me witnessing your partner’s death or to get at you? It’s the only logical explanation.”
    Aleksandr nodded. “That’s true, but I don’t think I’m his target. He warned me I had powerful enemies.“
    “Do you?”
    “Of course. I wouldn’t be where I am without having made enemies. You have to understand the dynamics going on in my country. There’ve been so many changes over the last twenty years, so many shifts in power, and no one ever wants to give up power.”
    “What did you do that’s so bad someone would put out a hit on you?”
    There was a small silence. Abigail’s heart sank. She sat on the edge of the bed. “It was something to do with my leaving Russia, wasn’t it?”
    “Yes.” He wasn’t going to lie to her. “I had enemies I didn’t know about and they took their opportunity when they had it after what happened.”
    She sucked in her breath sharply, holding up her hand to stop him. “Shut up. Just shut up. Don’t talk about it.”
    “If we don’t talk about it, we’ll never get past it,” he said gently.
    “There is no getting past it. Not now. Not ever. Do you have any idea what you put me through? You tore out my heart and you just let them beat me. Damn you, Sasha, don’t even pretend you didn’t know what they were doing to me. You knew everything going on. You had too many contacts not to know. You let them.” She was sick again. Her stomach was protesting, a sickness that never seemed to go away no matter how many antacids she took.
    “I didn’t know until it was too late and then I moved heaven and earth to get you out fast. And damn it, you know why.”
    She covered her face with her hands. “I don’t want to think about it. I don’t want to ever think about it. I may as well have pulled the trigger myself. That poor man and his poor wife. I have to live with the responsibility of his death. I know that, but I didn’t deserve what you did to me. If that’s your idea of punishment…”
    “Stop!” For the first time he raised his voice in a string of Russian curses. “It wasn’t a punishment. You were never responsible for the death of that man. There were all kinds of things leading up to it, none of which you had a hand in. His death was a terrible tragedy, and one I regret, but it had