Is this destiny?

Sarah opened her eyes and found herself in a room that has narrow windows close to the ceiling. The windows are just openings with iron bars and no glass.

She is not sure if this is at the basement level, but it definitely has that feel.

Sarah observed that she is lying on the concrete floor with few rags under her that are supposed to provide some warmth and cushioning.

Sarah's eyes widened in panic as she remembered men approaching her on the street.

"Follow us calmly and no one will get hurt...", one man said.

"What is going on?", she asked innocently while her eyes darted over the faces of men. Some were cold, some mocking, but they were definitely all advancing toward her with no good intentions, and she knew that her options are to surrender or to fight it out.

Just as the first man reached to grab her, she heard Aiden roaring from behind: "No!"

She avoided the man's hand and kicked the next one while using the first one as a shield.

Two men fell down randomly, obviously taken down by the drone and then the hell broke loose. Somehow, more than twenty men were attacking. Why are there so many?

She caught a glimpse of Aiden who was kicking and punching the guys while making his way toward her.

Aiden called for Sarah, asking for confirmation that she is fine, but Sarah could not respond because she was too busy avoiding hits and hands that were open in an attempt to grab her and limit her movements.

The last image she saw was Aiden fighting against four of the men and the fifth one hitting him hard in the back with some metal rod. And then everything turned dark.

That mental image made Sarah snap into reality.

"Aiden!", Sarah called, and her heart jumped when she saw him lying on the floor in the same room with her.

She moved toward him, and her arms and legs ached due to the hits she blocked and received. The only good thing is that no one hit her in the abdomen area.

Sarah is not sure why, but the men avoided hitting her vitals. She had an eerie feeling that they did so in order to save her for interrogation, but she will think about it later. Now she needs to make sure Aiden is fine.

"Love… wake up, love…", Sarah chanted, and she was relieved that his heart is beating.

She sat next to him on the floor and used the rags that were under her to provide cushioning for his head.

Sarah remembered JoAnna's message which they received before all the mess and she used Eve-lens to communicate with her sisters.

"Where are you?", she sent a message. "You can respond on the ear stud…"

"Thank goodness that you are awake…", JoAnna's voice sounded in her ear. "We will be in a position shortly and the team from Romania is there, waiting for our signal to advance. We will use underground tunnels to reach you. The access point is about five buildings away from your current location. Considering the distance, we can reach you within half an hour if we don't encounter any issues. One hour, at most. Please, hold on until then."

Sarah wanted to ask, how can they hold on when they are imprisoned? There is one door that is made out of metal bars and no other exits. If a bunch of guys comes in with weapons, what can they do? But she knew that will be useless complaining. JoAnna is aware that the situation is grave. There is no point in bringing that up.

Sarah nodded and sent a message: "We will do our best. Don't rush. Few extra minutes of planning and preparation can save lives."

"Got it.", Sophia responded. "Take care of Aiden and yourself. We are coming to get you out of there."

Sarah was happy to hear that her big sister is also onboard. Having them all together gave Sarah a sense that everything will be alright.

"How many of you?", Sarah sent a message.

"We are coming thin, only to extract you, hopefully without making a big ruckus. I will send you a list of people on the lens.", JoAnna responded.

Sophia spoke: "Ideally, we would wait until nightfall, but we don't think we should wait that long. The additional manpower led by Michael and Oni is on their way, but they are still hours away and we can't wait for them. There is a strong possibility they gave you a breather only so that you can regain consciousness and they will not wait long before they come to tell you why they put you in there. But whatever their reasons are, it can't be good."

"Agreed.", Sarah responded.

"How is your drone?", JoAnna asked.

Sarah sent a response: "Out of ammunition. It's good for scouting only."

There was some murmur and then Sarah heard Zack's voice: "When we are in the range, I will get it to refill the charges. We will need it for more than scouting."

Sarah hummed in agreement and smiled. Every additional voice she heard reminded her that they are not alone and that there are people who are willing to risk their lives in order to save them.

"We are finalizing our plans, and will let you know about anything important.", JoAnna said. "We will contact you when we are in place and you will know about the progress. Take care of Aiden, he got quite a beating and I'm not sure if he will be able to move…"

JoAnna didn't say much, but Sarah understood that Aiden's condition is not good.

Sarah lifted his t-shirt and held her breath.

"Bastards…", Sarah squeezed through her teeth when she saw bruises on Aiden's body.

She understood that they went easy on her because she was their target, while Aiden was probably just collateral.

Sarah reached for her belt and injected Aiden with an anesthetic. In a few minutes, she will try to wake him up, but she wants to make sure he is not in pain.

She kept her movements random because she was sure that someone is watching her through the cameras and she didn't want them to know that there is a secret stash in her belt.

Sarah got a small container from her pocket and started applying medicinal cream on Aiden's bruises. She can't bear to see him hurt and the guilt was eating her up from the inside. He would not be in this mess if not for her.

"I will make sure to apologize properly when we get out of here.", Sarah whispered even though she knew that Aiden can't hear her.

She wondered if Maksim is on the other side, watching. That is a possibility. But… Maksim didn't know that she is Sarah White, the Grand Elder of the Lebedev family or Nyx from the Army of Chaos. He only knew that she is not Olga. Considering his cocky personality, if he knew her real identity, Sarah is confident that Maksim would rub it in... and probably not let her leave that dinner, or the office last night. What changed?

Sarah gritted her teeth when she remembered JoAnna's words that Ivan betrayed them. Why would he do that? Ivan is loyal to the Lebedevs, and if he had a grudge against Sarah, why didn't he approach her directly? Why give that information to Voronins? Does he hate her so much? Sarah does not remember anything more than an exchange of pleasantries between her and Ivan, so… why? Is it because she does not like Vasily? As Vasily's assistant, Ivan should know about all the vile things Vasily did to the Hill sisters, and compared to what Vasily did to Sarah, she was actually kind in return. 

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