They each shook her hand, and then let her lead them to the couch. A figure rose to meet them.

Cate stopped dead and Jack bumped into her back.

“Valery? Valery? What the hell?” Cate walked forward slowly, her mouth hanging open.

Jack grinned, but his brow was furrowed. “But you… we saw… how?”

Cate managed to close her mouth. “What happened to you? How did you escape? Where’s Dmitry?” She went to him and embraced his slim figure, but he quickly disengaged himself and pointed to the couch.

Cate sank into the soft leather, Jack beside her. “I have so many questions that I feel my head is going to explode.”

Mironov sat back down, but Sonya remained standing. He nodded to her.

“Dmitry Anatol Kuchina was an agent working for Brogidan Yusoff, one of Valery’s business and political adversaries,” she said, her eyes unblinking.

“Bastard,” Jack said. “Will he ever be brought to justice?”

“The rubbish has already been taken out, so to speak.” Mironov looked up at Sonya, whose mouth lifted slightly at the corners. “Sorry for the cloak and dagger pantomime, but until we knew the full extent of the parties involved, it was best for me to remain… dead.” He turned back to them. “As for Dmitry, he and his family are now living safely in Albuquerque, with different names.”

“What? He killed Yegor, and stranded us; we could have all been killed! As it was, we lost our friend, Greg Jamison, because of him.” Jack said, his brows snapping together. “He should be in jail, or worse.”

Mironov watched them for a moment, and eased back into the chair. “Perhaps. But he was being blackmailed. I know he did what he thought was necessary to save his family.” He looked from Cate to Jack. “What would you do for the ones you love? Lie, cheat, kill?” He shrugged. “I know I would.”

“It’s not right,” Cate said.

Mironov tilted his head as he regarded them. “Nothing ever is.”

Cate licked lips that had suddenly gone dry. “But what happened? How did you escape? The last we saw of you, Dmitry submerged, and then you were both gone.”

“Dmitry piloted the submersible to a location under the Bering Sea. Somehow, they planned to extract us. But the roof of the cavern collapsed, but not down. It blew upwards, sucking us up and out.”

Jack slapped a hand on his thigh. “The warm water surge in the freezing Bering Sea.”

“Yes, we were thrown out, rising from the ancient sea to the modern one. We floated for miles, resting on the bottom that was thankfully only a few hundred feet deep, as our hull had been compromised. It took days for the Prusalka’s batteries to recharge. We came to shore at Port Hardy, north of Vancouver. We sank the submersible, and Sonya came and picked us up.” He smiled. “And now here I am.”