“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 encountered 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.
“Because I think the doors are wired to slam shut, and I don’t want you trapped in here with us if we trigger something,” Beth explained. “So, back away from the door.”
“I will hold door open if starts to close. You hurry. Get Oksana,” she ordered.
“Nobody listens to me,” Beth muttered, turning her gaze to Oksana.
“Kira is stubborn like our father,” Liliya said dryly.
“Our father?” Beth asked sharply, and Liliya looked dismayed at her slip.
Closing her eyes, the petite blond blew a breath out and then admitted quietly, “We are half sisters, but you mustn’t tell her.”
“Why?” Beth asked with amazement.
“Because our father is medieval in his mindset. I am the bastard he had with an old immortal lover. Kira is the daughter of his life mate. He will not have his life mate and daughter hurt by the news that he has bastard children.”
“Children? As in more than one?” Beth asked with interest.
“Da,” she said dryly, and then crawled a couple steps forward, grabbed the closer of Oksana’s arms and rose up on her knees as she turned to hurl it toward the doors. It sailed over Kira’s head and disappeared behind her.
“Nice,” Beth murmured, moved close enough to grab the second arm and did the same.
“Now the hard parts,” Liliya said grimly.
“The upper body’s closer to you. I’ll take the lower,” Beth said.
Nodding, Liliya caught Oksana by the hair and then slowly began to back out the way she’d come, dragging the upper portion of Oksana’s body with her.
Beth watched her for a minute and then turned to consider what remained of Oksana. It would be hard to crawl and drag the lower portion of her body. While Liliya had been able to make use of Oksana’s long hair, Beth didn’t have that option.
Her gaze slid over the large Russian and then settled on her weapons belt. Beth instinctively felt for her own belt, and then nodded and quickly undid and removed Oksana’s belt. She looped it through two of the belt loops on the woman’s jeans, and then slid it through her own belt and refastened the ends.