Then he used his thumb to peel back my upper lip so he could examine my teeth. The others bent to look as well. Iñigo grunted.

“No,” stated Victor, “he’s human enough.”

Human?

“Absolutely,” I agreed, though with his fingers in my mouth it came out as “Ahzoluly.”

Then Victor turned his head and looked at Ghost, who lay helpless and panting in the net. “And see—he comes with a fetch dog.”

Iñigo’s grip on my hair eased a bit. “I don’t understand this. They said that he was a knight.”

“I know,” said Victor, licking his thick lips. “But when have you ever seen a knight in the presence of a fetch dog? I mean … how could that even happen?”

The others said nothing.

Victor straightened. “Krystos will be here any minute. He’ll know what’s happening. He’ll get to the truth.”

I really didn’t like the way Victor said that. I doubt I was supposed to like it; and it seemed to me that the bad situation I was in was about to get a whole hell of a lot worse.

Whoever this Krystos was, I didn’t want to meet him on my knees.

I had Iñigo to my right side holding my hair—though not as tightly as before. Nadja was behind him, aiming past his shoulder at my temple. Victor squatted in front of me, one hand still on my lip and the other holding some kind of spike under my chin. And Krystos and who knew how many others were on their way.

None of the odds were in my favor, and Lady Sniper was nowhere to be seen. I was outnumbered and outgunned; I had no weapons. Why should today be any different?

It was die—or go for it.

I went for it.

Chapter Fifty-five

Chapter Fifty-Five

CIA Safe House #11

Tehran, Iran

June 15, 12:39 p.m.

I wasn’t nice about it, either.

With a bellow of pure rage, I kicked back with all my strength and caught Iñigo in the crotch. He flew backward, arms whipping wide, and his left forearm smashed Nadja across the nose and mouth. She screamed and her finger jerked the trigger, firing a bullet that punched a hole in the wall a foot from Victor’s head. Nadja and Iñigo fell together in a screeching tangle of arms and legs. The moment Iñigo’s hand released my hair, I darted my mouth forward and bit down hard on Victor’s fingers. Bones crunched and he howled in agony. As he jerked his hand away, the spike cut me laterally across the underside of the chin, but then it clattered from his hand.

All of this took place inside one hot second.