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"How hot is that place?" Monk asked, nodding to the town

Konstantin refolded the map and stood "We should not stop for a picnic"

Monk stared back at the boy, appreciating his attehed Still, Monk hooked an arave Konstantin a reassuring squeeze and earned a silly grin in response A rare sight

Pyotr and Kiska folloith Marta in tow

They hadback

Half a eline With a silent curse directed at the man who led the children, he knelt beside the beached raft used by the others and slipped his rifle from his shoulder Before he continued, his weapon needed to be cleaned After the long swih the swamp, his rifle was caked with mud and full of water He broke the weapon down and carefully inspected each section: barrel, bolt assehly Satisfied, he reassembled the rifle The familiar routine returned him to a calm, determined status

Once done, he stood up and shouldered his weapon

Having lost his radio, Borsakov was on his own, the only survivor from the airboat crash The pilot’s arm had been severed by the fan Another soldier’s head had been caved in, struck by the edge of the flipping boat The last had been found floating facedown, drowned

Only Borsakov reed cut down his calf, sliced to the bone He had used one of his dead men’s shirts to wrap and bind the injury He would needto infection from the muddy water

But first he had a job to do

Failure was not an option

Li, Borsakov set off after his prey

16

September 7, 8:11 AM

Pripyat, Ukraine

"Wake up!"

Gray heard the words, but his brain took another iness Light filled his head then dissolved into watery ies

Luca leaned over hi, Gray pushed the man back and rose to an elbow He stared around the roo, blistered paint and a rusted red door Light cah up on the wall Beneath the alski sat on a roaning with nausea

Gray took a deep breath, forced himself to relax, and recalled what had happened He reunpoint, a short helicopter ride, then a cargo plane on a rain-swept airstrip He fingered a bruise on his neck Once aboard the plane, they’d been drugged

Gray had no idea where they’d been taken

"Elizabeth…Rosauro…?" he asked hoarsely

Luca shook his head He sluainst the wall and sank to his bottom "I don’t knohere they are Maybe another cell"

"Any idea where we are?"

Luca shrugged Kowalski groaned

Gray gained his feet, waited for the world to stop spinning, then stepped toward theIt was too high to reach on his own

Kowalski lifted his head, noted where Gray was staring "Pierce, you’ve got to be kidding"

"Get up," he ordered "Help me"

Kowalski held his stoether into a stirrup "What do you think I am? Your personal ladder?"

"Ladders corip, reached to the lower lip of the , and with Kowalski’s help, he chinned up to the bars He gazed across a strange landscape A town, half consumed by forest, spread outward The place looked dilapidated and shell-shocked Roofs were covered in s, fire escapes dripped with icicles of rust, and weeds and bushes sprouted out of cracked asphalt Across the street, a faded billboard advertised so a Ferris wheel and carnival rides In the foreground, a stylized version of a strappingly robust family headed toward the amusements

Across the city, Gray spotted the saainst the barren sky A lonely relic of forht He knehere he was The abandoned amusement ride had become emblematic for the city