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“An arrow?” Dianne spoke the words out loud, softly, and traced the length of the piece of fiberglass The head of the arroas firuts of the camera while the shaft had snapped in half, lass and leaving a dangerously sharp end sticking out of the device Whoever had fired the arroas clearly a good ed to both destroy the camera’s function and knock it off of the house hat appeared to be a single shot

Whether it was the lateness of night, the long-terravity of Dianne’s find didn’t set in for a few ht, dropped the caround and bolted for the front door All seotten as she realized that there were likely eyes in the woods watching her every move Why they hadn’t fired upon her with the same bow they had used to destroy the ca she wanted was to suffer from a similar fate

Dianne’s feet were both on the wooden porch and she was reaching for the handle of the front door when a searing, red-hot pain exploded in her lower left leg Though her brain was sending it signals to keeptoward the door, Dianne’s leg didn’t listen She felt like she was round, just barely grabbing onto the handle to keep herself partially upright, wondering why her leg had stopped working and why it hurt so very much

As Dianne Waters looked down and saw the fiberglass shaft of an arrow protruding through her calf, she realized what had happened Thea few days to lick their wounds They ht not have even been driven off in the first place They had regrouped, fore one of the most important parts of the house’s defense mechanisms They had drawn her outside, wounded her and were likely preparing to do so even worse

The battle for the Waters’ hoet far, far worse

Chapter 14

Three days before the mission

Deep in the Republic of Bashkortostan, Russia

Beneath Mount Yamantau

Ostap Isayev is not normally a nervous ht in both the light and the shadow, he is used to interacting with people of all statures in govern inforht raid on terrorists who have kidnapped dozens of schoolchildren or perfor on the current situation

As the weaponized colobe, the Russian government is in a state of turns supreroups of s should be done Unlike est issues is a lack of food and water, the slow-burning chaos inside the s further up on the hierarchy of needs

“Mr President?” The office is cold and dark, chilled by the layers of impenetrable rock that surround it and all the rest of the bunker A small fire crackles off in a corner, one of the luxuries afforded to the e of an entire nation

“Da” The answer coe chair near the fire The outline of an outstretched arure beckons Ostap to draw closer

“You wanted to see me, sir?”

“Da” There is a longthe answer before the iven your mission, correct?”